I like seafood. I am partial to blackened striper, but I will not turn down a clam basket or crab cakes or most other seafood. Because I like seafood I care about the fisheries. And because I care about the fisheries and maintaining these fisheries, I was disturbed to see that the current administration has slashed funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in what I can only call a ham- or maybe flounder-handed approach to trim the federal budget.
The reduction in staff levels and the implications to fishermen has been well publicized. Little good can come from silencing the fishermen’s communications conduit with the federal government. Fishermen need a way to understand fishing regulations and need a voice in the development of these regulations. And who, more than fishermen, count on the concise, accurate weather forecasts NOAA provides?
But let’s also look at NOAA’s research and related programs, the elimination of which will also affect fisheries and the ocean’s ability to produce seafood.
Across the Commonwealth, NOAA has been instrumental in studying the migration of fish, including catadromous species, like some eels, which are born in saltwater but spend much of their lives in freshwater systems, and anadromous species, like some herring, which spend most of their lives in salt water but migrate to freshwater to spawn. Both eel and herring share a role in the fisheries’ food web. Both are significant food sources for larger fish we consume, among them striped bass, cod, and tuna. Another thing that both the eel and herring share is the need for clear unimpeded passage upstream along rivers. NOAA research recognized the importance of unimpeded river systems to the fisheries and for the past several years has focused significant effort on dam removal projects, some of which were completed in Plymouth and benefit our local fisheries. Dam removal leads to improved habitat for eel and herring which leads to improved fisheries for these species and improved fish stocks for the striped bass, cod, and tuna we eat.
Finfish not your thing? NOAA researchers looked at and developed methods to minimize the impact of invasive species that show up with increased frequency and vigor, affecting shellfish. One of these invasive species is tunicates, also called sea squirts, or as a fisherman friend called it, sea snot. Tunicates colonize on lobster traps, oyster cages, rocks, and other natural and manmade substrates where we grow or harvest our lobster, oysters, mussels, and clams. NOAA has been tracking the migration of tunicates and has developed best practices to inhibit the continued advance of these and other invasive species. For example, NOAA research showed that what was once common practice, scraping the tunicates off the cages while on the boat, was exacerbating the problem because the tunicates simply float around in the water column and find another substrate to recolonize. NOAA got the word out and developed best management practices to help fishermen and aquatic farmers gain the upper hand. Without this research and the educational outreach that followed, the tunicate problem might be much worse and our seafood that much harder to grow, dig, or trap.
I get it. Some of the research is a little dense. When I see an article like The colonial ascidian Didemnum sp. A: current distribution, basic biology and potential threat to marine communities of the northeast and west coasts of North America published several years ago in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, my eyes glaze over. Why are my tax dollars supporting this? But it is this sort of research, conducted by NOAA and associated research institutions, that sheds light on how tunicates behave so that practices and policies can be developed to manage these invasive species, so that our fishermen and aquatic farmers can successfully grow what we so enjoy.
I am all for government efficiency, and goodness knows I do not want my tax dollars wasted. Maybe there are efficiencies that can come from scrutinizing NOAA and its programs. But for my money, the programs at NOAA are important, and maintaining these programs is critical to keeping the fisheries healthy and keeping seafood on our plates. I like seafood, and if you like seafood, you should like NOAA, too.
– Sam Butcher