The 2023 Status of Stocks report illustrates the challenges of managing U.S. fisheries sustainably in an era where climate change is not down the road—it has already arrived. Overfishing remains a persistent issue, and rebuilding efforts continue to fall short of needed progress. To make rebuilding plans effective and restore healthy conditions, NOAA Fisheries must prioritize ecosystem considerations. Adapting management approaches to incorporate the changing climate and shifting ocean conditions is essential for the long-term health of our fisheries. Fishery managers, scientists and the fishing industry must work collaboratively to develop adaptive, ecosystem-based strategies that promote resilience and ensure fishing practices remain sustainable in the face of climate change.
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For many years, the United States has taken pride in its world-class fishery management infrastructure which seeks to maintain sustainable fishing and abundant fish populations that can provide us with food and support businesses, recreation and culture. But a recent report from the agency that manages our marine fisheries reveals that while some progress has been made in the past year, many fish stocks around the country are at concerningly low levels of abundance. Even more alarming is that the steps we are taking to try to rebuild those fish stocks are rarely having an impact. Particularly as climate change disrupts our ocean and puts our fishing communities at risk, fishery managers need to act decisively to reverse these trends.
Too Many Stocks are Still Overfished
NOAA’s Status of Stocks report, which is delivered every year to Congress, serves as a vital health check for U.S. fisheries. The 2023 report focuses on a few key metrics: the fish stocks currently subject to overfishing, the stocks that are overfished and the progress of rebuilding plans intended to bring previously overfished stocks back to healthy population sizes. These figures can give us insight into the effectiveness of existing management and areas where improvements are needed.
Overfishing occurs when fish stocks are fished harder than they can naturally replenish. The report notes that 6% of known stocks are currently experiencing overfishing. That’s an all-time low, which is good news; however, the number hasn’t budged much for a decade. Despite efforts to reduce overfishing, the trend reveals a concerning stagnation, particularly because some stocks, like greater amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico, have remained subject to overfishing for more than 20 years. If continued unchecked, overfishing leads to stocks becoming overfished, which threatens the livelihoods of communities that rely on fishing as well as our sustainable food supply of fish. which threatens our sustainable food supply and the livelihoods of communities that rely on them.
When a stock is declared overfished, it signifies that the population has declined to a level where it can no longer sustainably support fishing in the long term. A primary purpose of managing our fisheries is to avoid creating overfished stocks, not only because of the impact that has to the environment, but also because it can devastate fishing communities. Rebuilding a stock back to a healthy level once it’s overfished is difficult and includes restricting fishing while the population grows, which can take decades. The challenge of rebuilding is exacerbated by climate change, which adds further complexity to the problem. Shifting ocean temperatures, changing currents and acidification are just a few of the impacts that make it even harder for overfished stocks to recover. At the same time, rebuilding stocks is more critical now than ever before because abundant and resilient stocks are better able to handle these climate impacts.
Efforts to Rebuild Stocks are Struggling
When a stock becomes overfished, managers must put a rebuilding plan in place for restoring its size back to target levels. These plans typically involve reducing catch limits and implementing other strategies that allow the stock size to grow. The 2023 Status of Stocks report celebrates a milestone, marking the 50th stock rebuilt since 2000 with the Snohomish coho salmon. However, this figure only tells part of the story. Rebuilding progress has been stalling out—just three stocks have been rebuilt since 2019—and the number of stocks in rebuilding plans has increased and is now up to 48. Furthermore, 11 of the 50 rebuilt stocks being celebrated in the report have since become overfished again, with nine still in the process of rebuilding a second time. This indicates that fishery management is failing to keep stocks at healthy levels and struggling to recover them when they decline into being overfished.
As seen from the figure above, rebuilding progress has tapered off since the early 2010s. Ideally, what we would see is the total number of rebuilt stocks rising, and the number of overfished stocks falling. That had been happening until about 2017, when the number of overfished stocks started rising and the number of rebuilt stocks stayed relatively flat. This pattern is troubling, underscoring a critical need for improvement.
Rebuilding is Critical to Build Resilience to Climate Change
The reality is that rebuilding is becoming both increasingly important and increasingly difficult. A changing climate complicates traditional management approaches, which rely on the assumption that the future will look (roughly) like the past. Yet, climate change doesn’t change the reality that managers, scientists and fishermen must still work together to bring stocks back to target population sizes when they are overfished. And climate change is far from the only factor that can explain shortcomings in rebuilding progress. Fishery managers need to do more to end overfishing on overfished stocks and put plans in place that are robust enough actually to rebuild successfully.
These conditions highlight the urgency of improving data collection and incorporating climate and ecosystem considerations into management measures. Yet, despite this need, only 8% of 2022 stock assessments—the primary vehicle by which a stock’s health is determined—included ecosystem measures. Furthermore, a report by the GAO found that only a quarter of fishery management plans considered “climate-related information.” This lack of climate-change preparedness impedes rebuilding efforts, as strategies that don’t account for climate-related impacts risk further stagnation of and decline in the health of our fisheries. These concerns are compounded by the fact that, of the 506 stocks managed by NOAA, we only know the overfishing status of 72% and the overfished status of 52% of them. That means that, in addition to inadequate climate data, there is significant uncertainty regarding the baseline health of hundreds of our fish stocks.
The post Navigating Troubled Waters: Breaking Down the 2023 Status of Stocks Report appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
Navigating Troubled Waters: Breaking Down the 2023 Status of Stocks Report
What do you think about when you hear the words “microplastic pollution?” Your mind may immediately go to imagery of colorful fragmented plastics broken off from bottles, buckets and other items we use in our everyday lives. Or, perhaps, you imagine a pile of microplastic fibers—the tiny, squiggly, spaghetti-shaped plastics that shed from our synthetic clothing. You may be surprised to hear there is another major source of microplastic pollution that’s hiding in plain sight, quite literally under our feet, that might change how you think about microplastics: tire particles.
We all know tires wear down over time—that’s why we have to replace them on our cars roughly every 60,000 miles or so. Every time a vehicle accelerates, brakes or simply drives down the road, the friction between its tires and the pavement creates tiny fragments of rubber, known as tire wear particles.
Driving a car or even riding in a bus is a bit like dragging an eraser across the planet, except the crumbs are microplastics. Toxic microplastics.
Tires are made from a complex mix of natural and synthetic rubber along with a range of additives, fillers and chemical compounds—some of which, like the preservative 6PPD, have been shown to be highly toxic to coho salmon when they break down into derivative product 6PPD-Q in the environment—even in tiny concentrations.
Some studies have shown that a single vehicle’s tires can emit more than two trillion particles per mile driven—and that the average person generates nearly two pounds of tire particles per year! Once these particles are shed from tires, they don’t just disappear. Some are small and light enough to become airborne, drifting away from roadways as dust. Others settle on road surfaces, where they accumulate until the next heavy rain washes them into storm drains and from there, into streams, rivers and eventually the ocean.
That’s why tire wear particles are now considered one of the top sources of microplastics to the environment. In fact, until recent developments in analytical methods, scientists weren’t reliably able to detect tire wear particles in microplastic counts—thus, these pesky microplastics may have been evading our detection for years.
Why green infrastructure may be one of our best near-term solutions
Unlike some sources of plastic pollution, we can’t simply stop driving overnight. Reformulating tire rubber to be less toxic or shed less material, while promising, will take time to develop, test and scale across the global vehicle fleet. So, what can we do about tire wear particle pollution right now?
This is where green infrastructure comes in. Green infrastructure refers to engineered natural systems (things like bioswales, rain gardens, roadside buffers and permeable pavement) that are designed to slow down, filter and treat stormwater before it reaches rivers, lakes and coastlines. Instead of routing runoff directly into storm drains and out to sea, green infrastructure gives contaminated water a chance to percolate through soil, plants and other natural filtration media, which helps trap microplastics, including tire wear particles, preventing them moving further downstream.
Early research on green infrastructure has been promising, showing that these systems are quite effective at capturing microplastics and other contaminants carried in road runoff. But there’s a critical piece we still don’t fully understand: What would it take to scale up green infrastructure across an entire city, and how much of a dent would that actually make in long-term tire wear particle pollution?
Our research on green infrastructure capture of tire wear particles
Funded by the Tire Industry Project, our plastics science and policy teams at Ocean Conservancy have partnered with the University of Toronto on a new study evaluating the costs and benefits of scaling up green infrastructure at the city level specifically to capture tire wear particles.
If you happen to be driving on the roadways of Portland, Oregon, you may spot our scientists crouched over, precariously scooping dirt with spoons from a sample area on the roadside. Don’t be alarmed—that’s just us doing science! Feel free to give us a wave.
Ocean Conservancy is currently working to:
- Quantify the scale of pollution: Collect road dust samples from 30 cities globally to measure both total microplastic and tire wear particle concentrations and determine how different variables (population density, road size, rainfall) might influence those values.
- Assess feasibility: Determine what it would take realistically—logistically, financially and spatially—to scale up green infrastructure across an entire city.
- Model positive impacts: Estimate how much city-scale green infrastructure could reduce tire wear particle pollution entering aquatic ecosystems.
- Compare across cities: Understand how well these solutions might translate across different urban contexts, focusing on Portland, Oregon; Toronto, Canada; and London, England as case-study cities.
- Make our findings accessible: Produce a public-facing toolkit to help city planners, engineers and advocates guide real-world implementation of infrastructure that captures tire-wire particles.
By pairing rigorous science with practical guidance, we hope to help cities move from asking “Could this work?” to confidently building solutions that we know can be effective.
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How can I help?
Tire wear particle pollution can feel like an overwhelming problem. After all, it’s tied to transportation, which most of us rely on every day. But that’s exactly why research like this matters: It gives us a real, near-term path forward that doesn’t require waiting for the entire global transportation system to change first.
You can help by staying engaged with Ocean Conservancy as we continue to dig into solutions for the plastic pollution crisis—one roadway, one storm drain and one city at a time. Together, we can keep working toward a world and ocean free of plastic pollution, forever and for everyone.
The post What are Tire Wear Particles? appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
A small jellyfish-like animal recently reported from Vejle Fjord has attracted attention. Clear photographs suggest that it belongs to the genus Gonionemus and may possibly be the clinging jellyfish, Gonionemus vertens (Picture courtesy to Jonas Bøgelund Poulsen)
Unlike the large jellyfish commonly encountered along Danish coasts, Gonionemus vertens is a small hydromedusa, usually only around 1.5–2.5 centimetres across. Its transparent bell reveals four coloured reproductive structures arranged like a cross. Numerous fine tentacles surround the bell, often appearing bent or angled. Small adhesive pads near the ends of the tentacles allow the animal to attach itself to eelgrass, seaweed and other submerged vegetation.
This unusual behaviour explains its English name: the clinging jellyfish. During the day, it often remains attached to vegetation rather than drifting freely with the current. At night, it becomes more active and swims into the water column to feed on zooplankton and small crustaceans. Consequently, it can easily remain unnoticed even in places where it is already established. Another reason the species can be difficult to detect is its life cycle. The visible medusa is only one stage. For much of its life, the animal may persist as a minute polyp attached to a hard surface, shell or vegetation. These inconspicuous polyps can reproduce asexually and later release new medusae when environmental conditions become favourable.
Gonionemus vertens is generally considered native to the northern Pacific but has been introduced into several parts of Europe and the Atlantic. Transport on ship hulls, in ballast water or with movements of oysters and other marine organisms has been suggested as possible pathways, although the pathway responsible for any particular occurrence is rarely known with certainty.
Despite its delicate appearance, the animal should not be touched. Some populations possess powerful stinging cells and have caused intense pain, swelling, muscle cramps and, in rare cases, serious allergic reactions. Sting severity differs considerably among regions, which is one reason researchers suspect that animals currently grouped under the name G. vertens may represent a complex of closely related forms.
The Vejle Fjord observation is therefore scientifically interesting, but it should not yet be presented as a confirmed record of G. vertens. Anyone encountering a similar animal should photograph it without handling it and record the date, exact location, approximate size, number observed and surrounding habitat. Observations can be submitted to Denmark’s national species portal, Arter, where they can be evaluated and contribute to tracking changes in Danish marine biodiversity. Please use either my App: GoJelly JellySpotter or reprot to the Arter.dk: Gonionemus taxon page and Danish species-reporting portal.
References:
Edwards, C. (1977). A study in erratic distribution: The occurrence of the medusa Gonionemus in relation to the distribution of oysters. Advances in Marine Biology, 14, 251–284. DOI: 10.1016/S0065-2881(08)60448-4.
Govindarajan, A. F., Källström, B., Selander, E., Östman, C., & Dahlgren, T. G. (2019). The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast. PeerJ, 7, e6883. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6883.
The JOIDES Resolution (JR) was a renowned, international, scientific research ship. It was home to over 190 expeditions, each sailing for 60 days at a time without docking. Scientists and crew members from all over the world met to discover Earth’s secrets through studying ocean cores. Every two months the JR would get a new crew, sailing to an entirely new place. This once in a lifetime experience forms special and unforgettable social connections.
Since working on the JR I’ve kept those connections strong with snail mail. I have always been an avid penpal, so meeting new friends means new addresses to send my letters and postcards to. Experiences like sailing on the JOIDES Resolution or participating in programs like OCEAN CORE Academy is one of the ways I’ve met people from all over the world.
Now that the JR is retired, there is no more scientific research drilling being done through the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). But, there is still plenty to learn from ocean cores, and plenty of people to meet through programs like OCEAN CORE Academy (OCA). OCA is an annual summer opportunity from the U.S. Scientific Support Program (USSSP) that hosts undergraduates interested in geoscience related careers. Students can apply to this program for a chance to research and study data recovered from cores originally brought up by the JR, now located at the Gulf Coast Repository (GCR) in College Station, Texas. Students also practice forms of science communication with the guide of mentors. As a science communicator and fan of snail mail, I ran a craft night teaching students how to make and send science-themed postcards.
Fig. 1) students using watercolor to paint onto 4 by 6 inch board paper, a photo of a thin section slide is in the background. Photo by Dr. Leah Joseph.
For this project, we based the cover image of the postcards off of rock thin section slides. These slides are a slice of a hard rock or mineral that’s been glued to a microscope slide, sanded to 0.03 millimeter thickness, and polished. Thin section slides are used to identify grain size, shape, color, and other physical properties. This helps scientists understand the textural relationships between the rocks and determine the origin or evolution of the parent rock. Thin sections can also be helpful for identifying minerals using cross polarized light (XPL). XPL reduces light reflection and glare, commonly used for sunglasses and professional photography, but in a polarizing microscope, XPL is used to create a dark field causing certain minerals to appear brighter and more visible. Different colors are associated with different minerals, and as the stage of the microscope rotates, light passes through the slide in unique ways aiding scientists with identification. Identifying minerals can help scientists in understanding more about where the rocks came from and how old they are. These thin sections are not only informative, but are incredibly beautiful, making unique and stunning postcard covers.
Fig. 2) Examples of thin section slides under a XPL microscope, bronzitite (left) and gabbro (right). Sourced from here.
After the OCA students finished their paintings, my home-made “post card” stamps go on the back, a stamp gets added, and they’re ready to be mailed out. Although most OCA participants this year were U.S. based, they came from all over, ranging from Staten Island to San Francisco to Arizona to Connecticut. In addition to one mentor from New Zealand! For many of these students this was their first time traveling on their own, and their first time forming long-distance connections. With these scientific postcards, OCA students can stay connected by reminding each other of the science they learned together. My experience on the JR taught me great things about geological research, but it also gave me life long connections that I cherish. Although the JR is gone, its legacy lives on in our memories and the ways we stay connected with friends. I’m grateful to know that even without an international ship, I’m still able to add friends to my address book.
Fig. 3) Examples of participant made postcards
Written by Kellan Moss
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