Page 28 - aruba-today-20190429

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 29 april 2019
Team recommends reducing lobstering gear to save whales

By PATRICK WHITTLE animals, said Sam Rauch,
Associated Press NOAA Fisheries deputy as-
The amount of gear the sistant administrator for reg-
East Coast lobster fishery ulatory programs.
puts in the water must be "Everyone understands
reduced in order to pro- that there are real and
tect a dwindling species difficult consequences to
of large whale, a federal fishermen as a result of the
government team recom- choices made in this room,"
mended Friday. Rauch said.
The National Oceanic and The take reduction team
Atmospheric Administra- was created in the 1990s
tion's Atlantic Large Whale and includes scientists,
Take Reduction Team fishermen, conservationists
wrapped up several days and others.
of discussion Friday about Erica Fuller, a senior staff
ways to reduce injuries and attorney with Conserva-
deaths caused when North tion Law Foundation who is
Atlantic right whales get not on the team, described
entangled in fishing gear. the moves as "a start," but
In this decade, the num- added much work remains
ber of North Atlantic right to save the whales.
whales has decreased by In this March 28, 2018, file photo, a North Atlantic right whale breaches the surface of Cape Cod "We need to do more and
the dozens to about 411 bay off the coast of Plymouth, Mass. we need to do it faster than
today. Associated Press the rulemaking proposed
The team issued its recom- here," she said.
mendations to the federal tect the fishing industry, is high, resulting in strong lobster haul has coincided Maine Lobstermen's Asso-
government on Friday that too. Conservation groups prices. Maine fishermen with several bad years for ciation executive director
call for a reduction of verti- have pushed for stricter caught nearly 120 million the right whales, which Patrice McCarron sent a
cal trap lines — which can new rules. pounds of lobster last year, were decimated during letter to NOAA earlier in the
ensnare whales — by up "I'm still trying to digest what and have topped 100 mil- the whaling era and are a week that stated the group
to 50% in some areas. The this means for the Maine lion every year since 2011 perennial favorite on whale is committed to "identify-
team also recommended fishery," said Kristan Por- after never doing so in the watch tours. There were ing conservation measures
the use of lines that break ter, president of the Maine past. about 480 right whales to improve protections for
more easily and allow the Lobstermen's Association Porter and others said it's in 2010, and the popula- right whales."
giant whales a chance to and a member of the take too soon to speculate what tion has suffered due to McCarron is on the take
escape. reduction team. "It's about reducing the lines could high mortality and poor reduction team. Her letter,
The recommendations figuring out what's next for mean for the size of the reproduction. Not a single addressed to Mike Pento-
must now go through an the fishery." haul. Lines can be used to calf was sighted last year, ny, regional administrator
approval process that The U.S. lobster fishery, retrieve multiple traps at though this year there have for NOAA Fisheries Greater
could be contentious. based mostly in Maine, is once, so a 50% reduction been at least seven. Atlantic Region, also said
Lobster fishing groups in the midst of a multiyear in lines doesn't necessarily The proposed rules repre- it's "crucially important"
closely monitored the boom in catch, at a time mean an equal decrease sent "a substantial opportu- that lobstermen support
team's discussions and said when domestic and inter- in traps. nity to reduce the impacts the methodology used to
rule changes need to pro- national interest in lobster The recent growth of the of U.S. fisheries" on the make the new rules.q

Ocean changes affected deadly duo

of Mozambique cyclones

By FRANK JORDANS central Mozambique last the sample is just too small,”
Associated Press month, killed over 600 she said. “But one thing is
BERLIN (AP) — Warming people and displaced sure: The vulnerability of
waters and rising sea levels thousands. Cyclone Ken- coastal areas will become
are affecting Indian Ocean neth made landfall Thurs- worse with the sea-level rise
cyclones such as those that day evening in the north of induced by global warm-
In this photo provided by United Nations Children’s Agency have wrought havoc in Mo- the country where no such ing.”
(UNICEF), damaged buildings are seen after Cyclone Kenneth
made landfall in Pemba, Mozambique, Friday, April 27, 2019. zambique in recent weeks, storm has been recorded “While attention is often
Associated Press making them potentially since satellite observations given to wind speed, we
more deadly. began in the 1970s. know from experience that
But experts caution it is pre- “There is no record of two it is rainfall — and subse-
mature to say whether the storms of such intensity strik- quent flooding and land-
unprecedented double- ing Mozambique in the slides — that can be even
whammy of storms to hit same season,” said Clare more dangerous from a hu-
the southern African nation Nullis, a spokeswoman for manitarian perspective,”
is a consequence of cli- the World Meteorological said Antonio Carabante,
mate change, and wheth- Organization. an emergency relief dele-
er these cyclones will be- “It is difficult to pronounce gate with the International
come more common. on one event like Idai, or Federation of Red Cross
Cyclone Idai, which even two like Idai and Ken- and Red Crescent Societ-
swamped large parts of neth. The statistical size of ies. q