February 21, 2014 — International advocacy group Oceana says it has received a $3 million grant from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation for its work to protect threatened ocean habitat and keystone marine species such as sharks.
Oceana said Thursday the grant, which will be spread over three years, will also support its work to advocate for responsible fishing measures, including a ban on California drift gillnets.
Read the full story at The Hamilton Spectator
BOSTON — March 19, 2014 — The following was released by Global Green USA:
Demonstrating that recyclable packaging can survive one of NAFCO’s longest shipping routes, Global Green USA coordinated a pilot in which water-resistant packaging that is 100% recyclable with regular cardboard could be used to bring Chesapeake Bay seafood five hundred miles to a Boston location of a major grocery chain.
Global Green USA, building on previous successful recyclable packaging tests, came to the heart of New England for the next installment of the pilot series. With the help of a grocer and one of their primary seafood suppliers, Global Green USA documented the ice-packing of water-resistant, recyclable boxes made by Cascades and Interstate Container and shipped to a location in Boston, just in time for the last day of the Boston Seafood Expo on March 18th. As the boxes were unloaded, all present confirmed that they had performed well, indicating that future shipments could also be sent in the strong, water-resistant, recyclable packaging.
“Sustainability goes beyond the seafood harvest – packaging matters,” said Global Green USA’s Lily Kelly, Senior Program Associate for CoRR and the pilot coordinator. “The good news, from an environmental standpoint, is that packaging is available today that protects the seafood, can be recycled after its job is done, and is cost-competitive with the usual unrecyclable expanded polystyrene [EPS] and wax-coated packaging. If all unrecyclable corrugated packaging were replaced with recyclable alternatives, and recycled, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction would be equivalent to shutting down an entire coal-fired power plant with no energy loss, and grocers and restaurants would save $200 million.”
Ian Page, Vice President of Quality Assurance at NAFCO, was also pleased that the recyclable boxes performed well over the course of the multi-day and multi-stage shipping process. “It’s our goal to provide the best possible product, and to support our customers in all of their sustainability goals,” he said. “We are excited to have worked with Global Green USA to assess some of the recyclable boxes available, and we hope to eventually be able to provide 100% recyclable packaging with all our products.”
The boxes, which were donated for testing by Cascades and Interstate Container, are made from recycled material, and are recyclable in accordance with the Fibre Box Association’s recyclability and repulpability protocol for wax-alternative coatings. “While Interstate Container’s roots are in poultry, our Greencoat ICE boxes for seafood are also working extremely well. Retailers need to know there are options to non-recyclable wax and EPS packaging. A switch to a recyclable box is not only fantastic for the environment, but also a savings to the bottom line for the packer, distributor, and retailer.”
Olivier Doiron, Sales Representative for Cascades Industrial Packaging, echoed these sentiments. "Our Extreme H2O box is specifically designed for replacement of waxed boxes, and our Thermafresh box is a substitute for traditional EPS containers," he said "We use a non-wax coating that keeps the box strong, but make it easy to recycle it with regular cardboard. Our customers find that it adds value when they use recyclable packaging; what was a cost of getting rid of waste material now becomes a revenue stream for the grocer or restaurant who receives the seafood."
This pilot marks a step toward more sustainable food systems: Greens, vegetables, seafood, and meats are often transported in paraffin-coated cardboard, generating 1.45 million tons of solid waste that must be sent to landfills or burned. Old corrugated cardboard is the most widely recovered packaging material in the country (91% recovered, according to the US EPA), meaning that if this packaging were recyclable it could be collected and recovered in nearly every community in the US.
Global Green USA is dedicated to helping the people, places, and the planet in need through catalytic projects, transformative policy, and cutting-edge research. In addition to facilitating greater resource recovery and recycling, Global Green USA's signature programs include greening affordable housing, schools, neighborhoods, and cities as well as rebuilding communities — such as New Orleans and areas of New York and New Jersey — that have suffered from the impacts of climate change, sea level rise, and environmental degradation. Global Green USA is the U.S. affiliate of Green Cross International, which was founded by President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993 to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future. For more information, visit www.globalgreen.org and follow us at @globalgreen.
View a PDF of the press release here
March 14, 2014 — Alaska's Bristol Bay region, adjacent to the Bering Sea in the state's southwest corner, is rich with large and productive reserves of natural resources. One of those resources, the world's largest sockeye-salmon fishery, generates an estimated $1.5 billion annually. The thousands of pristine acres of surrounding wetlands, ponds, and lakes are treasured because there isn't much untouched land left in America. Bristol Bay is also home to a large population of Alaska Natives, whose cultures and lifestyles revolve around the region's "wildness" and especially its salmon. Those are the living, breathing resources of Bristol Bay. And then there are the inorganic resources—oil and gas and mineral deposits, not yet fully explored or exploited but representing a whole lot more wealth than Alaska's accessing now.
A particularly significant deposit of gold, molybdenum, and copper—the largest known untapped copper deposit in the world, in fact—has been identified in Bristol Bay. It's known as the Pebble prospect. A Canadian company called Northern Dynasty Minerals started exploring the area in 2000. In 2007, Northern Dynasty partnered with U.K.-based Anglo American to form the Pebble Partnership and buy the rights to all the minerals in the deposit. The corporation's plans to build the "Pebble Mine" have yet to progress much beyond the idea stage, as the Pebble Partnership website says itself:
What is the Pebble Mine?
Right now, it’s an idea. An idea that could help power our nation’s green energy initiatives. An idea that could bring jobs and infrastructure to Southwest Alaska, helping families remain in their villages and thrive. An idea that all of this is possible in harmony with the environment.
The Pebble Mine has yet to be built because the process of getting state and federal permits for a project of this size is long, but also because it's highly controversial. The mine pits two of Alaska's biggest industries—fishing and mining, both of which are extractive, but only one of which is "sustainable"—against each other in a classic resource war: Weighing gold against salmon is weighing money against nature.
According to one school of thought, it’s a calculation that ought to be left to Alaskans. The Pebble Partnership promises to create jobs and bring in revenue, and the state residents—who will feel the effects either way—should know best whether this would do more long-term good than the protection of salmon stocks and preservation of pristine land. And polls have shown that the majority of Alaskans oppose the mine. An estimated 2.5 billion or more tons of toxic mineral waste would be dredged up at the site; even a tiny proportion of this waste, if leaked into surrounding waters, would chemically alter salmon habitat and threaten the health of the fishery.*
The oft-cited statistic is that “80 percent of Bristol Bay residents” are against it—a number based on data collected between 2007 and 2009, when the Pebble Mine controversy was most fevered. Two independent filmmakers brought attention to the issue with their documentary Red Gold in 2007. The state's most famous politician played both sides of the issue. While campaigning for governor in 2006, Sarah Palin said, “I am a commercial fisherman; my daughter’s name is Bristol,” and “I could not support a project that risks one resource that we know is a given, and that is the world’s richest spawning grounds, over another resource.” But two years later, she said she opposed a state ballot measure to restrict the discharge of toxic waste from new mining operations, which might have stopped the Pebble project from developing further. Some Alaskans took this as a betrayal of her promise to protect Alaska’s fisheries. The measure was defeated.
Read the full story at The Atlantic
WASHINGTON — March 14, 2014 — The following was released by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound:
In a landmark win for the environment, the U.S. District Court D.C. ruled today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service need to revisit Cape Wind's impacts on migrating birds and endangered right whales in Nantucket Sound due to violations of environmental protection law.
"This is good news for environmentalists and for all of us who want to see the fragile and unique environment of Cape Cod protected," said Audra Parker, President and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. "The court has validated that federal agencies have taken unacceptable shortcuts in their review of Cape Wind."
The court ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the Endangered Species Act in their reviews of the massive industrial project that has struggled to get off the ground for the last 13 years. The court remanded the case to FWS to independently evaluate a shutdown of turbines during migratory bird season. FWS has acknowledged this as the most effective measure to reduce bird mortality; however, Cape Wind has resisted the measure as one that would destroy the economic feasibility of its proposed project.
The court also ruled that NMFS can no longer avoid fully evaluating impacts to right whales and must formulate and issue an incidental take statement because of the documented presence of this highly endangered species in the area and the potential for Cape Wind to cause harm. In recent years, rare right whales have repeatedly been seen in the area.
"Given the presence of right whales in Nantucket Sound, NMFS can no longer ignore the need to protect this endangered species from potential harm from this industrial project," said Parker.
Read the full press release at PR Newswire
March 13, 2014 — Delivering help for the Everglades and relief for polluted coastal waterways requires squeezing $100 million a year of public money out of the Florida Legislature, South Florida officials said Thursday.
Cost concerns remain a huge hurdle for the Central Everglades plan — which could get more Lake Okeechobee water flowing south to the Everglades instead of draining it out to sea and hurting coastal fishing grounds.
Florida officials are trying to persuade Congress to split the nearly $2 billion total cost of the new Everglades project, but must first show how the state would pay for its share.
On Thursday, the South Florida Water Management District — which leads Everglades restoration — disclosed that it anticipates needing $100 million a year for about 20 years from the state's Save Our Everglades Trust Fund to pay for the Central Everglades plan and other ongoing restoration efforts.
But the Everglades Trust Fund isn't as trustworthy a funding source as it sounds, with state lawmakers ultimately deciding how much of that money flows to Florida's famed River of Grass.
The Everglades trust fund money directed to the water management district has been cut back during lean budget years, yo-yoing from $176 million in 2008 to $27 million in 2013. This year it was about $67 million. That raises questions about whether the money for the Central Everglades project will be there when needed.
Next month, the water management district's nine-member board will be asked to support moving the project forward, despite the cost concerns.
Read the full story at the South Florida Sun Sentinel
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — March 11, 2014 — Two environmental groups have sued the National Marine Fisheries Service over two water systems operated by Stanford University that they claim are harming threatened fish.
Our Children's Earth and Ecological Rights Foundation filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, claiming the service is not properly protecting steelhead trout in San Francisquito creek.
With the state in an historic drought, plaintiffs attorney Christopher Sproul said the government should not allow Stanford to take water out of the creek, which the school uses to irrigate a golf course and campus landscaping.
Read the full story at The Porterville Recorder
March 6, 2014 — Reducing the size of the Lake Erie "dead zone" to acceptable levels will require cutting nutrient pollution nearly in half in coming decades, at a time when climate change is expected to make such reductions more difficult.
That's one of the main conclusions of a comprehensive new study that documents recent trends in Lake Erie's health. It offers science-based guidance to policymakers seeking to reduce the size of toxic algae blooms and oxygen-starved regions called hypoxic zones, or dead zones-two related water-quality problems that have seen a resurgence in the lake since the mid-1990s.
The report from the multi-institution EcoFore-Lake Erie project states that a 46 percent reduction in the amount, or load, of phosphorus pollution would be needed to shrink Lake Erie's Central Basin hypoxic zone to a size last seen in the mid-1990s-a time that coincided with the recovery of several recreational and commercial fisheries in the lake's west and central basins.
Phosphorus is a nutrient used in crop fertilizers. Excess phosphorus washes off croplands during rainstorms and flows downstream in rivers that feed the Great Lakes. Once in the lakes, phosphorus can trigger algae blooms. When the algae die and sink to the lake bottom, oxygen-consuming bacteria feed on them and create hypoxic zones in the process. Many fish shun these oxygen-starved waters, which significantly reduce the amount of suitable habitat available to the fish.
March 3, 2014 — The following was released by the Garden State Seafood Association:
The Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on March 4 on Maritime Transportation Regulations: Impacts on Safety, Security, Jobs and the Environment: Part II. U.S. Congressman Frank A. LoBiondo (NJ-02), a senior member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, applauded inclusion by the Committee of his amendment (co-sponsored by Rep. Rick Larsen of WA State) to place a permanent moratorium from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state regulations and fines governing incidental discharges on commercial fishing and charter fishing vessels regardless of size, and all other commercial vessels less than 79 feet.
“Starting this December, commercial fishermen, charter and tour boat operators, and owners of other commercial vessels less than 79 feet will have to apply for and receive individual permits from the EPA to discharge from their vessels such things as deck wash, bilge water, and the condensation from air conditioning units. Vessels that operate without these permits could be subject to citizen lawsuits and daily fines that exceed $32,000 per violation,” said LoBiondo.
Central to the LoBiondo/Larsen addition to H.R. 4005 would be the sheltering of fishing and other small commercial vessels from citizen lawsuits. These suits, while ostensibly brought to protect water quality, would more realistically be used as another weapon by anti-fishing activists in their ongoing assault on commercial fishermen. Testifying on the second panel was James Roussos, Vice President of Boat Operations, LaMonica Fine Food LLC in Milleville, New Jersey.
In his testimony he stated to the Subcommittee “please understand that those of us in the business of harvesting food for the benefit of this nation do so in a hostile environment. We are under constant scrutiny by environmentalists who petition or sue the federal government on a regular basis to increase environmental protection and restrict fishing activities…. Environmental regulation by litigation is out of control and could potentially cripple our industry.” He added “The VGP, if inflicted upon the fishing industry will only add more paperwork to the bureaucracy, further demoralize an important industry’s workforce, and cause economic hardship for little if any environmental benefit.
According to Jeff Reichle, president of Lund's Fisheries in Cape May, New Jersey “the exemption avoids an unnecessary burden and potential serious fines on the U.S. fishing fleet while not reducing EPA’s duties to protect our waters from serious pollutants.”
***On March 28, 2013 the EPA published requirements for permitting ballast water and other discharges incidental to the normal operations of vessels (VGP) greater than or equal to 79-feet in length. The VGP ballast water requirements went into effect in December 2013 while the incidental discharge permit requirements will be implemented by EPA in December 2014. On November 30, 2011, the EPA released a draft Small Vessel General Permit (sVGP) to cover commercial vessels less than 79 feet in length that are currently subject to a permit moratorium that expires on December 18, 2014. The draft sVGP requires these vessels to comply with best management practices for the same 27 incidental discharges as the 2013 VGP. The EPA estimates that approximately 138,000 vessels will need to comply with the draft sVGP at a cost of up to $12 million annually. This estimate does not include the cost of additional regulatory requirements which may be added by the states. A final sVGP is currently in agency review and is expected to be published in the coming months.***
For further information contact Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director
(gregdidomenico@gmail.com, or 609-675 0202)
March 4, 2014 — To hear a fisherman’s sea chanty is to hear the roots of gospel music and rhythm and blues. And five former fishermen went back to these roots and the world of fishing at a sea chanty concert in Southport on Feb. 22 as part of Southport’s Black History Month event.
“The songs gave you the spirit to work hard, because it was hard work,” said Willie W. Parker of Southport, one of the chantymen who worked off the coast of North Carolina from 1959 to 1996 as a menhaden fisherman.
Fishing towns on the Carolina coast like Southport and Morehead City employed African-American fishermen who worked on boats fishing for menhaden, a small fish used by manufacturers to make fertilizer and cosmetics.
Menhaden – or pogies, as the locals called them – were caught in huge rope nets manned by dozens of men. The men had to be strong enough to hold the nets taut while thousands of the small fish were scooped up.
The typical chanty was started by a lead chantyman, who directed the tempo and timing of the work. The crew would follow his rhythm. The lines and verses of the chanty followed the task of the job at hand.
“Two white horses side by side
One of those horses I’m bound to ride
Drinking that wine
Drinking that wine.”
“That was our living,” Parker said. “Sing a line, pull the net. Sing a verse, pull it tighter. The songs were sung to the rhythm of work.”
March 4, 2014 — To hear a fisherman’s sea chanty is to hear the roots of gospel music and rhythm and blues. And five former fishermen went back to these roots and the world of fishing at a sea chanty concert in Southport on Feb. 22 as part of Southport’s Black History Month event.
“The songs gave you the spirit to work hard, because it was hard work,” said Willie W. Parker of Southport, one of the chantymen who worked off the coast of North Carolina from 1959 to 1996 as a menhaden fisherman.
Fishing towns on the Carolina coast like Southport and Morehead City employed African-American fishermen who worked on boats fishing for menhaden, a small fish used by manufacturers to make fertilizer and cosmetics.
Menhaden – or pogies, as the locals called them – were caught in huge rope nets manned by dozens of men. The men had to be strong enough to hold the nets taut while thousands of the small fish were scooped up.
The typical chanty was started by a lead chantyman, who directed the tempo and timing of the work. The crew would follow his rhythm. The lines and verses of the chanty followed the task of the job at hand.
“Two white horses side by side
One of those horses I’m bound to ride
Drinking that wine
Drinking that wine.”
“That was our living,” Parker said. “Sing a line, pull the net. Sing a verse, pull it tighter. The songs were sung to the rhythm of work.”