Saving Seafood

Law

‘Our killer whales aren’t doing well:’ Lawsuit aims to protect struggling orcas

August 20, 2018 — Southern Resident Killer Whales are endangered and in decline.

Thursday a national environmental group filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration. According to the suit, the National Marine Fisheries Service has failed to protect the winter habit of the Orcas.

“Our killer whales aren’t doing well,” said Sarah Yhlemann, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity who filed the lawsuit.

For 17 days a grieving mother Orca carried her dead calf more than 1,000 miles through the waters of the Salish Sea. An act of grief that environmentalist claim highlights the need to help the troubled Orcas.

“We know that protecting the whales themselves is absolutely important, but protecting their habit is really important too,” said Yhlemann.

The suit says NOAA has failed to act on a 2014 petition that includes expanding habitat protections to the Orcas’ winter foraging and migration areas off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California.

“Right now their full habitat is not protected for the winter and travel down the coast, they don’t have habit protections,” said Yhlemann.

The lawsuit is asking for what the law requires for endangered species: to protect the entire habit of the Southern Resident killers whales.

The animals were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2005, after the center sued to get the status. The following year, the fisheries service designated the inland waters of Washington state as critical habitat. The designation means federal agencies must ensure that activities they pay for, permit or carry out do not harm the habitat.

Read the full story at KOMO News

Group sues to expand protected orca habitat along West Coast

August 17, 2018 — An environmental group sued President Donald Trump’s administration Thursday to make officials move more quickly to protect the Pacific Northwest’s endangered orcas.

The recent grieving of one whale for her dead calf and scientists’ extraordinary attempts to save another from starvation highlight the urgency of their plight, the Tucson, Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity said as it filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

There are just 75 orcas remaining in the Pacific Northwest population, the lowest number in 34 years. They’re struggling with a dearth of chinook salmon, their preferred prey, as well as toxic contamination and vessel noise.

The lawsuit says the National Marine Fisheries Service has failed to act on the center’s 2014 petition to expand habitat protections to the orcas’ foraging and migration areas off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California — even though the agency agreed in 2015 that such a move was necessary.

The center says the protections would help reduce water pollution and restrict vessel traffic that can interfere with the animals.

“Time is running out fast for these magnificent, intelligent orcas,” Catherine Kilduff, an attorney with the organization, said in an emailed statement. “It’s heartbreaking to watch them starving to death and mourning their dead calves. Every day that Trump’s people delay action is a step toward extinction for these whales.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press

New York clammer gets deferred-prosecution deal in fisheries case

August 16, 2018 — A Northport clammer who was the first Long Islander to challenge at trial charges growing out of the federal government’s ongoing fisheries probe has accepted a deferred-prosecution agreement that could see his case dismissed in a year.

Thomas Kokell, a former commercial trawler-boat captain, was indicted in 2016 on four counts of mail fraud, conspiracy and filing false fishing reports in connection with an alleged scheme to illegally harvest nearly 200,000 pounds of fluke in 2011 and 2012. The fish were valued at nearly $400,000.

Kokell was released Tuesday on his own recognizance after a court appearance in which the deal was approved by a federal judge, according to federal court documents and Kokell’s attorney. He will not enter a plea and the charges will be dismissed, avoiding prison time and fines, if he “avoids future misconduct” over the next year, according to his attorney Peter Smith and court documents.

The company affiliated with his fishing operation, however, will pay a fine of $5,000, according to Smith and the documents. Other fishermen caught up in the federal probe have seen several years of prison time and fines over $900,000.

Read the full story at Newsday

Group will sue New Hampshire hatchery for pollution

August 3, 2018 — An environmental group plans to sue New Hampshire’s largest fish hatchery, allegations that discharge from the facility is polluting nearby lakes and rivers.

The Conservation Law Foundation announced its plans Thursday to sue the New Hampshire Fish and Game Departments and its commissioners over discharges from the Powder Mill Fish Hatchery in New Durham. It now must wait 60 days before filing a lawsuit in federal court.

In its letter, the group alleges that hatchery food and waste containing high levels of phosphorous, nitrogen and other pollutants has caused “significant water quality violations” in the Merrymeeting River and nearby waterways. The notice alleges that the discharges are in violation of the hatchery’s federal permit which, in turn, violates the federal Clean Water Act.

Among the Conservation Law Foundation’s biggest concern is algae growth and outbreaks of cyanobacteria, which they claim have sickened people and animals, hurt property values along the river and prompted the state to ban activities like swimming in some waterways. The waterways aren’t used for drinking water.

“It’s unthinkable what this state facility has done to the Merrymeeting River, degrading its health and putting the public’s health at risk with cyanobacteria outbreaks,” Tom Irwin, director of Conservation Law Foundation New Hampshire. “During the heart of the summer, people want to swim, boat, and enjoy New Hampshire’s rivers and lakes. They don’t want to be told ‘stay out’.”

Fred Quimby, a retired environmental toxicologist who lives in New Durham where the hatchery is located, said the state has known about this problem for more than 15 years and has failed to take appropriate action to address the dirty discharges. He said cyanobacteria outbreaks have become more common, leading to some people getting skin rashes and animals dying.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

Fish fraud: What is Sea to Table’s real problem?

July 27, 2018 –An Associated Press investigation revealed in June that the New York-based seafood distributor Sea to Table was mislabeling product origins and misleading its customers. The company and its owner Sean Dimin defended the errors as accidental — a result of mix-ups, miscommunications and honest mistakes as well as information falsified farther down the chain of supply. Dimin pledged to address the claims quickly and terminate relationships with suppliers that had mislabeled their seafood.

This week AP reports on four former Sea to Table employees who say they raised concerns about mislabeling and other deceptive marketing practices long before the AP investigation, but they were ignored or silenced.

Sea to Table’s model is to deliver local, traceable, high-quality seafood. This is a manageable business model. Community supported fisheries, direct marketers and small fish shops around the country deliver these promises daily.

But the model is not yet scalable, and that is precisely what Sea to Table’s ex-workers point out. They allege that Dimin turned a blind eye to these flaws as he tried to keep pace with the company’s growth.

Despite the bad press and significant losses after the June report — Dimin told the AP Sea to Table had lost more than 50 percent of its revenue and conducted layoffs to keep operating — the company reportedly predicts its sales will jump from $13 million last year to $70 million in 2020.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Sea To Table defends actions but ex-employees raise concerns

July 26, 2018 –A national seafood distributor is defending its reputation amid plummeting sales after the Associated Press found it was not living up to a guarantee that all catch was local, wild, sustainable and traceable.

Sea To Table owner Sean Dimin said most problems identified by the AP were honest mistakes or the result of miscommunication, and some supporters came to his defense. But four former employees said they raised concerns about mislabeling, the blending of imports and deceptive marketing practices years ago, and were ignored or silenced.

In a global seafood industry that is notoriously corrupt, conscientious consumers are increasingly paying top dollar for seafood they can feel good about. The New York-based company attracted clients such as celebrity chef Rick Bayless, meal kit maker HelloFresh, restaurants and universities, promising all fish could be traced to a U.S. dock and sometimes the fisherman who caught it.

Among other things, the AP found Sea To Table was sometimes working with wholesalers that also rely on imports, providing incorrect dock and boat names, selling farmed shellfish, and offering species that were out of season or illegal to catch. The AP also tracked businesses in Sea To Table’s supply chain to labor abuses involving migrant fishermen in foreign waters and destruction of marine life.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Spokesman-Review

National Fish & Seafood sues former employee

July 25, 2018 — Care for a side order of alleged corporate espionage with your stuffed clams? Belly on up to the bar.

As in the legal bar.

Gloucester-based National Fish & Seafood is accusing its former head of research, development and quality assurance of absconding with confidential processing information and other corporate trade secrets when she resigned recently to take a similar position with a Florida-based seafood competitor.

In a civil lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston, NFS alleges Kathleen A. Scanlon, who worked at NFS for more than 20 years before resigning about two weeks ago, used company-issued equipment to help steal confidential recipe, processing and customer information as a means of assisting her new employer, Tampa Bay Fisheries Inc. of Dover, Florida.

The suit also names Tampa Bay Fisheries as a co-defendant, along with an unnamed John Doe at Tampa Bay Fisheries who allegedly helped hatch the plan.

Officials at Tampa Bay Fisheries did not respond to phone calls Monday seeking comment.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Green groups sue over expanded Gulf drilling

July 19, 2018 — Green groups are suing the Trump administration over its decision to expand drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on Monday on behalf of three groups, the Gulf Restoration Network, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, against the Interior Department and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The suit targets a decision from the administration to open up 78 million acres of the Gulf to potential drilling.

The groups say regulators have failed to do the necessary environmental checks and are in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

“The Gulf is one of the most productive marine regions in the United States, supporting many species of turtles, dolphins and whales as well as accounting for one third of the nation’s seafood catch every year,” said Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network, in a statement.

Read the full story at The Hill

Ex-manager says processor repacked expired seafood

July 19, 2018 — Gloucester Seafood Processing, the largely shuttered local subsidiary of Illinois-based Mazzetta Co., is a defendant in a lawsuit accusing the seafood giant of artificially manipulating lobster prices and repackaging expired seafood into new packaging with new expiration dates.

The accusations are contained in a wrongful termination suit brought by Corey Thompson, a former general manager at Mazzetta’s Atwood Lobster subsidiary in South Thomaston, Maine. Besides Gloucester Seafood Processing, the action also names Mazzetta Co. and its parent company, JorZac Inc., as well as Atwood, Londonderry Freezer LLC., and other Mazzetta subsidiaries as defendants.

Thompson claims in the lawsuit that he was fired with no explanation on May 26, 2017 — five days after he sent an email to Mazzetta Co. owner Tom Mazzetta and another company executive “expressing his concern that artificially deflated raw material prices” to benefit other Mazzetta subsidiaries “was illegal and in violation of domestic and international tax laws.”

In the same email, attached to the lawsuit as an exhibit, Thompson “expressed his concern that repacking expired seafood with new expiration dates was morally wrong and illegal.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Groups sue over offshore drilling expansion in Gulf, will also defend Atlantic

July 18, 2018 — Environmental groups on Tuesday sued the Trump administration over its expansion of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and said they are prepared to do the same if lease sales are announced for the Atlantic coast.

“This lawsuit is specific to lease sales happening in the Gulf, but we are prepared to defend the Atlantic from offshore drilling as well,” said Maggie Caldwell of New York City based Earthjustice.

The group filed the suit on behalf of the Gulf Restoration Network, the Sierra Club, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

The suit alleges the administration moved to expand drilling to 78 million more acres of the Gulf of Mexico, without fully analyzing the risks to people, wildlife, and the environment.

The lease sales targeted in the suit are the largest ever offered for oil and gas development in U.S. history, the organizations said.

It was in response to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) announcement last week of its next lease sale on August 15.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City