January 22, 2019 — In this episode of the Sourcing Matters podcast, former NOAA Regional Administrator of the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office and former Mayor of New Bedford, John Bullard discusses the impacts of the federal shutdown on marine management and coastal communities.
Maine Fisherman Says ‘Sea-To-Table’ Is Path To Sustainability — For Oceans And His Business
January 22, 2019 — It’s tough to be an independent commercial fisherman, and regulations designed to manage fish populations are part of the reason why.
The government has imposed a quota system: fishermen have to pay to catch certain kinds of fish, like cod. Cod is deemed to be in low supply. So, fishermen are only allowed to catch a limited amount of it. They can pay to lease someone else’s quotas, so they can catch more. But that’s expensive, and makes it harder to turn a profit.
One fisherman in Maine is trying to fish more sustainably — and make a living doing it.
“The average fish that you go and eat at an average seafood restaurant has been around for 10 days and traveled 7,000 miles. We beat that by about 99.9 percent,” says Tim Rider, who’s adopted a sea-to-table method that means consumers get fresh seafood just a few days — or even hours — after it was caught.
Instead of selling fish through wholesalers who control the price, Rider’s company New England Fishmongers sells fish directly to local restaurants and consumers.
Considering the strict regulations and fishing quotas that commercial fishermen face, Rider focuses on quality over quantity in order to compete with larger fishing companies. The fish are bled and gutted on the boat, which Rider says yields a higher quality product. This approach also proves to be less wasteful, he says.
Shrimp enters SIMP with “informed compliance” period
January 21, 2019 — As shrimp’s inclusion into a federal government program to monitor seafood imports begins its fourth week, companies affected by the program say it’s been business as usual for them.
On 31 December, NOAA Fisheries along with Customs and Border Protection officials started an informed compliance period for shrimp importers participating in the Seafood Import Monitoring Program. SIMP requires importers keep chain of custody data for products entering the United States. It also requires the shipments to come with harvest and landing data to ensure the products are properly labeled.
According to the NOAA Fisheries website, imported shrimp entries will be inspected and audited, but they will not be rejected through 1 March if the mandatory data is missing. The website adds that the “informed compliance” period allows shrimp processors and importers time to work through any accidental errors in their recordkeeping.
After 1 March, any entries without the required data will be rejected.
The 31 December start date was announced in a Federal Register publication last April. While there is a limited shutdown of the federal government currently, R.L. Visconti, an import broker, told SeafoodSource imports still need to comply with the guidelines.
Jeff Stern, vice president of purchasing for Censea, a major U.S. shrimp importer, said at the Global Seafood Market Conference on 16 January that all of his company’s shrimp entries are being processed as normal.
Coast Guard gives approval to America’s Finest Jones Act waiver
January 18, 2019 — The U.S. Coast Guard has signed off on a Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest, a USD 75 million (EUR 65.8 million) vessel commissioned by Fishermen’s Finest, according to a press release issued by U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Washington) earlier this month.
That means the boat built by Dakota Creek Industries is free to fish in U.S. waters and deliver products to American ports.
“The Coast Guard worked hard to create a thorough report absolving Dakota Creek and giving the green light to the America’s Finest vessel,” said Larsen in the statement. “The employees at Dakota Creek support a job-creating industry that strengthens national defense and fosters innovation and contributes to the maritime economy in Washington state and Alaska. I am proud to be a part of giving the hard working employees at Dakota Creek a stronger future.”
Fishery management delayed by partial government shutdown
January 18, 2019 — If the partial federal government shutdown drags on the 2018 summer flounder benchmark assessment may not be available, a fishery spokesperson said.
The assessment is needed to move forward with setting the fisheries 2019 regulations. And it’s not just summer flounder assessments, it’s scup, sea bass, and striped bass, to name some other key recreational fisheries.
“Basically, we’re all waiting on the benchmark assessments and stock reviews,” said Tina Berger, spokesperson for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or ASMFC.
“If all things were normal the council would move forward with making decisions for 2019 seasons,” Berger said. “Our federal partners are part of every part of the process.”
Offshore Wind, Commercial Fishing Industries Partnering Up In Unusual Collaboration
January 18, 2019 — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a group representing fishermen from Maine to North Carolina formed specifically to interact with offshore wind companies, and developer Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind (formerly Deepwater Wind) said the partnership is the first-of-its-kind.
As development of offshore wind farms is underway off of Rhode Island and Massachusetts’ coasts, commercial fishermen have been in talks with developers to figure out the best way to build wind farms that sustain the fishing industry.
However, RODA and Orsted feel the way the industries have been engaging with one another has been inefficient.
“The fishermen are being pulled in a million directions and we’re very excited to have a more structured approach where we can get that input and give it back to the developers as well as to the government,” Annie Hawkins, executive director of RODA, said.
Jeff Grybowski, Co-CEO of Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, agreed the new partnership will make it easier for the industries to communicate.
“It can often be difficult for a developer to find the right people to talk to because obviously fishermen are, they’re small businesses and some of them are big businesses, but there are lots of different people,” Grybowski said.
Hawkins added the goal is to have fewer, more productive meetings, however any recommendations that come out of them are nonbinding.
Commercial fishermen have raised multiple concerns about offshore wind farms, such as the layout of the turbines affecting their access to fishing grounds and ability to safely return to shore, and spinning turbines interfering with their radar navigation.
Offshore Wind Giant and Fishing Group Agree to Partnership
January 18, 2019 — A new agreement has been announced between a group representing commercial fishermen and the world’s leading developer of offshore wind farms.
The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance and Orstead U.S. Offshore Wind are looking for ways to improve communcation with each other.
Alliance Director Annie Hawkins says the agreement provides a structure to help fishermen give direct input to Orsted.
“Having a structured partnership will create a much better opportunity for fishermen to be involved,” said Hawkins. “It’s a good faith agreement; it provides a forum for the concerns of fishermen to be heard.”
The agreement calls for the creation of a joint industry task force to explore issues like the siting and design of offshore wind facilities.
Hawkins says when it comes to the North Atlantic fisheries, Orsted is still learning. “They are certainly a developer with a lot of experience in offshore wind, but probably a little less experience in dealing with Federal fisheries in the U.S.”
New partnership develops with goal of improving talks between offshore wind, fishing
January 18, 2019 — The pool of organizations aiming to generate a mutually beneficial relationship between offshore wind and the commercial fishing industry grew on Thursday.
The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) announced a partnership with Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind that is meant to improve communications between the fishing industry and offshore wind developers.
While the agreement was described as a “first-of-its-kind” partnership in the press release, it’s not the first pact agreed upon with the hopes of improving communication.
Last November, the New Bedford Port Authority announced an agreement with all offshore wind developers operating in the Massachusetts/Rhode Island market to serve as the designated Fisheries Representative of the commercial fishing industry to each of the development companies.
Orsted said this agreement would not affect its partnership with the Port Authority. It said it views this most recent announcement as an addition to its relationship with New Bedford.
The agreement between RODA and Orsted is unique in that RODA extends its representations from Maine to North Carolina.
RODA and Ørsted Partner to Address Fisheries and Offshore Wind Coexistence
January 17, 2019 — BOSTON — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance and Ørsted:
The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) today announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind to improve communications between the commercial fishing industry and offshore wind energy developers.
This first-of-its-kind partnership will create an unprecedented opportunity for commercial fishermen to provide direct input to the wind energy industry on matters of significant interest to their businesses. Under this partnership, both industries will remain autonomous but provide a platform to move towards workable solutions. While non-binding in nature, it is RODA and Ørsted’s hope that discussions will prove beneficial to all parties involved.
“Partnering with Ørsted is a significant step forward as we look to strengthen our ongoing dialogue between commercial fishermen and offshore wind developers,” said RODA Executive Director Annie Hawkins. “RODA believes that we need to develop solutions for offshore wind energy and commercial fishing to coexist, and today’s announcement will support future sustainability for both industries.”
“We are proud to be the first offshore wind developer to partner with RODA, which is an important part to the future of offshore wind,” said CEO of Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind and President of Ørsted North America Thomas Brostrøm. “The fishing community must be considered as offshore wind development continues in the U.S. Through this partnership, we will be able to share our concerns in a productive way and develop practical solutions as we all seek to coexist and thrive for a better tomorrow.”
RODA is the only national commercial fishing organization that is purpose-built for interacting with the offshore wind industry to maintain sustainable fisheries. Based from Midcoast Maine to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, it also has the broadest geographic and gear-type range of any East Coast fishing industry membership organization active in offshore wind engagement.
The RODA Board of Directors consists of fishing industry representatives who bring over 200 years of combined operational and management experience, split across the range of federally and state-managed Atlantic fisheries. One of RODA’s primary goals is to ensure that the fishing industry’s input at-large is received, considered, and accommodated to the maximum extent possible in leasing, design, construction, and operations of new offshore developments.
“It is extremely vital that our nation’s fishermen are heard when offshore wind projects are being developed,” said RODA Chairman and Director of Sustainability at Atlantic Capes Fisheries Peter Hughes. “Ørsted has made it clear that they want to be partners with the fishing industry, and we are optimistic that our work with them will set a standard ensuring that fishermen have direct input into wind farm designs and ensuring that their concerns are fully embraced by developers.”
A core component of the partnership will be the creation of a joint industry task force to explore improved approaches to project siting, design, and operations. The two industries have already engaged in extensive communication regarding topics ranging from navigation concerns (including transit lanes and turbine layouts) and other impacts avoidance to identifying a mutual interest in developing transparent strategies for long-term mitigation. This new initiative will provide a more structured process for further collaboration between the two industries.
Ørsted and RODA strongly encourage other offshore wind energy developers and commercial fishermen to join this partnership in order to develop well-informed and enduring approaches to best practices and provide broad representation of the industries.
For more information on joining RODA as a fishing industry member, or joining the joint advisory panel as a member of the offshore wind development community, please contact info@rodafisheries.org.
About Ørsted
Ørsted delivers clean, renewable energy along the US Eastern Seaboard. Through Ørsted US Offshore Wind, the company operates Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, and has a comprehensive geographic coverage with the largest pipeline of development capacity, totaling over 8GW in seven states. It is jointly headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island and employs over 100 people.
As the world’s leading developer of offshore wind farms, Ørsted has installed 5.6GW offshore wind capacity in Europe and has a further 3.4GW under construction. It is Ørsted’s ambition to have installed a total offshore wind capacity of 15GW worldwide by 2025. The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore wind farms, bioenergy plants and innovative waste-to-energy solutions and provides smart energy products to its customers. Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs 6,000 people. Ørsted’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (Ørsted). In 2017, the group’s revenue was DKK 59.5 billion (EUR 8.0 billion). For more information on Ørsted, visit https://orsted.com/ or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
About RODA
The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies with an interest in improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. It supports science- and evidence-based approaches to ocean resource management, including through the use of robust public-private partnerships and collaborative research. For industry communications, public relations, and media relations, RODA is partnering with Stove Boat Communications, a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm with expertise in oceans and fisheries issues. Together, RODA and Stove Boat will foster improved communication, ensure published materials are factual, and make information accessible to fishermen and the public
Media Contacts:
Ørsted North America
Lauren Burm, 617-309-8730
Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA)
Bob Vanasse, 202-333-2628
Federal fishery regulators forced to postpone official decisions during shutdown
January 16, 2019 — The North Pacific Fishery Management Council may not be able to make any official decisions at its February meeting due to the partial federal government shutdown.
Congress’s battle over funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is also causing the council, which regulates federal fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean, to remove some items from the agenda.
Employees at the federal register are no longer working. The council’s Deputy Director Dianna Evans said it needs to publish notices for final action items in the register by Jan. 21.
“There are three actions on our February agenda that are scheduled for final action,” she said. “At this point, unless we can meet those notification requirements, the council will likely be required to take perhaps a preliminary final determination for those different actions and actual final action will need to be rescheduled for another time.”
Read the full story at Alaska Public Media
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