WASHINGTON – March 21, 2012 – Upon landing in Washington for "Keep Fishermen Fishing" rally, Mayors Jon Mitchell of New Bedford and Carolyn Kirk of Gloucester, Dr. Brian Rothschild of the University of Massachusetts, David Bergeron of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission, and one of the rally organizers, Bonnie Brady of the Long Island Commercial Fishermen's Association, joined us from Reagan Airport just outside of DC. Listen to the show here.
Judge: Sea lion killings to save salmon can resume
March 22, 2012 – Oregon state authorities can resume killing California sea lions that feast on endangered salmon bottled up at a dam on the Columbia River, but fewer than one-third as many as federal biologists previously had authorized, a judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., denied the Humane Society of the United States request to stop the killing at the Bonneville Dam while a lawsuit challenging the program goes forward. But he limited the killing to 30 animals a year instead of the 92 authorized by federal authorities, and ordered that none of them may be shot.
"The case will go forward, and we feel we have a very strong case in the end," Humane Society marine program leader Sharon Young said of their third attempt to permanently halt the killings since they started in 2008.
Read the complete story by The AP at The Boston Globe.
NORTH CAROLINA: Gas prices take toll on commercial fishing industry
PENDER COUNTY, NC – March 22, 2012 – Many North Carolina residents have been dealing with pains at the pump lately thanks to rising gas prices, but it's not just drivers on the road dealing with the problem.
Commercial and recreational fishermen rely on hitting the open waters everyday to provide fresh local catches for restaurants, especially during the tourism months.
The steep gas prices, along with new, strict federal regulations for commercial fishermen, have some of them calling it quits.
Read the complete story from WECT.
Crossroads for the World’s Biggest Tuna Fishery
GUAM, March 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Decisions affecting the world's largest tuna fishery, its biggest fish, and the economies of some of the smallest countries will be made when representatives of more than 25 governments gather for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) annual meeting from March 26-30.
"These governments will make decisions about important measures to divide the region's tuna resources, enact shark protection measures, and combat illegal fishing," said Sue Lieberman, the Pew Environment Group's director of International Policy.
According to the commission's Scientific Committee, bigeye tuna, used in sushi and as tuna steak, are being overfished; yellowfin tuna are being caught to the limit of sustainability; and skipjack, the variety commonly found in cans on supermarket shelves, must be watched closely. The number of industrial fishing vessels engaged in these fisheries is increasing, but scientific data indicates a need for catch limits.
Read the complete story from The Sacramento Bee.
Senate Oceans Caucus Event: “Seafood Jobs in America”
A discussion on the importance of the U.S. seafood industry to our economy.
March 22, 2012 – Washington, D.C. ‐ In a historic effort to sustain and grow jobs in the U.S. seafood industry, the National Seafood Marketing Coalition is pleased to have been asked to brief the U.S. Senate Oceans Caucus on seafood jobs in America and the importance of the U.S. seafood industry to our national and regional economies. The briefing will be held in Washington D.C. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 366 on Thursday, March 29, 2012, from 3:00pm to 4:30pm.
The director of the National Seafood Marketing Coalition, Bruce Schactler, will lead a panel of economists and representatives from the seafood industry encompassing most of the nation’s major fishing regions. The discussion will highlight the contribution of jobs and economic value from seafood nationwide, the effect of global market competition to the industry, and opportunity and challenges the seafood industry faces in increasing U.S. seafood jobs and value.
Other panelists will include Phil Lansing (Analytical Consulting, Seafood Economist), Dr. David Veal (Executive Director of American Shrimp Processor's Assoc.), Natalie Webster (Director of American Albacore Fishing Association and U.S. Pole & Troll Albacore Fishery), Jack Brooks (President of J M Clayton Co.), and Dane Sommers (Executive Director of the Maine Lobster Council).
The support for the efforts of the National Seafood Marketing Coalition has grown to encompass seventy‐five (75) organizations, including industry organizations from across the Gulf of Mexico, up and down the East and West Coasts, Hawaii, Alaska, the U.S. aquaculture industry, and five (5) state Legislatures (Maine, Rhode Island, Florida, Louisiana, and Alaska).
This event is open to the public. The National Seafood Marketing Coalition urges its supporters to attend and contact their Senators and staff to request their attendance as well. Encouragement from constituents is always very powerful.
For more details regarding the U.S. Senate Oceans Caucus event, “Seafood Jobs in America”, contact Bruce Schactler at (907)‐738‐6451 or bschactler@ak.net .
Eastern Fisheries is adding 24th vessel to its scallop fleet
March 23, 2012 – Eastern Fisheries Inc., which bills itself as world’s largest harvester, processor, and marketer of scallops, said it has added the Maelstrom to its fleet of fishing vessels.
The 95-foot-long Maelstrom will be the 24th vessel in its fleet, New Bedford-based Eastern Fisheries said.
The company also plans to replace four older vessels in the fleet with new boats.
Read the complete story from The Boston Globe.
Sen. Charles Schumer pledges push for Magnuson reform
WASHINGTON — March 23, 2012 – New York Sen. Charles Schumer has pledged an all-out effort to get a hearing "this year" for his legislation make clear to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that rebuilding overfished stocks need not be forced into the 10-year window mandated by Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Schumer's pledge implicitly calls out Sen. John Kerry to make good on his support for the concept of flexibility.
The first speaker at Wednesday's "Keep Fishermen Fishing" rally, which drew 21 members of Congress in a bipartisan alliance that virtually as one called for adding "flexibility" to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Schumer set the urgent tone and business-like theme of the rally event with his blunt and reasonable goal — to "begin hearings on Magnuson reform this year."
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.
Japanese exporter exhibits in Boston
Among the familiar faces at Kenji Machida’s Yamayo booth at the International Boston Seafood Show last week were exporters, distributors, and fishermen from New Bedford, Gloucester, Portsmouth, N.H., and New Brunswick, Canada. They are Machida’s friends from the days when he worked in an office in Wakefield exporting their lobster, snow crabs, herring, tuna, and monkfish to Japan.
Machida had returned to Japan to export seafood to the United States. But the giant earthquake and resulting tsunami last year nearly wiped out his business in Hachinohe, 200 miles north of the quake’s epicenter. Because of efforts to get his $50 million-a-year firm up and running, the company founded by his grandfather in 1927 was the only earthquake survivor exhibiting this year.
Read the complete story from The Boston Globe.
Congressman Walter Jones speaks at ‘Keep Fishermen Fishing’ rally
WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 23, 2012 – This week Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) spoke to a crowd of roughly 2,000 fishermen from across the country at the “Keep Fishermen Fishing” rally. The commercial and recreational fishermen gathered next to the U.S. Capitol to support fisheries management reform. The demonstration emphasized the need for a variety of changes in federal fishing law, with particular emphasis on rebuilding flexibility, blocking new catch share programs and greater transparency and accountability at NOAA Fisheries and the Regional Fishery Management Councils.
“Fisheries reform cannot wait,” said Jones. “Fishermen in North Carolina and across this nation our struggling mightily because the government is unnecessarily regulating them to the brink of bankruptcy. At a time of persistently high unemployment, that’s just unacceptable. Congress has got to step up to the plate and change the law to provide a statutory framework that will yield both healthy fish stocks and healthy fishing communities.”
Jones was among several legislators who gave remarks at the rally, including: Senators Charles Schumer (NY) and John Kerry (MA) and Representatives Sandy Adams (FL), Gus Bilirakis (FL), Alan West (FL), Barney Frank (MA), John Tierney (MA), Tim Scott (SC), Steve Southerland (FL), David Rivera (FL), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), John Runyan (NJ), Bill Keating (MA). Jones also spoke individually with fishermen from Dare and Carteret Counties before and after his remarks at the rally.
Congressman Jones has been a national leader in fighting for reform of America’s fishing laws. He was the original author of legislative language to provide flexibility in rebuilding fish stocks. He was also the leader of a successful effort in 2011 to block funding for new catch programs on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. And he helped lead the push that resulted in the Inspector General investigation into NOAA Fisheries’ overzealous law enforcement tactics.
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Community fish share business benefits fish stocks, fishermen, and families
March 25, 2012 – Onkfish, redfish, silver hake, yellowtail flounder, winter skate, pollock, and northern shrimp are among the delicious seafood from swimming off Bay State shoes that consumers may have never tasted — unless they have joined a new cooperative venture that brings them a weekly allotment filleted and ready to cook.
Cod and scallops are New England favorites, but there is more variety out there to be had — and in bountiful supply, experts say.
"More money for the fishermen, less wasted bycatch, fewer threatened fish caught per year, and maintaining a healthy fishery," are the goals of Dave Henchy's new business concept — Cape Cod Fish Share (capecodfishshare.com), he said.
Eco-friendly fishing standards, green packaging, and making good on buying local are essential criteria for Henchy's business. "He's tapping into all the current trends in the food industry: organic, sustainable, natural, local," said Tobey Stapleton, full time lecturer and marketing expert at UMass Dartmouth's Charlton College of Business who is advising Henchy.
Henchy is bringing a new level of sustainability, accountability, and fish-to-plate benefits to kitchens around the SouthCoast and Cape Cod, even up to the Boston area. He promises people they'll know exactly what kind of fish they're eating, what boat it came from (Yellow Bird out of Chatham is a regular), and that they're getting it on the same day the fish was caught.
Read the complete story from The Standard-Times