Saving Seafood is now providing an audio recording from the 2010 Fisheries Summit — Congressman Barney Frank and Governor Deval Patrick.
Tierney, Kucinich press and warn top NOAA cop
The two congressmen who last week grilled federal oceans law enforcement chief Dale Jones about findings of his agency's wrongdoing against the fishing industry during a field hearing at Gloucester's City Hall have stepped up their push for answers — and financial documents.
Mass. 6th District Congressman John Tierney, a member of the congressional oversight Domestic Policy Subcommittee, and Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the subcommittee chairman, have demanded that Jones, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement, provide a "full accounting" of all international travel he has taken since 1999 and a "full accounting" of all such travel taken by "other top officials" at OLE over the same time frame.
Read the full story in the Gloucester Daily Times
Dr. Brian Rothschild discusses the Fisheries Summit and a proposed moratorium on catch shares
Each week, on WBSM in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bob Vanasse of Saving Seafood joins host Phil Paleologos to discuss issues related to the fisheries with news-making guests.
Dr. Brian Rothschild, Dean Emeritus of the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology, discusses the Northeast Fisheries Summit, science and cooperative research, and a proposed moratorium on catch shares.
Fishermen gather for summit on industry’s fate
Some fishermen and advocates for the industry voiced concern at a regional summit Monday about upcoming federal regulations they warn could put them out of business, while others suggested the changes were a necessary way to curb overfishing.
Fishermen and elected leaders gathered at the New Bedford Whaling Museum ahead of a scheduled May 1 switch to a "sector" system of fishing, in which Northeast fishermen would be broken into groups and forced to combine their catch allotments.
Though the system is intended to give fishermen more autonomy by allowing them to manage their allotments among themselves, some are concerned their individual shares would be taken by large companies and that the given shares would not be enough to allow them to survive.
"Fifty percent of you will be out of business by August. That's not what you want to hear, but that's what you're going to get," warned Carlos Rafael, a fishing boat owner in the Port of New Bedford who participated in a panel discussion about the new system. Rafael said the new management system was "being stuffed down our throats."
Read the complete story at WBZ 1030.
Governor Deval Patrick addresses Northeast Fisheries Summit
Governor Patrick visited the New Bedford Whaling Museum on March 8th for the Northeast Fisheries Summit with dozens of Massachusetts fishing families who proudly carry on the tradition of living and working at sea. The Governor encourages our political leaders and fishing communities to continue to work together toward the shared objectives of sustainability and economic vitality.
The Governor's release on the visit appears below.
* Governor Patrick has called for a high-level review of the nation's fisheries management process for efficiency and consistency. The principles of equity, fairness, conservation, preservation of jobs, and flexibility in management are the way forward.
* Governor Patrick has worked with leaders in Washington to secure millions of dollars in federal aid for our fishing families — $13.4 million for groundfish disaster emergency relief, $2 million for Massachusetts shellfishermen after the Red Tide outbreak, and $3.2 million now pending for a survey of groundfish and study of new fishing techniques are just a few examples.
* The Governor worked with Chairman John Pappalardo to demand that the New England Fisheries Management Council reconsider their proposed scallop catch limits. The result was $40 million in direct benefits to the New Bedford scallop industry.
* The challenge for our state's fishing communities is to maintain harmony between tough economic realities and delicate environmental conditions. Governor Patrick is working hard to ensure that our fishing families thrive not just today, but for generations to come.
Rare northern right whales were not hunted to the brink
One of the rarest whales in the world was not a victim of extensive whaling as previously supposed. Fewer than 350 North Atlantic right whales remain, with the blame for their demise laid at the harpoon tips of 16th and 17th century whalers.
But a new study of ancient whale bones confirms the population of northern right whales has for centuries been small with a limited genetic diversity. That strongly suggests a mass cull of the animals never took place.
One researcher, Dr Moira Brown, now at the New England Aquarium in Boston, US realised that if DNA could be extracted from these bones, it could reveal a host of information about the culled whales.
In earlier research, Dr McLeod, Dr Brown and colleagues managed to do just that. They extracted DNA from 218 whale bones recovered from either the galleon or from the shores of Quebec and Labrador, whey they had been lying for 400 years at sites of long-forgotten Basque whaling stations.
Of those bones, just one came from a North Atlantic right whale, the others all coming from bowhead whales. "There was absolutely no evidence of a right whale targeted hunt," Dr McLeod told the BBC.
NMFS chief gets earful at ‘Summit’
The Northeast Fisheries Summit drew almost 300 people to the city Monday, a veritable “Who's Who” of the fishing industry, giving the new NOAA fisheries director an earful about what they view as the coming crisis in the Northeast fishing industry.
Eric Schwaab, just three weeks into his job as the assistant administrator for fisheries at NOAA, sat in the front row of the Whaling Museum's packed auditorium and heard one speaker after another assail his agency for its policies, its attitude, and its law enforcement.
Representatives of all kinds of players in the fishing industry were encouraged to put their cards on the table, and they did, in 10-minute presentations that were sometimes angry, sometimes emotional.
Patrick calls for technology to improve accuracy of fish counts
Governor Deval Patrick today said federal regulators and researchers should use the newest technology as they make crucial calculations about the vibrancy of fish stocks off the Massachusetts coastline.
Speaking at a summit on the fishing industry being at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Patrick noted that representatives of the fishing industry were among the first people he met after he took office in 2006. He also noted the historic link between the industry and the Bay State.
"We know fishing in Massachusetts,'' he said. "We've been at it for centuries.''
Federal regulators frequently come under fire from fishermen for the techniques used to provide estimates of the populations of fish and other sea life routinely harvested for markets. The industry historically complains that regulators and researchers undercount stocks.
Fishermen gather in New Bedford for industry summit
Some fishermen and advocates for the industry voiced concern at a regional summit today about upcoming federal regulations they warn could put them out of business, while others suggested the changes were a necessary way to curb overfishing.
Fishermen and elected leaders gathered at the New Bedford Whaling Museum ahead of a scheduled May 1 switch to a "sector" system of fishing, in which Northeast fishermen would be broken into groups and forced to combine their catch allotments.
Though the system is intended to give fishermen more autonomy by allowing them to manage their allotments among themselves, some are concerned their individual shares would be taken by large companies and that the given shares would not be enough to allow them to survive.
VIDEO: Fishermen gather for summit on industry’s fate
Some fishermen and advocates for the industry voiced concern at a regional summit Monday about upcoming federal regulations they warn could put them out of business, while others suggested the changes were a necessary way to curb overfishing.
Fishermen and elected leaders gathered at the New Bedford Whaling Museum ahead of a scheduled May 1 switch to a “sector” system of fishing, in which Northeast fishermen would be broken into groups and forced to combine their catch allotments.
Though the system is intended to give fishermen more autonomy by allowing them to manage their allotments among themselves, some are concerned their individual shares would be taken by large companies and that the given shares would not be enough to allow them to survive.
“Fifty percent of you will be out of business by August. That’s not what you want to hear, but that’s what you’re going to get,“ warned Carlos Rafael, a fishing boat owner in the Port of New Bedford who participated in a panel discussion about the new system. Rafael said the new management system was “being stuffed down our throats.“
See the video at NBC 10 Providence.