Saying that the Amendment would cause massive fisheries closure from North Carolina to Florida and result in significant economic harm, U.S. Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3), Senator Richard Burr and Congressman Mike McIntyre (NC-7) asked U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to direct the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to reconsider its recent decision on Amendment 17B to the Snapper-Grouper Management Plan. The text of the lawmakers' release follows: WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week unless changed, Amendment 17B would close U.S. waters from 240 foot depth to 200 miles offshore, from Florida to North Carolina, in an attempt to protect two fish species – speckled hind and warsaw grouper – for which there are no valid stock assessments. The closure would have a significant negative impact on fishermen and fishing communities. Jones, McIntyre and Burr joined the five members of the South Atlantic Council who voted against Amendment 17B in arguing that the Council acted on unacceptably limited data and ignored reasonable alternatives. In a letter to Secretary Locke sent on June 1st, Jones, McIntyre and Burr ask the Secretary to direct the South Atlantic Council to reconsider Amendment 17B at its next meet meeting and to direct the Council to consider less restrictive alternatives that will both protect the species and allow fishermen reasonable access. The text of the letter follows: Dear Secretary Locke: We are writing to express our extreme disappointment with the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s decision to close the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) from 240’ depth seaward to the end of the EEZ at 200 miles offshore to protect two species of fish – speckled hind and warsaw grouper – for which there are no valid stock assessments. The Council’s action was based on unacceptably limited data and ignored reasonable alternatives that would have far less impact on fishing families already reeling from the economic downturn. The five members of the Council who voted against Amendment 17B to the Snapper-Grouper Management Plan filed a minority opinion which reveals the systemic flaws with the Council’s proposal. We are writing to request that you review this opinion – a copy of which is attached – and take immediate action to instruct the South Atlantic Council to reconsider Amendment 17B at its June meeting. As the minority opinion makes clear, the impacts of the closure mandated by this proposal “will have devastating economic effect on the states, primarily on those who participate in commercial fisheries in North Carolina and Florida, and the industries that support recreational fishing primarily in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. We believe the negative economic impact is way out of proportion given the lack of quality stock assessments based on very little data available.” In fact, the last stock assessment on speckled hind was completed years ago, and over years ago for warsaw grouper! We believe strongly that imposing such a massive closure on the basis of such limited science is unacceptable. Furthermore, we are troubled that the Council did not fully consider other alternatives that may be just as likely to protect the species, while not putting large numbers of fishing families out of business. Among other things, we are particularly concerned that options were not considered to allow participation in the blueline tilefish fishery in North Carolina, where there is little to no contact with speckled hind and warsaw grouper. Therefore, we again ask you to direct the Council to reconsider Amendment 17B at its June meeting, while ensuring that all Council members and senior Council staff are fully aware of the minority opinion. We also ask that you direct the Council to consider less restrictive alternatives that will both protect the species and allow fisherman reasonable access, particularly to the blueline tilefish fishery in North Carolina. If the Council is not able to reconsider its decision, then we request that you take action to ensure an appropriate outcome. Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to your response.
New England Fishery Management Council Meeting Agenda for June 22-24, 2010
The New England Fishery Management Council has released the Meeting Agenda for the June 22-24, 2010 meeting at the Eastland Park Hotel in Portland, Maine.
View the full NEFMC meeting agenda [PDF]
Oil reaches the Alabama coast
FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon has reached the Alabama coast. Gooey, weathered oil made landfall along Dauphin Island on Tuesday, and the Fort Morgan peninsula and perhaps even Gulf Shores were expected to receive weathered oil after press time on Wednesday or possibly today.
Moderate south to southwest winds this week are moving the oil closer toward the Alabama and Mississippi coasts. The forecast by NOAA officials was the first suggesting landfall was imminent, and on its current track the oil could also threaten Mobile Bay.
NOAA modeling, however, suggests that the sheen approaching the bay might be prevented from entering at present because of a strong 6-7 knot tidal movement, combined with heavy outflow from upstate rivers fed by recent heavy rains.
Read the full BadwinCountyNow.com story
US oil spill: Fishing villages ‘on the edge’
Louisiana's shrimping season officially begins on Monday but the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has killed any sense of optimism, reports the BBC's Robyn Bresnahan.
George Barisich's fishing boat has survived three major hurricanes – Gustav, Ike and Katrina.
"My house was underwater, but she survived," he says, giving the boat a loving pat.
But Mr Barisich fears what will sink his commercial fishing business once and for all is not a natural disaster, but a man-made one.
"People laugh at us when we say this oil spill could be worse than Katrina, but we ain't joking," he says.
BLOG: Catch Shares lawsuit to be joined by Congressman Barney Frank
The giving away of Public Commonwealth to special interests, Catch Shares and the push toward them by NOAA – regardless of standards of the nation’s fishing laws, and despite Constitutional rights – have become a hotter topic by the day. Recently, the chairman of the U.S. House finance committee, leading Democrat Cong. Barney Frank has put everything on the line and challenged the Obama Administration to get the fishing industry problems straightened out or it will have serious consequences regarding how Frank and others support the Administration.
U.S. Congressman Barney Frank has joined Massachusetts’s New Bedford mayor Scott Lang and others by pushing the Obama Administration to uphold the laws of the United States regarding Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act standards.
Read the full blog at the Groundswell Fisheries Movement
Letter: No need to wait — fishing rules are a disaster
It's significant to me whether or not I can pay this month's bills, not if the total landings for the month are up or down. The landings could be up for any given month, but if only 20 percent of the fleet had the "privilege" of partaking in those landings and the other 80 percent is going broke, is that a successful program?
Read the full letter to the editor in the Gloucester Times
Gulf oil spill may harm New England’s bluefin catch
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. — The fate of one of New England’s most prized fish may be unfolding more than a thousand miles away in the Gulf of Mexico.
Bluefin tuna — so desired by sushi devotees that a single giant fish fetches thousands of dollars — are believed to spawn off the United States only in the Gulf and mostly during April and May. This year, both coincided with the worst oil spill in the nation’s history.
As oil gushes up from the seabed and spreads, scientists are studying whether bluefin larvae the size of a pencil tip will survive the leak. The answer could have important consequences for New England, where many of the tuna migrate each year and where bluefin fishing season opened yesterday.
Read this Boston Globe story in full
Mutual respect buoys New Bedford waterfront patrol
It's 4:15 in the morning and a dense fog blankets the South Terminal on New Bedford's waterfront. A lost Canadian trucker with a load of lobsters flags down Sgt. Pat Moran, a 26-year veteran of the Environmental Police. Moran guides the stranger to his destination, the Tichon plant, and continues a waterfront patrol that began at 2 a.m.
"I'm down here every day, at every fish house," says Moran, a Mattapoisett resident. Fisheries enforcement on the New Bedford waterfront became his full-time beat around 18 months ago after the Environmental Police contracted with the National Marine Fisheries Service to monitor commercial fisheries in New Bedford.
Enforcement is a delicate subject on the waterfront, with many fishermen resentful of what they consider the overly harsh treatment meted out by state and federal enforcers in the past and not only in New Bedford.
"We've worked hard to develop a relationship with these guys," Moran says. "They see us every single day. It has taken a long time to cultivate it but we understand their struggles. We're not here to hurt anybody."
"These fishermen work very hard in one of the most dangerous jobs out there," Cullen says.
Moran says consistency is the key to earning respect from the waterfront community. "I can write someone a warning two fish houses down for, say, oversized lobsters and come here and they already know about it. If I try to take someone else to court for oversize lobsters, that's not going to fly."
A number of fish house owners agreed that the officers working the waterfront have established a good working relationship with fishermen.
"The law enforcement presence we have now with the Environmental Police is light years better than the Gestapo-like agents that were here in the early '80s," said Eric Orman, owner of Tempest Fisheries. "And the National Marine Fisheries people tended to be from outside the area and outside the job description. These guys are more helpful and have more experience."
Every morning at 6, Moran makes it a point to visit the seafood auction.
Upstairs at the auction, there is plenty of banter between fishermen and police. Moran says he recently asked Carlos Rafael for his autograph after a picture of the fishing magnate appeared in The Standard-Times. "But I told him he had to sign it 'The Codfather,'" Moran jokes.
A knot of men study the wide-screen TV as the auction commences, among them Rafael. "Pat gave me a $50 ticket last week for taking some fluke out before 6 a.m. I was pissed, but what am I going to do? I was wrong," Rafael says. "These guys have a job to do. If they were just sitting in their truck, we'd complain they were wasting the taxpayers money."
Read the full story in SouthCoastToday.com
Editorial: NMFS allocation cuts provide proof that system is a failure
Perhaps more than anything else, the third-week cutback has already proven true the warning issued by the region's largest industry group, the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition.
The coalition had warned that fears of NMFS changing the catch limits at any time during the season would stimulate a "race to fish.
And while Ms. Kurkul didn't use that term, NMFS reported that within 20 days, a third of the allocations of Gulf of Maine winter flounder and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder had already been caught. Haddock limits were also reduced. The only limits not changed were on cod.
This vitual economic shutdown has its purpose, of course. As fisherman Paul Cohan (who joined the catch-share system) put its, NMFS is "occupationally cleansing the fishery of the few holdouts who refused to sign into sectors (the catch-share mechanism)."
Read the Gloucester Times editorial in full
West Coast group, opposed to catch shares, wants New England view of fishery management
NEW BEDFORD — An Oregon-based environmental group called Ecotrust is coming to New England next week to learn what effects catch shares and sector management are having on the regional fishing industry.
Six members of the Ecotrust's 10-member panel will meet in Boston June 1 to hear from six "regional presenters" — none of whom directly represent New Bedford or Gloucester. The meeting, according to Ecotrust spokeswoman Megan Mackey, will not be open to the public.
Ecotrust, which receives some of its funding from the Pew Charitable Trust, indicates it takes a dim view of catch shares, which it terms "privatizing" the fishery and "selling it to the highest bidder."
Read the SouthCoastToday.com story in full