The mayor of New Bedford, Scott Lang, joins Richie Canastra, owner of Whaling City Display Auction, to speak with FOX Business News about current conditions in the fishing industry.
Watch the video from FOX Business News here.
Maine Voices: Senate has chance to help two gulfs
BUCKSPORT — The Gulf of Maine has a golden opportunity for extensive revitalization coming as Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins return to Washington. About $990 million will be available to resurrect our legendary coastal fisheries and environmental richness.
But they must champion these proposed new funds in different bills written in response to two great disasters in our sister Gulf, as the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina has arrived, and BP's criminal negligence has been capped off (maybe).
I remember watching a band of New Orleans musicians sway solemnly by vast acres of stacked caskets filled with their forebears' remains. I wondered how all this beauty had evolved. I remember thinking that of course the levees would protect them – they were built by the Army Corps of Engineers, after all.
Read the complete story from the Portland Press Herald.
The Mackerel Wars
If you keep an eye on EU issues – you may have noticed that everyone from the Guardian, to Libération, to members of Parliament and the EU Fisheries Commissioner herself, is talking about the new war that’s reached European waters: The Mackerel War.
Iceland and the Faroe Islands unilaterally raised their combined mackerel quota from 27,000 to 215,000 tons – and Norway and the EU are not happy about it, arguing that such an enormous jump makes a mockery out of sustainable fisheries.
Last week Norway’s answer has been to prohibit landings of mackerel by Faroese or Icelandic vessels in its ports and the Norwegian minister is now calling upon the European Commission and Member States to do the same. In addition, the European Association of Fish Producers has demanded that the Commission suspend the current bilateral fisheries agreement between the EU and the Faroe Islands, develop and execute immediate EU trade sanctions against Faroe Islands and Iceland, and place their mackerel fishing vessels on the IUU black list.
Read the complete story from Oceana.
Spreading the fishermen’s word
As if on cue, the rains vanished, the sun came out and a flotilla of fishing boats arrived from points north and west at the mouth of Vineyard Haven harbor Thursday to execute a flawless demonstration of seamanship for the national news media and President Obama.
And while the president was playing golf during the midday exercise, Boston and Providence TV news crews were among those on board the lead fishing boat in a demonstration designed to spread the word of New England fishermen's plight.
The nub of the dispute centers on the administration's push to carry out tight catch allocations tied to stock data that is facing a growing number of questions — all under a new federally-backed economic system that encourages fishermen to buy, sell or trade catch shares and their permits.
Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has acknowledged that the catch-share policy will ensure that a "significant fraction" of the small independent boats are driven out of business.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.
Scallopers claim tribal fishing rights
The recent boarding of a scallop vessel off Nantucket may be the first shot fired across the bow of the federal government in a dispute over a Maine tribe's right to fish in federal waters.
Late in the day on Aug. 25 the Coast Guard, as part of an investigation with the Massachusetts Environmental Police, stopped a Maine scalloper off Nantucket on its return from a fishing trip. The vessel had been working out of Nantucket Harbor for an undisclosed amount of time.
According to Coast Guard Petty Officer Connie Terrell, the captain did not have the federal fisheries permit needed to catch scallops in federal waters. Instead, he handed officers paperwork from the Passamaquoddy tribe in Maine that he believed authorized him to fish in federal waters. Terrell said there were no scallops onboard when the vessel was stopped.
Read the complete story from the Cape Cod Times.
Barnegat Light joins program that recycles old fishing gear
BARNEGAT LIGHT – August 30, 2010 – The tales fishermen tell on the dock aren't always about the big one that got away. Some are about the many old nets, crab traps and ropes they haul in with the day's catch.
On Monday, this port — home to 300 fishermen — became a participant in Fishing for Energy, a program that allows commercial fishermen to recycle gear that otherwise would be hauled to a landfill or dumped back into the ocean.
Fisherman Brett Clark of Tabernacle was among the first to toss a used fishing net into the special bin Monday morning, signaling the beginning of a green partnership between the community and Covanta Energy-from-Waste facilities in New Jersey and Schnitzer Steel industries Inc. in New England.
"In the old days, fishermen would just kick the old nets they got out of the water back into the water," Clark said. "Now, everyone is going green and we (fishermen) are no different. Let's start turning these old nets into energy."
Read the complete story from the Asbury Park Press.
Dogfish actions explained
There has been a great deal of controversy over the recent announcements by NOAA Fisheries concerning dogfish. This year, an action was taken that resulted in an increase of about 20% in the 2010 quota over the 2009 quota, and kept the trip limit at 3,000 pounds/trip.
For more on that action, click on this link.
As the recent actions have been controversial, Saving Seafood asked NOAA Fisheries to explain the current situation. Their explanation follows: The stock is rebuilt, overfishing is not occurring, and the biomass is about where projections made in 2003 and 2006 [Northeast Regional Stock Assessment Workshop (SARC) 37 and 43] forecast it would be by 2009.
The 2010 quota could have been set higher without allowing overfishing in 2010. However, that was not the only concern. The New England Fisheries Management Council's Joint Spiny Dogfish Committee supported a lower quota than the maximum allowable, one that reflected a constant catch strategy that would guard against dramatic fluctuation in annual quota in future years. This is a concern because despite improved recruitment in 2009, the Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB) is expected to decline beginning in 2015 when the weak year-classes of 1997-2003 (the weakest on record) start entering the SSB.
At 15 million pounds held constant over the next 5 years, there's an increase in the quota over 2009 but just a 2 percent chance that the stock will be newly overfished in 2015 when the weak year classes begin to enter the spawning stock.
Certain Fishery Permit Holders in the Common Pool to lose 50% of days at sea overnight
GLOUCESTER, Mass. – August 31, 2010 – According to an order by NOAA issued today, starting tomorrow, those who are fishing under a Category A Day in certain areas will need to count each fishing day as if were two days. Cmmon pool fishermen affected lose 50% of their fishing rights overnight, with no prior notice.
The text of NOAA's announcement follows:
In order to ensure a stable supply of groundfish throughout the fishing year, NOAA Fisheries Service announces that, effective on September 2, 2010 at 0001 hours, it is implementing a Category A differential DAS counting rate of 2: 1. This requirement applies to NE multispecies common pool vessels fishing under a Category A DAS in the Inshore GOM Differential DAS Area, the Offshore GOM Differential DAS Area, the Inshore GB Differential DAS Area, and the Offshore GB Differential DAS Area. This rule does not apply to the SNE Differential DAS Area; vessels will only be charged at a 1: 1 rate if fishing there. This rule also implements a zero possession limit on witch flounder for all common pool vessels.
Menhaden group to meet Sept. 23 in Fredericksburg
A panel studying menhaden management in Virginia will meet Sept. 23 in Fredericksburg.
The panel, chaired by state Sens. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, and Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland, met earlier this summer in Newport News. Members want to know how many menhaden live in the Chesapeake Bay and if the population is overfished. Some suggested funding a study to the tune of $500,000 annually to complete the task.
The Fredericksburg meeting should be interesting because members will hear from Rob Latour and Bill Goldsborough. The two have respected, but opposing, points of view.
Latour is a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who chairs the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's menhaden technical committee. The coast wide population of menhaden is 20-40 billion, he said, more than enough to sustain Virginia's fishery.
Read the complete story from The Daily Press.
Skate Wing Possession Limit to Be Reduced September 3, 2010
NOAA Fisheries Service announced today that effective 0001 hours on September 3, 2010, fishing vessels issued a Federal open access skate permit may not possess or land more than the incidental limit of 500 lbs of skate wings per trip for the remainder of the 2010 fishing year (through April 30 2011).
Under new management measures that went into effect on July 16, 2010, NOAA is required to reduce the skate wing fishery possession limit when 80 percent of the annual Total Allowable Landings of skate wings are caught.
Read the permit holder letter from NOAA.