State and Local

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — January 21, 2013 — A set of anti-fish barriers marked by an orange boom, white buoys and a stream of bubbles in the water is the first serious sign that momentum on the South Terminal project is scaling up.

The barriers, part of the environmental measures associated with the port development project, were installed the weekend of Jan. 12 and 13 in New Bedford Harbor, running roughly from the Schuster Corp. building to the Gifford Street boat ramps, said Assistant Harbormaster Victor Fonseca.

They alert boaters to a thinly woven net that drops almost to the bottom and is meant to keep winter flounder from releasing their eggs in the area and a silt curtain designed to contain materials disturbed during the construction, Fonseca said. Boats can pass to the boat ramp through an opening of about 75 feet cut off from the fish with a stream of bubbles pumped by underwater hoses.

"This is the first physical step towards that offshore wind energy future for Massachusetts," said Catherine Williams, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which is in charge of the project. "It's a great sign of things to come."

The state is pushing for the Marine Commerce Terminal, currently out to bid, to be completed in about 19 months once it starts.

The anti-fish barriers will be in place for at least a year, Fonseca said. The mitigation measures cost about $200,000, Williams said.

Winter flounder — also known as lemon sole — spawn in shallow, sheltered areas in estuaries, said Vincent Manfredi of the Division of Marine Fisheries, which was consulted on the project. The fish drop their eggs when temperatures appear to start warming again, he said.

The eggs hatch between 30 and 60 days later; the young flounder spend the summer eating and growing, benefiting from the warmer water temperatures and more abundant food in the estuary, he said.

 

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times

 

 

January 20, 2013 — Although it's one of the smallest states in the nation, New Jersey has an amazing amount of recreational resources available to outdoor enthusiasts. Located within its borders are 330,000 acres of wildlife management areas for hunting, more than 50 state parks and forests, 200 waters for trout fishing and countless hiking trails.

In an effort to help people connect with the state's many outdoor recreation options, the state's DEP's Division of Fish and Wildlife has launched a free fish and wildlife app for smartphones. Called the Pocket Ranger New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Application, it's available for iPhones and Androids. It includes detailed information on the state's fish and wildlife species, fishing and hunting regulations, public open spaces and more.

"We have so much information on where to hunt and fish in New Jersey and all the different fish and boat access points," said DFW Information and Education Bureau Chief Jim Sciascia. "We thought that this would be a great tool for people who just want to know what's out there in the way of outdoor recreation."

According to Sciascia, developing the app was a process that took about nine months. The bureau of information and education worked closely with the developer, ParksBy Nature, to repurpose all of the information it had on its website to create a comprehensive resource compatible with smartphones.

"There was not a lot of (new) information we had to produce for it," Sciascia said. "It was just a matter of taking what we already had and giving it to the developers so they could put it in a format that is mobile friendly."

One of the strengths of the app is its GPS capabilities. For example, users can get turn-by-turn driving directions to fishing locations, wildlife management area access points and more. The app also has an advanced map-caching feature that allows you to continue using the app even if mobile service is interrupted. Plus, there's a Friend Finder function that lets a person connect with family and friends while afield so that everyone knows each other's locations at all times.

 

 Read the full story at the Express-Times

 

 

ELLSWORTH, Maine — January 19, 2013 — Due to declines in the number of harvestable scallops, the Maine Department of Marine Resources has closed three more fishing areas along the coast.

In a statement released Friday evening, the department indicated it was immediately closing scallop fishing grounds at the mouth of the Damariscotta River, in Somes Sound and around Greenings Island off Mount Desert Island, and in Gouldsboro and Dyer bays off Gouldsboro and Steuben.

With the exception of Dyer Bay, just west of Petit Manan Point, all the closed bays have been part of limited access areas that DMR established last fall as part of a new management scheme for the scallop fishery. New DMR rules enacted for this year allow the department to close such areas immediately when 30 to 40 percent of the harvestable biomass is believed to have been removed during the season.

The areas are being closed “to protect against unusual damage and imminent depletion” of scallops in those areas, according to DMR officials.

Last month, DMR closed the inner harbor in Blue Hill one week into the season and then, on Dec. 22, closed three more areas — in Muscongus Bay, off Deer Isle, and in Moosabec Reach off Jonesport. The reasons for these closures were the same as those announced Friday.

This winter’s scallop season began Dec. 2 and is expected to run until March 20. This winter, for the first time, three scallop zones have been established along the coast, each with a different combination of harvest rules. Any licensed Maine scallop fisherman can fish in each of the three zones.

 

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

 

January 18, 2013 — The Portland Press Herald provides video on a Maine kelp farm, the only one of its kind in the United States.

Watch the full video at the Portland Press Herald

 

 

January 18, 2013 — Virginia lawmakers on Thursday took the first step to reduce the state's menhaden fishery by 20 percent when bills sailed unopposed through lower committees.

The Chesapeake Subcommittee in the House of Delegates and the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee approved similar measures that, if approved by the General Assembly and the governor, will put the commonwealth into compliance with a management plan approved last month by a multistate commission.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) moved to impose the first-ever coastwide cap on Atlantic menhaden in an effort to give the beleaguered stock a chance to rebuild. Failing to comply could mean the entire fishery in Virginia could be shut down.

"I think it's a very fine compromise, and a lot of people didn't want to do anything to upset the apple cart," said Chris Moore, Hampton Roads senior scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, after the vote.

 

Read the full story in the Daily Press

 

 

 

 

January 18, 2013 — Massachusetts would levy fines on supermarkets and restaurants that mislabel seafood and become the first state in the nation to ban the sale of escolar, an oily species known as the “ex-lax” fish that is often served as sushi, under legislation expected to be filed Friday.

The bill, proposed by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, comes more than a year after a Boston Globe report revealed widespread seafood substitution in restaurants across Massachusetts. In many instances, less desirable and cheaper species took the place of fresh local fish. A follow-up investigation published last fall found most of those restaurants were still mislabeling seafood.

Businesses caught misrepresenting fish such as Atlantic cod, Atlantic halibut, red snapper, or grey sole could face fines of up to $800 and have their license to operate suspended or revoked after repeat offenses, according to the legislation.

“We want to make sure if you’re led to believe that you’re eating fish off the bay, it really is off the bay in Massachusetts, and not 3,000 miles or 6,000 miles away,” said state Representative Ted Speliotis, a Danvers Democrat and cochairman of the joint committee. “It’s an attempt on a statewide level to bring some standards to the fish industry.”

The law would also prohibit the sale of escolar, frequently mislabeled as white tuna or ­albacore at sushi restaurants, and punish first-time violators with a minimum $400 fine or license suspension. Albacore, a white tuna desired for its mild taste, is not related to escolar and typically costs 20 percent more.

Escolar, a fast-growing fish found in tropical and temperate waters around the world, is banned in Italy and Japan but is legally available across the United States.

 

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

 

January 17, 2013 — Senate and House members recommended passage Thursday of companion bills that would reduce Virginia's catch of menhaden by 20 percent over the next two years while scientists assess stocks of the oily fish that is important environmentally and commercially for the Chesapeake Bay.

The action by a House subcommittee and a Senate committee comes about one month after the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission recommended the 20 percent cut. While considered rare, the federal secretary of commerce can suspend a commercial fishery if a state does not heed fishing regulators.

The compromise bill was backed by often competing interests, meaning it will likely win passage in the General Assembly.

The catch reduction will be felt the hardest in Reedville, a Chesapeake Bay fishing village that is home to Omega Protein Inc.'s menhaden fleet, which works the bay and the coast. As a result of the cut, employment will be reduced from approximately 260 workers at the peak of the May to December season to approximately 225, a spokesman said.

The menhaden catch is among the largest, by pound, of any fishery in the U.S.

Menhaden is a small, pudgy fish that has no value as a food fish but plays a big role in the bay. It's on the diet of rockfish, a prized game fish, and osprey. It also filters the bay, which is amid a multi-decade, federally led restoration after years of neglect.

Omega catches the fish with a fleet of seven trawlers, down from 10 a few years ago, and processes it for use in health supplements, animal feed and other products. The fish is also caught by watermen who use them for bait in catching other fish and crabs. They will also share a burden of the reduction.

Omega spokesman Ben Landry said the company backs the reduction but said the Jan. 1, 2015, end to the limit "sends a message" to East Coast fishing regulators who recommended the catch ceiling.

 

Read the full story on the Virginian Pilot

 

 

 

 

 

 

RICHMOND, Va. — January 17, 2013 — Friday, January 18, is the final day for legislators to file bills and joint resolutions for consideration during the 2013 General Assembly session. All bills and joint resolutions must be filed by 3 p.m.

Among bills filed last week, Del. R. Lee Ware Jr. of Powhatan filed legislation to establish a total allowable catch for menhaden landed in Virginia by the reduction and other menhaden fisheries.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, where it was assigned to the Chesapeake subcommittee. Del. Ware is a member of both.

According to the House Bill 1840 summary, the annual menhaden harvest cap in the Chesapeake Bay for the reduction fishery would be reduced from 109,020 to 87,216 metric tons. The reduction fishery includes those vessels that harvest menhaden for the purpose of manufacturing fertilizer, fish meal, or oil.

The bill provides that if the harvest of the reduction fishery does not reach the cap, the difference between the actual harvest and the cap would be applied as credit to the allowable harvest for the following year.

The bill establishes an annual total allowable catch for menhaden landed in Virginia at 144,272.84 metric tons, 80% of which can come from the reduction fishery with all other menhaden fisheries authorized to land 20% of the allowable catch.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission would be authorized to adopt regulations consistent with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Compact and Amendment 2 of the Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Management Plan of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The bill authorizes an increase in the license fee on each vessel fishing with a purse net for the harvest of menhaden to be used as bait from $3 to $5 and extends the current $5 fee that has been charged on vessels harvesting menhaden for reduction that are over 70 gross tons to all vessels harvesting for reduction purposes, regardless of size.

 

Read the full story here 

 

 

 

 

January 17, 2013 — The following was released by the Working Waterfront Festival.

New Bedford, MA– In September 2013, the Working Waterfront Festival will mark its tenth anniversary.  To celebrate, we are excited to launch the Portholes Project, a series of free, monthly programs designed to engage residents and members of commercial fishing communities in conversations about critical issues facing the working waterfront.

Beginning in January of 2013, monthly programming will center around one of the themes we have explored at the Festival over the past 10 years: Sustainability, Safety at Sea, the Future of the Industry, Women in the Industry, Preserving Ports, Fishermen & Farmers, Cultural Mosaic, Tradition & Innovation, and Fact & Fiction.  Film screenings, talks, walking tours, author readings, performances, demonstrations, and ensuing discussions will take place at various community sites.  Partial funding for the Portholes Project is being provided by Mass Humanities. We are currently reaching out to local businesses in hopes of identifying a sponsor for each month of programs.  Businesses that would like more information about becoming a sponsor are invited to contact the Festival office at 508-993-8894 for details.

Our first program, Fishermen on Film, re-visits our most recent Festival theme: Fact, Fiction and Narrative Tradition in Commercial Fishing Culture. This program will take place as part of our ongoing Dock-U-Mentaries Film Series on Friday, January 18 at 7:00 p.m. at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park’s Corson Maritime Learning Center (33 William Street). Over the past two years, New Bedford’s fishing industry has been the star of a reality TV show, a feature film, and a documentary!  What does this national exposure mean for the fishing industry? Come see clips and hear first-hand from Captain Shawn Machie who is featured in Nor’Eastermen which premiered on the History Channel last fall, writer/director Jay Burke of the feature film Whaling City which centers on the struggles of a fictional 3rd generation New Bedford fisherman, and journalist/film maker Don Cuddy who produced the documentary Finest Kind after making a trip with the crew of the F/V Sea Escape on the eve of the passage of Amendment 16.  They will share behind-the-scenes anecdotes and discuss the portrayals of the men and women who work the sea.

 

BOSTON — January 15, 2013 —  The following was released by the office of Massachussetts State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester):

Responding to the need of emergency relief money to the fishing industry, today Massachusetts Senate Republican Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) sent a letter to Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner urging him to support any measure that would provide increased aid for the industry.  Unfortunately, amendments to H.R. 152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, that were filed by Massachusetts Congressmen Tierney, Markey, and Keating, and would raise the level of assistance to the industry to as much as $150 million, were voted down by the House Rules Committee yesterday.

In the letter to Speaker Boehner, Tarr cites the fishing industry as being in “a dire situation that may well culminate in the extinction of one our country’s most historic and iconic industries at the hands of a government that cannot seem to find the will or the initiative to come to its defense.”
 
With a possible 70% reduction in allowable catches of fish species such as cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder, and the steady decline of active inshore fishing permits in Gloucester totaling approximately 25-30% in just the past few years, the fishing industry is facing irrevocable damage.  Not only is the offshore fleet struggling to stay afloat, but so are shoreside businesses that provide essential goods and services to the industry.  These businesses not only assist the fishing industry, but also help drive the local economy.  Unfortunately, they too are ensnared in the same net that has decimated hard working fishing ports along the Northeast coast.  The amendments would have provided a much needed lifeline to save one of the oldest professions of this country.
 
On September 13, 2012, Acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank declared the Northeast fishery as an official disaster.  “Clearly these families and small businesses are in need of assistance, and they are as equally entitled to it as General Motors, Bank of America, American International Group (AIG), and other employers that our federal government deemed worthy of being spared from collapse and failure,” Tarr wrote.  “I am deeply discouraged by efforts to not include or reduce the amount of this aid, and even more concerned that House Republicans would seek to reduce assistance to hard-working fishing families while providing $471 million in increased spending to the government bureaucracy that is overseeing their extinction.”
 
To conclude the letter, Tarr invited Speaker Boehner to “visit Gloucester and other New England ports to witness personally what is at stake if we fail to act to support the commercial fishing industry at this critical time.”

 

Read the letter to Speaker Boehner here 

Read the official press release here