State and Local

"…there is more than one “right” decision recommended to you by Council staff. On behalf of a vital but already struggling industry, I ask you to choose the recommendation that has a less drastic impact on their livelihoods." — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick
Read the letter from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick

The Rhode Island Fishermen's Alliance stands with the unified voice of it's Massachusetts commercial fishing brethren by supporting the scallop industry.
Rhode Island does in fact have scallop boats that not only own vessels but are working waterfront lease holders that employ tax payers.

The issue or in this case vote at hand is not that of scallops vs. yellow tail flounder but a direct attack at a sector of the commercial fishing industry that has picked it's self up off the bottom of the barrel and has become the best model model in the world for fisheries management.

It is with just cause that Rhode Island Fishermen's Alliance and its membership support the country's most successful commercial fishing industry.

Richard Fuka
President
RHode Island Fishermen's Alliance

As winds whipped through Seabrook Harbor on a frigid January day, Lissa Vogt of Haverhill, Mass., had plenty of motivation to brave the elements and claim the prize waiting for her at the end of a pier.

For $72, Vogt had jumped at a first-time opportunity to be a shareholder in the seasonal shrimp harvest off New Hampshire’s seacoast. Now the time had come to reap half of her reward: 20 pounds of shrimp – enough to share with friends and family, and fresher than any she’d find in a supermarket.

“It’s healthy, it’s fresh, and we’re supporting a local industry off our own shores,’’ Vogt said. “I want these fishermen to succeed. Some have been doing this for generations, and I don’t want to see it die out.’’

About 80 area households are eating extra helpings of shrimp this winter as they participate in a pilot program designed to help local fishermen, consumers, and the environment. They’re members of a new community-supported fishery, launched this month by the Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative, which includes more than 60 fishing vessels on the seacoast.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

A new book designed to provide its readers with a window into New Bedford's complex and colorful fishing industry was released Jan. 14.

Titled "Voices from the Waterfront," the book is just that — allowing 40 people, who derive their livelihoods from a business that annually contributes $5.5 billion to the New England economy, to tell their stories in their own words.

Subtitled "Portrait of the New Bedford Fishing Industry," the book was produced as a collaborative effort between Laura Orleans and Kirsten Bendiksen, co-founders of the annual Working Waterfront Festival in New Bedford, and Connecticut's Mark Starr, a professional photographer who has previously produced photo books on the commercial fishermen of Point Judith.

The personal narratives, each one a page in length, are accompanied by luminous black and white photographs of the subjects.

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today.

WINTER HARBOR, Maine — “It’s not a secret,” fisherman-scholar Ted Ames said Saturday night.

“There aren’t too many fishermen here anymore. There aren’t too many fish, either. About 5,000 square miles off the Maine coast no longer produces fish. Gone are the haddock, cod, white hake and halibut,” he said.

Ames was addressing a large crowd at the Schoodic Education and Research Center on the issue of Maine’s groundfishing industry and how to secure its future.

“It can’t happen overnight,” he said. “But we sincerely believe the stocks can be restored.”

Ames and Aaron Dority, director of the Downeast Groundfish Initiative, talked about the massive decline in Maine’s fishing fleet as fish populations have shrunk.

Read the complete story at Bangor Daily News.

Menhaden – an oily, bony baitfish – attracts more than stripers and bluefish. It attracts Virginia lawmakers by the score.

Omega Protein, which harvests menhaden for industrial purposes and processes them in Reedville, has carved out the privileged status of having its fishery in the Chesapeake Bay regulated by politicians to whom it gives thousands of dollars in donations each year.

The commercial exploitation of creatures in state waters is ordinarily controlled by the Virginia Marine Resource Commission. The VMRC regulates oysters, blue crabs, striped bass, bluefish, speckled trout and much, much more. What it doesn't regulate – by law – is menhaden, one of the largest commercial catches in Virginia waters. Instead, the fishery is the only one overseen by the General Assembly, where marine scientists are in short supply.

Read the complete story at The Virginian-Pilot.

Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office issues the following statement in response to “Review of North Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Enforcement Programs and Operations” issued today by the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce.

BOSTON July 21, 2010— “Our fishing communities are critical for our economy and enforcement by federal regulatory authorities needs to be fair. The Inspector General’s report released today confirms many of our concerns about the approach NOAA has taken toward enforcing fishery conservation laws and how that approach may have contributed to the abrupt attempt by federal regulatory authorities to close the Gloucester Fish Exchange last summer. We are hopeful that this report will lead to an overhaul of the agency’s enforcement procedures.”

Fishing with large mesh gill nets is expected to close for seven months in a large portion of the state’s coastal waters as the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries addresses the issue of unauthorized interactions with endangered and threatened sea turtles.

The division plans to apply for a permit under Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act that would authorize the incidental take of endangered or threatened species of sea turtles according to guidelines in an approved conservation plan.

There is currently a Section 10 permit for the Pamlico Sound Gill Net Restricted Area. The proposed permit would be statewide.

Work on the permit application is under way, and the division anticipates having it submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service by April.

“We’re hoping to get the application in this spring and the hope is for approval by the 2011 fishing season,” said Patricia Smith, a spokeswoman for the division.

Read the complete story at JD News.

Images depicting anguished and disillusioned sea turtles cocooned in gill nets have spurred debate over whether North Carolina should restrict or ban the nets along its waters.

An intended lawsuit against state authorities, the anticipated temporary closure of gill net fisheries and the pending release of a documentary film levying charges against North Carolina for fishery mismanagement underscore how a movement in favor of banning the nets is swelling.

The imminent lawsuit, soon to be filed by Duke University lawyers and law students, on behalf of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital in Topsail Island against the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries and the Marine Fisheries Commission, accuses state authorities of violating the endangered species act by licensing and permitting gill nets, which are notorious for unintentionally trapping sea turtles, said hospital director Jean Beasley.

In the lawsuit’s wake, the state announced on Jan. 11 that it was undertaking a sweeping endeavor to temporarily close gill net fisheries from May 15 to Dec. 15 of this year while it develops a statewide federal permit to limit takes of endangered species—an action lauded by several in favor of gill net restrictions.

Read the complete story at Lumina News.

Secretary Ian Bowles issued the following Patrick Administration statement in response to the Inspector General's report on NOAA enforcement and urged NOAA to visit Massachusetts fishing communities as part of its planned public summit in response to the report. BOSTON Jan 21, 2010— Governor Patrick and I are pleased that Dr. Lubchenco sought this report and is taking action to correct NOAA’s enforcement procedures. We have raised concerns at the highest levels about the abuses in enforcement that have now been documented in dramatic fashion by the Inspector General’s report, and the economic and social impact they have had on our struggling fishing industry.  I encourage NOAA to visit Massachusetts fishing communities as part of its planned public summit.