Saving Seafood

Opinion

Viewpoint: Maine aquaculture is a thing of beauty

September 6, 2022 — As a sea farmer, I am asked, almost daily, about aquaculture and its rapid growth in the state of Maine. I take the time to answer because it means that other people also care about our shared ocean and the future of this coastline. 

I don’t see the sector of aquaculture as expanding rapidly. It took us almost three years to complete our application and receive our 22-acre lease in Mt. Desert Narrows. We also have 3,200 square feet of limited purpose sites in the Skillings River, which allow us to run an upweller for our small seed in the spring and to harvest through the ice year-round. The leasing process is long, rigorous and full of scrutiny, as it should be. I understand that, to some, 22 acres may seem like a lot of space for one company. Some would even consider this “industrial.” I’m willing to offer some transparency about my company so that everyone who is interested can understand what we do, how small we are and why I don’t think aquaculture is growing fast enough. 

Read the full article at Mount Desert Island

OPINION: Alaska’s CDQ fishery program is too important to be misunderstood

August 24, 2022 — Fish politics run deep with Alaskans, and many of us have strong opinions about fisheries management issues. However, the Aug. 4 commentary appearing in this newspaper from Mike Heimbuch, a sitting member of the Board of Fish (BOF), was simply misinformed. We write to not only set the record straight, but also to make sure his conclusions about fish user groups not prejudge the opinions of the ADN’s readers or other Board of Fish members.

Particularly striking were his mischaracterizations about the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program, a program whose constituents often come before the BOF and who deserve a fair and impartial forum to advocate for the interests of the 65 Western Alaska CDQ communities. First, they are not Alaska Native corporations. They are Alaska nonprofit economic development corporations whose purpose is to provide economic opportunity, jobs, scholarships and training to its 30,000 Western Alaska residents.

The CDQ program has been in existence since 1992 and is arguably the most successful joint state-federal program in Alaska’s history. The six CDQ groups are estimated to be responsible for approximately 20% of their region’s total employment, with more than $40 million in annual wages to their residents, and more than 1,600 students per year are awarded scholarships. The CDQ groups support millions of dollars in infrastructure grants and funding in Western Alaska to support essential needs like fuel purchases. They are not widely known because they focus their resources and efforts where they matter most, in remote communities like Stebbins, Kwinhagak, Levelock, Atka, St. Paul and Nunam Iqua.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

The Spinning of Virginia’s Wind Farm

August 22, 2022 — Now that their climate spending bill has been signed by President Biden, Democrats might go to bed dreaming of wind farms. What they’re sleeping through is the green logrolling and corporatism already evident in the clean-power transition. A good example is an offshore wind farm that Virginia regulators approved recently under obvious duress.

Dominion Energy plans to build 176 wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. That’s enough to power about 660,000 homes. The capital cost is $9.8 billion. The state Corporation Commission assented to a related rate increase, but it noted that the downside risk is on consumers. Typically, the commission says, a utility might buy such power from an outside developer, “which limits the risks to customers.” Yet Dominion “has chosen to construct, own and operate the Project.”\

Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal

Grow it here, do it right: The case for safe, sustainable, local seafood

August 15, 2022 — It’s August in America, which means that the sound you hear is the sizzling of millions of pounds of delicious salmon, striper, and cod on American grills. August also means it’s hot—and due to climate change, it’s getting hotter. A warming world threatens the very fish we rely on for quintessential American traditions like Midwestern fish fries. But there is a solution right here in our own waters. By leading with science and carefully expanding aquaculture farms into federal waters, America can grow its seafood supply, boost coastal economies, and, yes, ensure summers are always full of seafood. That’s why we’ve launched the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture (CSA).

We’re proud to be founding members of this diverse, groundbreaking coalition. Imani is a former oyster farmer and the founder of Minorities in Aquaculture, an organization that works to expand economic opportunity for minority women by lowering barriers to entry and educating them on the benefits of local and global aquaculture. Andrew is a chef, restaurateur, a United Nations World Food Programme global ambassador, and an award-winning television producer and host who has seen firsthand in over 150 countries the growing consumer demand for safe, locally sourced seafood.

Now we’re working with our Coalition partners to meet that demand. Together with marine research centers, industry experts, leading environmental organizations, and the most forward-thinking chefs in the country, CSA is charting a path towards a safe and homegrown aquaculture industry that will create sustainable seafood here in America—the right way. That’s why we’re pushing for thoughtful studies and pilot programs so we can close knowledge gaps and learn best practices to build an offshore industry that complements well-managed traditional fisheries—and that’s sustainable from the start. And that’s an economic development plan that also means jobs.

Read the full article at The Hill

A busy summer for Alaska’s bycatch task force

August 15, 2022 — Healthy and sustainable Alaska fisheries are important for everyone in our state. Last November, Gov. Mike Dunleavy took action to build on Alaska’s record as a fisheries conservation leader by creating the Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force, or ABRT. As chairman of the ABRT, I want to provide an update on our work and share how members of the public can engage.

Bycatch is an important issue, and Gov. Dunleavy created this task force to ensure that a broad cross-section of Alaskans are involved in reviewing its impacts and making recommendations. The task force is composed of 13 public members — including Western Alaska in-river users, fishermen, community representatives and two legislative non-voting members. All task force members are committed to doing the work the governor set out in Administrative Order (AO) 326.

While the full task force has continued to meet monthly, four distinct subcommittees have also been established. The objective of these subcommittees is to ensure that we examine bycatch from a range of angles, covering different areas and species of interest. Three separate subcommittees are working to review bycatch issues affecting Western Alaska salmon, Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands crab, and Gulf of Alaska salmon and halibut. The fourth subcommittee is focused specifically on science, technology and innovation. These subcommittees have been meeting multiple times a month, working hard to gather information that can help build alignment around paths forward.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

EDITORIAL: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Strategy to Reintroduce Sea Otters is Flawed

August 12, 2022 — The USFWS study fails to estimate costs to taxpayers; impacts to key local fisheries such as Dungeness crab and sea urchin; neglects to fully examine the impacts to local port and harbor activities and fishing communities and fails to directly clarify to impacted Tribal Nations that no ceremonial and subsistence uses – or control of otter populations negatively impacting other important Tribal resources – are permitted under current Federal law.

For Oregon and California coastal communities dependent on Dungeness crab, sea urchin, and other shellfish, reintroducing sea otters in an area where they have been absent for more than 100 years will spell big trouble. Yet, a recent report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) concludes it is “feasible” to reintroduce them to Southern Oregon and Northern California. In June 2022, the USFWS report, Feasibility Assessment: Sea Otter Reintroduction to the Pacific Coast, was released in response to a largely-unvetted Congressional mandate. In this report, the Agency lays out the potential benefits of reintroducing sea otters to new areas of the West Coast. It identifies some – but not all – significant areas of concern.

When plentiful, shellfish and crabs account for a most of a sea otter’s diet. Their voracious feeding activity, especially related to the almost certain impacts to the West Coast heritage Dungeness crab fishery and sea urchin harvests, alarms West Coast fishermen and processors. Otters eat 23% to 33% of their body weight daily. Just 169 otters weighing an average of 50 pounds each, feeding full time on urchins, would consume an amount equal to the entire annual commercial catch, making a commercial fishery not viable. Dungeness crabs are caught near small ports from Oregon to Central California, and the sea urchin fishery operates in Oregon and California.

Read the full article at Seafood News

The Inflation Reduction Act Offers Hope for Fishery Friendly Climate Action

August 5, 2022 — The following was released by Fishery Friendly Climate Action:

The Inflation Reduction Act introduced in the Senate last week has been lauded as the most
significant piece of climate legislation in history and a last chance to put the U.S. on track to
meet greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Almost unthinkable a mere week and a half ago, the new bill could position the U.S. to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by about 40% from peak levels by 2030, compared to estimates of 24% to 35% without any new policies.

For commercial fishing communities, who are among the Americans most directly affected by climate change, passage of the Act would have another important benefit, especially when contrasted with an emissions-reduction scenario based on presidential action alone. With its power of the purse, Congress has the opportunity to throw a kitchen sink of subsidies and tax incentives at a diverse array of emissions-reductions technologies, each of which can contribute in its own way solving the climate crisis. These include tax credits, grants, and loans for energy efficient buildings and appliances, solar energy, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, geothermal, biofuels, sustainable aviation fuel, soil carbon conservation, low-carbon construction materials, and many more.

In contrast, a purely presidential approach would lean almost exclusively on fast-tracking industrial offshore wind in federally managed waters – a move that stands to endanger coastal communities more than climate change alone would do. Accelerating offshore wind development has been a major concern of coastal communities worldwide, and the U.S. fishing industry stands united under the leadership of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) in seeking to address these concerns. While the Inflation Reduction Act does include supports for offshore wind development — including the reinstatement of a production tax credit for turbine components and wind farm construction vessels, as well as a directive to the Department of Interior to issue wind energy leases in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. territories — it also extends, reinstates, introduces, and increases a panoply of incentives to support the growth of other, more fishery friendly climate solutions. 

At this critical juncture in the race to solve climate change, it is vital to have a full range of options in the mix – not only for achieving emissions targets faster, but because this diversity allows for greater selectivity when choosing the most appropriate mix of emissions reduction strategies for a given region, state, or community.

To be clear, the Inflation Reduction Act is far from perfect. Simply fanning the flames of low-carbon growth will not ensure that the energy transition is just or that it respects the fragility of natural ecosystems that may find themselves in the sightlines of green development. Framers of the Inflation Reduction Act recognized this in part and took steps to embed social equity considerations into many of the Act’s incentive provisions, such as offering bonus tax credits for projects that offer prevailing wages and apprenticeships, utilize domestic content, or are located in economically disadvantaged communities and communities formerly dependent on fossil fuel production. 

Unfortunately, the Act neglects to include analogous provisions that would protect landscapes, seascapes, and resource dependent communities from the most damaging aspects of industrial low-carbon energy development. For example, there is no incentive to place solar arrays on rooftops instead of clearcutting forests, and no incentive to place wind turbines on working farms where they can supplement agricultural incomes instead of placing them offshore where they may displace fishermen from their traditional fishing grounds and cause untold ecological impacts. A more ideal version of the Act would lift up the most environmentally friendly climate solutions by introducing bonus incentives for projects that boast low environmental impacts, deliver environmental co-benefits, and count on local community support. 

Nonetheless, given the short timeline available Congress to act, the best thing that fishermen and their allies can do right now is to advocate for the Act’s passage. Not only is the Inflation Reduction Act the country’s best chance to keep its greenhouse gas emissions within levels that are safe for the climate; it is also fishing communities’ best hope for a national climate plan that is not almost exclusively dependent on sacrificing U.S. fisheries for industrial offshore wind.

Court ruling again highlights need for better data about how lobster fishing impacts right whales

July 15, 2022 — A federal judge ruled last week that federal fisheries regulators are not doing enough to protect North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species, from fishing gear used by New England’s lobster and crab fisheries.

The ruling – and the changes that it might compel – are another blow to Maine’s lobster industry. But, more, it is a condemnation of the National Marine Fisheries Services plans to protect the whales, which are thought to number less than 400. The judge, James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, blasted the agency for approving a plan last year that allowed for continuing entanglements of whales in lobster and crab gear while gear changes were implemented to reduce these entanglements. For example, the plan allowed 2.6 entanglements in lobster and crab gear that could cause death or serious injury to right whales each year through 2025, although NMFS calculated that only 0.8 entanglements should be allowed in federal waters to preserve the whale population.

At the same time, we’d encourage the lobster industry to move beyond messages that emphasize fighting regulations to highlight some of the many changes they have already made to reduce the threat to right whales. For example, many lobstermen in Maine are in the midst of replacing their trap lines with lines that will break away if hit by a whale. They are also marking their gear to better identify if rope from Maine is entangling right whales.

Judge Boasberg acknowledged this work, but essentially warned that it might not be enough. In his opinion, which is littered with marine metaphors, he also recognized the harm that more stringent restrictions could have on the lobster industry. That, he wrote, is why he asked the parties to work together to come up with more protective solutions.

As years of negotiations, rule changes and lawsuits have shown, this is no easy task. But, it is better than having draconian measures imposed by a court.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

Justin Mello: First, ground fishing takeover — next is the scallop industry

July 8, 2022 — I’ve spoken at every scallop leasing meeting and webinar against consolidation, leasing, stacking. Whatever name they throw on it, it’s bad.

We can clearly see the negative impacts on crew and community in other fisheries, for example, ground fish. Many companies, including my father’s, suffered after changes were made in the ground fish industry. I myself witnessed the quick transition when I first started unloading boats. We would unload many draggers when I first started. And about three years later we didn’t have one left. And we transitioned mostly to scallops.

The big companies push for this every so many years. They come up with different angles every time. Flexibility, safety, efficiency. But it only comes down to greed. And the sad part is, every year there are less and less voices to speak up. Especially in a year like this. Many single boat owners are selling. And there are less voices to communicate the point we are trying to make.

The bigger the company, the more bills they have, the more they take from their money makers: the boats. Even when they say they don’t take from the crew, they just take off the top. So it comes off the crew one way or another. So who’s to say they won’t pass off leasing costs? No one. All they do is add a little section on your settlement and call it “miscellaneous expense” and take whatever they want or need.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Light

Opinion: Menhaden fishing is a lifeline for Virginia workers

July 7, 2022 — The following is an excerpt of an op-ed by Ken Pinkard, a 38-year, third-generation menhaden fisherman in Virginia’s Northern Neck region. It was published yesterday by the Daily Press and the Virginian-Pilot.

The Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association’s Mike Avery inaccurately claims that the Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden fishery is hurting striped bass (“Advocates call for limits of menhaden fishing in Virginia”). In reality, menhaden fishing is not only sustainable, it’s a critical economic engine for Virginia’s Northern Neck.

For decades, menhaden fishermen have worked in the Chesapeake Bay alongside crabbers, oystermen and other watermen. The menhaden fishery is currently the largest employer of minority and union workers in rural Northumberland County, and Virginia will not attract “good-paying” jobs by destroying it. The proposals Avery promotes would have a devastating impact on hardworking Virginians whose families rely on the fishery for their livelihoods.

The economy of the Northern Neck depends on Omega Protein and affiliated companies, just as Detroit depends on GM and Ford. Omega Protein and its fishing partners offer the highest blue-collar wages with the most generous benefits in the Northern Neck. These are union jobs. Every worker has a voice. Some 98% of our Reedville-based employees live in Virginia and 90% live in the Northern Neck.

Read the full op-ed with a subscription at the Daily Press