Saving Seafood

Opinion

NEW BEDFORD STANDARD-TIMES: Finding new ways to bolster New Bedford’s fishermen

June 15, 2018 — We’re encouraged by recent efforts to boost the local fishing industry. And we’re excited about bigger developments on the way this summer.

Last week, restaurateurs from around New England gathered with aquaculture experts at Johnson and Wales University in Providence. The purpose: to exchange ideas on sustainability in America’s seafood industry.

Derek Wagner, chef and owner at Nick’s on Broadway in Providence, told attendees that he once struggled to get his hands on locally caught seafood — until about 10 years ago.

Frustrated by the lack of information about where his restaurant’s salmon originated, he met with two fishermen out of Point Judith, Rhode Island. Instead of telling them what he wanted for his menu, he asked the fishermen what they wanted to sell: ″What is abundant? What are you having a hard time selling? What do you think people should be eating?”

Wagner pledged to take whatever the local fishermen could provide and “make it delicious.” Now he said he consults with local fishermen whenever he creates a new menu.

Another chef, Bun Lai from Connecticut, told of how he began making sushi with the Asian shore crab — an invasive species found in great abundance along the New England coastline. “They’re absolutely delicious,” he said.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

JAMES D. HERBERT:Climate change affords Maine opportunities to lead in ‘New North’

June 13, 2018 — As the northeasternmost state in the U.S., Maine is geographically positioned as America’s gateway to the Arctic and North Atlantic – regions becoming increasingly important to global commerce and culture. We must cast aside our notion of Maine as a back door to the world and reimagine it as a front door, devoting the full force of our human and economic capital to making Maine a leader in the “New North.”

Geographer Mia Bennett has characterized Maine as the next “near-Arctic state,” and in 2015, Maine’s Angus King partnered with Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to form the Senate Arctic Caucus. The Arctic and the North Atlantic region have become increasingly geopolitically relevant. Characterized by political stability and celebrated for achievements in public health, education, civil rights and other important features of civil society, several North Atlantic countries have become global models. This has resulted in steadily increasing economic activity, trade and tourism.

At the same time, climate change continues to reshape our world’s geography and waters. And while we must do all we can as a global community to minimize the progression and effects of climate change, we must also be realists. As the North thaws, new shipping routes open, valuable temperate-zone fisheries move north, more land becomes available for cultivation and new opportunities for collaboration arise.

Read the full story at the Kennebec Journal

CHRIS BROWN & BOB DOOLEY: Electronic monitoring will help restore trust to fishery

June 13, 2018 — Two years ago in the pages of The Standard-Times we delivered some straight talk about New England’s fisheries and the opportunities that groundfish fishermen and regulators will realize when they embrace comprehensive catch monitoring. As the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) prepares to meet this week, we felt it was important to communicate again how critical “full accountability” is to the successful stewardship of this fishery.

“It is based on the straightforward idea that fishermen need to keep track of their catch, both the fish they bring to the dock and any unwanted ‘bycatch’ they may discard at sea. Why? Because in the absence of comprehensive catch monitoring, there is no basis upon which fishermen and (government) scientists can establish a productive level of trust and cooperation. This means that fishery managers often assume the worst when they estimate fish stocks and are required, under federal law, to take very conservative approaches in order to account for that uncertainty when they set catch limits and allocations. Completing the negative feedback loop, fishermen interpret low allocations as bad science and the cycle of mistrust rolls on.”

That cycle of mistrust is what the NEFMC is addressing as they consider alternatives for establishing catch accountability, particularly whether and how to advance electronic monitoring (EM) in the New England groundfish fishery from pilot project to widespread implementation. What we said two years ago is precisely what we would say to the council today.

“In fisheries where catch monitoring is in place, an entirely different … feedback loop is established. Reliable catch and discard data from fishermen, combined with scientific survey results, give fishery managers not just critical and complete information, but the ability to eliminate a major source of uncertainty and to set catch limits with confidence. Over time, as more-reliable and verifiable data comes in, confidence grows and cooperation develops between fishermen and managers.”

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

SONIA FERNANDEZ: Doing right by the whales

June 12, 2018 — These are not good times for the North Atlantic right whale. Ship strikes and gear entanglement play major roles in the mortality of these highly endangered mammals, which now number fewer than 500. Making matters worse, climate-mediated shifts are pushing their prey out of the whales’ usual feeding grounds, rendering traditional habitat-focused protection policies less than optimal.

This reality was starkly apparent in the summer of 2017, when 17 turned up dead in U.S.-Canadian waters—a mass mortality event attributed in large part to gear entanglement and ship strikes. The event also revealed that the whales had gone beyond their typical distributional boundaries. Scientists estimate that unless protective policies are expanded to cover their shifting distribution, right whales may face extinction in less than 30 years.

That’s according to a new study by researchers including UC Santa Barbara Marine Science Institute ecologist Erin Meyer-Gutbrod. With atmospheric scientist Charles H. Greene, of Cornell University, and postdoctoral research associate Kimberley T. A. Davies, of Dalhousie University, Meyer-Gutbrod authored the paper “Marine Species Range Shifts Necessitate Advanced Policy Planning,” which appears in the journal Oceanography.

According to the group’s findings, “only five calves were born in 2017 and no newborn calves have been sighted thus far in 2018.”

“What we have seen with prey limitation is that whales will search outside of their traditional feeding grounds, looking for denser aggregations of zooplankton,” said Meyer-Gutbrod, who studies the effects of environmental change on right whale populations. Due to the northward movement of their food from their usual Gulf of Maine feeding grounds to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canadian waters, the whales, too, are shifting away from their usual habitats and into unprotected regions. The combination of food scarcity in their usual habitat and lack of protection in their adopted feeding grounds, Meyer-Gutbrod and colleagues say, calls for advanced policy planning that essentially follows these whales as they stake out new territory.

“Prey limitation is not typically so severe that right whales starve to death,” said Meyer-Gutbrod. However, she explained, when prey is scarce, adult females don’t have enough energy to reproduce successfully. In addition, when the whales move from their typical protected waters into heavily-trafficked and unprotected areas, they encounter a minefield of obstacles, from commercial shipping vessels to crab and lobster fishing gear.

Read the full opinion piece at PHYS.org

THE COLUMBIAN: Time to Act on Sea Lions

June 4, 2018 — The tally doesn’t look good for steelhead and salmon on the Columbia River. Last year, sea lions devoured an estimated 9 percent of steelhead and 5 percent of spring chinook trying to make their way upstream past Bonneville Dam. Even more disconcerting, an estimated 24 percent of chinook disappeared between the mouth of the Columbia and the dam.

In other words, there is a battle going on in the Columbia, and the sea lions are winning. That points out the need for Congress to pass a bill sponsored by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground.

The Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Protection Act (H.R. 2083) would clear the way for tribal and government fish mangers to kill sea lions along the Columbia to help protect runs of native fish. “We’re not talking about wiping a species off the map,” Herrera Beutler said during a recent meeting with anglers and fishing guides in Kalama. “We’re talking about trying to protect a species. It’s a wacko imbalance.” The legislation would allow for the shooting of up to 100 sea lions per permit and would streamline the permitting process.

Protection of steelhead and salmon is not a partisan issue. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent trying to bolster species that have helped define the economy and the culture of the Northwest for millennia, and Herrera Beutler’s bill is co-sponsored by Oregon Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader. Notably, according to The (Longview) Daily News, the legislation has support from Carolyn Long and Dorothy Gasque, Democrats who are challenging Herrera Beutler in this year’s election.

Ideally, other members of Congress also will recognize the need for quick measures to ease the toll of sea lions upon Northwest fisheries. An identical bill has been introduced in the Senate (S. 1702) and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which includes Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

The need is urgent. Sea lions have made their way up the Columbia and Willamette rivers in recent years for an unencumbered feast, and attempts at hazing the animals have been ineffective. Oregon officials warn that if the banquet continues, there is a 90 percent chance at least one of the Willamette’s wild steelhead runs will go extinct. Only 512 steelhead crossed Willamette Falls last year, down from about 20,000 in 2000.

Read the full op-ed at The Columbian

Boston Herald: Will wind energy deliver?

May 30, 2018 — Last week, Massachusetts announced the winner of a new offshore wind contract — which means the Bay State is about to get its first offshore wind farm. The Vineyard Wind project will be located at least a dozen miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and is expected to generate 800 megawatts of energy — enough to power 400,000 homes. Vineyard Wind is aiming for 2021 to be up and operational.

There is a lot to like about wind. The rows of wind turbines standing 397 feet tall (that’s 92 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty), rising out of the water are visually striking with their sleek blades turning in concert.

Wind energy is completely green energy, powered by a vast and inexhaustible resource. It does not pollute the water or the air. There is no ugly byproduct to contend with nor does the apparatus itself take up a lot of space. According to its website, “Vineyard Wind will offer $3.7 billion in energy related cost savings over the life of the project while eliminating 1.68 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions — the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road.”

It sounds very promising as do a lot of the carefully worded­ highlights on the Vineyard Wind’s “Benefits” page.

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

 

Liz Mitchell: In defense of observers

May 30, 2018 — I was shocked that NF would publish such an inflammatory opinion piece as the recent editorial, “A hard look at NOAA’s observer program” (Dock Talk, NF March ’18, p. 7). This kind of rhetoric only serves to divide. Observers have always unfairly been the brunt of frustrations that fishermen experience between their own self-interests and that of the National Marine Fisheries Service management.

Like it or not, these are public resources, and NMFS has a responsibility to manage these resources not just for the benefit of current fishermen, but also for future generations. The agency faces the difficult and challenging task of balancing these interests. There are numerous factors that influence how NMFS balances these interests, but observers should not become a political scapegoat when fishermen become angry with a management decision. Observers provide a critical role in collecting independent, third party data for use in stock assessments. The very reason observers came to be was to provide independent and objective data because fishermen could not be trusted to look beyond their own self-interest. Observers provide unbiased data, but it is not up to them how the agency or public uses this data. I would like to respond to several erroneous statements and mischaracterizations in this article:

  1. Observers shouldn’t have to degrade themselves by “looking for a ride.” There are many ways NMFS could support the professionalism of observers. Observers shouldn’t have to “look for a ride.” They should be randomly assigned and, yes, if you refuse, you should definitely be fined or not allowed to fish. How a vessel is chosen should not fall on the observer. For an observer to have to walk the docks at 4 in the morning is dangerous, degrading to the observer, full of bias and indicates a fly-by-night operation. Vessels should be notified by NMFS and the observer arrangements made between NMFS, the vessel and the observer provider.
  2. To protect the resource, it has to be monitored continuously. The author clearly does not understand the concept of monitoring a fishery. You can’t just go out one time and apply it to future extractions. The ocean is rapidly changing, so a continual input of what is being removed and the collection of biological life history information is needed to monitor long-term population changes. It’s critical to protecting the resource.

Read the full op-ed at National Fisherman

 

Aniello Guglielmo: Fishermen know the truth about sardines

May 29, 2018 — Listen to what fishermen know about sardines

Reporter Anne Roth quoted me in her article “When will sardines return? Not any time soon say scientists.” But she misunderstood what I said.

I’m one of the fishermen Diane Pleschner-Steele quoted in her comment, “Fishermen are seeing more sardines, not less.” I’ve been fishing for 60 years, and I’ve seen sardines come, go and come back again. But the government surveys that assess the biomass don’t come into coastal waters where the fish are now. In fact, we began seeing an abundance of small sardines right before the 2015 El Niño.

The government now admits they’re missing fish in their stock assessments. We know they’re missing a lot of fish, and we’ve offered to help document the abundance inshore of their surveys. But that’s going to take time, and the bureaucracy moves slowly. When I said, “Unless something drastic happens, I don’t think, I’ll ever fish sardines again,” I also explained that it may take years for government surveys to account for sardines in the nearshore area where sardines are, and I only have a few years of fishing left. But I hope I do fish sardines again in my lifetime.

Fishermen know better than scientists how many fish are in the ocean. It’s time they start listening to us.

Read the full letter to the editor at the Monterey Herald

 

OPINION: Major Offshore Wind Projects Advance in Massachusetts and Rhode Island

May 25, 2018 — Commercial-scale offshore wind power may soon become a reality in New England. On May 23, Massachusetts electric distribution companies selected Vineyard Wind, a subsidiary of Avangrid Renewables, LLC, as the preferred provider of 800 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind generation to the Massachusetts power market, and Rhode Island selected Deepwater Wind as the preferred provider of 400 MW of offshore wind generation to the Rhode Island power market. Both companies propose to generate the electricity from wind projects they intend to construct on federal leases on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Massachusetts Vineyard Wind Project

In 2017, Massachusetts electricity distribution companies initiated a request for proposals (RFP) process to acquire 400-800 MW of offshore wind. The RFP process is provided for in a series of state laws (collectively known as Section 83C) requiring Massachusetts utilities to enter into long-term contracts for approximately 1,600 MW of offshore wind energy by June 30, 2027. Three companies submitted responses during the RFP process, each submitting multiple bids to provide different options.

On May 23, Vineyard Wind’s proposal to build an array of about 100 8-MW turbines (for a total capacity of approximately 800 MW), capable of supplying 5.5-6% of Massachusetts’ energy needs, won the RFP process. According to the proposal, power will be transmitted from the offshore wind facility through an undersea cable to Cape Cod, where it will tie in with existing transmission and substation infrastructure. The project also will incorporate distributed battery energy storage that would provide benefits to low-income residents and public buildings by establishing a “Resiliency and Affordability Fund” in partnership with Citizens Energy. Vineyard Wind would contribute $15 million to the fund over 15 years, with the objectives of fostering the “wide deployment of distributed battery energy storage,” providing credits to low-income ratepayers, and helping to implement energy storage and solar energy projects at public buildings.

Read the full opinion piece at The National Review

 

The bipartisan solution for saving sharks

May 24, 2018 — As a part of the generation that grew up watching “Jaws,” my wife and many others share President Trump‘s gut-level aversion to sharks. But if the conservation-themed documentaries that feed our fascination for them have taught us anything, it is that the fearsome caricature presented in the film gets these fish all wrong. Instead, they are some of the most captivating, complex and ecologically important creatures in the ocean. They also very rarely pose a danger to people.

The truth is that sharks have much more to fear from us than we from them.

Scientists and conservationists believe that trade incentives can help stop the decline, which is why we applauded when Reps. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act.

The bill would require any countries that wish to export shark, ray or skate products to the U.S. to demonstrate that they are effectively managing their fisheries, comparable to our measures for sustainability. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would certify that those products coming into the U.S. were from fisheries subject to responsible, science-based management to ensure the long-term health of shark, ray and skate populations. This approach is intended to incentivize other fishing countries to meet those standards or risk losing access to the U.S. market.

Fishermen in the U.S. are behind this idea because it levels the playing field with the rest of the world. Those who are already adhering to responsible management standards here in the U.S. should not be undercut by unsustainable catch and products coming in from overseas.

Read the full story at The Hill