Saving Seafood

NEFMC to decide next moves on scallop license allocation leasing in Gloucester Tuesday

September 26, 2022 — The New England Fishery Management Council said it plans to discuss a controversial limited access scallop fisher license allocation leasing plan at its September Council Meeting in Gloucester Tuesday. 

“The leasing discussion is not going to come up before lunch,” NEFMC spokeswoman Janice Plante said. “So if they’re only there for the leasing discussion, that’s in the afternoon.”

Scallop allocation leasing — the practice of boat owners selling days and tonnage from a fishing license to other vessel owners to harvest in restricted zones — has been at the center of debate in the Port of New Bedford since the NEFMC held two scoping meetings at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on May 11 and May 25 respectively.

Scoping process

During its three month-long scoping process, the NEFMC invited stakeholders to attend nine meetings in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, and two webinars.

The only state that saw multiple meetings was Massachusetts, with one in Gloucester on April 27, and the two New Bedford meetings.

The meetings in New Bedford were the most well attended by far, with 160 and 80 participants respectively, 60% of the total 397 attendees at all meetings recorded by the Council.

77 of the 305 comments submitted to the NEFMC were presented orally. 58% of those were given at the New Bedford meetings.

Read the full article at SouthCoastToday

MASSAHCUSETTS: Head of NOAA Fisheries visits New Bedford, impact of offshore wind development on fishing a concern

August 5, 2022 — The Biden administration fast-tracked the permitting process for offshore wind, with Vineyard Wind slated to become the first large-scale project in regional waters. The joint venture secured all necessary permitting in 2021 and aims to complete construction by 2024.

Details of the meeting are vague, as it was not made open to the public. But Hansen said that Coit was receptive to the concerns. “She understood the reasoning behind it and thought it was a good idea,” he said.

Briefly discussed was the controversial, industry-backed scallop leasing proposal, said three in attendance. The proposal has split local fishermen and owners of scallop vessels. Many fishermen have voiced opposition in a series of public hearings held through the summer, fearing that it will lead to further consolidation and outsized influence of Wall Street over the port and their livelihoods. Some of the largest commercial fishing companies have stated their support, saying it will improve efficiency and allow companies to trim operational costs.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

F/V Heritage: Nordic Fisheries builds an innovative and nimble 85-foot scalloper

April 5, 2021 — You can tell a healthy fishery when people are building new boats for it, and the Atlantic scallop fishery fits solidly in that column. Nordic Fisheries, the company that Roy Enoksen started in 1968 with the purchase of the venerable Sea Trek, is now in the process of replacing much of its extensive fleet. The latest addition, the 85-foot F/V Heritage, came out of Junior Duckworth’s yard, Duckworth Steel Boats, in Tarpon Springs, Fla., in early February 2021.

Junior Duckworth watched boats being built as a kid.

“There was a yard near where I grew up where they were building wooden boats, steaming the ribs in and all that,” says Duckworth. But when he got out of the Army in 1965, he went to work building steel boats at a local yard. “I learned a lot, and worked my way up,” he says, and in 1978, he launched his own company.

Duckworth builds his steel boats the old-fashioned way, stick built, fitting and cutting each piece of plate onto the frames.

“It takes a little longer, but you don’t waste as much material,” he says. Maine-based naval architects Farrell & Norton send Duckworth a set of offsets, and he lofts them full-size in a roofed section of his yard. Duckworth takes the three-dimensional shapes of the frames off the two-dimensional loftings, the same as the wooden boatbuilders he watched as a kid. “I do it the way we’ve always done it. I’m too old to learn all the computer stuff,” says Duckworth, 78.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

US scallop prices still in ‘sawtooth’ mode; U-10s less common

April 29, 2019 — Steven Costas has an expression that he uses when talking to his buyers about the period that typically follows a month or more after the new Atlantic scallop season opens: “the beginning of price discovery”.

It’s when the up and down “sawtooth” pattern of prices begins to flatten out, and more consistently stay on the lower end, explains the account executive at Marder Fresh & Frozen Sales, a seafood wholesaler based in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

That could be what’s beginning to happen for 10-20s, the most common size of scallops landed, at the big New Bedford auction more than three weeks into the season, reveals a review of prices by Undercurrent News. However, the teeth of the saw remain pretty pointy for big scallops – sizes 10 and 12 – as they’ve not been as easy to find as the beginning of last season and, as a result, are commanding higher stickers.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Fishermen: not so fast with wind farm

December 30, 2016 — Could sea scallops and longfin squid be reason enough to stop an offshore wind farm on the coast of New York and New Jersey?

The Fisheries Survival Fund, which represents the majority of the U.S. Atlantic scallop industry, claims the site picked for the farm is on documented fishing grounds for both commercially important species. It claims the wind turbines would shut fishermen out.

The group is the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Sally Jewell, the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.  The BOEM has jurisdiction over the sea floor.

Other plaintiffs include the Garden State Seafood Association, the Fishermen’s Dock Co-Operative in Point Pleasant Beach and the Borough of Barnegat Light.

“We’re looking to stop the construction in it’s proposed location. If they want to build it somewhere else, that’s fine,” said Andrew E. Minkiewicz, attorney for the group.

Last year, the co-op handled close to $15 million worth of seafood, of which roughly two-thirds were scallops, according to the lawsuit.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Fishermen Hit Feds With Lawsuit Over Wind Lease Sale

December 9th, 2016 — A lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in an effort to delay the anticipated lease sale of the New York Wind Energy Area.

The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), which says it represents the majority of the limited-access Atlantic scallop fleet, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to delay the lease sale for the development of an offshore wind project located approximately 11 miles off the coast of Long Island, N.Y. The lease sale is scheduled for Dec. 15.

The suit was filed against Sally Jewell, DOI secretary, and Abigail Hopper, BOEM director.

The filing alleges that the leasing process for BOEM did not adequately consider the impact the proposed New York Wind Energy Area would have on the region’s fishermen.

According to the FSF, the site is in the waters of the New York Bight on vital, documented scallop and squid fishing grounds, which serve as essential fish habitat and grounds for other commercially important species, including black sea bass and summer flounder.

The group also claims it is an important foraging area for threatened loggerhead sea turtles and critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The lawsuit argues that fishermen’s concerns regarding the location of the lease area received “virtually no attention or analysis” from government officials ahead of the planned Dec. 15 lease sale – despite repeated feedback from concerned fishing stakeholders.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

Fishermen Object to New York Wind Farm Lease Sale

December 9th, 2016 — The Fisheries Survival Fund, which represents the majority of the limited access Atlantic scallop fleet, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to delay an anticipated lease sale for the development of offshore wind farms off New York.

A 26-mile long block approximately 11 miles off the coast of Long Island is scheduled for sale on December 15, 2016.

The Fund argues that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) did not adequately consider the impact the proposed New York Wind Energy Area would have on the region’s fishermen. The site chosen is in the waters of the New York Bight on vital, documented scallop and squid fishing grounds, which serves as essential fish habitat and grounds for other commercially important species, including black sea bass and summer flounder. It is also an important foraging area for threatened loggerhead sea turtles and critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The lawsuit argues that fishermen voiced their concerns but received “virtually no attention or analysis” from government officials. It further states that BOEM failed to identify the proposed wind farm’s environmental, economic, social and cultural impacts, and failed to “consider alternative sites in an open, collaborative, public forum.”

However, BOEM says it has given consideration to comments received on the Environmental Assessment. In response to concerns raised by commercial fishing interests, BOEM has included a lease requirement for the lessee to develop a publicly available Fisheries Communications Plan and work with a Fisheries Liaison to facilitate communication with the fishing industry.

Read the full story at the Maritime Executive