Saving Seafood

Fisheries council seeks voice in marine monument review

May 31, 2017 — New England fishery regulators might seek to reclaim some of the authority they lost when President Barack Obama virtually walled off thousands of square miles of ocean south of Cape Cod to commercial fisheries.

The designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument last year was cheered by environmentalists, who said it would provide a “safe haven” for the birds, mammals and fish that live there. It is now part of a review President Donald Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to conduct of certain national monuments and marine monuments.

On Tuesday, the New England Fisheries Management Council’s Habitat Committee recommended that the regulatory council provide feedback to the Trump administration about the designation of the 4,913 square-mile area by the continental shelf.

“I would strongly suggest we take the opportunity to comment,” said Eric Reid, a council member and the general manager of Seafreeze Shoreside, a seafood processing facility in Galilee, Rhode Island.

While the committee members did not delve into what the letter should say during Tuesday’s meeting, the council chairman, former Rep. John Quinn, the director of public interest at the UMass School of Law in Dartmouth, made clear he believes the council should have jurisdiction.

“The councils are the ones that are involved in opening and closing areas to fishing so we really want a seat at the table” of the review, Quinn told the News Service. He said, “That’s why these entities exist.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Senators Booker, Menendez Introduce Bill to Ban Seismic Testing in Atlantic

May 27, 2017 — U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-NJ), Bill Nelson, (D-Fla.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the “Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act’’ a bill to ban oil, gas and methane hydrate-related seismic activities in the Atlantic Ocean. The bill will prohibit the use of seismic airgun blasting — a disruptive and potentially economically damaging method of surveying offshore oil and gas reserves — in the North Atlantic, Mid Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Straits of Florida.

“Offshore fossil fuel exploration of any kind in the Atlantic poses a direct and serious threat to New Jersey’s economy and environment. My colleagues and I will do everything in our power to protect our coastal communities and those who work in our fishing industry from the potentially disastrous effects of seismic blasting,” said Senator Booker. “Our bill makes it clear that when it comes to offshore oil exploration of any kind, the Atlantic and our coasts are off limits.”

“We are introducing this commonsense legislation because we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our environment, and allowing big oil to use seismic blasting methods that are incredibly disruptive to marine life is a total abdication of that responsibility,” said Senator Menendez. “New Jersey’s fishing industry supports tens of thousands of jobs, and the state is home to one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the nation. I will continue to fight for New Jersey’s clean coastal waters and rich ecosystems, our small businesses and fishermen who have built and sustained a thriving shore economy against all odds in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, and for all New Jerseyans who know the value of having a clean energy future.”

Booker has been an outspoken advocated for a ban on seismic airgun blasting and other harmful extraction efforts in the Atlantic. In Aug. 2015, Booker sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) urging a denial of four seismic survey applications for oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic Ocean. Last month, Booker spoke out against President Trump’s executive order on expediting off-shore drilling, pledging to fight the Administration’s efforts to erode coastal protections from off-shore drilling.

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald

MAINE: Fishermen support alternative coral protection plan

May 26, 2017 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — A plan to protect deep sea coral from damage caused by fishing drew strong support from Maine’s lobstermen Thursday but mostly because planned fishing restrictions won’t affect them.

The New England Fishery Management Council has spent much of the past two years developing an “Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment” aimed at reducing the potential impacts of fishing on corals found in extremely deep water along the Northeast coast. As part of the process, the council proposed several alternatives that would prohibit all fishing in the affected areas. One plan would bar fishing in water depths ranging between 300 and 600 meters (about 985 to 1,970 feet). Another would ban fishing in 20 separate submarine canyons off the southern boundary of Georges Bank.

Some of those canyons lie within the boundaries of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument established by President Barack Obama last September.

While most of the areas that could be protected lie far offshore, two areas are situated within the Gulf of Maine. One is near Mount Desert Rock. The other is on Outer Schoodic Ridge.

Mount Desert Rock lies about 20 miles south of Mount Desert Island in Lobster Management Zone B. The council considered two alternative protection zones, primarily southwest of the rock, one of about 18 square miles and the other about 8 square miles, with water depths of 100 to 200 meters (330 to 660 feet).

The Outer Schoodic Ridge area lies about 25 miles southeast of MDI in Lobster Management Zone A. The protected area would be about 31 square miles in size.

Both areas are important lobster fishing grounds.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

Northeast marine monument under review, Massachusetts officials hoping for modifications

May 24, 2017 — The state’s top environmental official hopes the Trump administration modifies President Barack Obama’s 2016 designation of a marine monument area off the Massachusetts coast, which is on the Trump administration’s list of areas under review.

“Yeah, I think modified in the sense that it echoes what we put forward in our original comment letter, recognizing the work that went into the ocean managment plan and the public process around this issue,” Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matt Beaton told the News Service.

Environmental protection activists last year applauded Obama’s decision, made under powers granted through the Antiquities Act, to create the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument covering a more than 4,900 square mile area southeast of Cape Cod. The designation came with strict limits on fishing that were greeted with pushback from port communities and some elected officials, including Gov. Charlie Baker, whose administration knocked an alleged lack of public process, potential negative impacts on commercial fishing, and conflicts with existing marine fisheries planning processes.

An executive order issued by Trump on April 26 called for a review of all monument declarations made since Jan. 1, 1996 that cover more than 100,000 acres or where the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior determines that the designation “was made without adequate public outreach and coordination with relevant stakeholders.”

Read the full story at WWLP

Red snapper anger directed at Obama, but Trump could solve fishing frustrations

May 15, 2017 — President Donald Trump has stressed the need to make states the “laboratories of democracy.” He calls for fewer burdensome federal regulations, and declares that it’s past time to “drain the swamp.”

All of that could be quickly coming to a head in the coastal states where he secured some of his highest vote totals during last year’s election. State and local leaders are boiling mad over what they say are excessive federal regulations when it comes to fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Specifically, the frustration is directed at an all-time shortened season – three days — for recreational red snapper fishing within federal waters.

The Orange Beach City Council, on Tuesday, voted unanimously to forward its concerns in a written letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. In it, the city asks for an immediate lengthening of the recreational season to 46 days, spread over a series of three-day weekends.

The Baldwin County Commission is expected to take similar action on Tuesday.

If nothing happens between now and the first of June, city leaders and the anglers are poised to protest on June 4, the day after this year’s three-day season expires. Boaters are being encouraged to show up at scenic Perdido Pass, filling its waters, in a show of unity.

Read the full story at AL.com

Trump administration moves to protect endangered sharks

May 10, 2017 — The Trump administration is adding new shark species to the Endangered Species List.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) said Tuesday it will add daggernose sharks, striped smooth-hound sharks, spiny angel sharks and Argentine angel sharks to the list.

The NMFS is also moving to list Brazilian guitarfish as endangered species, while the narrownose smooth-hound shark will be listed as a threatened species, according to the agency.

Though the NMFS is moving to protect these sharks and guitarfish, the agency cannot designate a critical habitat, which would serve as somewhat of a “safe zone,” because the endangered and threatened populations of these species live outside of U.S. jurisdiction.

The shark and guitarfish protections stem from a 2013 petition from WildEarth Guardians. Two years later, the Obama administration proposed to add these species to the Endangered Species List.

Read the full story at The Hill

Fishermen, Conservationists Go Head To Head Over East Coast Underwater National Monument

May 9, 2017 — New England fishermen are hoping President Donald Trump will reverse an undersea monument designation they say has cut them off from nearly 5,000 square miles of valuable fishing grounds off the coast of Cape Cod.

Trump last month directed the Department of the Interior to conduct a sweeping review of national monument designations over the last two decades, including the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, which President Barack Obama declared the first undersea national monument in the Atlantic Ocean in September.

The area is a “spectacular landscape” home to a “whole diversity of otherwordly creatures that most people are not familiar with,” said Peter Auster, a senior research scientist at Mystic Aquarium who helped secure the designation and has conducted research in the area. There are undersea canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon and extinct underwater volcanoes “taller than anything east of the Rockies” with a variety of species of fragile coral, he said.

But Joseph Gilbert, owner of Stonington-based Empire Fisheries, said since the designation, “we’ve been pushed to other areas” creating unnecessary competition and pressure as more boats are fishing in a smaller area. Fishermen, who have been using the area for 200 years, Gilbert said, were given just two months to get out.

Obama used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to declare the area a national monument, and that’s what’s at the heart of Gilbert’s objections, he said. Using the Antiquities Act circumvented the New England Fishery Management Council, the normal process for fishery management, and allowed for less input from the industry, Gilbert said.

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant

Panel Outlines Devastating Social and Economic Consequences of Antiquities Designations

May 2, 2017 — The following was released by the House Committee on Natural Resources:

Today, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands heard testimony on the consequences of Executive Branch overreach of the Antiquities Act. The panel discussed national monuments designated without significant local input or support or that included excessively large or restricted areas of land.

Director of the Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office and former head of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Kathleen Clarke discussed the devastating economic consequences for Utah communities after President Clinton designated 1.7 million acres in Utah as the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in 1996.

“Families that have lived for generations in affected communities find their families torn apart due to lack of employment opportunities for the next generation. Populations are declining. In the twenty years since the creation of the Grand Staircase, school enrollment in Escalante has gone from 150 to 57 students,” Clarke said.

The monument included roughly 176,000 acres of Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA) lands, which generate revenues for the state’s K-12 public education system. According to the Utah Geological Survey, the value of resources on school trust lands dropped by $8 billion immediately after the monument designation.

President Obama’s December 2016 Bears Ears National Monument designation similarly locked up 109,000 acres of SITLA land in southern Utah. “What impact will this have for SITLA as they try to grow their fund to benefit more schoolchildren in the state,” Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) asked Clarke.

This will “diminish opportunity,” Clarke responded, adding that it threatens Utah’s entire K-12 public education system.

Knox Marshall, Vice President of the Resources Division at Murphy Company, testified that President Obama’s January 2017 expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southwestern Oregon and California has “devastated the social fabric of our rural communities and crippled county finances.”

“Douglas County in Oregon, for example, has recently closed its entire public library system because timber sale revenues that previously funded those libraries and a robust set of other public services have largely disappeared,” Marshall added.

Maine Governor Paul LePage outlined current and anticipated adverse impacts resulting from the August 2016 Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument designation by President Obama, including economic losses to the forestry industry and public access barriers such as the loss of connectivity for ATV trails in the region.

“Not long after President Obama designated the Monument, Maine residents started to feel the negative effects of having the federal government as their new master,” LePage stated.

“These designations were often imposed in spite of local opposition, without consultation with Congress, or the state or local government’s effected, and without regard for the economic damage these designations have had on surrounding communities,” Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA) said.

After reading letters and resolutions from local tribes in Utah opposing the Bears Ears designation Chairman Bishop stated, “I hope that those listening today will remember these voices, the ones that have been excluded from this conversation and the ones that President Obama ignored when he designated Bears Ears National Monument.”

Click here to view full witness testimony.

SEAN HORGAN: Trump take on marine monuments may be good for Cashes Ledge

May 1, 2017 — Last week, President Trump’s declaration that his Interior Department will apply the gimlet eye to the newly designated protected areas — particularly those born of the dreaded single-organism parentage, Antiquitatum Actum — was quickly followed by reports that the prez found his new gig required more heavy lifting than expected.

It’s as if his emergence onto the ramparts of the hostilities over the widespread and autonomous creation of the national monuments areas by the Obama administration finally, utterly convinced Trump that being the fearless leader really is a beast.

Trump’s grand entrance should inflame the narrative even more (if that’s possible), re-energizing all of those city-states — conservationists, fishing stakeholders, energy and mining companies and local communities — spread across Gatsby’s dark fields of the republic.

It also might be better news for one New England area that wasn’t designated than it is for one that was.

Trump’s edict may or may not result in the rollback of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, also known as the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts area, located about 150 miles off Cape Cod.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Times

Presidential Executive Order Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy

May 1, 2017 — The following was released by the White House:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq., and in order to maintain global leadership in energy innovation, exploration, and production, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.  Findings.  America must put the energy needs of American families and businesses first and continue implementing a plan that ensures energy security and economic vitality for decades to come.  The energy and minerals produced from lands and waters under Federal management are important to a vibrant economy and to our national security.  Increased domestic energy production on Federal lands and waters strengthens the Nation’s security and reduces reliance on imported energy.  Moreover, low energy prices, driven by an increased American energy supply, will benefit American families and help reinvigorate American manufacturing and job growth.  Finally, because the Department of Defense is one of the largest consumers of energy in the United States, domestic energy production also improves our Nation’s military readiness.

Sec. 2.  Policy.  It shall be the policy of the United States to encourage energy exploration and production, including on the Outer Continental Shelf, in order to maintain the Nation’s position as a global energy leader and foster energy security and resilience for the benefit of the American people, while ensuring that any such activity is safe and environmentally responsible.

Sec. 3.  Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.  To carry out the policy set forth in section 2 of this order, the Secretary of the Interior shall:

(a)  as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, including the procedures set forth in section 1344 of title 43, United States Code, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, give full consideration to revising the schedule of proposed oil and gas lease sales, as described in that section, so that it includes, but is not limited to, annual lease sales, to the maximum extent permitted by law, in each of the following Outer Continental Shelf Planning Areas, as designated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) (Planning Areas):  Western Gulf of Mexico, Central Gulf of Mexico, Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic;

(b)  ensure that any revisions made pursuant to subsection (a) of this section do not hinder or affect ongoing lease sales currently scheduled as part of the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program, as published on November 18, 2016; and

(c)  develop and implement, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce and to the maximum extent permitted by law, a streamlined permitting approach for privately funded seismic data research and collection aimed at expeditiously determining the offshore energy resource potential of the United States within the Planning Areas.

Sec. 4.  Responsible Planning for Future Offshore Energy Potential.  (a)  The Secretary of Commerce shall, unless expressly required otherwise, refrain from designating or expanding any National Marine Sanctuary under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq., unless the sanctuary designation or expansion proposal includes a timely, full accounting from the Department of the Interior of any energy or mineral resource potential within the designated area    including offshore energy from wind, oil, natural gas, methane hydrates, and any other sources that the Secretary of Commerce deems appropriate    and the potential impact the proposed designation or expansion will have on the development of those resources.  The Secretary of the Interior shall provide any such accounting within 60 days of receiving a notification of intent to propose any such National Marine Sanctuary designation or expansion from the Secretary of Commerce.

(b)  The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall conduct a review of all designations and expansions of National Marine Sanctuaries, and of all designations and expansions of Marine National Monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906, recently recodified at sections 320301 to 320303 of title 54, United States Code, designated or expanded within the 10-year period prior to the date of this order.

(i)   The review under this subsection shall
include:

(A)  an analysis of the acreage affected and an analysis of the budgetary impacts of the costs of managing each National Marine Sanctuary or Marine National Monument designation or expansion;

(B)  an analysis of the adequacy of any required Federal, State, and tribal consultations conducted before the designations or expansions; and

(C)  the opportunity costs associated with potential energy and mineral exploration and production from the Outer Continental Shelf, in addition to any impacts on production in the adjacent region.

(ii)  Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Interior, shall report the results of the review under this subsection to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

(c)  To further streamline existing regulatory authorities, Executive Order 13754 of December 9, 2016 (Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience), is hereby revoked.

Sec. 5.  Modification of the Withdrawal of Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf from Leasing Disposition.  The body text in each of the memoranda of withdrawal from disposition by leasing of the United States Outer Continental Shelf issued on December 20, 2016, January 27, 2015, and July 14, 2008, is modified to read, in its entirety, as follows:

“Under the authority vested in me as President of the United States, including section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1341(a), I hereby withdraw from disposition by leasing, for a time period without specific expiration, those areas of the Outer Continental Shelf designated as of July 14, 2008, as Marine Sanctuaries under the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, 16 U.S.C. 1431-1434, 33 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.”

Nothing in the withdrawal under this section affects any rights under existing leases in the affected areas.

Sec. 6.  Reconsideration of Notice to Lessees and Financial Assurance Regulatory Review.  The Secretary of the Interior shall direct the Director of BOEM to take all necessary steps consistent with law to review BOEM’s Notice to Lessees No. 2016 N01 of September 12, 2016 (Notice to Lessees and Operators of Federal Oil and Gas, and Sulfur Leases, and Holders of Pipeline Right-of-Way and Right-of-Use and Easement Grants in the Outer Continental Shelf), and determine whether modifications are necessary, and if so, to what extent, to ensure operator compliance with lease terms while minimizing unnecessary regulatory burdens.  The Secretary of the Interior shall also review BOEM’s financial assurance regulatory policy to determine the extent to which additional regulation is necessary.

Sec. 7.  Reconsideration of Well Control Rule.  The Secretary of the Interior shall review the Final Rule of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) entitled “Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf-Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control,” 81 Fed. Reg. 25888 (April 29, 2016), for consistency with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order, and shall publish for notice and comment a proposed rule revising that rule, if appropriate and as consistent with law.  The Secretary of the Interior shall also take all appropriate action to lawfully revise any related rules and guidance for consistency with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order.  Additionally, the Secretary of the Interior shall review BSEE’s regulatory regime for offshore operators to determine the extent to which additional regulation is necessary.

Sec. 8.  Reconsideration of Proposed Offshore Air Rule.  The Secretary of the Interior shall take all steps necessary to review BOEM’s Proposed Rule entitled “Air Quality Control, Reporting, and Compliance,” 81 Fed. Reg. 19718 (April 5, 2016), along with any related rules and guidance, and, if appropriate, shall, as soon as practicable and consistent with law, consider whether the proposed rule, and any related rules and guidance, should be revised or withdrawn.

Sec. 9.  Expedited Consideration of Incidental Harassment Authorizations, Incidental-Take, and Seismic Survey Permits.  The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall, to the maximum extent permitted by law, expedite all stages of consideration of Incidental Take Authorization requests, including Incidental Harassment Authorizations and Letters of Authorization, and Seismic Survey permit applications under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq., and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.

Sec. 10.  Review of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-55.  The Secretary of Commerce shall review NOAA’s Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-55 of July 2016 (Technical Guidance for Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammal Hearing) for consistency with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order and, after consultation with the appropriate Federal agencies, take all steps permitted by law to rescind or revise that guidance, if appropriate.

Sec. 11.  Review of Offshore Arctic Drilling Rule.  The Secretary of the Interior shall immediately take all steps necessary to review the Final Rule entitled “Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations on the Outer Continental Shelf—Requirements for Exploratory Drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf,” 81 Fed. Reg. 46478 (July 15, 2016), and, if appropriate, shall, as soon as practicable and consistent with law, publish for notice and comment a proposed rule suspending, revising, or rescinding this rule.

Sec. 12.  Definition.  As used in this order, “Outer Continental Shelf Planning Areas, as designated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management” means those areas delineated in the diagrams on pages S-5 and S-8 of the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program, as published by the BOEM in January 2015, with the exception of any buffer zones included in such planning documents.

Sec. 13.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.