Saving Seafood

Obama admin mulls marine monument off New England

September 17, 2015 — The Obama administration appears to be considering a marine monument off the coast of New England, with federal officials holding a “town hall” meeting on the idea earlier this week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration organized the meeting in Providence, R.I. More than 100 people attended — with some estimates exceeding 300 — to debate the protection of deep-sea canyons and underwater mountains 150 miles offshore.

Environmental groups proposed the monument just two weeks ago, urging President Obama to use the Antiquities Act to permanently protect almost 5,000 square nautical miles (Greenwire, Sept. 1). Such requests are not unusual as Obama nears the end of his term and ramps up his use of the act.

But this time, the proposal came from a coalition of some of the largest conservation groups. Among them: the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, the Conservation Law Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and Environment America. Other groups also voiced their support.

Within days, NOAA announced a town hall to “discuss permanent protections” off New England. The agency has been vague on details; it has not specified that the discussion will inform the White House for a possible marine monument.

But the agency is not proposing a marine sanctuary, according to spokeswoman Ciaran Clayton. Such sanctuaries, which are created and managed by NOAA, can take years to materialize.

“NOAA hasn’t proposed anything,” Clayton said in an email before Tuesday night’s public meeting. “We’re holding this town hall because there’s been interest from a number of groups on many types of protections. The public meeting is an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input.”

Read the full story at E&E Reporter

Virginia, Maryland legislators fighting fake Chesapeake Bay blue crab meat

September 16, 2015 — A group of federal legislators from Virginia and Maryland urged the White House this week to do more to curb the mislabeling of Chesapeake Bay blue crab.

In a letter Monday, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Rep. Rob Wittman from Virginia and Sen. Barbara Mikulski from Maryland applauded President Barack Obama for launching the Presidential Task Force to Combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud earlier this year.

But, they said, its draft recommendations don’t go far enough to protect area watermen from dishonest people willing to import foreign crabmeat and repackage it as Atlantic or Chesapeake Bay blue crab.

Federal agents are investigating allegations that Casey’s Seafood Inc. in Newport News did just that. No charges have been filed in connection with the case, but DNA tests on several of Casey’s Seafood products contained mixtures of Atlantic blue crab and cheaper alternatives native to foreign waters. All of the products were labeled “Product of the USA.”

“This deceptive labeling misleads consumers and threatens the livelihood of the watermen in our states,” reads the letter, which indicates Virginia’s blue crab fishery generates nearly $30 million in total fishing revenue for watermen each year. Maryland’s blue crabs generate over $58 million annually.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

 

Conservationists Push for Atlantic’s 1st National Monument

September 13, 2015 — Undersea ravines deeper than the Grand Canyon, submerged mountains rising thousands of feet from the ocean floor and forests of kelp and coral would become the first marine national monument in the Atlantic if conservationists have their way.

The proposal to protect a pristine ecosystem undamaged by heavy fishing and pollution in the Gulf of Maine and canyons and peaks off Cape Cod — where vivid coral has grown to the size of small trees over thousands of years — would mirror the massive conservation efforts that have already taken place in the Pacific Ocean.

“We have an opportunity to permanently protect two of our nation’s greatest ocean treasures, right off our coast,” said Priscilla Brooks, the Conservation Law Foundation’s director of ocean conservation.

Environmental groups want President Barack Obama to permanently protect Cashes Ledge, the underwater mountain and offshore ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine, and the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts, the chain of undersea formations about 150 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

But Maine Gov. Paul LePage and others oppose the effort to protect the two sites, together totaling about 6,000 square miles, because of the potential impact on fishermen.

LePage, a Republican, also takes issue with the president’s authority under the Antiquities Act to designate monuments, calling it a sweeping power that provides few procedural protections to those who are most likely to be affected.

Read the full story at ABC News

 

MARY BETH TAYLOR: Seafood Companies Bolster the President’s Fight Against IUU Fishing

September 9, 2015 — Last year, U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration set its sights on preserving America’s seafood and the global supply chain by launching the Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud. The global companies that put seafood on the tables of millions of Americans have been a part of this important effort to fight back against IUU activities. The Task Force has identified many popular species of seafood on its proposed list of the most “at risk” species for illegal fishing and seafood fraud – including, recently, tuna.

Fortunately, many of the world’s tuna companies are already taking proactive steps aimed at combating IUU fishing within the industry. These companies are part of an innovative public-private partnership that has committed the world’s leading seafood companies to transparency and accountability by way of 21 conservation measures and commitments aimed at improving the sustainability of the world’s tuna fisheries and the greater marine ecosystem – including commitments designed to combat IUU fishing.

Compliance and transparency are basic tenets of business operations the world over. Companies of every shape and size – from financial institutions to energy firms to consumer packaged goods companies and more – serve their customers and the general public best when they put a premium on transparency and accountability. At the most basic level, companies are legally bound to comply with numerous national and international environmental regulations. And many businesses take the next step by publishing an annual report on their corporate sustainability and responsibility activities (CSR).

Read the full opinion piece from Mary Beth Taylor at Triple Pundit

Obama’s fish tale: salmon spawning on his shoes

DILLINGHAM, Alaska (AP) — September 3, 2015 — This oh-my moment was nowhere on the official schedule for President Barack Obama’s visit to Alaska: salmon spawning on his shoes.

“You see that?” Obama declared Wednesday as he gripped a fish with two hands. “Something’s got on my shoes. … Generally you don’t want fish spawning on your feet. He said the local fisherwoman who accompanied him said the fish was “happy to see me.”

Visiting an isolated fishing village on a grey, overcast day, the president was full of admiration for the whole operation: He pronounced salmon jerky “really good,” tried unsuccessfully to scare up a knife so he could attempt to filet a fish and carefully inspected smokehouse drying racks.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Bedford Standard-Times

There are no national monuments in Maine. Would Obama defy LePage to create one?

September 1, 2015 — Maine Gov. Paul LePage sent letters to President Barack Obama and members of the state’s congressional delegation to express his opposition to any efforts to designate certain Gulf of Maine and forest areas as national monuments.

In question are an undersea mountain range named Cashes Ledge and its environs, which conservationists consider a crucial refuge for the dwindling Atlantic cod population, as well as Millinocket-area land eyed by some as a potential spot for a national park.

While supporters of the designations argue they would advance important natural preservation efforts and — in the case of the national park — boost tourism and jobs, the governor and other opponents worry the moves would too greatly restrict the state’s commercial fishing and forest products industries.

But was a national monument designation ever likely for either location?

There are no national monuments currently in the state of Maine. Would Obama create one?

We’ll review some basics about national monuments and their history to help flesh out that discussion.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

Read the letter from Gov. LePage to President Obama

 

JOHN SACKTON: Seafood Harvesters Call for President Obama to Back Magnuson Reauthorization During Alaskan Visit

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — September 2, 2015 — The Seafood Harvesters of America applauded President Barack Obama for meeting with Alaska’s commercial fishing industry this week and asked that President recognize the success of and support the reauthorization of Magnuson.

President Obama’s visit included a stop at the State Department’s GLACIER Conference held in Anchorage on August 30 and 31. He addressed the conference audience of about 400 global leaders with a warning about the critical effects climate change and warming waters poses to both the Alaskan and global environment and economy.

In his letter to the President, the Harvester’s Executive Director Brett Veerhusen asks the President to emphasize the decade of success the US fishing industry has enjoyed under Magnuson. He called for the President to endorse reauthorization of the law with just minor changes.

Veerhusen also asks the President to work with his Harvester group on science-backed initiatives that would limit commercial efforts in key waters.

Following is the full letter from the Harvesters:

August 31, 2015

The Honorable Barack Obama

President

The United States of America

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, DC 20006

Dear Mr. President,

The Seafood Harvesters of America (the Harvesters) represents 17 commercial fishing organizations from Alaska, to the Gulf of Mexico and New England.  As its Executive Director, a life-long Alaskan fisherman, Bristol Bay fisherman, and the son of a man who has fished for 45 years in Alaskan waters, I welcome you to this great state.

The Harvesters applauds you for choosing to sit down with real, everyday Alaskan commercial fishermen who nobly harvest an American public resource.  We urge you to take this opportunity to speak to the issues of importance that are essential to the livelihoods of commercial fishermen in Alaska and the nation.

We are writing to ask that you use your trip to Alaska, and your meeting with commercial fishermen in Bristol Bay, to send a strong message about how the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) is working for this nation.  Alaskans have demonstrated the audacity to succeed in the presence of all the uncertainties associated with climate change.  We do so as an industry shielded by a strong MSA, which guides a public, science-based decision-making process.

The Harvesters agree with your Administration that the MSA reauthorization needs minimal changes. While we are amenable to some minor changes, we are calling on lawmakers and your Administration to keep the MSA largely intact.  Mr. President, one of our biggest concerns is legislative attempts to allow individual states to takeover species management in federal waters, which would set a dangerous precedent that could unravel the responsible management of America’s fisheries.  Thank you for your tireless support of this time – and climate – tested document.  U.S. fishery management is a beacon of prosperity within global fisheries.

The global economic environment that our products compete in is now protected through the establishment your Task Force to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.  By importing seafood, the U.S. imports the ethics and ethos of the country of origin’s fishing practices.  As a world leader in sustainable fishery management, American consumers demand our imported seafood to be of the same ethics and ethos that American fishermen harvest.  We commend the Task Force for recognizing sustainable fisheries as an enormous benefit to ocean stakeholders.

Additionally, we ask that the Seafood Harvesters of America have a seat at the table in future discussions regarding marine monuments and protected areas.  It is critically important that these initiatives are locally driven and focus on best available science rather than politics.  We look forward to working with your Administration to ensure that we protect our delicate ocean resources and our American fishing economy into the future.

Millions of people – grocery patrons, restaurant owners, and consumers nationwide – rely on commercial fisheries to help get their dinner from ocean to plate.  In 2012 alone, Americans consumed 4.5 billion pounds of seafood, which added 1.3 million direct and indirect jobs to our nation’s economy.  Seafood Harvesters of America is the voice for our country’s 190-foot trawlers as well as the 30-foot hook and line fishermen and are working hard to ensure the food security of our great nation remains sustainable and thriving.

With the support of your Administration and policy makers in Washington D.C., salmon, crab, pollock and snapper – to name just a few – will remain part of a complete American dinner.

Sincerely,

Brett Veerhusen

Executive Director

Seafood Harvesters of America

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.