Saving Seafood

Right whales stay in Cape Cod Bay longer, and later

June 16, 2022 — It isn’t high gas prices that changed the travel plans of right whales.

A new study in Global Change Biology by nine authors discovered that over the last couple of decades North Atlantic right whales are most active in Cape Cod Bay 18 days later than before.

That’s a shift — with a longer stay in the month of May — that could potentially bring the whales further into conflict with the region’s annual boating  and lobster season and require an extended season of protections.

“The state has a flexible rule in place — where they can extend fishing closures and small boat speed restrictions — that now is in place up the coast to New Hampshire,” the study’s lead author, Dan Pendleton of the New England Aquarium, said. “Massachusetts Bay has seen more right whales than it used to.”

“One of the problems with migratory animals is they can get into big trouble moving into shipping lanes so if we can move and adapt the protections as (whales) adapt to climate change, that would be ideal,” Pendleton said. “So much seems out of our control but one thing we can do is push for regulations that are responsive to the needs of an endangered species.”

Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, hadn’t yet seen the study, which was published June 7. Casoni said, therefore, she couldn’t comment until she has been able to read it.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Feds institute ’emergency’ lobster closure to protect right whales

March 3, 2022 — The federal government will close an additional 200 square miles off the coast of Massachusetts to lobster and Jonah crab fishing in April to protect endangered right whales.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is closing the area on an “emergency” basis, without taking public comment — a move that frustrates lobstermen already contending with extensive fishing restrictions.

Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Beth Casoni said she recognized that the “wedge” of federal water is particularly dangerous for right whales.

“If there’s an entanglement of serious injury or mortality attributed to the American lobster fishery, it’s not going to be good for anyone, anywhere,” she said.

But Casoni said she was worried by NOAA closing the waters through an emergency order.

Read the full story at WBUR

Lobster lovers feeling the pinch of high prices

June 8, 2021 — Summer weather has arrived, and New England tourists are hungry for a lobster roll or a whole cooked lobster – but they’re going to have to pay up.

Lobster is more expensive than usual this season due to a limited supply, high demand and the reopening of the economy as the nation moves past the coronavirus pandemic. Consumers are headed back to seafood restaurants and markets for the first time in months, and the lobsters there to greet them are at a premium.

Some Maine stores charged $17 or $18 per pound for live lobster in May, and that was about twice the price a year ago. Prices are lingering in the $13 or $14 range this month. Lobster is usually expensive in late spring, but this season has seen prices that are higher than typical.

The wholesale price for live, 1.25-pound lobsters in the New England market was $9.01 per pound on May 1, business publisher Urner Barry reported. That was about $2.70 per pound more than the previous May 1, and the highest price for that date in at least five years, the company reported.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Unmoored and unsure, fishermen make do

April 15, 2020 — On Saturday, folks came to Menemsha to buy directly off the decks of local scallop boats. Business was brisk. Captain Sam Hopkins, aboard the Endurance, mongered to a steady queue of masked customers. Like the nearby Martha Rose, sea scallops off the Endurance sold for $15 per pound.

“It was really nice to have some local support and have people who bought scallops right off the boat,” Hopkins said.

Lobsterman Jason Gale has also turned to direct boat sales. From the deck of the Watch Out at Lake Street Landing he sold lobsters at $8 apiece, regardless of weight, on Saturday. Gale said he put a 10 lobster cap per customer and sold out.

“I’ll just keep going as long as people want them,” he said.

Gale said the wholesale price was roughly $5.50 to $6 per pound

That jibes with an estimate from Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association.

Read the full story at the MV Times

Marine Animal Deaths Attributed to Low Oxygen Levels

November 13, 2019 — Fishermen in Cape Cod Bay recently discovered a large number of dead animals in their traps, including lobsters, flounders, and eels.

After an investigation conducted by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, it was determined they died due to low levels of oxygen at the ocean’s floor, otherwise known as hypoxia.

Beth Casoni, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said that the warm water temperatures over the summer as well as the current state of Cape Cod Bay lead to the deaths.

“This area in the Cape Cod Bay has very low current flow, so it was the perfect storm for something like this to happen,” she said.

Cold water in the bay gets trapped at the bottom of the ocean underneath layers of warmer water, causing oxygen to wane.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Mysterious Lobster Deaths In Cape Cod Raise Climate Change Concern

October 24, 2019 — Last month, lobstermen in Cape Cod Bay hauled up something disturbing. In one section of the bay, all of their traps were full of dead lobsters. Research biologists went to work trying to solve the mystery, and what they found suggests we may see more of this as the climate changes.

When the fishermen first started pulling up traps full of dead lobsters, their first call was to Beth Casoni of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association.

“As you can imagine, they were concerned — greatly concerned — because they didn’t know how they died or why they died,” Casoni said.

Over the next five days or so, she got more calls about dead animals in the traps.

“And it wasn’t just lobsters,” she said. “It was skate and flounder and ling, which is an eel.”

Casoni called the state Division of Marine Fisheries, which sent divers out to take a look at the seafloor in the area.

“The fishermen were fearful that there would have been a mass die-off and the bottom would be littered with carnage,” Casoni said. “And the division was happy to report that they did not see any mass die-off in the area.”

Read the full story at WGBH

EnBW North America Appoints Fisheries Liaison

October 23, 2019 — Highlighting the critical connection between early and effective engagement with the fishing industry and successful offshore wind development, EnBW North America today has welcomed long-time fishing advocate Beth Casoni as the company’s fisheries liaison. The company has also announced its new membership in the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance’s (RODA) joint industry task force, devoted to addressing issues of mutual interest to commercial fisheries and offshore wind.

While federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (BOEM) rules require offshore wind area leaseholders to employ a fisheries liaison, EnBW North America says it made the decision to retain Casoni before obtaining site control in order to fully engage with the fishing community before project design and development. The company’s immediate attention is on the New York Bight – an area off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, where BOEM is expected to auction wind lease areas in late 2020.

Casoni, a Marshfield, Mass., resident, has worked at the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association since 2007 and has served as its executive director since 2014. Her experience includes serving on the Massachusetts Ocean Advisory Commission, which contributed to the development of the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan. She serves also on the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team and several fisheries and seafood marketing boards, including the New England Marine Fisheries Herring and Habitat Advisory Panel and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Herring Advisory Panel. A fishing community native whose family includes commercial fishermen, Casoni is also a former reserve intermittent police officer with the Cohasset (Massachusetts) Police Department.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobstermen’s association director takes wind farm job

October 23, 2019 — Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, has joined EnBw North America as its fisheries liaison. EnBw North America is a subsidiary of EnBw AG, a German utility and wind farm company.

EnBw North America, which has offices in Boston and Jersey City, N.J., was runner-up for federal lease areas off Massachusetts that went out to bid Dec. 18, 2018, according to Bill White, managing director of EnBw North America. The winners of those bids were Equinor Wind, Mayflower Wind Energy, and Vineyard Wind. With its successful bid, Vineyard Wind was allotted an ocean area off Massachusetts where it can potentially build a second wind farm.

EnBw North America remains in the game despite the recent loss, and is working to establish a strong presence in the commercial fishing community with Casoni.

“I think the world of her,” White said of Casoni. “She’s got an enormous amount of expertise and knowledge.”

Read the full story at the MV Times

Lobstermen seek help in protecting right whales

August 22, 2019 — Commercial lobstermen urged federal regulators Wednesday to take Canada to task for its failure to protect North Atlantic right whales and to remember that local lobstermen carry a heavier burden of regulation than others in U.S. waters.

“We as lobstermen do not want to see harm come to the right whale,” Plymouth lobsterman Tom O’Reilly said at a public forum at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School, the eighth in a series of meetings held this month on revisions to the plan to reduce the risk to whales posed by fishing gear. “We have done so much as an industry to try to prevent this.”

The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association believes Canada can do more, as can other coastal areas in the Northeast. “We’re still at the table today,” said Beth Casoni, the association’s executive director, despite what the fishermen see as a heavier regulatory burden.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobster processing claws its way into law

August 1, 2019 — The long-sought measure to expand and modernize lobster processing regulations in Massachusetts is now law, as of Gov. Charlie Baker’s signature on Wednesday.

Baker, sparing the veto pen, opted to retain the modernized lobster processing regulations in the $43.3 billion state budget for fiscal year 2020, clearing the way for Massachusetts lobster processors to begin in-state transport and processing of raw, shell-on lobster parts.

“We’re elated that the Legislature passed it and the governor signed it into law,” said Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association. “This will help the entire Massachusetts lobster industry compete with other states in the region.”

Under the measure, wholesale seafood dealers licensed by the state Department of Public Health will be able to process raw lobsters and import raw, shell-on lobster parts and tails. It also provides for the retail sale of already-frozen raw, in-shell tails.

Previously, Massachusetts laws allowed only the sale of live, cooked and canned lobster, as well as the processing and sale of frozen and cooked lobster tails.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times