Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘Deeply troubled.’ Keating, Aquinnah tribe want faster notice after wind turbine collapse

July 31, 2024 — After the July 13 collapse of a Vineyard Wind turbine blade in the project area south of Martha’s Vineyard, 48 hours passed before Nantucket officials got word. For the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the lag was even longer.

It’s a wait that U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Massachusetts, echoing the criticism of leaders on the islands, says was unacceptable.

In a letter last week to the head of the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Keating called foul on a process that failed to alert leaders on Nantucket about the football field-sized blade breaking off in the nearby lease area until two days later.

Keating is now calling on the agency to create protocols that would require local municipal and tribal leaders to be immediately notified of hazardous situations in the wind lease areas south of Martha’s Vineyard and southwest of Nantucket.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Keating criticizes federal response to damaged wind blade

July 29, 2024 — Congressman Bill Keating wants answers and better protocols from the federal government following the Vineyard Wind blade failure that sent countless pieces of foam and fiberglass debris — both tiny and large — to Nantucket shores.

“Numerous state and local officials have contacted my office to express their concerns regarding the lack of communication from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in the aftermath of this incident,” wrote Keating in a letter this week to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

BSEE has been regulating the oil and gas industry for more than a decade, and offshore wind is a new and developing industry in its portfolio. The agency cooperates with federal partner BOEM in the leasing of the expansive outer continental shelf for energy.

Per a government site, BOEM “studies the environment and leases resources,” while BSEE “provides regulatory oversight and enforcement” for environmental compliance, inspections and investigations.

“When debris is washing up on the beach, the first call a resident makes is to their town government, and [BSEE’s] delay in notifying local stakeholders is unfair to those impacted most by this incident,” Keating said in a press release Friday.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘More Than a Job’ offers a look into New Bedford fishing industry

July 1, 2021 — New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center has recently celebrated the opening of its new, permanent exhibit, “More than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Commercial Fishing Industry.”

The center held a grand opening of the new exhibit and marked its fifth anniversary on Saturday, June 26, with a free public event. The celebration at 38 Bethel St. included demonstrations of industry skills, kids’ activities, and live music by the Rum Soaked Crooks. A speaking program featured remarks delivered by Congressman Bill Keating, state Rep. Tony Cabral, and Brian Boyles, executive director of Mass Humanities.

“The nation’s most valuable port has long deserved an institution dedicated to telling its story,” said Executive Director Laura Orleans. “The Fishing Heritage Center fills that void, and our new exhibit offers visitors the sort of immersive experience usually reserved for larger museums.”

“More Than a Job” provides visitors with an introduction to the New Bedford fishing industry. Visitors can explore the changing nature of work and community through displays that present labor history, immigration and sustainability. They can also experience a working deck, which includes a scallop dredge, galley table and bunks. Guests can view historic and contemporary images and footage, and listen to more than sixty audio clips sharing the many voices of the fishing community:

Read the full story at The Herald News

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Launches New Exhibit

June 2, 2021 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is excited to announce the opening of its new, permanent exhibit, More than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Commercial Fishing Industry.

The Center will celebrate the grand opening of the new exhibit as well as its 5th Anniversary on Saturday, June 26 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. with a free public event. The celebration at 38 Bethel Street will include demonstrations of industry skills, kids’ activities, and live music by the Rum Soaked Crooks. A speaking program will begin at noon with remarks delivered by Congressman Bill Keating, State Representative Tony Cabral, and Brian Boyles, Executive Director of Mass Humanities.

“The nation’s most valuable port has long deserved an institution dedicated to telling its story,” said Executive Director Laura Orleans. “The Fishing Heritage Center fills that void, and our new exhibit offers visitors the sort of immersive experience usually reserved for larger museums,”

More Than a Job provides visitors with an introduction to the New Bedford fishing industry. Visitors can explore the changing nature of work and community through displays that present labor history, immigration, and sustainability. They can also experience a working deck, which includes a scallop dredge, galley table and bunks. Guests can view historic and contemporary images and footage, and listen to more than sixty audio clips sharing the many voices of the fishing community:

“My husband, he didn’t tell me this, but he fell overboard while they were out to sea. They brought up the net, and he was in it. . . Now those kind of things our husbands didn’t tell us, because they didn’t want us to be upset over it.” -Barbara Calnan, fisherman’s wife

This quote is one from among the bounty of audio excerpts presented in More Than a Job, mined from the Center’s extensive collection of audio recordings to create five listening stations and an interactive touch screen.

In 2004, the Working Waterfront Festival began documenting the history and experiences of the fishing community through interviews and facilitated discussions with industry members. When the Fishing Heritage Center opened its doors in 2016, this rich collection became the foundation for the Center’s archive. Since then, the Center has doubled the size of its digital collection, engaging in several significant projects.

Funding for More than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Commercial Fishing Industry is provided by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and significant support from Bristol County Savings Bank. Major in-kind support for this exhibit was provided by Fairhaven Shipyard and Blue Fleet Welding.

About New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
Over the past five years, the Fishing Heritage Center has welcomed thousands of visitors, hosted hundreds of local students, recorded dozens of oral history interviews, created numerous exhibits, and hosted a wide variety of educational programs. See the Center’s website for updates on this event, www.fishingheritagecenter.org.

Located in the nation’s most valuable fishing port, New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is dedicated to preserving and presenting the story of the commercial fishing industry past, present, and future through exhibits, programs, and archives. The Center is open Thursday-Sunday, 10:00am-4:00pm. Admission is free through June 30. Beginning July 1, admission is $5; $4 for seniors and students; and free for members and children under 12. To schedule a small group tour of the new exhibit or to learn more about the exhibit, contact programs@fishingheritagecenter.org or call (508) 993-8894.

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford to Open Vaccination Center for Seafood Workers

April 2, 2021 — New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, joined by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Bill Keating, and members of the New Bedford City Council and state legislative delegation, announced Wednesday that the City of New Bedford has established a waterfront vaccination center on Tichon Avenue to vaccinate essential seafood industry workers.

The site is located at the former Environmental Protection Agency Dewatering Facility on the waterfront, recently turned over to the New Bedford Port Authority by the EPA. It will launch in the coming weeks with additional vaccine supply and through a partnership with the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center.

The waterfront vaccination center will be operated as a partnership between the City and the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center which will staff the vaccination site. The Greater New Bedford Community Health Center recently received an award of nearly $4 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration as part of the American Rescue Plan to support its work, including direct receipt of vaccine, which makes possible the operation of this site.

Read the full story at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTS: UPDATE: Moulton calls for extension of monitor waiver

June 19, 2020 — Two Massachusetts congressmen are urging NOAA Fisheries to extend the waiver that removed at-sea monitors from commercial fishing vessels in the Northeast fisheries as a continued protection against the COVID-19 virus.

In a letter to Neil Jacobs, an acting undersecretary at the Department of Commerce, U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and Bill Keating said a continuation of the at-sea monitor waiver is “critical to both protect the health and welfare of fishermen who are working to sustain their operations and to maintain our region’s seafood supply during the continued COVID-19 pandemic.”

On March 24, NOAA Fisheries implemented the at-sea monitor waiver and took the observers off the boats. It has extended the waiver at least twice. Moulton said the agency informed his office on June 12 that the waiver would be withdrawn, possibly as early as July 1, and at-sea monitors would return to assigned vessels.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Lawmakers question status of USD 300 million fisheries aid

April 30, 2020 — Lawmakers from the U.S. state of Massachusetts sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday, 29 April, citing their “frustration and concern” over the lack of action on a USD 300 million (EUR 274.1 million) relief package for American fisheries that Congress passed a month ago.

In the letter, U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, along with U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and Bill Keating, sent Ross a list of five questions regarding the aid that was part of the USD 2.2 trillion (EUR 2.01 trillion) CARES Act. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on 27 March.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sens. Markey & Warren, Reps. Moulton and Keating Demand Immediate Guidance for Fisheries Disaster Assistance Funding During Coronavirus Emergency

April 29, 2020 — UPDATE: The following release has been updated with a new link to the letter, available HERE.

The following was released by Massachusetts Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and Representatives Seth Moulton and Bill Keating:

Today, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Representatives William Keating (MA-09) and Seth Moulton (MA-06) called for the immediate release of federal guidance for how fishery participants can access the designated $300 million in disaster assistance funding included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In their letter to the Commerce Department, the Massachusetts lawmakers report that it appears to be bureaucratic inefficiencies that are behind the failure to issue guidance in a timely manner and ask when it will be issued, as well as when assistance will be distributed. The CARES Act was signed into law more than a month ago, and while other programs have already released funding to provide economic relief to various communities and industries, the Commerce Department has yet even to release guidelines for how disaster assistance can be accessed by struggling fishing and seafood businesses.

“This silence and delay poses a particular problem because fishery participants do not know how to determine whether they will be eligible for the CARES Act assistance,” write the lawmakers in their letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.“The Commerce Department needs to issue guidance as soon as possible so that fisheries aid can reach those who desperately need it.”

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

In the letter, the lawmakers ask for responses to questions that include:

  • Which Commerce Department entity is principally responsible for the preparation and promulgation of this guidance?
  • When will the guidance be finalized and published? What issues remain to be resolved before this can happen?
  • Will the guidance be open for public comment before it is finalized or will it be issued in final form?
  • After guidance is issued, when does the Commerce Department expect to begin distributing CARES Act assistance to fishery participants?

On April 2, Senators Markey and Warren led a letter urging the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to act swiftly, equitably, and transparently in allocating fisheries disaster assistance funding. On March 23, Senators Markey and Warren, and Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan called on Senate leadership to include support for the fishing industry in coronavirus economic relief packages.

Congressman Keating’s Letter to Congressional Leadership

March 25, 2020 — The Office of Congressman Bill Keating (D-Mass.):

On Monday, March 23, Congressman Bill Keating and other Members of Congress sent a letter to Congressional Leadership asking for fisheries aid during the coronavirus pandemic. The text of the letter can be found below:

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy,

We are writing to you today to request that additional direct relief be included in Phase 3 or any future COVID-19 relief package for America’s domestic fisheries. In particular, we are asking that $1.5 billion dollars in direct aid be made available to all participants in the seafood industry including, but not limited to, domestic harvesters, processors, distributors, and aquaculture businesses across the country.

Domestic fisheries in the United States support more than 1.2 million jobs and generate $64 billion dollars of economic activity annually. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak fisheries in the United States are facing an unprecedented breakdown in the market for their products. Americans overwhelmingly purchase domestic seafood products, nearly 70 percent, at restaurant and hospitality establishments. In nearly every state, steps taken by government and citizens to prevent the transmission of the disease has focused on the closure of many of these establishments. This has left the American seafood industry unable to find a market for their products a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has also eliminated any avenue exports. The situation within American Fisheries is dire, and the harm being inflicted will undermine the longterm health of a sustainable industry.

Additionally, we urge the federal government consider any production support measures that may become available for fisheries. Government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, purchase significant volumes of agricultural goods on a monthly basis. As such, we request that the federal government use its purchasing power now to support sustainable fisheries across the nation by altering its purchasing profile to include increased amounts of sustainably harvested domestic seafood.

Read the full letter here

Vineyard Wind project delayed

August 13, 2019 — The proposed offshore wind project off the coast of New Bedford has hit another stumbling block.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it would delay the 84-turbine, 800-megawatt farm because stakeholders want a better analysis of it.

Vineyard Wind was calling on the federal government to complete its review so the project could move forward. Congressman Bill Keating says the Trump administration has decided to delay construction on the project.

“Vineyard Wind and the larger off-shore wind industry are anchors to a blue economy based in New Bedford and Southeastern Massachusetts,” Keating said in a statement over the weekend. “The effects of today’s announcement are the potential loss of over three thousand jobs in our region; the loss of the ability to heat 400,000 homes; and – in light of the decommissioning of Pilgrim Power Plant – twenty percent of our energy was anticipated to come from offshore wind by 2035. All of this is in jeopardy now.”

Read the full story at WPRI