Saving Seafood

Constitutionality of seizing Carlos Rafael’s permits in question

September 27, 2017 — BOSTON –Judge William Young decided half of Carlos Rafael’s fate on Monday: The New Bedford fishing mogul was sentenced to 46-months in prison with three years supervised release and a $200,000 fine.

The other half, which Young continues to take under advisement, involves the 65-year-old’s 13 groundfish vessels and permits.

In court Monday, Young repeatedly questioned the constitutionality of the forfeiture, citing the excessive fines clause in the Eighth Amendment.

Young said courts with higher authority have heard and decided that fines exceeding four-times the maximum guideline are unconstitutional.

Regardless of how many permits Young orders to be forfeited, he made it clear he has no authority to decide what’s done with them.

NOAA’s guidelines call for the permits to be redistributed throughout the Northeast, which is why for months organizations and politicians have publicly called for redistribution or a deal that would remove Rafael from the industry. Many arguments focused on all 13, without consideration of a partial forfeiture.

Argument against redistribution

Allyson Jordan actually contributed to a portion of Rafael’s groundfish permits.

She sold two boats and four groundfish permits. Jordan said Maine’s fishermen had no interest in the permits until Rafael entered the picture.

“He bought permits and boats to make his business survive,” Jordan said. “I don’t believe they should be given back to the state of Maine. The state of Maine did nothing to help my industry, not to mention my business.”

“Everyone is coming out of the woodworks now,” Jordan said. “To be honest, they could have bought the permits.”

Support of redistribution

The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, which also manages the Cape Cod Fishermen’s Trust, also contributed to Rafael’s enterprise, but argued for redistribution of the permits as well as better monitoring.

According to Seth Rolbein, the director of the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust, Rafael acquired more nearly a million pounds of quota from the Trust.

From 2011 through 2015, the Trust leased 992,646 pounds of quota. The Trust has no records from 2010 and didn’t lease any to Sector IX after the U.S. Attorney released the indictment, tying Rafael to falsely labeling fish quotas.

“Our priority is to service our fishermen and our community,” Rolbein said. “If there are fish stock that our community is not using that we can not lease out at our subsidized rate to our own fishermen, we then will lease out to other sectors. The trust will lease fish to other sectors. But we will only do that once we’re satisfied that our own fishermen can’t use or don’t have use for that quota.”

What’s next?

The defense revealed Monday that Richard and Ray Canastra, of Whaling City Seafood Display Auction, have entered a Memorandum of Agreement to purchase Rafael’s entire fleet. Neither the U.S. Attorney nor NOAA have taken a final position on the sale.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Carlos Rafael argues against vessel forfeiture, poses new buyer for fleet

September 20, 2017 — New Bedford, Massachusetts-based fishing magnate Carlos “Codfather” Rafael has challenged the government’s proposal to seize his fleet of 13 groundfish vessels, arguing that the act is unconstitutional, according to court documents filed by his legal team.

Forfeiting the vessels and their corresponding permits, which are allegedly worth more than USD 30 million (EUR 25 million), would be a violation of the excessive fines clause of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Rafael’s lawyers said in court documents submitted for review to U.S. District Court judge William Young in Boston.

While U.S. sentencing guidelines place the legal maximum fine at no more than USD 250,000 (EUR 208,460) in cases such as this, Rafael’s legal team has suggested the Codfather forfeit USD 2.8 million (EUR 2.3 million), or double the value of the 782,812 pounds of groundfish Rafael admitted to misreporting.

“Such an order will serve the purposes of punishment (including severely punishing Mr. Rafael and deterring others) within constitutional bounds without incurring the devastating effects on his own business and innocent third parties that are threatened by the government’s motion,” Rafael’s lawyers wrote.

Issues of ownership regarding the seized groundfish fleet have cropped up over the course of Rafael’s trial. Rafael’s personal share of the vessel fleet up for grabs is valued at nearly USD 19 million (EUR 15.8 million), the balance of which belongs to his wife, Conceicao, according to the Codfather’s legal team. In a petition filed in Massachusetts on 28 August, Conceicao Rafael claimed ownership of 50 percent of eight fishing vessels and three fishing companies – My Way Fishing, Corvo, and S & S Fishing – that are tentatively subject to forfeiture by the United States government in relation to her husband’s criminal case.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Aquarium hosting symposium of female shark scientists

September 12, 2017 — BOSTON — Girls interested in marine science will get a chance to hear from women making waves in the field this month at the New England Aquarium.

The aquarium and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy will host the symposium featuring 10 female shark experts from around the world who will present ideas and research on various shark topics to the general public and a group of 150 high school and college-aged women.

Titled ‘Shark Tales: Women Making Waves,’ the symposium is organized by the Gills Club, an education initiative of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy based around getting girls involved in science.

Read the full story at FOX 25

A Bacteria That Thrives In Warmer Waters Keeps Mass. Oyster Fisheries On High Alert

August 31, 2017 — Massachusetts loves its local oysters from places like Wellfleet and Duxbury. The state’s bivalve business is booming along with increased consumer demand. These days there’s no shortage of $1 oyster specials and oyster-centric restaurants around here.

But the ways oysters are harvested and handled have become more involved and challenging since 2013. That’s when bacteria linked to warming waters appeared in our marshes for the first time.

The result was an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness caused by Vibrio Parahaemolyticus — Vp or Vibrio for short. (To be clear, this is different from norovirus, which led to a closure of shellfish beds in Wellfleet last year.)

In response to the Vp bacteria’s emergence in New England, the state implemented a Vibrio Control Plan. Here’s how those state efforts to control bacterial infection have been affecting people in the oyster industry.

‘The Waters Are Warmer Than They Used To Be’

At Select Oyster Bar in Boston, you can find a rotating selection of Massachusetts oysters on-the-half-shell — Moon Shoal petites from Kingston, Ichabods from Plymouth and Wellfleet Puffers.

For about a dozen years Select’s chef-owner Michael Serpa has been serving mollusks in Boston establishments, including the cult-favorite Neptune Oysters in the North End. “I’ve seen a lot of oysters,” he told me, smiling.

Read and listen to the full story at WBUR

Mass delegation supports putting Carlos Rafael’s forfeiture toward electronic monitoring

August 22, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — John Bullard wants to arm fishing vessels with a smartphone — figuratively speaking.

“Nobody has rotary phones anymore, we just assume smartphones are the way we communicate and all the benefits of smartphones we’ve come to expect as normal,” Bullard said. ”(Electronic monitoring) is what we’re going to transition to, but it’s going to take time.”

NOAA’s Northeast Regional director said he believes current methods can lead to inaccurate science. Last week, NOAA conducted a fishing stock assessment meeting in New Bedford where similar concerns of bad science emerged. The root of the concern was data from false reports.

Electronic monitoring, specifically cameras on vessels, would provide accurate information.

“This is a major, in my opinion, improvement,” Bullard said. “I think it’s a major benefit to the industry.”

A letter signed by 12 members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives sparked discussion of electronic monitoring. The group, which included Patricia Haddad representing Bristol’s 5th District, sent the letter to Charlie Baker asking the governor to use any capital forfeiture associated with Carlos Rafael’s sentencing to pay for electronic monitoring.

Rafael pleaded guilty in March to false labeling fishing quotas. His sentencing hearing is Sept. 25 and 26 in Boston.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Trump team nears decision on national monuments

August 21, 2017 — As Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke approaches the 24 August deadline for his recommendations to President Donald Trump on whether to alter dozens of national monuments, conservation proponents say it remains all but impossible to predict which sites the administration could target for reductions or even wholesale elimination.

In recent months, Zinke has traveled from coast to coast as he conducted the review, which included 27 national monuments created since 1996, the majority of which are larger than 100,000 acres.

Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, Atlantic Ocean

Obama created the first Atlantic marine monument in 2016 when he designated nearly 5,000 square miles for preservation off the coast of Massachusetts.

But the decision — which barred oil and gas exploration in the area and restricted commercial fishing — drew a lawsuit from Northeastern fishermen, including the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance and Garden State Seafood Association.

The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, but a judge stayed action in the case in May to await the outcome of the Trump administration’s reviews (E&E News PM, May 12).

During his visit to the East Coast in June, Zinke stopped in Boston to meet with both fishermen’s groups and scientists about the monument.

The Boston Globe reported that Zinke appeared sympathetic while meeting with about 20 representatives of New England’s seafood industry.

“When your area of access continues to be reduced and reduced … it just makes us noncompetitive,” Zinke said at the time. “The president’s priority is jobs, and we need to make it clear that we have a long-term approach to make sure that fishing fleets are healthy.”

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Hawaii

This site near Hawaii is the world’s largest marine protected area at nearly 600,000 square miles.

Bush first designated the site — originally named the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument — in 2006, then renamed it to Papahānaumokuākea in early 2007 in honor of Hawaiian gods Papahānaumoku and Wākea, whose mythology includes the creation of the Hawaiian archipelago and its people.

In 2016, Obama opted to quadruple the site’s size to protect the 7,000 species that live in the monument’s boundaries, as well as to extend prohibitions on commercial fishing and extractive activities (E&E Daily, Aug. 26, 2016).

The Trump administration could opt to try to roll back those prohibitions as well as the monument’s size.

Read the full story from E&E News at Science Magazine

MASSACHUSETTS: Boston Fish Pier gets historic place designation

August 21, 2017 — Visitors to the Boston Seafood Festival on Sunday can savor the lobster bake, watch fish-cutting demonstrations, or throw one back at the beer garden. Most will be unaware the place where they’re standing — the Boston Fish Pier — has become a touchstone in the struggle to hold on to the city’s historic character.

The pier just landed on the National Register of Historic Places. The decision was expected: The Massachusetts Historical Commission had voted to endorse the listing, and the National Park Service typically adheres to this kind of recommendation.

Local politicians — such as Nick Collins and Michael Flaherty, both of South Boston — pushed for this, in part as a way to help reassure the pier’s seafood businesses of their future on a rapidly changing waterfront.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

R/V Gloria Michelle in Boston August 10 & 11 – Public tours available

August 8, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:

Are you going to be in the Boston Harbor area this Thursday and Friday? Why not stop by for a free tour of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s research vessel, the R/V Gloria Michelle. This is a great opportunity to meet our crew and scientists, and learn about the research we do aboard this NOAA vessel.

The R/V Gloria Michelle will be docked on Harborwalk by Moakley Courthouse. Tour hours are Thursday 12:30pm to 5:00pm and Friday 9:00am to 2:00pm.

For more information, read the announcement on the NEFSC website.

Review renews debate over first Atlantic marine national monument

August 7, 2017 — BOSTON — During his eight years in office, former President Obama protected more than 550 million acres of public land and water as national monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Unlike creating a national park, which requires an act of Congress, a president can declare a national monument to protect “objects of historic or scientific interest” with a proclamation.

Critics of the monument say President Obama overstepped the powers set forth by the Antiquities Act and did not provide enough opportunity for public comment. In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order asking his Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, to conduct a review of 27 monuments created since 1996. The purpose of the review is to determine if these monument areas qualify under the terms of the act and to address concerns from the community.

Two days later, Trump signed another executive order outlining his “America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.” The plan demonstrates Trump’s vision for the exploration and production of energy on federal lands and waters to decrease America’s dependence on foreign energy.

Fishing industry’s concerns

Captain Fred Penney, a lobsterman out of Boston Harbor, believes that the monument will hurt the future of fishing in New England because the new restrictions were implemented without much input from the fishermen themselves.

“To have no regulations and have it be a free-for-all, that’s completely unacceptable, I understand that,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to see that. But what they’re doing now doesn’t seem to be it.”

Many in the industry felt fishing in the area should have been regulated under the Magnuson- Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, which created eight regional fishery management councils to maintain sustainable fisheries and habitats in the U.S.

The councils are divided up by region, including the New England, Mid-Atlantic and South- Atlantic councils on the East Coast. Each council sets regulations for certain fisheries such as limiting catch size, issuing permits and monitoring fishing equipment.

Fishermen argue the council’s lengthy public process is more transparent than a proclamation from the president and allows for more input from the community.

Jon Williams of the Atlantic Red Crab Company said the fishermen were not given much notice about meetings and the scope of the monument. He argued the area was thriving under the council’s management before the monument designation.

“We’d been in there for 40 years and if it’s… pristine now, after our presence for 40 years, why is there an emergency for the president to use an act to protect this thing?” Williams said. “Why not give it to the council and let the council do its job?”

Before the Obama administration announced the monument, the New England Fishery Management Council was working on a coral amendment that would protect deep sea corals, one of the goals of the monument. The South and Mid Atlantic Councils passed similar regulations years earlier.

 

Read the full story at The Groundtruth Project

MASSACHUSETTS: Live Music, Matchups, and More for all ages at Seaport’s Fish Pier Sunday, August 13th, Boston’s Landmark Fish Pier

July 27, 2017 — BOSTON, Mass. — The following was released by the Boston Seafood Festival:

Live music from popular local performers and blue-grass bands, kids’ favorites like face-painting and costumed pirates and all-day festivities make this summer’s Boston Seafood Festival on August 13, 11am – 7pm, a must for seafood lovers of all ages.

Some of the festivities in store for attendees of Boston’s biggest and tastiest seafood festival include a live performance from headliner American Idol alum and rising country star Ayla Brown as well as numerous activities for children and families.

Along with fish cutting demonstrations by celebrity chefs, a lobster bake tent, and a beer garden, Boston Seafood Festival guests are able to enjoy a plethora of activities ranging from face painting to photos with roaming pirates and costumed characters. Attendees will also be entertained by live music including the rhythmic rock band La Joya, a soulful jazz band and the vivacious bluegrass inspired band, Wheelhouse Rodeo.

Sunday, August 13

Over All Activities

12:00 – 1:30pm         Fish Cutting Demonstration (Pier)

12:00 – 6:00pm         Lobster Bake Tent (Throughout Pier)

12:00– 6:00pm          Beer Garden (Throughout Pier)

12:00 – 6:00pm         Kids Activities (Throughout Pier)

12:00 – 6:00pm         Acoustic Aaron (Lobster Bake)

12:00– 6:00pm          Chef Demos (Throughout Pier)

1:30 – 4:30pm           Pirates (Throughout Pier)

2:30– 3:30pm            Battle of the Shuckers (Pier)

Main Stage

11:30 – 12:15pm       Welcome Program

12:30– 1:30pm          A Jazz Band

2:00 – 2:30pm           Interfaith Unity Blessing

2:30 – 3:15pm          Two Way Radio

3:30 – 4:30pm          Wheelhouse Rodeo

4:45– 5:40pm           Ayla Brown

5:30 – 6:30pm          La Joya Band

Scheduled times are subject to change

Tickets are $15.00 and are available at http://www.bostonseafoodfestival.org/. Proceeds underwrite Boston Seafood Festival and in part support the work of the Boston Fisheries Foundation, a not-for profit organization that preserves and protects the local seafood industry’s long-term viability as well as safeguards the ocean’s present and future natural resources.

The Boston Seafood Festival is presented by Boston Fisheries Foundation along with generous sponsors that include; Massport, Harpoon, Stavis Seafoods, Channel Fish, The John Nagle Company, Quarterdeck, JCDecaux, Carpenter’s Union, Ipswich Clambake, East Boston Savings Bank, Boston Sword & Tuna, and F.J. O’Hara & Son’s. Boston Seafood Festival is managed and produced by Conventures, Boston’s leading events management and communications agency.

About Boston Seafood Festival:

Presented by Boston Fisheries Foundation, Boston Seafood Festival combines a terrific family-friendly day of delicious seafood sampling, live music, local chef demonstrations, children’s activities and more with a rare opportunity to learn more about preserving Boston’s essential seafood and maritime heritage.

For more information and a complete list of activities, please visit http://bostonseafoodfestival.org.  Check out event updates on the Seafood Festival Facebook page, @BostonSeaFest on Twitter, or follow the conversation using #BostonSeaFest