Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Bristol Bay Fishermen Thank USACE for Pebble Mine Permit Decision

November 27, 2020 — In an unexpected turn, the Army Corps of Engineers has denied a Clean Water Act permit for the proposed Pebble Mine, an open-pit copper extraction project located near the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon run. The Pebble site contains one of the largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits in the world, and its backers have signaled their intention to appeal.

“In its record of decision, USACE determined that the applicant’s plan for the discharge of fill material does not comply with Clean Water Act guidelines and concluded that the proposed project is contrary to the public interest,” the agency’s Alaska District said in a statement.

Pebble Partnership’s share price fell from $0.87 to $0.40 within hours of the announcement. The project’s opponents hailed the decision as a recognition of the Pebble Mine’s risk to the billion-dollar-per-year Bristol Bay fishery.

“A permit denial from the Army Corps is a triumph for the people of Bristol Bay who have fought tirelessly against Pebble mine for well over a decade,” said Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) president and CEO Jason Metrokin. “We thank the Corps for acknowledging this reality in its decision.”

“Sometimes a project is so bad, so indefensible, that the politics fall to the wayside and we get the right decision. That is what happened today,” Tim Bristol, the executive director of SalmonState, which represents Alaska’s salmon fishing industry.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

Pacific Seafood reaches settlement with EPA over Clean Water Act violations

June 22, 2020 — Pacific Seafood has reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over Clean Water Act violations at their crab and shrimp processing plants in Westport, Washington, according to an EPA press release.

More than 2,000 violations had been recorded by the EPA during an unannounced inspection in 2017. Among them were discharge limit violations as well as incorrect sampling and incomplete or inadequate reporting.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

North Carolina Fisheries Reform Group Set to Take Legal Action Against Commercial Fishing Leaders

June 1, 2020 — The North Carolina Fisheries Reform Group (NCCFRG) filed a 60-day Notice of Claim under the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) targeting the state of North Carolina and members of the commercial shrimp industry.

“We have tried every remedy possible to start reform talks with both the Executive and Legislative Branches of North Carolina, and we were outright dismissed or completely ignored. They had their chance to discuss the issues,” said Joe Albea a spokesperson for the NCCFRG. “We are going to take legal action against the State of North Carolina in Federal Court, and we intend to name leaders in the North Carolina commercial fishing industry as co-defendants, too.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

Trump Administration Lessens Clean Water Protections For Streams, Wetlands

January 24, 2020 — The Trump administration on Thursday finalized a significant cutback on water protections, a move critics say could make it easier for companies to pollute potential sources of drinking water.

Under the final rule, named “The Navigable Waters Protection Rule,” many streams, wetlands and other waterways will no longer qualify for federal protections against pollution under the Clean Water Act.

“After decades of constant litigation and uncertainty, the Trump administration’s navigable waters protection rule brings regulatory certainty to American farmers, landowners, businesses and the American public, and should significantly curtail the need to hire teams of attorneys to tell them how to use their own land,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said on a call with reporters. “Our rule protects the environment and our waterways while respecting the states and private property owners.”

The plan is a part of the Trump administration’s goal to repeal and replace a 2015 rule from the Obama administration that expanded the types of federally protected waterways. Republicans criticized the rule, saying it would regulate ditches and puddles. The regulation specifically exempted puddles, but the rhetoric reflected a larger concern about federal overreach among some farmers, businesses and landowners.

Read the full story at U.S. News

Fishing companies fined $1M for dumping oil into New Bedford harbor

December 17, 2019 — Two fishing companies will pay a combined $1 million in fines and face five years of probation for two separate oil spills in the busy New Bedford harbor, a federal judge ruled Monday as he admonished the company’s owner at the hearing.

“Let me make myself clear — it is not enough to come in here and plead guilty and then go out and say, ‘the government is big and strong and we had to do this as a cost of doing business,’” federal Judge William Young told owner Barry Cohen at U.S. District Court. “These are crimes — they were meant by Congress to be crimes.”

Sea Harvest Inc. and Fishing Vessel Enterprises, Inc., the operators and owners of the two commercial fishing boats, respectively, which spilled the oil, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Clean Water Act, which criminalizes oil spills in U.S. waters and shorelines.

Crew members for the fishing vessel Enterprise, which fished for surf clams, pumped out water, putrid clam juice and “some amount” of oil from the boat’s engine room in September 2017, lawyers for the companies wrote in a filing earlier this month. The dumping created a sheen on the water in the New Bedford Harbor, which was noticed by local authorities immediately, the filing said.

Read the full story at The Boston Herald

‘Codfather’ Rafael to pay $500,000 for dumping oily bilge

August 9th, 2019 — Carlos Rafael and his daughter will pay a $500,000 fine for the dumping of oily bilge and fuel filters from one of his fishing vessels, the Vila Nova do Corvo II.

The vessel captain, Carlos Pereira, will pay $11,000.

The proposed settlement for violations of the Clean Water Act and Coast Guard regulations was filed in federal court on Friday. The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times 

Oregon backs down on terms of proposed processing pollution permit

May 10, 2019 — The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has backed down on the terms of a proposed pollution permit for seafood processors in the state, after the last iteration of the permit expired eight years ago, according to the Statesman Journal.

Since the permit expired, more than a dozen Oregon seafood processors have been operating under an administrative extension as negotiations have taken place.

The Department of Environmental Quality began regulating the discharges of seafood producers in 1982, in an attempt to crack down on the shells, bones, blood and fish waste as well as chemical byproducts that were being dumped into bodies of water by companies.

When the department put out the initial version of a proposed permit in spring of last year, politicians representing fishing communities on Oregon’s coast had called the regulations “extreme.”

“In Oregon, seafood processing is a key component of coastal economies and we ask that the state revisit the revision process for the [permit] in a way that supports the success of this critical industry,” state legislators wrote in a letter to the DEQ.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NORTH CAROLINA: No wetlands, no seafood

April 24, 2019 — Commercial fishermen are used to overcoming challenges. Whether it’s extreme weather events or a changing market and regulations, we work hard and adapt to carve out a living for our families.

We represent a new generation of fishermen that depends on the productivity of our coastal waters for our livelihoods. We can’t earn a living for ourselves and our families unless the water is clean and capable of supporting fish and shellfish. We also need waters that are not polluted so it is safe for us to harvest and sell our catches to consumers young and old.

But now politicians in Washington are trying to gut the Clean Water Act, removing vital protections for streams and wetlands. Particularly catastrophic, the proposal would cause a dramatic and unprecedented loss of protection for more than half of the nation’s wetlands and millions of acres of wetlands in North Carolina — Southern Pocosins, Carolina Bays and Pine Savannas — are all at risk. Our estuaries and fisheries won’t likely survive the losses, nor will our livelihoods.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Proposed environmental rule changes threaten fish spawning areas in Alaska

April 9, 2019 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, together with the Alaska Department of Environmental  Conservation, are attempting to loosen water pollution standards in areas where fish spawn, according to Alaska Public Media.

The rule change, initially proposed in 2006, would alter how the state enforces the Clean Water Act, which is the main tool used by federal agencies to regulate water standards. The change are designed to assist the state’s mining community, which has argued the current standards set in place by the Clean Water Act are too difficult to meet.

“Alaska’s a beautiful, pristine place, and there is no pollution and certainly the background water quality is excellent,” said Frank Bergstrom, who has been active in Alaska’s mining industry for four decades. “So if you follow the Clean Water Act to the detail, you pretty much have to discharge distilled water.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

EPA, Alaska seek to relax water pollution rules

April 3, 2019 — The Trump administration is quietly reviving a long-stalled effort by state regulators to loosen pollution standards where fish spawn. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation proposed the rule change more than a decade ago to change how it enforces the federal Clean Water Act.

After a dozen-year hiatus, it’s making its way through the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule-making process. But opponents warn if the EPA gives the 2006 “mixing zone” rule the thumbs-up, it could help pave the way for controversial projects like Pebble Mine.

The Clean Water Act is the primary tool used by the feds to regulate water pollution. Industry often argues these standards are difficult to meet.

“Alaska’s a beautiful, pristine place, and there is no pollution and certainly the background water quality is excellent,” said Frank Bergstrom, an Alaska mining consultant with 40 years of experience. “So if you follow the Clean Water Act to the detail, you pretty much have to discharge distilled water.”

That’s overstating the state’s water quality standards. Basically the limits are designed to prevent water bodies from being degraded. But years ago, Alaska and other states took the industry’s view in mind when it came up with “mixing zones.” This compromise allows things like wastewater plants, mines and oil refineries to exceed water pollution standards in designated areas.

Read and listen to the full story at KTOO