March 8, 2016 — CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A judge’s ruling about a new cost imposed on New England fishermen by the federal government could come as soon as this week.
Fishermen of key commercial species such as New England cod and haddock must pay the cost of fishing monitors under new rules. The federal government had been paying for the monitors.
Read the full story from the associated press at San Francisco Chronicle
March 8, 2016 — AUGUSTA — The Department of Marine Resources will soon be making the third and final payment of federal disaster relief funds to 32 eligible Maine-based fishermen who hold federal Northeast Multispecies (groundfish) permits. The payment will total $1.02 million.
To qualify, Maine groundfish permit holders must have landings of more than 5,000 pounds in any one fishing year from 2010-2013. In addition, permit holders must have landed a minimum of 5,000 pounds of groundfish in either fishing year 2013 or 2014. Fishing years run from May 1 to April 30.
“The intent of these criteria is to focus disaster relief efforts on permit holders who have historical dependence on groundfish and have had continued reliance on the groundfish fishery during the disaster years,” DMR Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson said recently.
According to Meldelson, the department understands that the Maine groundfish industry saw declines in many years preceding the disaster declaration by the secretary of commerce. The declaration was made based on what were, at the time, prospective revenue losses from the major reduction in Gulf of Maine cod quota available for the 2013 fishing year. DMR’s allocation of relief funds reflects the impact of that specific reduction.
The payments allocated to eligible permit holders were based on a formula developed by DMR after several outreach meetings with industry. Those payments, ranging from approximately $9,100 to $44,044, will reflect landings in fishing years 2013 and 2014 individually and combined.
Read the full story at The Ellsworth American
March 4, 2016 — What is happening in the waters of the Northeast — the disappearance of cod, the warming of the ocean, and the gradual decline of a way of life that has been a staple of our economy and culture for centuries — is a national disaster, and it needs a national response. There is no silver bullet, but one critical step above all others can put the New England groundfishery on the path to recovery: Congress and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration must move immediately to monitor every boat at sea.
The recent arrest of New Bedford fishing boat owner and wholesaler Carlos Rafael, for allegedly evading federal fishing quotas, clearly indicates the need to protect honest fishermen, and our fish species, with better monitoring.
Unfortunately, the opposite is happening. NOAA is planning to reduce the number of observers when they are needed most, so that only 10 percent of boats will carry an observer on board. This action, driven by conflict over whether fishermen should pay for the monitoring program, will move the fishery in the wrong direction.
My interest in saving fishing in New England is both personal and professional. As a Gorton, I am the descendant of people who made their livelihoods at sea, catching and selling cod for generations. Slade Gorton & Co. is headquartered in Boston. As a former US senator from Washington state, I worked countless hours on complex policy questions meant to help the fishing industry.
Read the full opinion piece at the Boston Globe
March 1, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:
The Maine Department of Marine Resources will soon be issuing the third and final payment to thirty-two Maine-homeported commercial Northeast Multispecies (groundfish) permit holders who are eligible to receive direct assistance under federal disaster relief funding.
To be eligible, Maine-homeported groundfish permit holders must have landings of over 5000 pounds in any one Fishing Year from 2010-2013. In addition, permit holders must have landed a minimum of 5000 pounds of groundfish in either Fishing Year 2013 or 2014.
“The intent of these criteria is to focus disaster relief efforts on permit holders who have historical dependence on groundfish and have had continued reliance on the groundfish fishery during the disaster years,” said Maine DMR Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson. “We know that Maine’s groundfish industry has seen declines in many years preceding this disaster declaration. However, the Secretary of Commerce’s declaration was made based on what were, at the time, prospective revenue losses from the major reduction in Gulf of Maine cod quota available for the 2013 fishing year. Accordingly, our allocation of relief funds reflects the impact of that specific reduction.”
The amounts allocated to eligible permit holders were based on a formula developed by the Maine Department of Marine Resources after several outreach meetings with industry. Amounts issued will reflect landings in Fishing Years 2013 and 2014 individually and combined.
Awards under this formula will range from approximately $9,100 to $44,044.
The funds are a portion of the $3.3 million allocated to Maine from the $75 million allocated by U.S. Congress to help with six fishery disasters, including the disaster declared in 2012 by the Secretary of Commerce as a result of significant quota cuts for key New England groundfish stocks.
Of the $75 million, $32.8 million was allocated to the Northeast groundfish industry. The allocation of those funds was negotiated among the state fisheries agency directors and announced in June, 2014.
The agreement split the $32.8 million evenly, allocating a third of the funds to each of three areas. $11 million was paid out as direct aid to permit holders in the northeast who have landed a minimum of 5000 pounds of groundfish stocks in any one fishing year since 2010.
In October, 2014, fifty-two of Maine’s federal groundfish permit holders received $32,500 each. In 2015, the DMR distributed $640,005 to help Maine’s groundfish fleet and related shoreside industries by rebating dealer landings and handling fees.
February 29, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Some of New England’s embattled cod fishermen say they might go out of business because of a new cost the federal government is about to impose on them on Tuesday.
Fishermen of important commercial species such as New England cod and haddock must pay the cost of fishing monitors under new rules scheduled to take effect Tuesday. The monitors, whose services can cost more than $700 per day, collect data to help determine future fishing quotas.
The federal government had been paying the bill, but fishing regulators say there isn’t enough money to do so anymore because of other obligations within the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Fishermen, advocates for the industry and a host of New England politicians have said the cost will sink a fleet already struggling with tight catch quotas and dwindling cod populations. Some fishermen also say a cutback in fishing by New England’s fleet could make popular food species, including flounder, hake and pollock, less available to consumers.
‘‘Somebody’s got to catch it,’’ said Terry Alexander, a Harpswell, Maine, fisherman who is trying to manage the new cost. ‘‘We’re going to have to figure our way around it. The law is the law.’’
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe
February 26, 2016 — Federal agents swarmed Carlos Seafood in New Bedford Friday morning arresting the owner Carlos Rafael and his book keeper Debra Messier.
The two are accusing of selling fish off the books. They are facing federal charges of conspiracy and submitting falsified records to the federal government to evade federal fishing quotas.
This isn’t the first time Rafael has been in trouble. In fact, over the last 20 years he’s been the subject of multiple federal investigations.
Rafael, sometimes referred to as the “Cod Father,” owns 40 fishing vessels in New Bedford and Gloucester.
“My immediate concern is what’s going to happen next week and the week after to the fisherman who have to go out to sea and the livelihood of the folks who are in his processing plant,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell.
A court affidavit reveals that undercover IRS agents first began their investigation into Rafael in May of 2015. The agents posed as a broker and Russian immigrants involved in crime. They told Rafael they were interested in buying his business.
February 26, 2016 — They called him “The Codfather” and like his namesake in the movies, everybody secretly loved him.
Sure, he was a rough, tough guy who said “mother——” every other sentence.
Sure, he liked to brag about how he got the money to buy his first boat might not have all been on the “up and up.”
But he was a big success.
Carlos Rafael parlayed one boat into two boats and then two boats into a fleet of boats and then the money from the boats into a seafood processing house.
On a waterfront where the once mighty groundfish industry has been slowly rotting to a sad shipwreck, we admired Carlos.
Like everybody on the waterfront, he made money on the scallopers but how the hell was he doing it on groundfish? Nobody else understood how to make money groundfishing anymore.
Now, we know how Carlos did.
Or at least how the feds say he did.
The rough, tough Codfather had fish that were on the books and fish that were off the books. He had low-priced haddock that was really higher priced dabs or gray sole. He had an elaborate scam he called “the dance” under which he and his bookkeeper had their boat captains bringing off-the-books fish down to another wise guy in New York.
The off-the books fish sold for cash in the big city and Carlos is said to have made a killing. More than $600K in just six months. Probably millions over time.
Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times
February 27, 2016 — The U.S. Coast Guard and police are investigating after a body was found on a New Bedford fishing boat. The boat belongs to the so-called “cod father” Carlos Rafael, who was arrested Friday after a lengthy federal investigation.
Emergency crews waited at the New Bedford State Pier Saturday afternoon for the arrival of Dinah Jane. The fishing boat was escorted by two Coast Guard boats as it came back to shore.
It had left New Bedford Friday night around 9:30 p.m. for a scalloping trip, but the trip was cut short when the captain tried to wake up another crew member but couldn’t. After trying to revive the reported 57-year-old man, they realized he was dead.
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — February 24, 2016 — New England fishermen say that they have already been gutted by limits set by the National Marine Fisheries Service over how much of certain species of groundfish remain off our shores. Now, a looming cost shift is threatening the industry entirely.
Back in 2000, there were about 100 groundfishermen in New Hampshire, using small commercial boats catching the cod, haddock and flounder that we equate with New England seafood.
In 2016, most have switched over to lobster and scallops. Many of them were forced out by limits and quotas.
David Goethel is one of only nine groundfishermen left in the state. But he’s worried something else could wipe out groundfishing completely.
“I lost 95 percent of my cod quota in the last four years and I’m fishing for things that are less value and then I’m going to have to pay for these monitors on top of that. It simply does not add up,” said Goethel.
February 16, 2016 — DARTMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Researchers with the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth say a new video system will help provide data to better inform management of New England’s beleaguered cod population.
UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology scientists say their new video system will help assess the species in the Gulf of Maine. The system uses open-ended fishing net with video cameras mounted on its frame to take pictures of fish passing through.
The university says the scientists tested the system on Stellwagen Bank in January with good results.
Cod are one of the most important food fish species in the Atlantic, but the stock has collapsed. Cod fishermen caught more than 33 million pounds of the fish in 2001 and managed only about 5.2 million pounds in 2014.