Saving Seafood

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Fishermen Decry Catch Rules at Seaside Summit

February 16, 2016 — STONINGTON — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal met with a group of local commercial fishermen at the Portuguese Holy Ghost Society club Monday afternoon to discuss the challenges they face from seasonal regulations governing the amount and type of fish they are allowed to catch.

The regulations, which are intended to restore fish stocks, are the result of an outdated system, Blumenthal said.

“I don’t need to tell anyone here how antiquated and byzantine the system is,” he said to the group of more than 30 fishermen at the Main Street club. “The bottom line is fishermen are increasingly underrepresented and unrespected. Many of you are having to discard fish that are already dead before they hit the water again.”

Blumenthal said his reason for convening the meeting, which was sponsored by the Connecticut Seafood Council, was to listen to the fishermen, as they are the group that is most immediately affected by the rules.

“If the conversation is confined to this room, then we lose,” he said. “This is all about increasing public awareness. People’s voices need to be heard.”

Many of the fishermen who attended the meeting shared their opinions and concerns.

Chuck Fellow said the rules don’t just affect the Stonington fishing community, but also every fishing community across the nation as well as consumers.

“The people who made the decisions about the regulations are so misinformed and weren’t fishermen,” he said. “We’re hard workers and we’re doing this for our families and our communities. We need our fish back and don’t want to throw away any more fish that come across our docks.”

The issues include limits on catches, restrictions on gear, state quotas, rules intended to limit the mortality of bycatch, and seasonal closures of fishing grounds.

Fisherman Joel Hovanesian of Narragansett said if something isn’t done about the regulations, many fishermen might be forced to close up shop.

“I don’t often use this word, but what’s happening to us from the heads of these government agencies has become tyrannical,” he said. “It’s infuriating. Why are fishermen and farmers under attack from the federal government?”

Read the full story at The Westerly Sun

Bill in Congress could hurt Connecticut Fishermen, and Fish

February 16, 2016 — WEST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)– A battle brewing in Washington could mean big changes for Connecticut fishermen. Those fishermen, and some environmental experts say that the proposal for changing who controls Block Island Sound could have dangerous effects.

Block Island Sound is between New York and Rhode Island, but it is used by Connecticut fishermen all the time. And it’s used as a breeding ground for a very important kind of fish. The change they’re talking about in Washington could be very bad for both.

When fishing boats head out for the day, the first three miles from shore is considered state waters, then the federal government takes over. So from 3 miles off the eastern end of Long Island, New York, there are several miles of federal water before you reach the 3 mile limit around Block Island, Rhode Island. That is important because Block Island Sound is a breeding ground for striped bass, a prized trophy fish, but it is illegal to fish for them in federal waters.

“Everybody would love to fish here, obviously,” said charter boat captain John Frione. He knows where he can and can’t fish, but a Long Island congressman worries some fishermen might accidentally drift into federal waters.

Read the full story at WTNH

Congressman Joe Courtney Tells Congressional Subcommittee that Plan Would Bankrupt Lobstermen

February 2, 2016—U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday that a proposal to transfer control of 155 square miles of federally controlled ocean to Rhode Island and New York jurisdiction would bankrupt Connecticut lobstermen, including those from Stonington and other southeastern Connecticut towns.

“This is damaging people’s livelihood and I think we have to be a lot more careful in terms of how we as a Congress treat federal jurisdiction and people’s rights … .” he told the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans of the Committee on Natural Resources.

If the plan passes, Courtney said Connecticut lobstermen would be shut out of fishing in Rhode Island waters because they are not residents while in New York they would have to try and obtain a non-resident permit through a costly auction process.

Courtney told the subcommittee that there was no consultation with the Stonington-based Southern New England Fishermen and Lobstermen’s Association about the plan and there was no biological analysis to back up the change.

Courtney explained to the subcommittee the economic importance of Long Island Sound and the balancing act needed to protect its fragile ecosystem.

He said he has worked closely in the past with New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, who introduced the bill before the subcommittee, which is aimed at striped bass management, on issues such as the restoration of Long Island Sound and the preservation of Plum Island.

But in this case, he said Connecticut was not represented in the development of the plan, despite the impact on its fishermen.

Read the full story at The Day

Connecticut fighting move to give Long Island Sound waters to New York, Rhode Island

February 2, 2016 — WASHINGTON – Connecticut’s lawmakers and state officials are trying to derail a bill would take about 150 square miles of Long Island Sound waters from federal government control and give that authority to New York and Rhode Island, a move that could hurt the state’s fishing industry.

The bill would require Connecticut fishermen to obtain permission from the neighboring states to continue to fish those waters, known as an “exclusive economic zone,” or EEZ. Members of the state’s congressional delegation say that would be a costly and burdensome process.

“We believe that this misguided legislation was crafted strategically to benefit certain states while disproportionately harming the Connecticut fishing industry,” delegation members said in a letter to the leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee.

At issue is the “EEZ Clarification Act,” sponsored by New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, that would re-designate 150 square miles of federal EEZ waters in the vicinity of Block Island, between Montauk, N.Y., and Point Judith, R.I., as  New York and Rhode Island state waters.

At a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Zeldin said the strip of water known as the EEZ poses a threat to fishermen “who can go from fishing legally to breaking the law” by inadvertently straying into federal waters and facing fines.

“Law-abiding, responsible fishermen should not be punished for doing their job,” Zeldin said.

But a representative from the Fish and Wildlife Service and conservationist John McMurray, owner of One More Cast Charters, testified that stripping federal protections from the waters would hurt the Long Island Sound striped bass population.

Read the full story at The Connecticut Mirror

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Fisheries Center Might Move Out Of Woods Hole

December 23, 2015 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is exploring the possibility of relocating the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to a new facility outside of Woods Hole.

NOAA’s chief of research communications Teri Frady said Monday that the United States Department of Commerce, which oversees the NEFSC, has been evaluating the feasibility of the existing facility for about a year. She said a report will be completed by spring 2016 outlining options for the facility, which could include moving operations to a new building outside of Woods Hole.

The fisheries center, which operates as a research division of NOAA Fisheries, was founded by Spencer Fullerton Baird upon his appointment by President Ulysses S. Grant as the country’s first fisheries commissioner in 1871. The original facility was built on Water Street in 1885. After the facility was destroyed during Hurricane Carol, the current building was constructed in the same location in 1961.

Today, the Woods Hole branch manages operations of four other fisheries laboratories in the northeast, including those in Sandy Hook, New Jersey; Milford, Connecticut; Narragansett, Rhode Island; and Orono, Maine.

Ms. Frady said NOAA sees relocating as a way of possibly bringing all the fisheries operations together. In addition to its headquarters on Water Street, the fisheries houses its observer program on Carlson Lane, while its social sciences department operates out of leased space in the Falmouth Technology Park. The organization also operates a warehouse in Pocasset.

Read the full story at The Falmouth Enterprise

Blumenthal wants GMO salmon labeled

November 24, 2015 — HARTFORD — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal joined consumer advocates in the Capitol on Monday to criticize last week’s approval of genetically modified salmon and to advocate for mandatory labeling changes.

“The genetically engineered salmon is bigger, it can be grown faster,” Blumenthal said, stressing the Food and Drug Administration will require no special labeling for the engineered fish at grocery stores and fish markets, even though it will contain the genetic material of a bottom-feeder fish called the ocean pout to speed its growth.

“I believe strongly that the consumers have a right to know,” Blumenthal, D-Conn., said during a morning news conference.

The FDA recently said its scientists “rigorously evaluated extensive data” from fish grower AquaBounty Technologies, along with peer-reviewed data.

“The data demonstrated that the inserted genes remained stable over several generations of fish, that food from the GE salmon is safe to eat by humans and animals, that the genetic engineering is safe for the fish, and the salmon meets the sponsor’s claim about faster growth,” the agency said.

Read the full story at Connecticut Post

Mass. public may be unaware of striped bass contaminants

November 10, 2015 — Anglers are perched on Massachusetts’ shores long into the cold weather, fishing for fare that often lands on their dinner tables: Striped bass.

But what they may not know is the striped bass they catch in state marine waters may contain high levels of toxins that make eating too much harmful to one’s health, especially for pregnant women and children.

Massachusetts is the only state on the East Coast that does not specifically mention striped bass in its fish consumption advisories. While some states issue broad blanket advisories, especially for pregnant women and children, others offer warnings not to eat too much of striped bass from specific water bodies.

Connecticut, Maine, and New Hampshire all recommend that children as well as women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant not eat striped bass at all. Some states in New England warn the general population not to eat more than a maximum of between 4 and 12 meals per year of striped bass caught in state waters. Rhode Island has the most stringent advisory, urging striped bass not be eaten at all.

Read the full story at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting

 

Regulators consider what to do about collapsed lobster stock

November 9, 2015 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Interstate fishing regulators are considering what to do about southern New England’s collapsed lobster population, and fishermen fear new restrictions could land on them as a result.

The lobster population has sunk to the lowest levels on record in southern New England waters, affecting once-productive fishing grounds off Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. The catch off Rhode Island is a third of the size that it was in the late 1990s, and it has all but disappeared off Connecticut.

A science committee of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is working on a report about the lobster stock that the commission’s lobster board will see in February. The board could then make a decision about the future of the fishery, including changing quotas or enacting new restrictions.

William Adler, a longtime Massachusetts lobstermen and a member of the lobster board, said that a moratorium is not likely on the table but that something needs to be done to conserve the region’s lobsters, which are beloved by restaurant diners.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

CONNECTICUT: Managers consider how to save southern New England lobsters

October 2, 2015 — OLD LYME, Connecticut (AP) — An interstate regulatory committee is set to meet to discuss new management possibilities for southern New England’s imperiled lobster population.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Southern New England Lobster Subcommittee is meeting in Old Lyme on Friday. The group will consider potential management tools to help preserve the species, which has crashed to record low levels.

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

 

Disbursement of Groundfish Disaster Funds (Bin 3)

October 1, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The final installment of groundfish fishery disaster aid, commonly known as Bin 3, has been released to four of the affected states (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut) by NOAA Fisheries. Bin 3 represents the final third of $32.8 million available to assist the groundfish industry. This action allows the states to move forward with the development of individual spend plans for economic assistance to include direct aid to permit holders and crew.  

For more information on the spend plans, contact:

Maine: Meredith Mendelson (207) 624-6553 

New Hampshire: Cheri Patterson (603) 868-1095

Massachusetts: Melanie Griffin (617) 626-1528

Connecticut: David Simpson (860) 434-6043 

New York and Rhode Island continue to work with NOAA Fisheries to develop and complete grant applications to benefit affected fishers and their families.

More information is available on our website.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-6175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

Credit: NOAA