Saving Seafood

Feds delay restart of onboard fisheries monitoring on commercial boats

June 1, 2020 — Federal fisheries regulators on Tuesday delayed a plan to restart a program requiring commercial fishermen to take observers on fishing trips starting Monday, following widespread criticism of the move.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, citing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, said it would restart the program Aug. 1.

Even while setting the Aug. 1 date, “we recognize that this public health crisis continues to evolve and changing conditions may warrant re-evaluating these plans,” NOAA said in a statement.

“Should our plans regarding redeploying observers and at-sea monitors change, we will announce any changes as soon as practicable,” the agency said.

Representatives for local fishermen said the restart should be pushed back further.

“Come back to us when there’s a vaccine” or effective COVID-19 treatment, said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, based in Montauk.

Read the full story at Newsday

Under pressure, NOAA delays at-sea monitors for a month

July 1, 2020 — After facing significant pushback from elected officials, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration abruptly reversed course Tuesday and announced it will not resume sending observers out to sea on fishing vessels until at least August.

NOAA had been planning to revive at-sea monitoring in the Northeast on Wednesday after more than three months of suspending the practice, describing it as a key function to track fishery health. Late Tuesday afternoon, however, the agency said the evolving course of the pandemic “required us to re-evaluate and adapt to changing circumstances.”

A waiver exempting fishing vessels from their requirement to carry human observers or at-sea monitors will now remain in place through July 31, during which NOAA plans to conduct outreach with industry leaders and flesh out safety practices it will deploy when monitoring does return.

“As has been done throughout the rest of the country, it is the intent of NOAA Fisheries to begin redeploying observers as soon as it is safe and appropriate to do so,” NOAA wrote in a press release. “While we intend to begin redeploying observers on August 1, we recognize that this public health crisis continues to evolve and changing conditions may warrant re-evaluating these plans.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

The COVID-19 Slowdown Will Show Whether Quieter Seas Help Killer Whales

June 30, 2020 — Deborah Giles and her dog are on a mad search for floating poop. Killer whale poop, to be precise.

Giles, a killer whale biologist at the University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology, is cruising the Strait of Juan De Fuca, a roughly 15-mile-wide inlet between Canada’s Vancouver Island and Washington state. The coastal waterway is a hotspot for migrating killer whales. Lately, the waters have been calmer and quieter because of boating and border restrictions enacted in the wake of COVID-19. That is why Giles has brought her scat-tracking dog, Eba, who will sniff the air as the boat cruises then start licking her lips, whining, and barking as they get closer to killer whale excrement.

These buoyant, information-rich fecal samples ready for collection. Giles wants to know if the hushed waters are helping whales relax. “It’s just such a novel situation where we just don’t have people going out on their boats,” she says. “It’s markedly different.”

Read the full story at Smithsonian Magazine

Carlos Rafael gets early release from prison amid COVID-19 concerns

June 30, 2020 — While many of advanced age across the United States have taken to largely sheltering in their homes and avoiding human interaction under self-imposed quarantines due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s a strong chance that Carlos Rafael is now or soon will be living a similar existence.

The so-called “Codfather” of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who was earlier convicted of overseeing a massive, organized fish fraud operation in New England in which more than 782,000 pounds of fish were mislabeled over a four-year period (2012-2015), has been moved from the Federal Medical Center, a prison in Devens, Massachusetts, to the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Residential Reentry Management Office, confirms Scott Taylor, a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesperson.

That means Rafael is either in home confinement or a residential reentry center, also known as a “halfway house”, Taylor said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Worldwide slowdown in fishing unlikely to save rare species

June 30, 2020 — Commercial fishing taking place worldwide has dipped since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but scientists and conservation experts say it’s unclear if the slowdown will help endangered species of marine life recover.

Hours logged by fishermen at sea fell by nearly 10% around the world after the March 11 declaration of a pandemic, and in some hard-hit countries such as China, fishing completely stopped. The fishing decline has spurred questions about food security, ocean management and global trade.

As countries begin to resume fishing, new questions are emerging about whether an extended fishing slowdown could help rare ocean animals, such as the North Atlantic right whale. The whale numbers only about 400 and is vulnerable to fatal entanglement in fishing gear.

Less fishing could also help jeopardized fish stocks of the Mediterranean Sea, which is home to the overfished Atlantic bluefin tuna. And many rare species are vulnerable to accidental catch, called bycatch, in fishing gear.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

NMFS relents on Northeast observers, extends moratorium through July

June 30, 2020 — Faced with dismay from fishermen and East Coast fishery management councils, NMFS announced it will delay its plan to resume at-sea observer deployments through July 31.

The agency backed away from its plan to restart the observer program July 1, after the Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery management councils sent NMFS Northeast regional administrator Michael Pentony and other officials letters expressing alarm that the decision was made too soon.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center had been planning since May 28 to work toward a July resumption. But in recent weeks the covid-19 pandemic started a new upward arc across the nation.

“Although we had announced plans to resume observer deployments on July 1, we recognize the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and as such, has required us to re-evaluate and adapt to changing circumstances,” the agency said in a public statement issued Tuesday afternoon. “In response, NOAA Fisheries is extending the waiver granted to vessels with Greater Atlantic Region fishing permits to carry human observers or at-sea monitors through July 31, 2020.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Observer Letter to NOAA Administrators

June 30, 2020 — Recently, Fishing Partnership Support Services reached out to federal administrators in regards to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and federal at-sea observers. The following is an excerpt from a letter addressed to Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator for NMFS,  and Dr. John Hare, Science and Research Director for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Fishing Partnership Support Services (FPSS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and safety of commercial fishing families throughout the Northeast. Given the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are gravely concerned by your decision to reintroduce observers to fishing vessels at this time. For the safety of our fishermen and observers, as well as their families, we ask you to change course and extend the waiver until you can work with the fishing community and public health officials: 1) to analyze the risk of the observer program to safety at sea, and 2) to develop effective protocols that minimize transmission of Covid-19.

The CDC has been clear that older adults and people with underlying medical conditions are at highest risk of developing a severe illness from COVID-19. “Severe illness means that the person with COVID-19 may require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe, or they may even die.”

Read the full letter here

Northeast Fisheries Observer Waiver – Extension Through July 31, 2020

June 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Although NOAA Fisheries had announced plans to resume observer deployments on July 1, we recognize the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and as such, has required us to re-evaluate and adapt to changing circumstances. In response, NOAA Fisheries is extending the waiver granted to vessels with Greater Atlantic Region fishing permits to carry human observers or at-sea monitors through July 31, 2020.

This action is authorized by 50 CFR 648.11, which provides the Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator authority to waive observer requirements, and is also consistent with the criteria described in the agency’s emergency rule on observer waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We intend to begin redeploying observers and at-sea monitors on vessels fishing in northeast fisheries on August 1.  During the month of July, we will continue to work with regional observer and at-sea monitoring service providers to finalize their observer redeployment plans, conduct outreach with industry, and finalize our internal programs and policies that will support the safe and effective redeployment of observers and at-sea monitors in the region.

Observers and at-sea monitors are an essential component of commercial fishing operations and provide critical information that is necessary to keep fisheries open and to provide sustainable seafood to our nation during this time. We will continue to monitor all local public health notifications, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for updates. We are committed to protecting the public health and ensuring the safety of fishermen, observers, and others, while fulfilling our mission to maintain our nation’s seafood supply and conserving marine life.

As has been done throughout the rest of the country, it is the intent of NOAA Fisheries to begin redeploying observers as soon as it is safe and appropriate to do so.  While we intend to begin redeploying observers on August 1, we recognize that this public health crisis continues to evolve and changing conditions may warrant re-evaluating these plans.  Should our plans regarding re-deploying observers and at-sea monitors change, we will announce any changes as soon as practicable.

MASSACHUSETTS: Safety experts say New Bedford orders on fish houses and other industrial facilities could set national standard on COVID-19

June 30, 2020 — The emergency orders have been in place for over a month, but local health officials are already seeing positive changes.

The most notable change is the health department is seeing a decline in COVID-19 workplace complaints. Since the orders went into effect on May 11, there have been seven complaints made to the department compared to nearly 40 complaints received in April and early-May.

“In my work I feel that everything is being done with the correct hygiene,” Camila, a fish plant worker at North Coast Seafoods said. (The worker’s name was changed for this story to protect her identity.)

Early in the crisis, she was scared of infecting her child and elderly parents and hoped the facility would close. But, Camila said, she feels more secure in her job now. Workers receive appropriate PPE equipment, temperatures are taken daily, and the facility, including cafeteria tables, are disinfected constantly.

Additionally, employers, and temp agencies that place many fish plant workers in jobs, are now obligated to take the lead in preventing outbreaks. That means workers are no longer responsible for things like bringing their own masks or taking their temperature before coming to work.

Damōn Chaplin, health director of the New Bedford Health Department, said the shift in responsibility has helped provide a layer of protection for facility workers.

“We had several different industries, doing different levels of cleaning and levels of workplace practices,” Chaplin said. “And we wanted to make sure we had a standard level of performance across the board.”

The emergency orders combined with a greater availability of PPE and access to testing is what has reduced the number of complaints, Chaplin said.

“For me, it’s safe,” Camila said.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio