Saving Seafood

As New Bedford lags behind Massachusetts, Sen. Markey visits city to push vaccines

April 7, 2021 — U.S. Sen. Ed Markey on Tuesday exhorted New Bedford residents to get immunized against COVID-19, as the city’s vaccination rate remains well below the statewide average.

Home from Washington due to the Senate recess, Markey stopped in New Bedford to tour a federally funded vaccination clinic at the McCoy Recreation Center in the West End. The clinic, which is targeting senior citizens, received an extra supply of 1,000 Johnson & Johnson doses this week on top of its usual allotment of 600 Moderna shots.

“New Bedford is a little bit below the state average, so the message to the residents of New Bedford is very clear: we want to get you vaccinated,” Markey said.

Data reviewed by Target 12 shows all four cities in Bristol County are lagging behind the statewide pace of inoculations.

While 35% of all Massachusetts residents were at least partly vaccinated as of April 1, only 21% of New Bedford residents have gotten at least one shot. The rates were also below average in Fall River (22%), Attleboro (25%) and Taunton (25%).

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said “deep-seated” challenges are driving the comparatively low level of vaccinations in his city. He cited a lack of access to technology in order to make appointments online, language barriers, and jobs with limited flexibility.

Read the full story at WPRI

FLORIDA: Key Largo Fisheries Credits Power Of Internet Sales With Their Survival

April 6, 2021 — A little more than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, we’re learning what worked well with some businesses to help them survive.

For Key Largo Fisheries, it was their website.

“We shipped a lot of stone crabs, fresh fish, Key West pink shrimp, whole tails, whole lobsters,” said Key Largo Fisheries’ Tom Hill.

Keeping the iconic fishery, market, and cafe in the northern Keys up and running had a lot to do with the internet sales.

“We were fortunate in that we were able to start serving people via the web, an awful lot of people looked at our website, taking lots of orders online,” said Hill.

Boxes of Key Largo Fisheries seafood shipped directly to their clients’ doorsteps which helped them expand.

Read the full story at CBS Miami

NEFMC April 13-15, 2021 – By Webinar – Listen Live, View Documents

April 6, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a three-day meeting by webinar from Tuesday, April 13 through Thursday, April 15, 2021.  The public is invited to listen live and provide input during designated opportunities for public comment.  The Council still cannot hold a large, in-person meeting due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITIES:  The Council wants to hear from you.  Here’s how you can let the Council know what you think.

  • WRITE A LETTER:  The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration at this meeting is Thursday, April 8, 2021 at 8:00 a.m.
  • TALK TO THE COUNCIL:  You’ll be able to address the Council directly through two different avenues – by commenting on motions at the discretion of the Council chair (raise your hand on the webinar and unmute yourself when called upon) and by speaking during the open period for public comment.  Here are the Guidelines for Providing Public Comment.
  • OPEN PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT:  On Thursday, April 15 at 11:00 a.m., the Council will offer the public an opportunity to provide comments on issues relevant to Council business but not listed on this agenda.  Given the Council’s busy meeting schedule, we ask that you limit remarks to 3-5 minutes.
    • SIGN UP NOW:  Interested in speaking?  Email Janice Plante at jplante@nefmc.org to get on the list.

TIME:  12:00 p.m. start on Tuesday, April 13.  Then, 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 14 and 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 15.  The webinar will end shortly after the Council adjourns each day.

NOAA LISTENING SESSION ON EXECUTIVE ORDER:  At 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 13, NOAA Fisheries will hold a listening session on Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.  The discussion will focus on Section 216(c), making fisheries and protected resources more resilient to climate change.  NOAA Fisheries will be seeking recommendations and comments from the Council and public on this specific section of the Executive Order during the listening session.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

  • Here are instructions in the Remote Participation Guide for successfully joining and participating in the webinar.
  • THIS IS KEY!  If you want to speak during opportunities for public comment, you need to: (1) register for the webinar; and (2) actually “join” the webinar.  People who call in by telephone without joining the webinar will be in listen-only mode.  Those who take both steps – register and then join the webinar – will see the meeting screen and be able to click on a “raise hand” button, which will let the meeting organizer know you want to be unmuted to speak.
  • We have a Help Desk in case you get stuck joining the webinar or have trouble along the way.  Phone numbers are listed on the Help Desk Poster, or just email helpdesk@nefmc.org.  We’ll get right back to you.

WEBINAR CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (562) 247-8422.  The access code is 948-987-138.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  All meeting materials and the agenda are available on the Council’s website at NEFMC April 13-15, 2021 Webinar Meeting.  Additional documents will be posted as they become available.

THREE MEETING OUTLOOK:  A copy of the New England Council’s Three Meeting Outlook is available HERE.

COUNCIL MEETING QUESTIONS:  Anyone with questions prior to or during the Council meeting should contact Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.

National Fisheries Institute Statement on Seafood Expo North America

April 6, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

Diversified Communications continues its long run of connecting the seafood community through innovative events across various platforms. Today, Diversified announced that the next in-person Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America will be held in March, 2022. This comes in response to current COVID venue capacity limits, which prevent the ability to plan and execute the event in July 2021. Diversified looks forward to bringing the seafood community back together March 13-15, 2022 in Boston, MA.

NFI is excited for the return of Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America in 2022. We encourage all NFI members and partners to plan now to meet their peers then.

The pandemic has reminded us that in-person contact is vital to the human spirit in both our personal and business relationships. Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America is an example of what we have missed – and all we are looking forward to in the future.  We look forward to seeing you all safely in Boston.

Home-Based Researchers Keep 10-Year Study Afloat During Pandemic

April 5, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Even without a pandemic, figuring out the number of eggs a fish will lay during its spawning season is a difficult task. While this information is important to fishery biologists, long-term data are scarce. That hampers researchers ability to answer a fundamental question important for fishery managers: What affects the ability of marine fish, and fish populations, to replace themselves in an open ocean? The pandemic made answering this question even more difficult—but our researchers persevered.

“Many marine fish produce hundreds of thousands to millions of eggs per female per year, the survival of which determines the future abundance of a population,” said Mark Wuenschel, a fish biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Wuenschel is leading a long-term study on “fecundity”—a term for reproductive potential—in two commercial flatfish species, winter flounder and yellowtail flounder. “We had to have enough samples, and we had to work out the methodology to do it.”       

Annual fecundity — in this case, measured by the number of eggs — varies and depends on the size, age, and condition of the female fish. Environmental variables, such as temperature and available prey, also affect the growth, condition, and reproduction of the females. Like many things in life, timing is everything. To study fecundity, female fish have to be collected at just the right time from the right locations, and in large numbers. Then, lots of eggs need to be counted.

Enter Emilee Tholke and Yvonna Press, both center biologists who work with Wuenschel. They were granted access to their lab one day a week under specific safety protocols. They prepared egg samples and captured images of the eggs using a high-resolution camera with a macro lens and a microscope. Images were stored on a flash drive or transferred to a shared network file.

Then, working from home, each analyzed the images and entered the results into a shared database. Working from home not only kept the egg counts going, but ensured that critical sampling would continue, and prevented a back-log of sample processing work. This year’s effort completes a 10-year time-series of sampling, image analysis, and fecundity estimates for winter and yellowtail flounders.

Read the full release here

‘Déjà vu for Louisiana’s fisheries’: Fishermen to receive federal aid to offset COVID-19 losses

April 5, 2021 — Louisiana fishermen and others in the industry will receive $12.5 million in federal aid to help offset financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s part of a $255 million package approved by Congress in December as part of a larger COVID relief and budget bill.

“Our priority is to award these funds as quickly as possible using existing processes established under the CARES Act,” Paul Doremus, acting assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said in announcing the aid last week.

It’s the second round of money aimed at helping fishermen weather the downturn in business caused by the pandemic.

Last year, Louisiana received $14.8 million from the CARES Act, which included about $300 million to aid the fishing industry throughout the U.S.

Read the full story at Houma Today

GUAM: New fishermen’s co-op facility could be completed by 2022

April 5, 2021 — Necessary design changes, along with delays from the COVID-19 pandemic, have stalled the construction of a new Guam Fishermen’s Cooperative Association facility. The initial groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2017.

Kin Flores, head of the committee overseeing the project, said officials were faced with various challenges. One of the first was compliance with the flood zone regulations. Much of Hagåtña is considered a flood zone. The co-op facility had to be raised 5 feet above ground level from the original design to comply with codes.

“Since then, it has gone through two versions of the design,” Flores said. “We’re at the final stages of completing. We’re reapplying for an Army Corps (of Engineers) permit for the new sea wall and also a (Department of Public Works) permit for the new building design. And that’s potentially scheduled for late this month or early in May when we can start that permitting process.”

Another factor was poor soil conditions nearer the sea wall, which is being built to reinforce the shoreline. This made the facility’s foundation design more expensive and required that it be moved farther away.

Read the full story at The Guam Daily Post

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford to Open Vaccination Center for Seafood Workers

April 2, 2021 — New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, joined by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Bill Keating, and members of the New Bedford City Council and state legislative delegation, announced Wednesday that the City of New Bedford has established a waterfront vaccination center on Tichon Avenue to vaccinate essential seafood industry workers.

The site is located at the former Environmental Protection Agency Dewatering Facility on the waterfront, recently turned over to the New Bedford Port Authority by the EPA. It will launch in the coming weeks with additional vaccine supply and through a partnership with the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center.

The waterfront vaccination center will be operated as a partnership between the City and the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center which will staff the vaccination site. The Greater New Bedford Community Health Center recently received an award of nearly $4 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration as part of the American Rescue Plan to support its work, including direct receipt of vaccine, which makes possible the operation of this site.

Read the full story at WBSM

The Additional $255 Million in CARES Act Funding Broken Down By State

April 2, 2021 — Earlier this week NOAA Fisheries announced that an additional $255 million will be allocated to states and territories with coastal and marine fishery participants who have been negatively affected by COVID-19. The new funding, which falls under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), follows an initial $300 million that was set aside for fisheries assistance earlier this year. Now, we’re taking a look at the latest funding and how it’s being broken down by state. You can find the full rundown below:

Alaska – $40 million

Washington – $40 million

Massachusetts – $23,632,530

“Our fishing industries are at the core of our culture and economy in Massachusetts,” said state Senator Ed Markey. “Given the unrelenting challenges associated with the pandemic, the $23 million in aid for the Commonwealth is another down-payment on the help these industries deserve. We are home to the highest grossing port in the nation, and additional support will be needed to match our vital contribution to the fishing economy.”

Read the full story at Seafood News