August 18, 2020 — At-sea observers in the Northeast were reinstated by NOAA on August 14— but multiple groups and politicians are urging the government agency to reconsider their decision.
Observer coverage has been waived for months due to health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. However, NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver announced late last month that observer coverage in the Northeast would resume on August 14.
August 18, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The next meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is scheduled for September 14-17, 2020. The meeting was originally scheduled to take place in Charleston, South Carolina. Due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19 and public safety, the Council meeting will be held via webinar.
The meeting will be available via webinar each day as it occurs. Registration is required and can be completed in advance by visiting the Council’s website at: https://safmc.net/september-2020-council-meeting-details/.
A formal public comment session will be held on Wednesday, September 16th beginning at 4:00 PM. Meeting materials and an online comment form will be available beginning August 28, 2020 through the website.
Agenda Highlights:
Additional Information:
Information on the September 2020 meeting and other meetings of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is available from the Council’s website at: https://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/. For questions, please contact: Kim Iverson, Public Information Officer at kim.iverson@safmc.net or by phone at 843/302-8440.
August 17, 2020 — American longline fishing boat captain Michael Foy has been imprisoned in the British Virgin Islands since June 8. It’s now been months since his arrest, and now the American Sword and Tuna Harvesters are calling for the all relevant agencies of the United States Government to step in.
For those that haven’t been following the story of Foy, the captain, who lives in Puerto Rico, left on May 29 for a fishing expedition. He was detained in the British Virgin Islands on June 8 for reportedly traveling into BVI waters during the coronavirus border closures. Officials not only arrested Foy, but held his foreign crew without charge, and confiscated 8,000 pounds of tuna and swordfish worth more than $60,000.
August 17, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries will redeploy at-sea monitors and other observers aboard Northeast fishing vessels today for the first time since March despite continued health and safety concerns from fishing stakeholders.
The federal fisheries manager first excused the vessels from carrying all observers with a March 20 waiver that it extended six times because of pandemic-related health and safety concerns.
During a Wednesday webinar, as NOAA Fisheries officials discussed how they hope to complete the deployment safely, it became clear there would be no seventh extension despite the tenacity of the pandemic.
It was also clear that the path toward redeployment still has some murky stretches, which NOAA officials quickly conceded.
“There are a lot of unknowns,” said Katherine McArdle, branch chief for the agency’s Fisheries Sampling Branch. “We’re going into this with a very sensitive and gentle manner.”
August 17, 2020 — The Baker-Polito Administration recently announced the launch of MassGrown Exchange, an online platform designed to facilitate business-to-business connections within the local food system for products and services.
The platform was developed following recommendations from the administration’s Food Security Task Force, which promotes ongoing efforts to ensure that individuals and families throughout the commonwealth “have access to healthy, local food.”
“Our administration developed MassGrown Exchange to serve as an important tool for the commonwealth’s agricultural and seafood industries to expand business opportunities and access new markets, and improve food security for the people of Massachusetts,” said Gov. Charlie Baker. “Through this new platform, a variety of businesses, including farmers, fisheries, restaurants and food banks, will be able to source locally caught and produced food more efficiently.”
“Our Food Security Task Force found that there was a critical need to develop a system to connect processing, storage and distribution resources to ensure ongoing supply of food,” said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. “Though the platform was designed to address COVID-19 disruptions to the local food supply, it will continue to benefit the local food system long after the pandemic has passed.”
August 17, 2020 — In 2019, Alaska experienced its warmest month, summer, and year on record. This year, it recorded some of the hottest average May temperatures on the globe. America’s northernmost state is warming twice as quickly as the rest of the world—and much more rapidly than the continental U.S.
Warming oceans and melting sea ice also present opportunities for Alaskan fisheries and commercial shipping. Changing water temperatures may introduce new fish species into Alaskan waters; increased access for cargo and tanker ships, tour boats, and government vessels will boost sectors like tourism and shipping. The blue economy, which embraces the idea that sustainable economic growth and ecological conservation can coexist, provides a welcome roadmap for the management of new fisheries and increased shipping traffic.
Similar challenges arise in the fishing and shipping sectors. Although warming waters introduce new fish species, they adversely affect traditional species such as salmon and Pacific cod, which are Alaska food staples and export commodities. Warming waters may push some fish northward into international Arctic waters — raising the possibility of conflict over these resources. The U.S. must promote adherence to international law and preserve freedom of navigation.
August 17, 2020 — On the eve of NMFS resuming at-sea observer coverage, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council asked the agency to again extend its covid-19 waiver on deploying observers in the Greater Atlantic region.
“Given the continued transmission of the covid-19 virus, we do not believe the observer program can be safely operated at this time,” wrote council chairman Michael Luisi in an Aug. 13 letter to NMFS regional director Michael Pentony and Jon Hare, science and research director at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control, when we last communicated on this issue (June 23, 2020), the 7-day new case average was under 30,000 new cases per day. On August 11, 2020, the national 7-day average of new cases was over 52,000 new cases per day,” the letter states.
“Given the ongoing community transmission of the virus and the particularly high risk of transmission in the close quarters onboard a vessel, we believe that deploying observers on fishing vessels at this time poses an unwarranted risk to fishermen, observers, and associated communities.”
Council members talked about that concern during their online August meeting this week and approved a recommendation to extend the observer and monitor waiver on permitted commercial fishing vessels through Dec. 31.
August 17, 2020 — This week, two community supported fisheries announced a plan to give back to Alaska communities in need. Alaskans Own and Northline Seafoods are teaming up to deliver 45,000 pounds of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon to Alaska Native villages experiencing record-low salmon returns this year. The announcement follows on the heels of SeaShare’s announcement that its donation requests to food banks and other hunger-relief efforts have skyrocketed this year.
Both Alaskans Own and Northline Seafoods are based in Sitka and evolved from a devotion to sustaining fishing communities, which makes these donation initiatives a perfect match.
August 17, 2020 — The following was released by the Seafood Nutrition Partnership:
Eat Seafood America!, a rapid-response initiative launched in early April aimed at helping Americans stay healthy during the COVID-19 public health crisis as well as help boost the U.S. seafood economy, has been successful in encouraging consumers to eat more fish and shellfish. Of consumers surveyed in June and July, those who reported seeing the Eat Seafood America! messaging were three times more likely to have increased their seafood consumption in the last two months.
Supported by the newly formed Seafood4Health Action Coalition of 44 organizations (full list is available at eatseafoodamerica.com), convened by Seafood Nutrition Partnership, this unified consumer outreach campaign works to help Americans build habits to eat more sustainable seafood. As the Eat Seafood America! momentum continues, heading into September and October for National Seafood Month, additional organizations have joined the coalition along with retail partners, including Giant Eagle, H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Meijer and Publix.
Read the full press release online.
August 17, 2020 — The following letter was written by Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Administrators to the National Marine Fisheries Service:
On behalf of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), I am writing to express our deep concern about the plan to redeploy observers on vessels in the Greater Atlantic Region on August 14, 2020. Given the continued transmission of the COVID-19 virus, we do not believe the observer program can be safely operated at this time.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, when we last communicated on this issue (June 23, 2020), the 7-day new case average was under 30,000 new cases per day. 1 On August 11, 2020, the national 7-day average of new cases was over 52,000 new cases per day. 1 Given the ongoing community transmission of the virus and the particularly high risk of transmission in the close quarters onboard a vessel, we believe that deploying observers on fishing vessels at this time poses an unwarranted risk to fishermen, observers, and associated communities.
During our August 2020 Meeting the Council discussed these concerns and approved a motion to recommend that you extend the observer/monitor waiver granted to vessels with Greater Atlantic Region fishing permits through December 31, 2020. This recommendation aligns with the Council’s position regarding in-person meetings, which prioritizes the health and safety of participants. It also appears to align with NOAA Fisheries’ recent decision to cancel several at-sea surveys “due to the uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the unique challenges those are creating for NOAA Fisheries.”
In evaluating when and how to redeploy observers, we encourage you to consider not only the health risks to individuals onboard the fishing vessels but also the potential lost wages/revenues and liabilities if a vessel cannot operate due to an infection caused by an observer. We still have not yet received an official response to the following question posed to you in our June 23, 2020 letter: “Given the known risks of the ongoing pandemic, is NOAA planning to assume liability for the health costs and other legal or financial ramifications resulting from an infection transmitted by an observer?” (The same question would apply to an infection transmitted to an observer.)