Saving Seafood

Fishing industry moves to head off Northeast canyons monument reversal

January 27, 2021 — Northeast fishing advocates mobilized as President Biden moved fast to reverse executive orders from the Trump administration — possibly including Trump’s move to back off fishing restrictions in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument.

Biden ordered a broad review of more than 100 actions by the Trump administration on environmental issues, including the former president’s attempts to alter national monuments. Fishing advocates moved to get in early and persuade the new administration that the U.S. fisheries management system that’s been in place for more than 40 years can handle protecting the Northeast offshore habitat without executive intervention.

“We kind of saw it coming, and we sent letters off to politicians,” said Jim Budi, who owns a swordfish and tuna longline vessel that works out of New Bedford, Mass. “We had great fishing there this year. If it wasn’t for that, we’d be in the red.”

Environmental groups pushed Biden on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, to reinstate the Obama administration’s offshore monument declaration, with its potential to foreclose most fishing at the edge of the continental shelf.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Biden plans review of national monuments, including Northeast Canyons and Seamounts

January 22, 2021 — Recently inaugurated U.S. President Joe Biden announced – just hours after he was sworn in – that he plans to perform a review of the Trump administration’s actions regarding a number of national monuments, including the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument.

The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument is the first national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, and one of just five marine monuments in the U.S. Located off the east coast, the monument was created in 2016 by U.S. President Barack Obama and encompasses 4,913 square miles of ocean.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

President Biden’s flurry of actions to protect the environment reignites a controversy about the Atlantic’s only marine monument

January 22, 2021 — Last June, as part of a concerted campaign to dismantle the environmental policies of the Obama administration, Donald Trump met with fishermen in Maine and signed a proclamation that allowed commercial fishing in nearly 5,000 square miles of federally protected waters southeast of Cape Cod.

But elections have consequences, and on Wednesday President Joe Biden signed an executive order that could overturn Trump’s decision and restore the first marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean to its former status, part of a flurry of executive actions Biden took on his first day in office to reverse many of the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks.

Environmental advocates called the first steps promising, a welcome change from the policies of the past four years.

In response to Biden’s order, representatives of fishing groups urged the new administration to consult them before overturning Trump’s policies.

“The hope of the fishing industry is that if the Biden administration is endeavoring to unite the country, then the Biden administration will actively reach out to fishing communities and not only discuss the marine monument with them but listen to the fishing communities’ concerns and act upon those concerns,” said Andrew Minkiewicz, an attorney at the Fisheries Survival Fund in Washington, D.C.

He and others urged the Biden administration to respect the traditional fishery management process, which allows for councils composed of fishermen, environmental advocates, and regulators to determine where and how much fishing can occur.

“I believe, as long as this is reviewed fairly, in terms of the science and law, there’s no reason that fishing shouldn’t be allowed there,” said Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, a Washington-based group that represents commercial fishermen. “It’s sustainable. But if it’s a political decision and about Obama’s legacy, then it’s going to be a problem.”

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

President Biden to review Trump’s changes to national monuments

January 20, 2021 — Trump’s decision to downsize the Bears Ears National Monument by 85% on lands considered sacred to Native Americans in southeastern Utah and to shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by nearly half earned him applause from Utah’s Republican leaders, who considered the monuments an example of federal government overreach.

Environmental, tribal, paleontological and outdoor recreation organizations have pending lawsuits to restore the full sizes of the monuments, arguing presidents don’t have the legal authority to undo or change monuments created by predecessors.

Pat Gonzales-Rogers, executive director of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, said the group has told the Biden transition team the monument should first restored to the size Obama created and later to a larger size tribes originally requested.

The lands are sacred to tribes in the coalition: Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribe, he said. The area includes thousands of archaeological sites on red rock lands including cliff dwellings. The Bears Ears buttes that overlook a grassy valley are particularly sacred.

“The Bears Ears is a church and the place of worship for many of our tribes,” Gonzales-Rogers said. “It should be viewed with the same type of gravitas and platform that you would view the Cathedral of Notre Dame.”

The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts conservation area comprises about 5,000 square miles east of New England. It contains vulnerable species of marine life such as right whales and fragile deep sea corals. The monument was the first national marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean.

Read the full White House release here

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Chicago Tribune

Proposal to help young fishermen becomes law

January 7, 2021 — Federal legislation to help mobilize the next generation of commercial fishermen cleared its final hurdle this week, creating a national grant program to identify and train young fishermen in Gloucester and beyond.

The bill, co-authored in the House by Rep. Seth Moulton and signed into law Tuesday by President Donald Trump, addresses the succession void that many traditional fisheries are experiencing as the pipeline of entry-level crew and prospective captains has dried up.

The new law provides $2 million in funding to distribute grants of up to $200,000 to support and enhance local and regional training, education and technology development for entry-level commercial fishermen.

“This important new law creates opportunities that will foster young and beginning fishermen with the education, training, and mentorship needed to overcome the steep financial costs of entering the fishing fleet, allowing them to compete within the industry while fishing in a sustainable manner,” said Robert C. Vandermark, executive director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network.

The legislation had significant bipartisan support in the House and the Senate from representatives of fishing communities throughout the United States, from Cape Ann to Alaska. The Senate passed its version first, with the House following suit in December before the two bills were reconciled.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Trump Vetoes Ban on Driftnet Fishing

January 5, 2021 — President Donald Trump has vetoed a bill that would have phased out large-mesh drift gillnets in federal waters. In his veto message, he suggested that the bill would increase reliance on imported seafood, worsen the trade deficit and “not achieve its purported conservation benefits.”

Driftnets are prone to a high rate of bycatch, including protected marine mammals and sea turtles. In the U.S., the nets are used exclusively by about 20 vessels to catch swordfish and sharks in federal waters off the coast of California. Swordfish is the primary target species, but it only accounts for about one out of eight animals caught by the nets, according to the nonprofit Turtle Island Restoration Network. An estimated two thirds of all animals caught are discarded, including about 60 whales and dolphins per year – more cetacean mortality than all other West Coast fisheries combined.

The Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act, sponsored by Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), would have phased out driftnets and helped affected fishermen to acquire deep-set buoy gear. Deep-set buoy fishing involves deploying a trio of buoys connected to one extra-long line, which hangs down to 1,000 feet of water depth – the region where swordfish spend the daylight hours. By fishing deep and frequently tending their buoys, fishermen can catch high-quality swordfish without landing shallow-swimming sea turtles and dolphins, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

COVID relief bill includes second round of fishery relief funds

January 5, 2021 — Lawmakers representing the U.S. state of Massachusetts said on Monday, 4 January, they were thankful the USD 900 billion (EUR 732 billion) COVID relief bill – passed late last month and signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump – will include a second round of emergency funding for fisheries.

The latest spending plan sets aside USD 300 million (EUR 244 million) in relief funding for fishermen and others in the industry affected by the pandemic. That matches the amount Congress approved via the CARES Act last spring.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

President Trump Vetoes S. 906 Over Fishing Gear Provisions

January 2, 2021 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the White House:

TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:

I am returning, without my approval, S. 906, the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act. America’s fishermen have made great sacrifices to ensure that our Nation’s marine fisheries are a sustainable economic engine for coastal communities. Under my Administration, the number of United States fish stocks subject to overfishing is at a historic low. This achievement is the result of a transparent and collaborative regulatory process that is supported by regional fishery management councils. At council meetings, fishermen work with Federal Government and State government representatives to meet their statutory obligations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

In passing S. 906, the Congress has ignored the fact that the regional fishery management process has had strong, bipartisan support since its creation. By forcing the West Coast drift gillnet fishery to use alternative gear that has not been proven to be an economically viable substitute for gillnets, the Congress is effectively terminating the fishery. As a result, an estimated 30 fishing vessels, all of which are operated by family-owned small businesses, will no longer be able to bring their bounty to shore. At a time when our Nation has a seafood trade deficit of nearly $17 billion, S. 906 will exacerbate this imbalance.

Further, S. 906 will not achieve its purported conservation benefits. The West Coast drift gillnet fishery is subject to robust legal and regulatory requirements for environmental protection that equal or exceed the environmental protections that apply to foreign fisheries. Without this fishery, Americans will import more swordfish and other species from foreign sources that frequently have more bycatch than our own fisheries. If the Congress wants to address bycatch, it should insist on a level playing field for imported seafood instead of crushing American fishing families.

My Administration has done more for American fishermen than any President before me. On May 7, 2020, I signed an Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth to bolster our domestic seafood industry while curbing illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing abroad. On June 5, 2020, I issued a Proclamation on Modifying the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to open it to commercial fishing that is conducted in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws, regulations, and requirements. And as fishermen struggled to stay on the water during the pandemic, I issued a Memorandum on Protecting the United States Lobster Industry and later made approximately $530 million available, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Seafood Trade Relief Program, to support the United States seafood industry and fishermen affected by retaliatory tariffs from foreign governments.

My Administration would support provisions of the enrolled bill, if passed separately, which would authorize fee collection in a different fishery — the Pacific Halibut fishery. This authority is needed to implement a provision of the International Pacific Halibut Commission Convention, to which the United States is a party. However, for the sake of American fishermen nationwide, I will not let the Congress circumvent the fisheries management process by effectively terminating a fishery without appropriate consultation and input from fishery management councils. If this occurred, it would increase our reliance on imported seafood and take away the livelihoods of hard-working Americans and their family businesses. It is my duty to return S. 906 to the Senate without my approval.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 1, 2021.

Trump vetoes Calif. fishing bill over seafood trade deficit

January 4. 2021 — President Trump vetoed a bill Friday that would have gradually ended the use of large-mesh drift gillnets deployed exclusively in federal waters off the coast of California, saying such legislation would increase reliance on imported seafood and worsen a multibillion-dollar seafood trade deficit.

Trump also said in his veto message to the Senate that the legislation sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., “will not achieve its purported conservation benefits.”

Feinstein issued a statement late Friday saying Trump’s veto “has ensured that more whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine species will be needlessly killed, even as we have a proven alternative available.”

Trump vetoed the fishing bill as the Republican-controlled Senate followed the Democratic-led House and voted to overturn his earlier veto of the annual defense policy bill, enacting it into law despite Trump’s objections.

The fishing bill’s sponsors said large-mesh drift gillnets, which measure between 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) and 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) long and can extend 200 feet (60.9 meters) below the surface of the ocean, are left in the waters overnight to catch swordfish and thresher sharks. But they said at least 60 other marine species — including whales, dolphins and sea lions — can also become entangled in the nets, where they are injured or die.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Fox Business