Saving Seafood

Massachusetts could boost dredging projects

July 12, 2018 — Sediment is piling up on the bottoms of rivers and harbors, putting cities and towns on Cape Ann and elsewhere into a multimillion-dollar bind.

State and federal funding for local dredging has dried up in recent decades, forcing local officials to dig into reserves or borrow money to remove silt in order to make their waterways deep enough for boats to navigate.

Gov. Charlie Baker has pitched a new program — with $50 million in grant money — to help coastal communities pay for dredging as part of a more than $660 million economic development proposal, which cleared the state House of Representatives late Tuesday.

The measure still needs approval from the state Senate.

Under Baker’s plan, communities would compete for matching grants and be required to cover half the costs of each project.

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, said the money would go a long way because many communities along the coast haven’t dredged in decades. In many instances, he said, silting is making waterways less navigable.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

New York Times spotlights perils faced by Atlantic scallop fleet

April 18, 2016 – In an April 15 story, the New York Times described in detail the challenges faced at sea by members of the limited access scallop fleet. The story covered the rescue of the Carolina Queen III, which ran aground off the Rockaways Feb. 25, during a storm with waves cresting as high as 14 feet. The following is an excerpt from the story:

Scallop fishing may not conjure up the derring-do of those catching crabs in the icy waters of the Bering Strait or the exploits of long-line tuna fisherman chronicled on shows like “The Deadliest Catch.” But the most dangerous fishing grounds in America remain those off the Northeast Coast — more dangerous than the Bering Sea, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From 2000 to 2009, the years covered by the agency’s data, 504 people died while fishing at sea and 124 of them were in the Northeast.

The scallop industry had the second-highest rate of fatalities: 425 deaths per 100,000 workers. Among all workers in the United States over the same period, according to the C.D.C., there were four deaths per 100,000 workers. The size of the crew and the time at sea contribute to the dangers.

Drew Minkiewicz, a lawyer who represents the Fisheries Survival Fund, said that since 2010, the number of vessels permitted to fish for scallops has been limited, and with fewer unregistered ships at sea, there have been fewer accidents.

The Atlantic sea scallop — Placopecten magellanicus — has been popular since the 1950s, when Norwegian immigrants first scoured the seas south of New Bedford, Mass. The supply could swing between scarcity and plenty, but in the 1980s huge algae blooms known as brown tides appeared several years in a row and threatened to destroy the scallops’ ecosystem on the East Coast. Even after those tides passed, the industry almost did itself in by overfishing. Only after regulations were passed in the 1990s and the industry banded together with the scientific community to improve fishing techniques did the fisheries rebound.

Now, scalloping along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to North Carolina is among the most lucrative fishing in the world. In 2014, the catch was estimated to be worth more than $424 million.

The industry operates under strict guidelines, many aimed at ensuring sustainability of the fisheries. To fish some areas with known scallop beds, a permit is needed, and the haul is capped. Open-sea fishing, on the other hand, is restricted only by the annual 32-days-at-sea limit.

The clock is always ticking.

“We get so few days to go out, we have to find every efficiency to maximize our days at sea,” said Joe Gilbert, who owns Empire Fisheries and, as captain of a boat called the Rigulus, is part of the tight-knit scalloping community.

In preparation for the Carolina Queen’s voyage, the crew would have spent days getting ready, buying $3,000 in groceries, loading more than 20,000 pounds of ice and prepping the equipment on the twin-dredge vessel.

The vessel steamed north from the Chesapeake Bay, traveling 15 hours to reach the coast off New Jersey, where the crew would probably have started fishing. Then the work would begin.

It is pretty standard for a crew to work eight hours on and take four hours off, but in reality it often is more like nine hours on and three off. If you are a good sleeper, you are lucky to get two hours’ shut-eye before heading back on deck.

The huge tows scouring the ocean bed for scallops dredge for about 50 minutes and are then hauled up, their catch dumped on deck before the tows are reset and plunged back into the water, a process that can be done in as little as 10 minutes.

While the dredge did its work, the crew on duty on the Carolina Queen sorted through the muddy mix of rocks and sand and other flotsam on the ship’s deck, looking for the wavy round shells of the scallops.

“The biggest danger is handling the gear on deck,” Mr. Gilbert said. “It is very heavy gear on a pitching deck, and you get a lot of injured feet, injured hands.”

Once the scallops are sorted, according to industry regulations, they must be shucked by hand.

The crew spends hours opening the shells and slicing out the abductor muscle of the mollusks — the fat, tasty morsel that winds up on plates at a restaurants like Oceana in Midtown Manhattan, where a plate of sea scallops à la plancha costs as much as $33.

A single boat can haul 4,000 pounds in a day.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Status and Trends of the US Sea Scallop Fishery

April 18, 2016 — Rotational area management is the cornerstone of U.S. sea scallop fisheries management; areas that contain beds of small scallops are closed before the scallops experience fishing mortality, then the areas re-open when scallops are larger, producing more yield-per-recruit. When scallop vessels are fishing in these areas they are limited in terms of total removal. The scallops are harvested for their mussel (“meats”) by being hand shucked at sea; the vast majority being landed iced.

There have been many issues associated with commercial fishing gear in recent years as we move towards more sustainable fisheries. Important objectives to scallop gear operations include increasing the size of scallops retained in the gear, preventing damage to scallops not ready for harvest, avoiding mortality to unwanted fish species, mitigating any adverse impact to habitat, and reducing risk to threatened and endangered species. Scallops are primarily harvested by dredges that sweep across the surface of the sea floor. Besides catching scallops, the gear also captures as a bycatch flatfish such as yellowtail flounder and winter flounder. Many of these flatfish stocks are in an overfished condition due to past heavy pressure from targeting fisheries and environmental change, including rising ocean temperatures. Reduction of bycatch in the scallop fishery has been accomplished by gear modifications, time/ area closures (e.g., seasonal restrictions), and the higher scallop catch per unit effort (CPUE) achieved by rotational management.

Another issue relates to the concerns that some stakeholders have about adverse impacts of scallop dredging on the habitat. While many studies indicate that fishing has relatively little long term impact on the types of high energy habitats scallops inhabit, management takes the precautionary approach of minimizing the swept area of the fishery. The 2016 projection for swept area is 3,600 square nautical miles. This is down from the 16,000 square nautical miles fished in the 1990’s, which produced substantially less yields — another major benefit of the rotational fishing strategy.

The scallop fishery also had an issue with the bycatch of loggerhead sea turtles in the mid-Atlantic; estimates suggested that the fishery killed or injured over 700 loggerheads in 2003 alone. The industry and its scientific partners have since developed gear solutions and now virtually no turtle mortality has been observed.

By solving issues related to scallop stock management, bycatch, habitat, and protected species, the U.S. scallop producers applied for and received the “Certified Sustainable Seafood” credential from the Marine Stewardship Council, aiding in the worldwide marketing of the U.S. sea scallop.

See the full story at the Northeast Agriculture Insights and Perspectives.

NEW YORK: Federal fish fight erupts over Hudson River PCB cleanup

March 31, 2016 — FORT EDWARD, NY — Federal agencies are fighting over how quickly the PCB dredging project of the Hudson River by General Electric Co. might someday make the fish once again safe to eat.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is disputing a finding by two other agencies — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — that EPA seriously overestimated by “several decades” how quickly recently-concluded GE river dredging will reduce PCBs in fish to levels fit for human consumption.

On Tuesday, EPA issued a 110-page rebuttal to the NOAA and Fish and Wildlife findings, which were first reported in 2015 and this week published in a peer-reviewed national scientific journal. Last fall, GE wrapped up a six-year dredging project between Fort Edward and Troy, although a coalition of environmental groups and river advocates said too much toxic pollution remains left behind.

EPA claimed less optimistic conclusions on future PCB levels in fish by other federal scientists “are not supported by the full range of available evidence,” according to an EPA statement accompanying its rebuttal.

Read the full story at the Albany Times-Union

Judge bars boat from dredging for clams

November 19, 2015 — PROVINCETOWN — A judge has temporarily barred a Gloucester fishing vessel from dredging for clams off Herring Cove while a dispute about who governs such dredging in that area makes its way through court.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Raymond Veary issued a temporary restraining order Nov. 3, after the Provincetown harbormaster’s staff followed the 70-foot Tom Slaughter as it dredged for surf clams the previous two days, Harbormaster Rex McKinsey said.

The Slaughter is one of three clam draggers whose owners are in court in separate actions fighting cease-and-desist orders issued by the Provincetown Conservation Commission to keep them from dredging up to 40 feet offshore without a permit.

Veary’s temporary order was to last until Friday, but according to Monte Rome, owner of the Tom Slaughter, it has been extended to Jan. 5 at his request.

Provincetown officials want to stop hydraulic dredging, a process that involves shooting water at 50 to 100 pounds of pressure into the sand to release the clams, because it disturbs the ocean floor and damages the habitat for fish, clams and other marine life, McKinsey said.

In 2007, the Conservation Commission passed a regulation banning hydraulic dredging in that area without a permit.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

From croaker to clams: Commercial fishing in Ocean City

November 8, 2015 — Ocean City is home to a substantial commercial fishing fleet that works our surrounding waters to harvest marketable resources from clams to swordfish.

Visitors to the resort can see the commercial boats tied up at the West Ocean City harbor and some might wonder what they fish for and how. The following is a short description of a few of the commercial fishing operations that go on around Ocean City.

Local “trawlers” are typically large steel or wood hulled fishing boats that pull trawl nets across the bottom and catch a variety of fish such as flounder, striped bass, croaker, sharks, bluefish, squid, rays, horseshoe crabs and anything else they might scoop up in their net. Also known as “draggers,” these boats can sometimes be seen working the waters just a mile or two from the beach.

Another type of trawler sometimes seen by fishermen 30-40 miles offshore are those that drag nets for scallops which are clam-like critters that lay on top of the sea floor. As soon as the scallops are brought up on deck they’re taken to a little shucking shed on the stern or side of the boat, where they’re opened and the edible meat removed.

Clams are caught both offshore and in the bay. The big, chowder-type clams are taken in the ocean by huge steel-hulled boats that pull a large metal dredge across the bottom. Water is pumped down from the boat to the front of the dredge and used to blast away the mud and sand the clams are buried in, and then the dredge scoops them up.

Read the full story at Delmarva Now

 

Like a Scallop in the Headlights

October 29, 2015 — Scallops, like deer, freeze in the headlights. A blast of artificial light causes scallops to refuse to swim. It’s an unusual reaction, given that marine creatures generally either flock to the light, like moths, or scurry from the intrusion. Understanding this odd behavior might help governments take better care of scallop fisheries.

Liese Siemann, a research biologist at the Coonamessett Farm Foundation in Massachusetts, discovered the mollusks’ motionlessness by accident while watching videos of Atlantic sea scallops off the east coast of Long Island, New York. Traditionally, scientists survey scallop fishing grounds by dredging—scooping creatures from the seafloor to count them. But Siemann and her team were testing video survey equipment, trawling a camera through the sea. She says video surveys are safer for protected species or in protected areas, and are becoming more common.

Looking at the footage, Siemann noticed that when the camera’s light was off, scallops swam away as the sled approached. But when the camera’s light was switched on, the scallops seemed to stay put. Scallops aren’t the most mobile animals, but they can swim a few meters at a time by opening and closing their shells. They can also spin around, jump, and flip over if they get turned upside down.

Read the full story at Hakai Magazine

 

MAINE: Lobstermen Cry ‘Foul’ Over Proposed Searsport Harbor Dredging

October 15, 2015 — The state of Maine has long been synonymous with deep forested tracts of wilderness stretching from its western boundary with the Connecticut lakes in far northern New Hampshire, up to its northern border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. The state has long been associated with pristine springs, rivers and lakes, the habitat of its signature majestic large antlered moose – and all the while conjuring up images of the ubiquitous Poland Spring water bottle.

The southern and “downeastern” end of Maine is composed of miles of sandy beaches that gradually give way to rocky crags, jutting coastline, and hundreds of small rock outcrops and islands dotted with salty old lighthouses. This rocky coastline is the perfect breeding ground for the one sea creature that Maine is famous for, and makes up the heart of the state’s predominant seafood export – that delectable crustacean, the Maine lobster.

It also appears the “typical Maine rocky coastline” is the prime location where these tasty crustaceans are caught and eventually get exported far and wide to consumers’ tables. This is according to the most recent Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, released last month. Of note, an interesting statistic gleaned from this NOAA study is: “… More than 98 percent of the total GOM (Gulf of Maine) catch has come from inshore NMFS statistical areas.”

This statistic is of great importance as it puts one such lobster breeding-ground right in the crosshairs of an ambitious U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and Maine DOT proposed project to dredge and deepen the channel in Searsport – to the tune of approximately $13 million – to allow two Canadian oil companies, Sprague Energy and Irving Oil, to off-load their crude oil at a local terminal at Mack Point.

At issue for these two oil companies is that they would prefer not to wait for a high tide to off-load their cargo at the terminal, and thus save – by their account – approximately $845,000 per year. To accommodate these oil companies, the COE would risk jeopardizing prime lobster breeding-grounds in western Penobscot Bay, by dumping approximately 1 million cubic yards of dredge spoils from the Searsport channel in areas of Penobscot Bay containing numerous pockmarks created by methane venting.

Read the full story at Triple Pundit

 

MARYLAND: Down year seen for oysters

October 8, 2015 — Watermen dredging the muddy bottom of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries for oysters may not haul in the bounty that some recent years have produced, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources cautions as a new season gets underway.

“We’ve had good harvests the last couple years,” said Chris Judy, the department’s shellfish division director. But “we will no longer enjoy the spotlight on our oysters because other oysters are going to enter the market in a stronger way this year.”

The season kicked off Oct. 1, as it always does, but largely in name only. The same nor’easter that chewed at Delmarva’s beaches and rained out a weekend of activities at the beginning of the month kept most watermen off the water. But they were out in force after the skies cleared.

“It looks like we got the whole state of Maryland working on one bar off Tangier Island,” said Greg Price, a waterman based out of Chance in Somerset County. “I counted 55 boats this morning.”

Those freshly caught oysters are already finding their way into refrigerator cases.

“At first it was a little dreary because of the storm, but we’re booming now,” said Miranda Taylor, manager of Ocean Highway Seafood and Produce in Pocomoke City.

Read the full story at Delmarva Now