Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing in 2016: The year didn’t go swimmingly for industry

December 28, 2016 — The past year in the commercial fishing industry and along the city’s waterfront has been one of battles, as the city’s legendary fishing industry has fought to remain viable in the midst of regulatory, economic and environmental pressures.

Groundfishermen spent much of the year dueling with NOAA Fisheries over who should pay for mandated at-sea monitoring. And fishing advocates, led by the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, continued their crusade questioning the quality of the science NOAA uses in its stock assessments.

Lobstermen, NOAA scientists and elected representatives such as U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, took on Sweden over the Scandinavian country’s attempt to convince the European Union to list American lobsters as an invasive species and ban their importation.

Those skirmishes have taken place against the backdrop of the most disturbing and over-arching single piece of information to emerge in 2016 — the Gulf of Maine, already effectively shuttered to cod fishing and shrimping, is warming faster than 99.9 percent of the rest of the planet’s oceans and doing so at an accelerated rate.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

NOAA fisheries releases climate action plans

December 21st, 2016 — After years of preparation, NOAA Fisheries last Friday released five “regional action plans” to guide implementation of the agency’s national climate science strategy over the next five years.

The regions covered include the Northeast, Southeast, Pacific Islands, West Coast and Alaska.

The waters off the Northeastern states are among the fastest warming of the world’s oceans. Marine species from plankton to the largest whales are affected as a variety of ecosystem components — habitat, food webs, water temperatures, wind patterns — respond to climate change.

NOAA’s regional action plan for the Northeast addresses the Continental Shelf ecosystem, which extends from Maine to North Carolina and from the headwaters of local watersheds to the deep ocean. It was developed jointly by NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole and the Greater Atlantic Region Fisheries Office in Gloucester, with input from a variety of sources.

Its goal is to provide “timely and relevant information on what’s changing, what’s at risk and how to respond,” according to NOAA. That information is “key” to minimizing the effects of climate change on the region.

“We are excited to release the Northeast Regional Action Plan, which was developed with input from many partners in the region,” Jon Hare, lead author of the plan and the director of NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center, said in a statement announcing the release of the plan.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American 

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing for film money

November 25, 2016 — The Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, which has fully assumed the role of producer in Rockport native David Wittkower’s film on the demise of the commercial fishing industry, will hold another fundraiser on Dec. 1.

The GFWA, with the assistance of private benefactors and the foundation for which Gloucester resident Linzee Coolidge is a director, has raised about $41,000 of the estimated $65,000 Wittkower needs to finish the film, “Dead in the Water.”

The GFWA will try to narrow the funding gap with the Dec. 1 fundraiser at the Elks Club on the Back Shore that will include a reception catered by the GFWA and a 50-50 raffle.

 Tickets are $100 each for the raffle and are available at the GFWA offices at 2 Blackburn Center. Only 200 tickets will be sold. Winners do not have to be present to collect prizes.

Half of the proceeds from the raffle — which will pay prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and two prizes of $1,000 — will go to help fund Wittkower’s final photography and post-production on the film he has been working on for more than two years.

“David Wittkower’s film, while presenting the harsh facts of fishing, also illustrates the warmth and heart in this industry, and why it is so important to the Gloucester community,” the GFWA wrote in its letter announcing the most recent fundraising event for the completion of the film. “If completed, the film will end with hope, presenting the people working to make Gloucester fishing a sustainable 21st century fleet.”

Wittkower, a 1979 graduate of Rockport High School, is a veteran, award-winning filmmaker, serving as producer, director and editor on a number of documentaries.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Locals wary of changes to whiting plan

November 21, 2016 — It didn’t take long for the Gloucester Fisheries Commission to oppose the proposals being developed at the New England Fishery Management Council that would introduce limited access to the historically open-access whiting fishery.

A mere two days after the NEFMC received its first look at the proposals being generated by its whiting advisory panel and whiting committee, Gloucester commission members raised concerns over the impact the proposals could have on the city’s whiting fleet — particularly the small boats.

“We should not allow any other species to go under limited access,” said commission member Angela Sanfilippo, also the president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association. “This is a healthy stock and I am totally against limited access.”

Sanfilippo’s views were echoed by member Joe Orlando and Chairman Mark Ring.

The three proposals to potentially limit access to the fishery are contained in Amendment 22 currently being developed by the council. The council’s whiting committee hopes to furnish a more finished product at the council’s next meeting in late January.

The city fisheries commission, however, wasn’t waiting around for the council staff’s final analysis. It voted 6-0 to oppose any attempts to limit access to Ipswich Bay for the local whiting fleet.

The three proposals, being developed by the NEFMC’s whiting advisory panel and whiting committee, essentially offer potential eligibility parameters for future access into the fishery.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Fishing industry seeks reversal of Atlantic Marine Monument

November 21, 2016 — The Gloucester Fishing Commission isn’t ready yet to employ a full-court press on President-elect Donald Trump to reverse the Obama administration’s creation of a Marine National Monument in the canyons and seamounts off the coast of southern New England.

It’s not that the commission members think it’s a bad idea. They just think it’s too early to start beating that particular drum.

“There’s already a lot of talk and the group letters will be coming along like before,” said commission Chairman Mark Ring. “But I don’t think we should be doing a letter now. It’s too premature.”

“Let’s wait until he gets into office,” said Angela Sanfilippo.

Other fishing stakeholders around the country have said they hope to appeal to Trump’s oft-stated intent to reverse any of the Obama administration’s policies and decisions he deems to be executive overreach.

“It’s a new day,” said fishing industry advocate Robert Vanasse of the Saving Seafood website. “I would anticipate there would be a desire to address monuments. Whether it’s the radical step of revoking the designation, or modifying it to allow non-destructive, sustainable fishing to take place, which we think is rational, I don’t know.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Environmental police mum on identity of accused lobsterman

November 17, 2016 — The Massachusetts Environmental Police said Wednesday it is not naming the lobsterman for whom it is seeking a criminal summons for allegedly unloading 183 illegal lobsters last Tuesday at a local lobster wholesaler.

Major Patrick Moran of the Environmental Police said it is the department’s policy not to divulge the name of the lobsterman or the vessel until its officers have the opportunity to go before the clerk magistrate at Gloucester District Court.

“That is our policy and I don’t see it changing,” Moran said. “We still have to protect people who may be innocent.”

Moran did confirm the lobsters were landed at Captain Joe & Sons Wholesale Lobster Co. in East Gloucester, but said the wholesale lobster dealer does not share any culpability in the alleged massive violations that included 183 illegal lobsters — 144 undersized, 37 v-notched and two egg-bearing — from the 550 lobsters the unidentified vessel landed.

“We are not holding the wholesaler responsible, the reason being they hadn’t taken the lobsters into their possession,” Moran said. “There already was a federal officer on the scene and the vessel was gone by the time they started inspecting the lobsters.”

Frank Ciarametaro, a partner at Captain Joe & Sons, declined comment on the incident.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Police: Man swept out to sea while fishing in Gloucester

November 9th, 2016 — A man was swept out to sea Tuesday afternoon while fishing near Rafes Chasm in Gloucester, police said in a statement. Multiple agencies are engaged in a search for the man.

Around 3 p.m., a man called 911 and told police he was fishing with another man when a large wave crashed into them, sending the other man into the water.

A search and rescue effort, involving Gloucester police and fire, state police, Massachusetts Environmental Police, U.S. Coast Guard, and Gloucester Harbor Master, is underway to locate the Boston man, who is in his 30s.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe 

25 years ago, the crew of the Andrea Gail was lost in the ‘perfect storm’

October 31st, 2016 — At the heart of Gloucester, America’s oldest seaport, visitors will find an eight-foot-tall bronze fisherman at the wheel of his ship.

Engraved at the base of the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial are the names of more than 3,000 residents who were lost at sea and the following words: “They that go down to the sea in ships, 1623-1923.” Twenty-five years ago, one ship in particular gained national fame when it was lost during the “perfect storm” of 1991.

The “storm with no name” claimed the lives of six fishermen and the captain and crew of the Andrea Gail, a disaster that was later chronicled in Sebastian Junger’s bestselling book and a film starring George Clooney.

The storm left a trail of destruction from Nova Scotia to Florida, killing 13 people and causing close to $500 million in damage as it lashed the coast from Oct. 26 through Nov. 1 of that year.

Winds upwards of 70 mph “tossed [boats] like beach toys [in] the surf,” The Boston Globe reported on October 31, 1991. A small Marshfield home was even lifted from its foundation, floating in the water and endangering moored boats.

“At 3 o’clock Wednesday my mother was upset because there was salt water on her lawn,” a Chatham resident told the Globe. “At 6 o’clock there was no lawn and she was worried there’d be no house. Our house escaped by some miracle.”

Read the full story at The Boston Globe 

NOAA reports on state of US fisheries: Landings up, values down

October 27, 2016 — Gloucester improved its standing among all U.S. commercial ports in both the volume and value of its commercial seafood landings in 2015, according to the NOAA Fisheries annual Fisheries of the United States report released Wednesday.

The report is described by NOAA officials as an “annual snapshot of key national fishing and seafood statistics.” It showed the quantity of U.S. commercial seafood landings rebounded slightly in 2015 to 9.7 billion pounds valued at $5.2 billion. But the value of those landings decreased by almost 5 percent nationally from the previous year.

Gloucester’s performance in 2015 mirrored the national picture, with an increase in landings, but a decline in the overall value of those landings.

Gloucester, which ranked 22nd in volume of landings in 2014 among all U.S. commercial fishing ports, moved up two spots to 20th in 2015 by landing 68 million pounds of seafood — an increase of 11.5 percent from 2014.

And while America’s oldest seaport moved up four spots to No. 22 in the value of its landings, its 2015 value of $44 million actually represented a 4.3 percent drop from the $46 million worth of commercial seafood it landed in 2014.

The declines in value locally and nationally were reflected in prices off the boat, as the price index for edible fish declined by 9 percent nationally in 2015.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Poland to honor fisherman for saving treasure

October 27, 2016 — One of Poland’s greatest and most sacred works of art might not be there if not for the actions of a Gloucester fisherman and other Americans during World War II.

Curtis Dagley on Thursday will receive the Bene Merito medal from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland for his part in returning to Poland cultural treasures plundered by Nazi Germany. The honor also recognizes the imprisonment he suffered at the hands of the Communist authorities of Poland.

Drafted in 1945, the 18-year-old Dagley was a private when he was assigned a special mission in 1946. He was not told any details of the job.

He found himself one of 12 guards aboard a special train from Nuremberg, Germany, to Krakow, Poland, guarding artworks plundered by the Nazis in 1939, including a 15th century altarpiece hand-carved by Bavarian sculptor Veit Stoss. The works had been recovered by a special commission, known as The Monuments Men, which included Lanesville sculptor Walker Hancock, and were being returned to their owners.

The largest such Gothic piece in the world, the Voss altar measures 43 feet high (about four stories) by 36 feet wide when the two side panels are opened completely at the altar of St. Mary’s Church in Krakow. The revered altarpiece tells the story of the role of Mary in the expiation of the sins of the world by her son Jesus Christ. Some 200 incredibly realistic figures, some 12 feet tall, adorn it. It has been compared in its significance to the Polish nation to the U.S. Liberty Bell.

The return of the treasures coincided with and became a focal point of the Third of May anticommunist demonstrations in Poland in 1946.

Five days after the train’s arrival, Dagley was arrested at random by the Communist-controlled Polish security police, accused of shooting a Polish militiaman during an incident involving a woman. Another officer admitted to the shooting, but to protect artifacts still on the train, U.S. officers decided to say nothing; they told Dagley he’d be in jail a week.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times