Saving Seafood

NOAA teaches about devices that return fish to the deep

September 15, 2015 — A group of about 20 NOAA Fisheries port agents and other staffers will be heading out on an educational mission Wednesday to learn techniques to more safely catch and release deep-water groundfish without piling up dead discards.

The group, scheduled to head out of Gloucester aboard the Yankee Fleet’s 75-foot Yankee Clipper for a half-day charter that will cost the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about $1,200, will learn how to use safe-handling devices designed to help return fish to the appropriate depths, even if they suffered barotrauma on the way up from the bottom.

“Our goal is to reduce the dead discards, which often occur because of barotrauma,” said Greg Power, a NOAA fisheries specialist who supervises the network of the agency port agents extending from Maine to Virginia. “We want to help get them safely back down to the bottom so they can survive.”

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

Gloucester’s Key Largo tows disabled fish boat into Boston

September 11, 2015 — The crew of the Coast Guard cutter Key Largo, homeported in Gloucester since April, assisted in the rescue of four people who were aboard a disabled fishing vessel 97 miles east of Boston.

The captain of the 80-foot fishing vessel Lydia and Mya, homeported in Boston, used a VHF-16 radio Wednesday about 9:30 a.m. to contact  Coast Guard Sector Boston to report Lydia and Mya was disabled due to mechanical problems.

Search and rescue coordinators at Sector Boston issued a marine assistance request broadcast soliciting assistance for Lydia and Mya from good Samaritans or a commercial salvage company. After the request went unanswered, the Coast Guard cutter Escanaba, a 270-foot cutter homeported in Boston, was sent to assist.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Warring plans delay awarding of fish aid

September 10, 2015 — The consensus toward developing a plan to distribute the approximately $6 million remaining in federal groundfish disaster aid seems to have degenerated into a contentious melee and now local stakeholders anxiously await the decision by the state Division of Marine Fisheries on which Massachusetts fishermen will qualify for assistance.

“I think we should hear something pretty soon,” Jackie Odell, the executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, said Wednesday. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s as soon as the end of this week.”

The process for formulating a distribution plan turned ugly at a two-hour Friday afternoon meeting in New Bedford, according to several people who participated, with different Bay State fishing regions — and fishermen of different species — pitted against each other in their respective efforts to influence DMF’s final spending plan. The meeting had been expected to end with a decision on what plan to forward to DMF.

“When I left that call, I was feeling very frustrated and very upset,” said Gloucester Economic Development Director Sal Di Stefano, who participated via conference call. “It was very unfortunate. We shouldn’t be pitting one fisherman against another. It shouldn’t be Gloucester versus the Cape or the Cape versus New Bedford. That doesn’t move the industry forward at all.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

MASSACHUSETTS: CCCFA Promotes Abundant Dogfish

September 8, 2015 — Tired of hearing about local surfers and swimmers terrorized by great white sharks?

Turn the tables with a knife and fork and dine on “Cape Shark”.

What’s that, you wonder? It’s what we used to call dogfish, and actually still do, but not when it’s on the menu.

The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance has launched a marketing campaign to promote one of the most abundant local fish.

“We have a (two-year) grant from the government to explore domestic markets and we’re working with a whole team of people,” explained Nancy Civetta of the Alliance.

With many fisheries, such as cod, heavily restricted, dogfish, which has been viewed as a pest as much as a potential harvest, offer opportunity. The total permitted catch is 50 million pounds. In 2014 9.3 million pounds were landed in Massachusetts and so far this year 4 million pounds have been caught – an amazing 74 percent of what’s been landed nationally. Massachusetts is dogfish central.

In 2011 Chatham placed second nationally (to Gloucester) in pounds of dogfish landed with 2.8 million pounds (worth $14.2 million) and in recent years that number has gone way up. Civetta estimated it might’ve been close to 6 million pounds last year. But without local buyers the price is low.

Read the full story from Wicked Local

Gloucester, MA seeks director for Fisheries Commission

September 4, 2015 — The quest to appoint an executive director of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission continues, with interim Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken saying she hopes to fill the paid position by the end of the year.

The position, which has been vacant since Vito Calomo left it almost two decades ago, remains on the books and Romeo Theken and the members of the Fisheries Commission seem to be in strong agreement that the time has come to put someone back in the job.

“I said right from the beginning of my term that this is something I want to do and something I think we need,” Romeo Theken said. “This would be someone not only to advocate for all of our fishermen and fishing-related industries, but enhance the profile of the city of Gloucester.”

Given the state of the commercial fishing industry, the job could be an arduous one, involving attendance at an unceasing schedule of meetings related to the regulation of the fisheries, as well as working with other city departments on economic development projects related to fishing and seafood.

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

Lawmakers fear some fishermen may miss out on aid

September 2, 2015 — BOSTON — Steering a course opposite from the recommendations that came out of Gloucester for spending the last pot of federal fishing disaster funds, elected officials from Cape Cod are urging Gov. Charlie Baker to recast the landings criteria so the approximately $6.5 million will be spread among all 200 boats in the state’s groundfish fleet.

That position most certainly will not be embraced by the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition and the city of Gloucester, whose separate recommendations to the state Division of Marine Fisheries call for landing criteria that would send the disaster aid money to Massachusetts-based groundfishermen who landed at least 20,000 pounds of groundfish in any of the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 — levels that could exclude fishermen on Cape Cod who have scaled back from catching groundfish. 

The Cape Cod effort comes just as the process for determining how to distribute the so-called Bin 3 money is about to close, with the public hearings completed, the period for public comment elapsed, and the advisory group established by the state to help draft a distribution plan set to meet for the final time on Friday in New Bedford.

Why the change?

The last-minute attempt to recast the criteria flows from the decisions by many Cape Cod fishermen, operating under shrunken quotas for cod, to shift their focus to catching other species such as dogfish, skate and monkfish.

But that business decision, some lawmakers worry, could be jeopardizing the fishermen’s ability to qualify for the last pot of federal disaster relief funding being dispersed by the Baker administration to help offset the hit to their livelihoods from declining fish populations.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

An Open Letter to John Bullard

August 26, 2015 — To NOAA Regional Administrator John Bullard: As a fellow MIT alumnus, I am baffled at your stubborn adherence to a fish monitoring plan that the most cursory analysis shows is not only unsustainable, but will simply not provide the data you say you need to understand New England fish populations.

Unfortunately, you have painted yourself into a corner by making enemies of the most valuable source of information on New England fish — the fishermen themselves:

–You have branded them as biased liars whose reports cannot be trusted — hence the need for “monitors.”

— You have established draconian quotas that force fishermen to avoid certain species, then use the low quantities seen of these fish to prove there aren’t any.

— You have attempted to find fish with your own boats and use your lack of success as proof that the fish have not recovered.

Read the full letter at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

Massachusetts: How Gloucester won lion’s share of fishing aid

August 25, 2015 — All things considered, it could not have gone much better.

The small working group assembled by Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken in February was tasked with helping identify and contact city waterfront businesses that might be eligible to receive some of the $750,000 in federal funds set aside to help Massachusetts shoreside businesses damaged by the ongoing groundfish disaster.

The committee identified 15 Gloucester businesses willing to go through the application process. All 15 were qualified by the state Division of Marine Fisheries to receive financial aid, with 13 maxing out at $26,786, and two of the businesses receiving $16,071.

Collectively, the 15 Gloucester fishing-related businesses — companies that sell fishermen everything from fuel to ice, from fishing slicks and gear to accounting services — received $380,360.

It was the greatest number of businesses from any single fishing community to receive the assistance, as well as the largest amount of money (50.7 percent of the total $750,000) sent to any of the Bay State’s groundfishing ports to help shoreside, fishing-related businesses.

By comparison, consider New Bedford. The historic whaling city on the state’s southeast coast — and now, thanks to its burgeoning scallop fleet, the state’s most lucrative port — had 10 of its shoreside businesses collectively receive $246,430.

Boston, Salem and South Dennis each had one business qualify for the financial assistance that was earmarked for shoreside businesses from the $8.3 million contained in the second phase, or Bin 2, of the federal disaster relief. Scituate had two.

There was, it seemed, a true recognition on the part of state officials at the Division of Marine Fisheries, as well as other fishing stakeholders throughout the state, that Gloucester — on the water and off — still sits at the very epicenter of the groundfish fishing disaster.

“We were thrilled with the result,” city Chief Administrative Officer Jim Destino said. “We thought if we could get $370,000 of the $750,000, that would have been fabulous. I don’t think we really believed we would get anything above that.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Gloucester Schooner Festival – Welcomes Navy and Schooner Columbia

August 25, 2015 — The following was released by the Gloucester Schooner Festival: 

The story line of this year’s 31st annual Gloucester Schooner Festival, which runs from September 4th to September 6th, is all about Essex built and Essex inspired schooners. And the arrival of the 610’ USS Fort McHenry, but we’ll get to that.

The signature or attraction schooner at this year’s Festival is the replica Columbia. The original Columbia was a 141’ classic Gloucester Fishing Schooner built at the historic A.D. Story shipyard of Essex, Massachusetts in 1923. That fall, the Columbia, designed for speed, challenged the Bluenose, Canada’s legendary schooner in the International Fishermen’s Cup Races in Halifax. Nearly winning the title, the Columbia was narrowly defeated by the Bluenose and was one of the few American schooners to provide a challenge to Bluenose. (The other being the Gertrude Thebaud which beat the Bluenose in the Lipton Cup in 1930. The trophy is on display at Maritime Gloucester.). The replica Columbia was built by Brian D’Isernia at his boat yard, Eastern Shipbuilding Group, in Panama City, Florida. The Schooner is currently sailing to Sable Island, where the vessel was lost with all hands in a gale on August 24, 1927. Following a memorial service at sea, the Columbia will make the return trip to Gloucester that never occurred. The Columbia is slated to arrive in Gloucester on the morning of Thursday, August 27, 2015, in advance of the Schooner Festival. “This is such a great story,” says Schooner Committee Chair, Daisy Nell Collinson. “We hope the public will come out in great numbers to welcome the Columbia and, over the weekend, celebrate the great history of schooners from Essex and Gloucester.”

This year’s schooner race on Sunday, September 6th, includes three of the remaining five Essex-built working schooners. The schooners Adventure (1926), Lettie G. Howard (1893), and the Roseway (1925) will all be racing this year. The Highlander Sea (1924) will be resting comfortably at the Gloucester Marine Railways as it enviously observes its wooden peers (pun intended) as they compete for the Esperanto Cup. Of the remaining “intact” Essex-Built Schooners, only the Ernestina-Morrissey will be missing from this austere group. The Massachusetts owned schooner is being rebuilt in the state of Maine. Joining their elders will be the schooners Thomas Lannon, Ardelle and the Fame, all built over the last 20 years by 11th generation boat builder Harold Burnham at his boat yard in Essex.

The Schooner Festival will also feature a major attraction vessel — the USS Fort McHenry (LSD-43), which is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was named for Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, the 1814 defense of which inspired The Star-Spangled Banner. This 610’ vessel is actively deployed around the world for combat and humanitarian purposes. It carries as many as 22 officers and 391 enlisted sailors. The ship will be available for public tours on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday. “The City of Gloucester is honored to have the USS Fort McHenry in our historic harbor,” says Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo-Theken. “We hope the community and weekend visitors take this opportunity to board the ship and honor the great men and women serving our country.” For more information about this Navy vessel, go to http://www.fort-mchenry.navy.mil/.

On Saturday, September 5th Maritime Gloucester will host its annual Heritage Day celebration from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. The event is free to the public. Over 25 artisans, food vendors and community organizations will be set up on Schooner Way and down Webster Pier with demos, family activities & more! Children’s storytelling and songs with Daisy Nell. Chick & Ellen will be performing their country blues and folk tunes. Maritime Gloucester exhibits will be open with 1/2 price admission throughout the day. Schooner Adventure will offer free deck tours and Schooner Ardelle will be offering one-hour sales for a discounted fee. For a complete list of the Gloucester Schooner Festival schedule, go to http://gloucesterschoonerfestival.net/?page_id=23

Lead sponsors of the Festival include: the City of Gloucester, First Ipswich Bank, Market Basket and Institution for Savings. For a full list of sponsors, go to the Festival’s website. The Festival raises much needed funds from the community by offering Schooner Festival raffle in addition to corporate support. Please purchase raffle tickets (available at Maritime Gloucester) or during Maritime Heritage Day. These funds directly support efforts to put kids on the water.

Massachusetts: Oars and Flowers: Gloucester Remembers Lost Fishermen

August 25, 2015 — There were tears — there always are — as the flowers were thrown on the water, recognizing Gloucester’s many losses to the sea.

There were Carol Figurido, Vincie Curcurum and Josie Russo, Gloucester women who lost loved ones to the ocean deep. They were just three among the many who attended Gloucester’s annual Fishermen’s Memorial Service held Saturday evening at the Fishermen’s Memorial on Stacy Memorial.

Figurido spoke of her grandfather — and the 5,383 other Gloucestermen whose names grace the Fishermen’s Memorial Cenotaph — at the ceremony. She came to know Thomas Isaac Moulton through relatives and family history. A ship’s cook, Moulton, 48, and five other Gloucestermen went down with the fishing vessel Mary E. O’Hara in 1941, before Figurido was born.

Vincie Curcuru lost her brother, John Orlando, 59, when the fishing vessel Patriot went down on Jan 3, 2009. He was crewing for his son-in-law.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times