Saving Seafood

MA Gov. Baker backs fishermen’s call for NOAA to pay for monitors

August 13, 2015 — With a crystalline portrait of America’s oldest seaport serving as the backdrop, Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday attacked NOAA’s plan to force fishermen to pay for at-sea observers on their boats and reiterated his pledge to help convince the federal fishing regulator to consider science other than its own.

Baker, speaking to a crowd of about 100 near the Fishermen’s Wives Memorial on Stacy Boulevard, with the city’s Outer Harbor sparkling in the background, called the federal at-sea observer proposal “the most perfect example of an unfunded mandate I think I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I think it’s ridiculous and it’s outrageous,” Baker told the audience of fishermen, fishing advocates, Gloucester officials and members of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association. “If they want to send observers out on the boats, they should pay for them with their own money.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has told the commercial fishermen in the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery that it expects to run out of money to fund the at-sea observer program by Oct. 31 and then will shift the responsibility for funding it  — estimated at $600 to $800 per day for each boat that carries an observer — to the fishing permit holders.

“It’s insult to injury as far as I’m concerned,” Baker said. “And I’m sure that most of the people in the fishing industry feel the same way.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

MA Governor Baker meets fishermen in Gloucester

August 13, 2015 — Gov. Charlie Baker will journey to Gloucester this afternoon for a private meeting with fishermen and fishing stakeholders to hear concerns and address recent and pending regulations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the governor’s office confirmed.

Baker’s press office said the the event is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Memorial on Stacy Boulevard, and that his private meeting with the fishing stakeholders will be followed by a press availability session.

The governor also is scheduled to meet with the editorial board of the Gloucester Daily Times during the day.

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

JACKIE ODELL: Emergency action needed on at-sea monitoring

August 10, 2015 — The New England senators stated in their April 29, 2015, letter to NOAA Fisheries that such a directive would “avert the collapse of our fisheries and secure their healthy and stable future.” The Northeast Seafood Coalition greatly appreciates the exceptional efforts and support the groundfish industry has received from the Senate Appropriators and members of Congress throughout the Northeast on at sea monitoring. Unfortunately, we continue to bite our nails and watch the clock tick. At this time, one crucial request by the Council to NOAA Fisheries remains unanswered. Specifically, the council’s request for NOAA Fisheries to initiate an administrative action to improve the efficiency of the existing at-sea monitoring program that will reduce costs of the program for groundfish sectors, fishery-wide — without compromising compliance with regulatory requirements.

This administrative action request is logical — it follows regulatory directive — and is another attempt to reduce inefficiencies of the at-sea monitoring program and thus costs to groundfish fishermen, fishery wide. It also reflects the strong message delivered by the Senate Appropriators in their pending fiscal year 2016 funding legislation for NMFS — to work with the regional fishery programs on a transition plan to an at-sea and dockside monitoring program that is more cost-effective, accurate, and commensurate with the ex-vessel value. The Northeast Seafood Coalition strongly supports the council’s request.

Read the full letter at the Gloucester Daily Times

Read a letter from the New England Fishery Management Council to NOAA regarding at-sea monitoring

 

Gloucester Fishing Boat Catches Fire, Family Evacuated

August 3, 2015 — GLOUCESTER, MA — Five people on the Gloucester fishing boat Amanda Marie were evacuated shortly after noon today when a fire broke out on board.

No one reported any injuries, according to Harbormaster Jim Caulkett.

Capt. Mike Parisi, who owns and operates the 35-foot Duffy as a charter boat, said the vessel was on the oceanside of Ten Pound Island when they first “smelled something that smelled like smoke” from a fire that started started somewhere below deck. An unnamed gillnet fishing vessel came alongside the Amanda Marie, and the five people transferred from the burning boat to it, according to Caulkett.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

MASSACHUSETTS: MEETING TO DISCUSS GROUNDFISH DISASTER AID

August 2, 2015 — GLOUCESTER — Two bins down, one to go.

The distribution of the nearly $33 million in federal groundfish disaster aid has moved through the first two phases — or bins, in the parlance of NOAA Fisheries and the respective state fisheries directors — in the past year-and-a-half.

Bin 3? That’s become something of a stickier wicket.

NOAA and the fishery directors for the five coastal New England states and New York initially agreed on a formula that would use the $10 million in the third bin to address long-term issues of the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery, including a potential vessel buyout and/or permit buyback plan.

Those plans dissolved in the spring when the respective regulators and stakeholders couldn’t agree on the inordinately complex equation for developing long-term solutions for the fishery declared a federal disaster in 2012.

Now, the money has been returned to Bin 2, which means each of the six states will individually decide how to best spend their allotment from the $10 million.

Tonight, the Gloucester Fishing Commission will take a stab at coming up with what it believes to be the best option for the nearly $7 million earmarked for Massachusetts.

Read the full story at The Salem News

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Seafood industry backs Catholic Charities North

July 30, 2015 — GLOUCESTER, MA — More than 30 companies and individuals — many in the seafood industry — combined to donate more than $35,000 to Catholic Charities North Fishing Community Fund, which helps provide essential services to families in Gloucester and around the North Shore, the charity said.

Boston-based Sailors’ Snug Harbor foundation made the largest donation — $10,000 to the fishing community fund.

Other major donors included American Seafoods, Arista Industries, Bama Seafoods Products, CB Richard Ellis, Elite Seafood, Espersen, High Liner Foods, Harbor Seafoods, Ipswich Shellfish, Northern Ocean Marine, Proteus Industries, Mark Leslie and William Canty.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Daily Times

 

Feds: ‘Wicked Tuna’ TV fisherman claimed to be disabled

July 27, 2015 — MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – A Massachusetts man seen manning big fishing rods and harpooning huge fish on the reality show “Wicked Tuna” collected government benefits while claiming to be disabled and unable to work, federal prosecutors said.

Paul Hebert, 50, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, accepted more than $44,000 in Social Security and Medicaid benefits between 2010 and 2013, according to a four-count indictment filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Burlington.

Hebert first filed for Social Security disability in the spring of 2009, claiming on his application that he was unable to work at any job, could not walk properly, could not lift heavy weights or drive for more than short distances, according to the indictment. Hebert also said he lived alone that he had no financial resources, no vehicle and no income. He began receiving benefits in October 2010, authorities said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at New Jersey Herald 

 

 

New England Filmmaker Documents an Industry Under Siege

July 24, 2015 — MASSACHUSETTS — As a kid growing up in Rockport, David Wittkower remembers driving down along the Gloucester waterfront and being greeted by the sight of the expansive Gloucester fishing fleet at port and the scent of fish, either being cooked or unloaded.

That memory stayed with the 55-year-old filmmaker when he returned to visit his parents, Andrew and Mary, about a year-and-a-half ago, especially after what he observed in subsequent nostalgic drives along East Main and Rogers streets.

“Every single day, I would drive down there and think, ‘Well, the entire fleet can’t all be out at once,’” Wittkower said. “I thought, ‘Where are all the boats?’”

That singular thought became the seed for Wittkower’s newest documentary film project on the demise of the once-mighty Gloucester fishing fleet. The working title is “Dead in the Water.”

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times

 

 

‘Wicked Tuna’ star steps up for charter fleet

July 17, 2015 — Say what you want for the potential for over-exposure after four years chasing large fish on the small screen, but the “Wicked Tuna” brand still holds a certain cache.

Just ask Tom Orrell of Gloucester-based Yankee Fleet.

On Wednesday, for the second consecutive year, Orrell ran a special Yankee Fleet charter fishing trip featuring “Wicked Tuna” mainstay and Beverly native Dave Marciano. And for the second year in a row, it was a raging success.

“It really went wonderfully,” Orrell said Thursday. “Everybody caught a lot of fish and everybody came home ecstatic. We’ve already booked it for next year.”

Orrell said he had about 50 fishermen aboard the 100-foot long Yankee Freedom and they spent much of the day catching haddock and redfish. They even got up close and personal with a porbeagle shark.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

MASSACHUSETTS: 151 Cape Ann crew, dockhands to share in $3M relief

July 13, 2015 — The state will distribute about $3 million in federal fishery disaster aid to 525 eligible Massachusetts-based crew members, dock workers and owner-operators, including 136 from Gloucester and 15 from other towns on Cape Ann, according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

Peter Lorenz, DMF spokesman, said letters went out June 30 to 601 Massachusetts-based crew members who applied for the funds, informing them of their status.

Lorenz said 76 applicants were not qualified for any payments.

The payments for eligible years range from $1,209 per year to $10,080 per year, with 68 successful applicants to receive $8,064 per eligible year while 120 successful applicants maxed out at $10,080 per eligible year.

Lorenz said the qualified recipients, including the 151 from Cape Ann, must fill out state-vendor forms. Once the forms are approved, the agency will begin scheduling payments — which will go out weekly on Fridays.

The $3 million earmarked for crew members, dock workers and some owner-operators is part of the $8.3 million initially contained in the second phase of the $75 million in federal fishing disaster funding approved by Congress in January 2014.

The four coastal New England states, as well as New York and New Jersey, received about $33 million of the total $75 million, with Massachusetts’ share amounting to about $14.8 million.

The first phase of funding funneled $6.5 million to more than 200 eligible federal limited permit holders in the form of checks of $32,500 per eligible permit.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times