Saving Seafood

New England Council to Take up Issue of New Bedford Sectors IX and VII on Wednesday

April 17, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The New England Fisheries Management Council will take up the issue of the operations plans submitted by sector IX and sector VII, which represent the majority of groundfish vessels in New Bedford.

Many of these vessels, which were formerly members of Sector IX, have been prohibited from fishing until Sector IX came up with an acceptable mechanism to account for the illegal fishing and overages done by vessels belonging to Carlos Rafael that were in the sector.

The sector was strongly criticized by NMFS for failure to have an adequate plan to account for overharvests, to do proper record keeping, and to then take necessary steps to payback fish that was illegally harvested.

Instead of coming to an agreement, on the last day for filing sector membership, the vessels in Sector IX decamped en masse to Sector VII, which otherwise would have been shut down.

Sector VII vessels that have come from Sector IX still won’t be able to fish until a plan to pay back illegal harvests has been approved, but the vessels hope that by moving to an operating sector they may be able to lease their quotas.

Sector VII has written the council to say that for many years they have shared a sector manager with sector VIII, another sector in New Bedford. They said that with reduced catches, it was no longer viable for them to operate as a stand alone sector.

Sector manager Linda McCann wrote that they have one vessel groundfishing, and six vessels fishing for monkfish, and this is too small an amount of activity to sustain a separate sector.

She says the plan to merge with sector 8 was developed months ago, and communicated to NMFS.

She says “We didn’t realize we needed to justify to the fishing world why these internal decisions were made, or how we handle our internal business affairs.  However, we feel compelled to do so in sight of recent politics, attacks and mischaracterizations of facts. Let us be clear, the decisions made to merge sector 7 membership into sector 8 has nothing to do with the sector 9 situation of the Carlos Rafael situation. “

Another letter, from the Northeast Seafood Coalition urges the council to set clear goals.

“As many Council members are painfully aware, the 28 offenses to which Mr. Rafael pled guilty and is now incarcerated for have created enormous turmoil throughout the fishery and the region. Part of the turmoil concerns the broader fishery management implications of starting a new fishing year with such a significant portion of the fishery’s sub-ACL not being made available to the fishery.

NSC recommends that the Council provide the Agency with their primary objectives and request the Agency use their administrative authority to consult with the respective sector boards to achieve the stated objectives.

NSC recommends the following objectives:

  • ACE overages be identified and paid back to the system. The timing and result of the resolution shall be consistent with a result that would have been possible had the 2018 NEF Sector 9 roster been the same as 2017.
  • Conditional upon resolution of the NEF Sector IX overages, ensure the groundfish sector system has access to the ACE associated with permits that are enrolled in NEF Sector VII.
  • Work with the NEF Sector VII to ensure the conditions they’ve listed in their March 26, 2018 letter are met and upheld.”

This story was originally published by Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

Matching grants open for sustainable groundfish projects

April 17, 2018 — The New England groundish fishery is one of the priority targets of a new grants program by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation to promote innovation in sustainable fisheries. through “effective participation by fishermen and fishing communities.”

The Fisheries Innovation Fund program, funded by NOAA and three private foundations, is set to award up to $950,000 nationally. Most of the grants are anticipated to fall within the range of $50,000 to $100,000.

The program, however, noted that priority for funding will be given to projects in one of four local fisheries — New England groundfish, West Coast groundfish, Gulf of Mexico reef fish and Gulf of Alaska halibut and groundfish.

The grants will require 100 percent matching funds from recipients. The NFWF said in its announcement that eligible recipients include non-profits, state government agencies, municipal governments, educational institutions and individual businesses.

To date, according to NFWF spokesman Rob Blumenthal, the Fisheries Innovation Fund “has awarded grants totaling over $20.3 million to 127 projects across 26 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

Those awards generated more than $22.5 million in matching funds from recipients “for a total conservation impact of $42.8 million.”

The three foundations joining NOAA in providing the overall funding include two with strong ties to environmental and conservation groups — the Kingfisher Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation — as well as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of Palo Alto, California, started by the founder of Intel.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Regulators to discuss monitor costs in northeast cod fishery

April 16, 2018 — MYSTIC, Conn. — Commercial fishing managers will consider the subject of who pays for at-sea monitoring that is needed to craft regulations about the industry.

The cost of monitoring in the New England cod fishery has been a source of controversy in recent years. The federal government shifted the cost to fishermen a couple of years ago.

The New England Fishery Management Council is expected to take up the issue of industry-funded monitoring Thursday at a meeting in Mystic.

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

 

Fishing council to hear sectors’ post-Rafael plans

April 16, 2018 — The New England Fishery Management Council will be updated on the groundfish crisis involving several New Bedford-based fishing sectors when it convenes for three days of meetings next week in Mystic, Connecticut.

The groundfish presentation by staff from the Gloucester-based Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office will be the centerpiece of the groundfish report on Wednesday and is designed to provide “an overview of (Northeast Fishing) Sector IX’s steps to address its shortcomings, as well as a summary of Sector IX’s operations plan,” according to the agenda for the meetings.

“The New Bedford sector has submitted its operations plan to GARFO and this will be an overview of what they’ve done to address the problems and what they need to do to have a new plan approved,” said council spokeswoman Janice Plante.

Plante said the presentation will not include comment from officials with the New Bedford fishing sectors.

NOAA Fisheries shut down Sector IX last November, withdrawing its operation plan for the remainder of the 2017 fishing season and into the 2018 season set to begin May 1.

The extraordinary move came in the wake of the conviction and sentencing of New Bedford fishing kingpin Carlos Rafael on charges of tax evasion, money laundering and bulk smuggling.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Jon Mitchell: Wind Developers Must Take Fishermen Seriously

April 12, 2018 — Earlier this week, fishing industry officials sent a letter to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker asking for a larger role in the decision making when it comes to granting the state’s first offshore wind contract.

The letter particularly asked for the New Bedford Port Authority to act as the mediator between commercial fishing and wind energy, and in his weekly appearance on WBSM, Mayor Jon Mitchell said that request makes “all the sense in the world.”

“The place where these two industries intersect more than anywhere else will be New Bedford,” he said, noting he agrees that the fishermen haven’t been given enough of a voice. “That’s why we’re prepared to do something about it.”

Mitchell, who as mayor is also chair of the Port Authority, says the fishermen have valid concerns that he feels may have fallen on deaf ears.

“It has to do with safe navigation through wind farms, and with the siting of new wind farms that might intrude on traditional fishing grounds,” he said. “Wind developers have to do a better job of taking fishermen seriously, and we’re going to work on that. We’re going to make sure that they are taken more seriously.”

Read the full story at WBSM

Pacific Fishery Management Council Adopts Major Changes to West Coast Groundfish Fishery

April 12, 2018 — PORTLAND, Ore. — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

On Monday the Pacific Fishery Management Council added new protections for deep sea coral areas, modified areas that protect priority bottom habitat areas for groundfish, and reopened fishing in some areas that have been closed to groundfish fishing.

The Council is required by Federal law to identify and protect important fish habitat, while balancing the needs of coastal communities and the fishing industry.

The actions span the Federal waters off the U.S. West Coast. They establish protection for over 136,000 square miles of corals, rocky reefs and undersea canyons important to over 100 groundfish species such as rockfish, flatfish, and sablefish. The new protections include 135,000 square miles of deep water habitat to protect corals off the coast of California, in depths too great for most bottom fishing activities. The actions also reopen over 3,000 square miles of historical fishing grounds that were established to reduce harvest on overfished rockfish stocks. Nearly all of those stocks have subsequently been rebuilt to sustainable population levels, and the remaining stocks are rebuilding quickly. The combination of new closures and reopenings ensures important habitat protections while allowing added fishing opportunity for the bottom trawl fleet.

“This decision demonstrates the Council’s commitment to protecting important fish habitats including rocky reefs, corals, and sponges. The decision was informed by sound science and further informed by the fishing industry and environmental community who are to be commended for their important contribution to the Council’s decision. The result provides an increase in habitat protection while providing greater opportunity for our trawl fleet to more efficiently harvest target stocks,” said Council Chair Phil Anderson. “The West Coast trawl fishery has been reduced in size and transformed into a sustainable fishery including full accountability that provides the public with high quality fish products.”

The changes were made as part of a review which the Council and NOAA Fisheries initiated seven years ago. Many of the selected changes originated in a unique collaboration of fishing industry members and environmental advocates working together.

Seth Atkinson, a collaborative group member representing the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, “By listening to each other and building trust, we worked together to improve fishing opportunity and increase protection for sensitive habitat areas. We built on fishermen’s deep knowledge of the seafloor, cross-referencing it with the latest scientific data, and pulled together a package of changes that would achieve both goals. This was possible only because of fishermen’s willingness to sit down and share their knowledge.”

The decision also considered input from Federal, Tribal and State agencies, and the general public. It included extensive analysis of the biological, social, and economic effects of the actions.

Bottom trawling is the practice of using a vessel to drag a net through the water, close to the seafloor, in order to catch fish. Most groundfish trawlers off the West Coast are relatively small, family-owned vessels. Trawling differs from trolling, which uses hooks and lines and is typically used to target salmon and tuna on the West Coast.

View the release in its entirety here.

 

NEFMC Meeting: April 17-19, 2018, Mystic, CT, Listen Live, View Documents

April 11, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a three-day meeting from Tuesday, April 17 through Thursday, April 19, 2018. The public is invited to listen-in via webinar or telephone. Here are the details.

MEETING LOCATION:  Hilton Hotel, 20 Coogan Boulevard, Mystic, CT 06355; Hilton Hotel Mystic.

START TIME:  The webinar will be activated at 8:00 a.m. each day. However, please note that the meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday and 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. The webinar will end at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST or shortly after the Council adjourns each day.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live. There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (914) 614-3221. The access code is 167-206-035. Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  The agenda and all meeting materials are available on the Council’s website at April 17-19, 2018 NEFMC Mystic.

SPECIAL EVENT:  The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Office of Renewable Energy Programs will be holding an open house on Tuesday and Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in conjunction with the Council meeting. The event will be held in the Clipper Room near the Council’s main meeting room. BOEM has scheduled this open house to: (a) gather feedback on recently proposed commercial offshore renewable energy projects; (b) enhance communications between leaseholders and the fishing community; (c) answer questions about future leasing; and (d) solicit public comment on recently published public notices, including the Vineyard Wind project, which currently is under a 30-day public comment period with five public hearings scheduled from April 16 through April 19. Four will be held in Massachusetts (New Bedford, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and Hyannis) and one in Kingston, RI. Learn more at Vineyard Wind notice and hearing schedule and visit open house.

GROUNDFISH NOTE:  On Wednesday morning, the Council will receive an overview of Northeast Fishery Sector IX’s steps to address its shortcomings, as well as a summary of Sector IX’s proposed operations plan as submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. Because of recent information received from the industry, NMFS’s consultation with the Council on Sector IX likely will include: (a) discussion of the proposed Sector VII operations plan amendments that relate to Sector IX; (b) other sectors as they relate to Sector IX; and (c) effects on the sector system generally. The Council may provide recommendations to NMFS on any topics discussed.

 THREE MEETING OUTLOOK:  A copy of the New England Council’s Three Meeting Outlook is available HERE.

 

New Bedford vessel cited for hiding scallops

April 9, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A commercial scallop vessel was found to be hiding scallops following an inspection of the fishing boat on Sunday, April 8, according to the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

The vessel was on a “closed area trip” which restricts the landing limit for scallop meats to a certain poundage. Upon completion of the off-load, the vessel was found to be over the limit by three-hundred pounds. Multiple bags of scallop meats were found hidden throughout the interior of the vessel.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

The Turning Tides of New England Fisheries

April 5, 2018 — Andrew Applegate’s family has been in the fishing business since his ancestors moved from Cranbury, New Jersey, to the Sandy Hook area around 100 years ago. Along with some commercial fishing, Applegate’s father ran a couple of large party fishing boats out of Atlantic City, and through the decades the family caught whatever was available. But now, Applegate is part of a New England fishing community forced to depend on fast-changing marine species they’ve never seen in the region before, and give up on others that are dying out.

The Gulf of Maine has witnessed its cod stocks collapse but its lobster population explode. To the south, in contrast to their current success north of Cape Cod, lobsters have suffered shell-wasting disease and poor productivity down into the Mid-Atlantic. And black sea bass is being found in northern New England when 20 years ago that would’ve been unheard of, says Michael Pentony, regional head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic fisheries division. In the face of such changes, those involved in fisheries management are trying to prepare for a murky future. Reliable and more timely data paired with flexible regulations could, they hope, allow those in the business to adapt as fisheries change in the coming years.

These changes are forcing some to disregard historical knowledge gathered in logbooks by generations of fishermen who recorded where to catch certain fish at certain times of the year, says Ben Martens, the executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.

“Now you just have to throw those out. They don’t work anymore. And every year is completely different from the year before,” Martens says. “Sometimes we have water that’s too warm; this year we had cooler water. We’re seeing a lot more turbulence in what’s happening in our planning and in our business stability.”

Read the full story at Ozy

New Film Highlights Fishing Industry from Fishermen’s Point of View

April 4, 2018 — “The family fishermen are going the way of family farmers,” says one man interviewed in “Dead in the Water,” the new documentary film by Southern California filmmaker David Wittkower showing at Harbor Theater in Boothbay Harbor on Monday, April 9. Shot in New England coastal towns, the film chronicles the struggles of New England fishermen to remain viable in an age of what some might deem excessive federal regulation of the ground-fishing industry.

“It’s a film from the point of view of the fishermen,” Wittkower said in a recent phone interview from his home in Woodland Hills, Calif. “The government regulations have been so tight on fishermen … that they can’t make a living anymore.

“I wanted to show this industry from the human side.”

Increased regulations have driven up costs for fishermen so much that “a three-man boat went down to a one-man boat,” he said. “The amount of work that one man has to do is amazing.”

Running a one-man boat in the ocean can be dangerous. “In the film, someone says that 87 percent of fishermen in the U.S. are suffering from PTSD,” said Wittkower.

“This film opens the door for the world to see how difficult and dangerous the life of a fisherman is. On top of that, the impact of misguided federal regulations on fishermen has never been presented as powerfully as it is in ‘Dead in the Water,’” said John Bell, the former mayor of Gloucester, Mass., in a recent press release for the movie.

“Dead in the Water” was released last November in Rockport, Mass., Wittkower’s hometown, and has since shown in other Massachusetts coastal towns – Cape Cod, New Bedford, and Gloucester, whose declining fishing industry is chronicled in the film.

Read the full story at the Lincoln County News