Saving Seafood

Constitutionality of seizing Carlos Rafael’s permits in question

September 27, 2017 — BOSTON –Judge William Young decided half of Carlos Rafael’s fate on Monday: The New Bedford fishing mogul was sentenced to 46-months in prison with three years supervised release and a $200,000 fine.

The other half, which Young continues to take under advisement, involves the 65-year-old’s 13 groundfish vessels and permits.

In court Monday, Young repeatedly questioned the constitutionality of the forfeiture, citing the excessive fines clause in the Eighth Amendment.

Young said courts with higher authority have heard and decided that fines exceeding four-times the maximum guideline are unconstitutional.

Regardless of how many permits Young orders to be forfeited, he made it clear he has no authority to decide what’s done with them.

NOAA’s guidelines call for the permits to be redistributed throughout the Northeast, which is why for months organizations and politicians have publicly called for redistribution or a deal that would remove Rafael from the industry. Many arguments focused on all 13, without consideration of a partial forfeiture.

Argument against redistribution

Allyson Jordan actually contributed to a portion of Rafael’s groundfish permits.

She sold two boats and four groundfish permits. Jordan said Maine’s fishermen had no interest in the permits until Rafael entered the picture.

“He bought permits and boats to make his business survive,” Jordan said. “I don’t believe they should be given back to the state of Maine. The state of Maine did nothing to help my industry, not to mention my business.”

“Everyone is coming out of the woodworks now,” Jordan said. “To be honest, they could have bought the permits.”

Support of redistribution

The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, which also manages the Cape Cod Fishermen’s Trust, also contributed to Rafael’s enterprise, but argued for redistribution of the permits as well as better monitoring.

According to Seth Rolbein, the director of the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust, Rafael acquired more nearly a million pounds of quota from the Trust.

From 2011 through 2015, the Trust leased 992,646 pounds of quota. The Trust has no records from 2010 and didn’t lease any to Sector IX after the U.S. Attorney released the indictment, tying Rafael to falsely labeling fish quotas.

“Our priority is to service our fishermen and our community,” Rolbein said. “If there are fish stock that our community is not using that we can not lease out at our subsidized rate to our own fishermen, we then will lease out to other sectors. The trust will lease fish to other sectors. But we will only do that once we’re satisfied that our own fishermen can’t use or don’t have use for that quota.”

What’s next?

The defense revealed Monday that Richard and Ray Canastra, of Whaling City Seafood Display Auction, have entered a Memorandum of Agreement to purchase Rafael’s entire fleet. Neither the U.S. Attorney nor NOAA have taken a final position on the sale.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Carlos Rafael to leave commercial fishing behind after spending years in prison for his crimes

September 26, 2017 — U.S. District Court Judge William Young sentenced former fishing magnate Carlos “Codfather” Rafael to 46 months of imprisonment on Monday, 25 September, for his role in orchestrating a quota and tax evasion scheme out of his New Bedford, Massachusetts-based business, Carlos Seafood.

Sentencing deliberation is continuing on Tuesday, 26 September as the court considers the fate of Rafael’s 13 groundfish vessels and permits, which have been listed for forfeiture as a tentative condition of his guilty plea.

Rafael is scheduled to begin serving his prison sentence on 6 November, when he is expected to report to authorities at an assigned penal facility. His legal team has requested that Rafael serve out his prison sentence at Fort Devens, located between the Massachusetts towns of Ayer and Shirley. In addition to incarceration, Young also ordered three years of supervised release for Rafael, and mandated he pay a USD 200,000 (EUR 169,611) fine. Furthermore, Rafael has been barred by the court from having anything to do with the commercial fishing industry following his prison term and subsequent supervision period.

The deliberate, corrupt nature of Rafael’s crimes factored heavily into the sentencing terms, Young explained on Monday.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fishing industry awaits Rafael outcome

Stakeholders weigh in on fate of Codfather’s permits, penalties

September 22, 2017 — The specter of Carlos Rafael, along with his legal baggage and trove of groundfish permits, continues to hang over the New England commercial fishing industry like a shroud that most stakeholders wish would just go away.

The sentencing of Rafael, the New Bedford fishing magnate known as “The Codfather” for his expansive vessel and groundfish permit holdings, is set to begin Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston on charges of conspiracy, lying to federal fishing regulators about the nature and size of his groundfish landings and bulk smuggling.

“We can’t wait for this to be resolved,” said Maggie Raymond of the Associated Fisheries of Maine.

The sentencing of the 65-year-old Rafael, who pleaded guilty in March as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors, won’t end the contretemps. Not by a long shot.

While everyone seems to agree that Rafael should feel the full wrath of the law for his admitted misdeeds — he faces up to 76 months in prison, restitution of $109,000 to the IRS and the seizure of at least the 13 groundfishing vessels used in his scam — full resolution only will come when NOAA Fisheries decides the final fate of his 42 groundfishing permits.

There is no shortage of opinions of what NOAA should do.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Groundfish and whiting on fish managers’ agenda

September 21, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council, which has not convened a full council meeting in Gloucester since November 2006, will address a proposed amendment to limit access to the whiting fishery when it convenes here next week.

The council, set to meet Sept. 26 to 28 at the Beauport Hotel Gloucester, also is expected to spend significant time on groundfish issues, including the groundfish monitoring amendment.

The whiting amendment, according to the council’s agenda, will be one of the first issues facing the council when the three days of meetings open Tuesday at the harborside hotel in The Fort neighborhood.

The council’s whiting committee will present its report centered around Amendment 22, which deals with limiting access, permitting and possession limits within the whiting fishery actively fished by many Gloucester boats.

Whiting, popular in areas of New York City and Philadelphia, also is at the center of local efforts to promote under-utilized species of fish from local waters to retailers, restaurants and the consuming public.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Local buyer for Carlos Rafael’s fishing permits, court documents say

September 21, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Documents filed in federal court Monday reveal that a local buyer has been identified for Carlos Rafael’s fishing permits. The potential deal would remove Rafael from commercial fishing, according to a 14-page document filed by Rafael’s attorneys opposing federal forfeiture.

The single buyer is identified as having “a spotless compliance record” to purchase at least the 13 groundfish permits and vessels. The document is unclear if Rafael’s additional permits and vessels, estimated to be at least 35 in total, are included in negotiations. However, it states, “Rafael has taken substantial steps to voluntarily remove himself from the federal fishery entirely in a manner that does not jeopardize New Bedford’s economy.”

The document appraises the 13 groundfish permits, related to Rafael’s illegal reporting guilty plea in March, as worth more than $30 million. Rafael’s ownership, excluding other business partners’ shares, amounts to more than $19 million. The purchase price for the identified buyer is $16,333,558, according to the document.

In contacting a number of sources within the fishing industry Wednesday, The Standard-Times found no evidence that this deal had been completed. Rafael is scheduled to appear Monday and Tuesday for sentencing in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Two prominent businesses in New Bedford possess the means to acquire the permits based on financial means and ability to operate a fleet of that size: Whaling City Seafood Display Auction and Eastern Fisheries. Neither returned requests for comment.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Jim Kendall: Plenty of guilt to go around on Carlos Rafael

September 18, 2017 — OK, OK, I get it! Carlos Rafael, aka, “The Codfather,” has done some pretty reprehensible things while amassing what seemingly is the largest percentage of ownership of the US multispecies groundfish fleet.

I am not going to try to defend his actions, or his reasoning, but I would like to point out that there is plenty of guilt to go around and some people should not be so quick to point their finger at him alone. What is it that they say about casting the first stone?

Apparently, among his sins is his aforementioned ownership of the largest fleet of multi-species groundfish vessels, as well as some scallop vessels. While this may be true, let us ponder what enabled, abetted, and allowed him to gain such an advantage over everyone else. At this point, he wasn’t breaking the law, he was only taking advantage of it, and of those who most fervently wanted it!

It should be remembered, that the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), as well as the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), were several of the earliest, most emphatic, and dedicated supporters for the development, adoption, and implementation of the “Catch Share” program.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Something fishy in the quotas?

September 8, 2017 — There hasn’t been a large enough quota for fishermen to intentionally catch cod for four years, said Vito Giacalone, policy director for the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, which contends the federal limits on groundfish such as cod and flounder contradict what commercial fishermen are finding. The coalition has launched an effort to have input into the research done by the federal government as it sets the regulations.

“We’ve been seeing it for the past two decades, but more so in the past seven or eight years, especially on the [flounder and cod],” Giacalone said. “What we’ve seen in the last seven or eight years is that you can catch any fish you want at any time. That’s how available it is. So, we’re certain that the government estimates are wrong.”

Giacalone noted that scientists have a huge area to cover, and variables such as fish behavior — sometimes swimming near the top, sometimes the bottom, or abandoning certain geographic areas that are still included in the surveys — can influence the results.

The management plans are written by the New England Fishery Management Council in Newburyport, with input from several sources, including stock assessments from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. The assessments include surveys and catch and discard numbers from the commercial fishing industry, said Teri Frady, spokeswoman for the center.

The Northeast Seafood Coalition wants to play a bigger role by providing more information from the field. To do so, it is fund-raising to hire independent scientists to develop a method of collecting information that could be shared with government officials to develop more accurate assessments of species numbers.

“What [the regulators] should be doing is using the industry’s data to come up with a relative abundance index,” Giacalone said. “We realize it’s difficult because it has to be standardized, [and] it has to be unbiased. But until they admit that they could be getting it wrong, by a lot, they’re never going to put that work in. What the coalition is trying to do is shine a light on that.”

Frady said the NOAA center in Woods Hole is interested in any input.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

Demand for groundfish data continues to increase

September 6, 2017 — The Sentinel Survey, now in its eighth year of research, collects data on the status of groundfish populations in Eastern Maine. The survey is conducted by Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, in collaboration with the University of Maine. Fishermen visit a total of 84 survey stations from June to October, along with researchers who study the population, distribution, and most important, the genetic makeup of groundfish in each location, according to a news release from MCCF.

The Sentinel Survey has become the leading source of information on groundfish in Eastern Maine, the release states. The unique summer sampling season and localized-scale produces heavily sought after data. The survey design also uses a combination of gear types, longline and jig hooks, to sample areas where larger, more traditional trawling methods struggle—areas with rocky bottoms and an abundance of lobster traps. Since 2010, Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries has collected data on more than 20 groundfish species, most notably cod, halibut, mackerel, cusk, haddock, pollock and hake.

Increasingly, scientists are requesting access to survey samples of stomach content, heart, otolith (or ear bone), fin clip, gonad, and muscle tissue, as they seek to understand the status of depleted groundfish populations. According to lead researcher on the Sentinel Survey, Mattie Rodrigue, “data from even a single fish is crucial. Biological analysis can unlock a picture of where that species has been, the distinct sub-populations it’s related to, what it’s been eating, its reproductive patterns, and more.”

Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries has led a collaborative effort to distribute Sentinel Survey data to organizations up and down the coast, from Massachusetts to Canada. Scientists want access to specific data, and the survey can provide that information. Institutions, including the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, rely on the survey.

Read the full story at Island Ad-Vantages

2017 Northeast Groundfish Operational Assessment Meeting Materials Available

September 1, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center is carrying out routine, regularly scheduled stock assessments for New England groundfish. The peer review will be September 11-15, and the NEFSC is sending the draft assessment reports and supporting information to the peer reviewers and making the information available to the public this Friday, September 1. At this stage the results are preliminary until they are vetted by the peer review panel.

You may now access the 2017 draft groundfish operational assessments and a range of additional materials through our data portal link here:

https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/groundfish/operational-assessments-2017.

For each species stock, we will also include models, model inputs, maps, figures, tables, and other background materials that will be used by peer reviewers. We hope this will help you prepare for the assessment meeting if you plan to attend and to better understand the draft assessment results, recognizing that the results are not final until confirmed by the peer review panel.  Please let us know your thoughts on how we can continue to improve access to information for future assessment meetings.

The 2017 peer review of 19 Northeast groundfish operational stock assessments will occur September 11-15 in Woods Hole, MA.  The meeting will also be available by webinar and teleconference.

Questions? Contact Teri Frady at 508-495-2239 or teri.frady@noaa.gov.

NOAA Fisheries Removes the Northern and Southern Windowpane Flounder AMs for all Trawl Vessels

August 31, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Effective tomorrow, September 1, 2017, until February 28, 2018, non-groundfish trawl vessels fishing with a codend mesh size of 5 inches or greater are no longer required to use approved selective trawl gear (haddock separator trawl, rope separator trawl, or Ruhle trawl) in the large southern windowpane flounder Accountability Measure (AM) areas. For more information, read the permit holder bulletin and the emergency rule as filed in the Federal Register. 

Through a previous action, groundfish vessels may also fish in the AM areas without selective gear, effective September 1 2017 through April 30, 2018. While we were able to remove the accountability measures for the groundfish vessels through existing regulatory processes, an emergency rule was required to remove the accountability measures for non-groundfish trawl vessels. This emergency rule is intended to minimize economic harm to the fluke and scup fisheries.