Saving Seafood

Groundfishermen: ‘It feels like we’re just forgotten’

October 16, 2017 — HAMPTON, New Hampshire — New Hampshire fishermen say temporary federal aid for at-sea monitor coverage is barely holding their industry afloat now that a court battle over the cost appears to have ended.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is currently covering 60 percent of the cost for third-party at-sea monitors to observe commercial groundfishermen’s compliance with federal regulations. That coverage is projected to end May 1, 2018, when fishermen will be expected to cover the entire cost, according to NOAA spokeswoman Allison Ferreira. Groundfish include New England seafood staples like cod and haddock.

Hampton fisherman David Goethel said he would probably sell his boat and stop fishing if NOAA stops funding its portion of the cost. He and other fishermen filed a federal suit arguing it was unfair for fishermen to pay for monitors required by NOAA. Judges at the district and circuit court levels ruled the fishermen filed the suit too late to be considered on its merits, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to have the case heard this month.

Read the full story at Fosters’s Daily Democrat

Permit banking threat helped drive Canastra Rafael deal

October 6, 2017 — Richard and Raymond Canastra weren’t the only ones interested in buying Carlos Rafael’s New Bedford, Massachusetts-based fishing empire, Richard Canastra said in an interview with a local radio station on Thursday.

Several big corporations have approached both Rafael and the two brothers to inquire about either buying or investing in the 42-permit, 32 fishing vessel operation, he told drive-time, talk-show host Phil Paleologos on WBSM 1420 AM, in the nearby town of Fairhaven. But the “biggest competitors” Canastra said he was concerned about are non-governmental organizations that could buy Rafael’s permits and “bank” them.

The Nature Conservancy has been making an effort to buy up fishing permits in coastal towns, especially for groundfish, and leasing quotas to fishermen for more than a decade. Geoff Smith, marine director for the NGO’s Maine chapter, estimated that between 12 and 15 groundfish permits have been bought in New England over the past seven years, but he said the Nature Conservancy has not met with Rafael or anyone to make an offer for his permits.

“We’re not interested,” he told Undercurrent Friday. “…We’ve had no contact and we have no plans to contact anyone.”

Smith’s group was interested, two years ago, in obtaining at least one of the groundfish permits now owned by Rafael, according to Canastra.

“There was only one offer up in Maine and that was from the NGO, and I believe it was Nature Conservancy,” Canastra said, adding: “So do you want to see those permits go to an NGO, where it can be put on a shelf or the permit could be leased out to their favorites? That’s been happening since sectors.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

A Cheerful Story About Environmental Conservation

October 3, 2017 — October is National Seafood Month, and I have a surprise for you. It’s a cheerful story about environmental conservation. I’m serious. Don’t roll your eyes in disbelief and click away to Facebook right now; stay with me. I know the headlines about the environment have been dire recently, particularly when it comes to seafood. But when I learned the story of West Coast groundfish, a true story about people with diverse perspectives banding together and taking action — and the action worked! — I was floored. And moved, because this could become a model of success for fisheries across the globe.

First, a deep dive

In late 1999, West Coast groundfish fishermen were seeing landings plummet drastically, from a 20-year average of about 74,000 tons annually to an estimated 27,000 tons for the year 2000. At the time, the cause of the crash was deemed “undetermined, but probably natural, causes,” but stock assessments between 1999 and 2002 determined that overfishing (fish being caught faster than they could breed) played a part in the crash. The Pacific Fishery Management Council and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) declared 10 species of West Coast groundfish overfished. The environment had suffered as well, with seafloor habitats damaged by certain types of fishing gear.

Groundfish get grounded

When a stock is deemed overfished, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires regulators to develop a plan to rebuild the stock in as short a time as possible, while balancing and incorporating the needs of the fishing community.

Historically, fisherfolk and government regulators have had contentious relationships. Complex regulations can make the hard day-to-day work of fishing even harder. And then there are the environmentalists, who frequently have contentious relationships with both parties. But in the face of the West Coast groundfish disaster, something unprecedented occurred: fishermen, regulators, and conservationists sat down and worked together to save West Coast groundfish.

It wasn’t easy, especially for the fishermen. A management plan was put into place that included individual fishing quotas (IFQs) or “catch shares,” which meant that they had to accept drastic cutbacks on the number of fish they could catch, even species that weren’t overfished because of the possibility of bycatch, or catching a non-targeted species while catching a targeted species. The management plan also included area restrictions, seasonal closures, gear restrictions, and a mandate that a federal observer be on every fishing trip to monitor bycatch.

Read the full story at HuffPost

Gloucester Times: Carlos Rafael case highlights failings of regulatory system

October 3, 2017 — Sometime early next month, Carlos Rafael is expected to report to a federal prison to begin serving a 46-month sentence for criminal conspiracy and tax evasion.

Rafael, the 65-year-old New Bedford-based fishing magnate, admitted to a judge earlier this year that he had lied to federal fishing regulators about the nature and size of his groundfish landings and bulk smuggling.

At sentencing last week, U.S. District Judge William G. Young rejected the argument from the man who liked to call himself “The Codfather” that the fraud was necessary to protect the jobs of his workers.

“This was stupid,” Young told Rafael. “This was a corrupt course of action from start to finish. It’s a course of action of extensive corruption designed to benefit you, to line your pockets. That’s what it is and that’s why the court has sentenced you as it has.”

Good for Young for handing down a stiff sentence (Rafael was seeking probation). The Codfather’s story, however, does not end here. His arrest and prosecution laid bare a broken regulatory and monitoring system.

Read the full editorial at the Gloucester Times

New England Council Endorses 2018 U.S./Canada TACs; Receives Progress Report on Groundfish Framework 57, Monitoring Amendment

September 28, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council today accepted 2018 total allowable catches (TACs) for three groundfish stocks on Georges Bank (GB) that the U.S. shares with Canada – Eastern GB cod, Eastern GB haddock, and GB yellowtail flounder. The TACs were recommended by the U.S./Canada Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) based on advice from the U.S./Canada Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC). The U.S. has members on both the TMGC and the TRAC.

The TACs will be included in Framework Adjustment 57 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, which is still under development. The National Marine Fisheries Service must approve the TACs before they are implemented.

Proposed Fishing Year 2018 U.S./Canada TACs in Metric Tons (mt)

Eastern GB Cod

Eastern GB Haddock

GB Yellowtail Flounder

Total Shared TAC

951

40,000

300

U.S. TAC

257

15,600

213

Canada TAC

694

24,400

87

The allocation shares for 2018 are based on the following formula: historical catches weighted 10%; and resource distribution based on trawl surveys weighted 90%.

The TACs reflect the following changes from 2017 levels for U.S. quotas:

  • Eastern Georges Bank Cod: 111 mt increase
  • Eastern Georges Bank Haddock: 13,900 mt decrease
  • Eastern Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder: 6 mt increase

Read the full release at the New England Fishery Management Council

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