Saving Seafood

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.

Fishermen Express Concerns About Upcoming Stock Assessments And Fishing Limits

August 30, 2017 — Fishermen who attended a meeting Monday in Point Judith about upcoming groundfish stock assessments are unhappy with the data collection process for those assessments.

Federal regulators use data collected by fishermen and scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries to assess the health of fish species and set limits on how many fish can be taken from the sea. Those limits are intended to protect against overfishing.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the research arm of NOAA Fisheries in the region, talked with commercial and recreational fishermen as a part of a series of port outreach meetings to hear fishermen’s concerns and to figure out how the science center could work to address them.

Patrick Duckworth, a commercial fisherman who attended the meeting, said regulators are using bad scientific methods to collect data and set fishing limits.

Read and listen to the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

2nd Round of 2017 Groundfish Assessment Port Meetings Scheduled

August 25, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center is coming to a port near you! Join us for the second set of port meetings between August 28 and September 7 to discuss the upcoming groundfish operational stock assessments.

These meetings will include an informal explanation of the stock assessment process, the cooperative research program, and ways that your concerns can be addressed by the science center.

We’d like to talk to commercial and recreational fishermen. We’re listening to what you have to say.

See the full schedule of confirmed meetings.

Find out more about the assessments and meeting schedules.