Saving Seafood

CARLOS RAPHAEL: White House should heed call on at-sea monitors

September 10, 2015 — In a show of bipartisan cooperation that’s all too rare in today’s politics, Massachusetts’ Republican governor and all-Democratic congressional delegation united late last month to call upon the Obama administration to reverse a particularly egregious federal policy: the current plan by NOAA to require the fishing industry to pay the full cost for at-sea monitors for the groundfish fishery. Fishermen will now be required to hire monitors from an approved short list of for-profit companies. This policy will impose a significant burden on area fishermen, and poses a threat to the future of a fishery that is already reeling from a string of onerous federal regulations.

Thanks goes to Gov. Charlie Baker, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and all nine of our Massachusetts representatives in Congress for giving voice to what fishermen have been saying for years: Forcing fishermen to pay for the observers who monitor their catch will be a financially disastrous outcome for the fishery. As their joint letter notes, ther National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s own analysis of shifting the cost of monitors onto the industry finds that 60 percent of the fleet would be operating at a loss if required to pay for monitoring. In just the first year, the program would cost fishermen an estimated $2.64 million.

Yet NOAA does not seem to fully realize how seriously this policy puts the fishery at risk. The $2.64 million that NOAA expects the fishery to pay in monitoring costs is $2.64 million that fishermen simply don’t have. The fishery still has not recovered from years of declining quotas and a federally declared economic disaster in 2012. Imposing another unfunded mandate on the fishery will force many remaining fishermen to exit the industry altogether.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times 

 

Lawmakers fear some fishermen may miss out on aid

September 2, 2015 — BOSTON — Steering a course opposite from the recommendations that came out of Gloucester for spending the last pot of federal fishing disaster funds, elected officials from Cape Cod are urging Gov. Charlie Baker to recast the landings criteria so the approximately $6.5 million will be spread among all 200 boats in the state’s groundfish fleet.

That position most certainly will not be embraced by the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition and the city of Gloucester, whose separate recommendations to the state Division of Marine Fisheries call for landing criteria that would send the disaster aid money to Massachusetts-based groundfishermen who landed at least 20,000 pounds of groundfish in any of the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 — levels that could exclude fishermen on Cape Cod who have scaled back from catching groundfish. 

The Cape Cod effort comes just as the process for determining how to distribute the so-called Bin 3 money is about to close, with the public hearings completed, the period for public comment elapsed, and the advisory group established by the state to help draft a distribution plan set to meet for the final time on Friday in New Bedford.

Why the change?

The last-minute attempt to recast the criteria flows from the decisions by many Cape Cod fishermen, operating under shrunken quotas for cod, to shift their focus to catching other species such as dogfish, skate and monkfish.

But that business decision, some lawmakers worry, could be jeopardizing the fishermen’s ability to qualify for the last pot of federal disaster relief funding being dispersed by the Baker administration to help offset the hit to their livelihoods from declining fish populations.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

New England’s Groundfish Industry is Suffering, Hope for Fix Unclear

August 7, 2015 — SCITUATE, Mass. — In 1759 and 1776 economist, Adam Smith, used the metaphor of the “invisible hand” to describe how the actions of individuals based in self-interest could result in unintentional benefits for society overall. Smith used the invisible hand both in describing the benefits of a free market when it comes to income distribution and production. The theory goes an individual working in for their own interest in a market of other individuals behaving in the same manner will unintentionally create more social benefits than if that individual was working with the intention of creating social good.

In the fishing industry in New England, the invisible hand has been slapped away by the overbearing paw of excessive and misguided government regulation. The result is an inefficient market that not only hurts individuals, but also the overall industry and consumers.

Today, there are only five ground fishing boats that make Scituate their homeport. Five years ago, the number was 16, a reduction of over 68 percent. Each boat represented a small business.

Read the full opinion piece at Scituate Mariner

 

MONEY FOR NEW ENGLAND GROUNDFISH MONITORS TO LAST THROUGH OCTOBER

August 5, 2015 — NOAA Fisheries now says it expects to continue paying for at-sea monitoring of Northeast multispecies groundfish vessels through Oct. 31, two months longer than the federal agency initially projected.

The news that that permit holders will have at least two more months before they have to absorb the responsibility for paying for at-sea observers on their boats certainly is welcome, even if the reason for it is not.

“Due to reduced effort (by fishermen), the money is lasting longer,” Jennifer Goebel, a spokeswoman at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Gloucester, said Wednesday.

NOAA initially projected the money allotted for at-sea monitoring would run out around Aug. 31, but shrinking catch quotas, area closures and the absence of any opportunity to land cod, which remains the elemental stock for Gloucester and the region’s groundfishermen, has left NOAA with fewer vessels to monitor on far fewer trips.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

For Fishermen – Industry Outreach Meetings Scheduled to Review Upcoming Groundfish Assessments

July 15, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC):

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT NOAA’S NORTHEAST FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER (NEFSC) HAS ANNOUNCED IT WILL HOST OUTREACH MEETINGS IN PORTLAND, GLOUCESTER, WOODS HOLE, AND NEW BEDFORD FOR FISHERMEN INTERESTED IN THE UPCOMING OPERATIONAL ASSESSMENTS FOR 20 STOCKS OF NORTHEAST GROUNDFISH.

THE MEETINGS IN PORTLAND, WOODS HOLE, AND NEW BEDFORD WILL BE HELD ON JULY 22, 2015 FROM 10 A.M. TO NOON. THE GLOUCESTER MEETING WILL BE HELD ON JULY 22, 2015 FROM 2-4 P.M. TWO FISHERY STOCK ASSESSMENT ANALYSTS WILL BE ON HAND TO MEET WITH INTERESTED FISHERMEN, AND TO LEARN MORE ABOUT RECENT OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FLEET THAT MIGHT HELP FOCUS FUTURE RESEARCH TO IMPROVE ASSESSMENTS. CHECK OUT THE MEETING DETAILS AT HTTP://1.USA.GOV/1MTZCK3, AS WELL THE TOPICS LISTED ON THE NAVIGATION BAR.

YOU CAN ALSO LISTEN TO A SHORT WEBINAR, ASSOCIATED INFO IS ALSO LOCATED ON THE WEBSITE LISTED ABOVE, TO LEARN ABOUT THE TIMELINE FOR THE ASSESSMENTS, NEW INFORMATION TO BE CONSIDERED, AND HOW THE ASSESSMENT RESULTS WILL BE REVIEWED BEFORE THEY ARE USED IN THE FISHERY MANAGEMENT PROCESS.

THIS WEBSITE WILL BE UPDATED PERIODICALLY WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, SO TAKE A LOOK AGAIN WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE. FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT TERI FRADY AT 508-495-2239 /TERI.FRADY@NOAA.GOV.

New England Fishermen to Pay $700 a Day for At Sea Monitoring

July 13, 2015 — SEABROOK, N.H. — Groundfishermen monitored by a federal agency will soon have to pay roughly $700 for their own at-sea monitors, a cost they say is “one more nail in the coffin” to put them out of business.

The announcement comes at a time when the commercial and recreational groundfishing industry is struggling because of what they feel are strict federal regulations.

“The day I really have to pay for this is the day I stop going fishing,” said David Goethel, a commercial fisherman from Hampton.

“With the at-sea monitoring heaped upon fishermen, it very well could be the tipping point for many vessels, many permit holders,” said Dr. David Pierce, acting director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fishery.

At-sea monitors keep track of how vessels are doing with meeting their groundfishing allocations set by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency that sets regulations. The allocations are in place to keep groundfish stocks from going too low. Groundfish refer to species like cod, haddock and flounder which live at or near the bottom of the ocean.

The daily cost for each vessel’s at-sea monitor will likely be near $710, a figure based on what NOAA paid in fiscal year 2015 to run the monitor program, according to Teri Frady, spokesperson for NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center. However, Frady said each region of fishermen, divided into “sectors,” will make its own agreement for cost with federally approved providers of monitors.

“We expect that industry funding for (at-sea monitoring) will be necessary in August,” NOAA Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard said in a June 5 letter to state directors, including those in New Hampshire.

Read the full story at Seacoastonline.com