Saving Seafood

EDF to NOAA: Get multiple buyers for Carlos Rafael’s assets, more monitoring

March 19, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Jim Kendall chuckled as he attempted to grasp the words to describe a letter crafted by the Environmental Defense Fund, which it sent to NOAA on Thursday.

When the words finally came to him, the former fisherman and current executive director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting disagreed with most of the three pages of content.

“They go and paint Carlos (Rafael’s) whole fleet with a scarlet letter, really,” Kendall said.

The letter pitches two strategies to NOAA in handling the permits and punishment linked to Rafael, who is serving a 46-month sentence in federal prison for falsely labeling fishing quota.

EDF suggests that NOAA should require multiple buyers of Rafael’s assets and require monitoring of his vessels while also establishing funding for the monitoring.

Kendall disagrees and said requiring monitoring works against EDF’s first request of stipulating multiple buyers.

“Who’s going to pay for it? If you were to buy one of these boots, now you’re saddled with this additional obligation?” Kendall said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Commercial fishermen question wind farm video

February 16, 2018 — BOSTON — Offshore wind proponents are touting new undersea footage that suggests a vibrant marine habitat is growing around the nation’s first offshore wind farm — a five-turbine operation off Rhode Island’s waters.

The American Wind Energy Association, an industry trade group, says the roughly two-minute clip it posted on YouTube this week shows the potential for the nation’s fishing industry as larger projects are envisioned up and down the East Coast.

“The turbine foundations are now acting as an artificial reef,” said Nancy Sopko, the wind energy association’s director of offshore wind and federal legislative affairs. “This is a success story that can be replicated all along our coastlines.”

But the video does little to temper the concerns of commercial fishermen, who are worried about navigating dense forests of turbines to get to their historic fishing grounds, says Jim Kendall, a former scallop fisherman in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

“This is nice and fun to see, but it doesn’t tip the conversation,” Seth Rolbein, of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance in Chatham, Massachusetts, said of the video.

Offshore wind developers from New England to the Carolinas are racing to build the nation’s first large-scale wind farm. Many of the projects call for hundreds of turbines to be built miles away from shore, sometimes within or along the path to lucrative fishing spots.

The wind energy association video shows beds of mussels taking shape and small fish swimming around the turbine bases. The brief underwater footage is juxtaposed with longer testimonials from local recreational fishermen and charter boat owners who say the Deepwater Wind project has been a boon for them since opened it more than a year ago.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Massachusetts: SouthCoast fishermen call NOAA’s civil action against Carlos Rafael ‘overkill’

January 12, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Current and former area fishermen balked at NOAA’s reach in its civil action against Carlos Rafael.

“It’s total overkill,” said Stephen Lozinak, captain of fishing vessel Marsheen Venture and who has been fishing for more than five decades. “The whole thing is overkill. All it’s doing is hurting the workers in the city of New Bedford.”

On Wednesday, NOAA laid out its civil case against Rafael, including revoking 38 commercial fishing permits and the operator permits of two scallop vessel captains. Other aspects include a $983,528 penalty, denying any future application by Rafael for a permit issued by NOAA, and revoking the seafood dealer permit issued to Carlos Seafood Inc.

Most of the allegations surround Rafael’s criminal activity, which he pleaded guilty to in March. However, NOAA also included allegations surrounding mislabeling scallops harvested in 2013 and misreported yellowtail flounder in 2012.

“It seems to be a much more severe penalty than the crimes called for,” Executive Director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting Jim Kendall said.

The sentiments echoed those of Mayor Jon Mitchell.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford meeting brings wind, fishing industries together

October 5, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Jim Kendall painted the city’s streets with snow when he articulated how fishermen may feel about offshore wind during a meeting Wednesday that brought both sides together.

As a child on SouthCoast, Kendall spent his snow days sledding on the streets.

“You just can’t do stuff like that anymore,” he said.

He’s seen the same influx in traffic on the ocean in his evolution from fisherman to fishermen representative for Vineyard Wind. Time has added stock limits, marine monuments and the latest is offshore wind. More traffic equates to more difficulty fishing.

“That’s part of the problem,” Kendall said. “There’s constraints now where there never were earlier.”

Both offshore wind and commercial fishing understand neither is leaving the ocean. So John Quinn chaired a New England Fisheries Management Council habitat committee meeting in New Bedford, which invited offshore wind representatives.

“My general policy view is I’m viewing wind as complementing not replacing fishing,” Quinn said. “That balance is why we’re having meetings, seminars and symposiums about it.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: SMAST opening draws interest nationally

October 2, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The official opening of the second SMAST facility created ripple effects beyond its location on South Rodney French Boulevard.

Construction crews erected SMAST East at a cost of $55 million. The names on the guest list, which packed into the first floor of the 64,000 square foot building Friday, displayed its incalculable value to the SouthCoast.

From the political arena, Cong. Bill Keating, Sen. Mark Montigny, Rep. Antonio Cabral and Mayor Jon Mitchell addressed the crowd at the ribbon cutting ceremony. NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator and former New Bedford Mayor John Bullard and former dean of SMAST Brian Rothschild sat in attendance. Eastern Fisheries President Roy Enoksen and Executive Director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting Jim Kendall each listened to the 90-minute presentation that ended with a ribbon cutting.

“Today, you see evidence of UMass Dartmouth developing as a hub for the blue economy for all of New England,” UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert Johnson said.

The reach of the new research building extends beyond the northeast as well, particularly in Washington D.C.

“I happen to work with some people that may not be warming up to the idea of climate change is something that might occur,” Keating said. “So when I come here, I can bring some of that science back and try to work with some of my colleagues.”

Mitchell echoed those sentiments. The mayor spent Wednesday in the nation’s capital speaking to Congress on the reauthorization of the Magnuson Stevens Act, which is the primary legislation that governs fisheries.

“What you do here in creating the basis of regulation matters a whole lot. It’s indeed indispensable. The industry couldn’t function well. It couldn’t flourish as it is, especially on the scallop side these days, if it didn’t have the science to back up our assertions,” Mitchell said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Scallop auction owners, friends of Carlos Rafael, tipped as likely fleet buyers

September 25, 2017 — Could old friends of Carlos Rafael’s wind up with his massive New England fishing fleet?

Speculation is building that the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), an electronic seafood auction firm in New Bedford, Massachusetts, could be the company mentioned in court documents as having signed a memorandum of agreement to buy the 30-something vessels, an unknown number of skiffs, and some 50 state and federal permits to catch scallops, cod, haddock and many other fish found in the Gulf of Maine.

Richard and Raymond Canastra, BASE’s co-owners, were not in their offices on Friday, a company employee told Undercurrent News. But many see it as a likely match.

Raymond Canastra is reported to be a long-time friend of Rafael’s. The two mens’ daughters co-own a seafood brokerage firm in New Bedford.

The Canastra brothers don’t have fishing boats, but if they were able to acquire the Rafael operation, “it would not be a surprise to anyone”, Jim Kendall, a longtime member of the area fishing community and the executive director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting, told Undercurrent.

The Canastras know the fishing industry well, and probably wouldn’t have too much trouble making Rafael’s business work with theirs, he said. There is little money to be made in groundfish, but Rafael’s scallops permits could be quite valuable. Also, it would satisfy the goal of keeping nearly 300 jobs in the area.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

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

JIM KENDALL: Even ‘smart’ video monitoring is onerous to fishermen

August 23, 2017 — I would like to make several observations regarding Michael Bonner’s Aug. 21 article, “Delegation supports Rafael’s forfeiture toward electronic monitoring.”

First of all, state legislators’ support for utilizing the forfeiture to fund the electronic monitoring (surveillance), presupposes that this form of electronic monitoring will be supported and adopted. It surely does not seem to be the favored choice of monitoring, as far as the groundfish industry is concerned. In fact, they are not in favor of any form of monitoring that has been proposed to date.

I know that many of those in the NMFS/NOAA or the conservation industry would claim that my last statement is an expected response from someone who is either in the fishing industry or who supports their way of life. However, show me someone who would like to have basically every minute of their working life surveilled and overseen by “Big Brother,” or anyone else, for that matter.

As an American, you are considered innocent until proven otherwise, but in this case, you are expected to bear the additional burden and costs of video surveillance, along with the costs of the already-imposed vessel tracking systems. The fishing vessel crews already have the considerable burden of paying for the tracking systems that monitor their positions on (at least) an hourly basis. The vessel tracking systems are now a precondition that must be met, endured and paid for by the fishermen if they wish to obtain a permit to fish in almost any of the current local fisheries.

NOAA fisheries Regional Administrator John Bullard (soon to be retiring) is quoted as saying that he thinks that video monitoring is a major benefit to the industry. I’m not sure who he thinks he’s going to convince with that statement. Surely not the fishing industry. If that were the case, New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel likely would not be requesting that this “benefit” be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read the full letter at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Stock assessment meeting erupts into lively talk between NOAA, fishermen

August 17, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Diagrams, life-like statues and pictures fill the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center to depict the history and future of the industry.

NOAA scientists and local fishermen filled the small building on Bethel Street on Wednesday night to discuss future stock assessments. The meeting, though, told another aspect in the story of the Port of New Bedford: the decades old tension that continues to exist between the groups.

“We all have to pull in the same direction,” Executive Director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting Jim Kendall said.

Instead a powerpoint presentation listing stock limits led to a discussion, which evolved into an argument and ended with two fishermen abruptly leaving. Russ Brown, director of the Population Dynamics Branch of NOAA, ended his presentation to meet with the fishermen outside. They spoke outside for 20 minutes before parting ways with a semblance of mutual respect.

“What we need to do is find common themes,” Brown said. “I’m a scientist. We want to find common themes within the science where we have questions and the industry has questions, and we can basically collaborate and pull in the same direction.”

Most of the discussion revolved around the methods in which NOAA is acquiring its data. Fishermen in attendance questioned the methods used by scientists to count groundfish. They also pointed out that years to correct a data point is too much time for an industry that continues to shrink.

“We understand that the management is affecting people and is having some serious consequences for our stakeholders who are depending on the resources,” Brown said. “We care about that, and we want to make sure the science is as accurate as it can be.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Carlos Rafael’s guilty plea in federal court draws mixed reactions

March 31, 2017 — There was a mixture of emotions and reactions among members of the local fishing industry over the guilty plea Carlos that “The Codfather” Rafael entered in Federal Court Thursday. Some expressed a certain amount of sympathy for Rafael in the highly regulated business. Some didn’t.

This doesn’t come as a surprise,” said Mayor Jon Mitchell. Ever since Carlos’ arrest became public it was clear the government had him dead to rights.”

Mitchell, a former federal prosecutor, said that he thinks Rafael “is looking at three or four years in federal prison and to my mind he deserves it.”

“The more important question is what will happen to the permits. That determination has been left up to NOAA.”

Rafael’s fishing operation has continued under the permits, but it is possible the government will auction them off or send them out of the city in some other way, Mitchell said. He said he “pointedly” made that point with NOAA.

“The numerous people he employs shouldn’t have to suffer because of his dishonesty.”

Jim Kendall, president of New Bedford Seafood Consulting, had the same concern about the permits. He noted that other boat owners have been stripped of their permits. “But I am not sure that it means anything for us,” he said.

“I’m hoping that whatever the decision is that it doesn’t harm the port or the fishermen here. I am concerned about the impact.

Joann Field of Acushnet said, “If he is taking responsibility, that’s a good thing.”

But her husband Roland wondered aloud how much the strain of government monitoring and enforcement pushed him in the direction he went.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Standard-Times