Saving Seafood

Regulators push for rope removal to save North Atlantic right whale

April 18, 2018 — In a multinational drive to protect the North Atlantic right whale, fisheries along the east coasts of the Canada and the United States are being mandated, legislated, or volunteering to reduce rope use as much as possible.

The Canadian government has instituted steps that requires snow crab fishermen use less rope, use more easily breakable rope and report any lost gear as soon as possible. These conditions apply to all fishing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

While Canada’s federal effort has been heavily on the snow crab fishery, the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA) recently laid out its own plan to reduce potential entanglements and involvements with the endangered whales.

No right whale has been found entangled in lobster gear, but nevertheless, the lobster fishermen in Area 24, along Prince Edward Islands’s North Shore, have agreed to voluntarily reduce what the gear they put in the water by at least 25 percent – setting their traps in bunches of six rather than a one trap set or smaller bunches.

“We feel we’re eliminating somewhere around 16,000 Styrofoam buoys out of the system and each of those buoys is responsible for 130 or 140 feet of rope, which go from the buoy down to the trap,” Francis Morrissey, of the Area 24 Lobster Advisory Board, said. “So we feel that by doing this, there’s 16,000 less chances for marine mammals to get entangled.”

South of the border, an op-ed in The Boston Globe by John K. Bullard, the retiring regional administrator for NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, challenged the U.S. lobster industry to take the lead in heading off the extinction of the North Atlantc right whale.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Bullard’s right whale challenge angers lobstermen

April 4, 2018 — In January, on his way out the door of NOAA Fisheries and into retirement, former Regional Administrator John K. Bullard didn’t hesitate when asked for the most critical management issue facing the federal fisheries regulator.

Clearly, he said, it is the desperate plight of the North Atlantic right whales.

Bullard may have left behind the daily responsibilities of running the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, but he took his bully pulpit with him.

On Monday, he published an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe challenging the U.S. commercial lobster industry — predominately based in Maine and Massachusetts, where Gloucester and Rockport are the top ports — to take the lead in trying to head off the extinction of the North Atlantic right whales.

“The $669 million lobster industry must assume a leadership role in solving a problem that it bears significant responsibility for creating,” Bullard wrote in his piece. “Entanglements occur in other fixed-gear fisheries, but the number of lobster trawls in the ocean swamps other fisheries.”

While he also carved out a role for scientists, non-governmental organizations and fishery managers in the hunt for solutions, Bullard’s emphasis on the lobster industry did not sit well with local lobstermen, who believed their industry was being singled out.

“Most of what I have to say you probably couldn’t print,” said longtime lobsterman Johnny “Doc” Herrick, who ties up his Dog & I at the Everett R. Jodrey State Fish Pier. “We’ve done everything that they’ve asked us to do.”

“And then some,” said Scott McPhail, the skipper of the Black & Gold lobster boat, which also docks at the state fish pier. “They won’t be happy until we have to drop and haul all our gear out of the water at the end of every day we fish.”

‘Canada needs to get on board’

Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said her membership continues to be concerned that the focus for solving the North Atlantic right whale crisis is zeroed in on the lobster industry.

“We feel like we’re continually in the cross-hairs,” she said.

Casoni and lobstermen cited, as examples of the industry’s cooperation, existing modifications to gear and area closures. They spoke of the lobstermen’s role in joint research projects and of a fishery that prides itself on self-regulation, where cheating often is dealt with in camera among the boats.

They also pointed out that the majority of whale mortalities are the product of ship strikes and that 12 of the 17 North Atlantic right whale deaths in 2017 occurred in Canadian waters.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

John Bullard: Lobster industry must lead on right whales

April 2, 2018 — A number of events over the past two weeks have probably gotten the full attention of the US lobster industry and increased pressure for it to take the lead in fighting the potential extinction of the North Atlantic right whale.

In response to the deaths of the endangered whale, including 12 in Canada last year, Canada has imposed new restrictions on ship speeds and snow crab fishing, as well as earmarked $1 million more annually to help free marine mammals from fishing gear.

In addition, survey teams on Saturday ended their aerial search for right whale calves off the southeastern US coast. For the first time since the spotters began their survey, in 1989, they recorded zero births this calving season. Last year only five births were recorded, well below what used to be the average of 15 per year. Last year there were 17 confirmed right whale deaths. Already this year, a 10-year-old female, who was just entering her breeding years, died after becoming entangled in fishing gear. She was discovered off Virginia.

There are only about 450 North Atlantic right whales, including about 100 breeding females. Females used to give birth every three to four years. Now they give birth only every eight years, if at all. Photographic evidence suggests that about 85 percent of right whales show signs of entanglement in fishing gear, which affects the whale’s fitness and is likely one of the reasons for the longer breeding cycle.

The $669 million lobster industry must assume a leadership role in solving a problem that it bears significant responsibility for creating. Entanglements occur in other fixed-gear fisheries, but the number of lobster trawls in the ocean swamps the other fisheries.

Read the full opinion piece at the Boston Globe

 

NOAA leader looks to cultivate culture of collaboration

March 1, 2018 — As debuts go, Mike Pentony’s first day on the job as the regional director for NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office was a corker.

The federal government marked his ascension on Jan. 22 as only the federal government can — shutting down all but the most essential government services as a consequence of the usual congressional mumbley-peg.

“My first action was to come in and proceed with the orderly shutdown of government operations,” Pentony said recently during an interview in the corner office on the uppermost floor of GARFO headquarters in Gloucester’s Blackburn Industrial Park.

The respite was short-lived. The shutdown lasted a day. When it was over, the 53-year-old Pentony began his new job in earnest as the leader of the regional agency that manages some of the most historically productive — and at times contentious — fisheries in the United States.

It is, as his successor John K. Bullard would attest, a monumental task, working on a canvas that stretches geographically along the Eastern seaboard from Maine to North Carolina and west to the Great Lakes.

But the geographical sweep pales in comparison to the scope and density of the regulations Pentony is charged with enforcing.

There is the crisis of cod in the Gulf of Maine, the alarming demise of the North Atlantic right whales, the malfeasance of cheaters such as New Bedford fishing kingpin Carlos Rafael and a myriad of other issues that affect every fishing community within his purview.

There is incessant wrangling over habitat protections, the usual tug-of-war between environmentalists and conservationists on one side and fishermen on the other. It is a drama with a disparate cast of characters and Pentony is convinced the only way to address extraordinarily intricate problems — usually requiring even more intricate responses — is by forging a collaborative spirit.

“I want to try to develop a culture, not just within GARFO and the agency, but within the region, both mid-Atlantic and New England, where we’re all partners with a collective goal of healthy fisheries and healthy fishing communities.” Pentony said. “The problems and challenges are so huge that we’re only stronger if we’re working together.”

He also understands, given the varying degrees of conflict that exist among fisheries stakeholders, that achieving that collaboration will be far more difficult than contemplating its benefits.

“There’s always going to be people that find it easier to stand outside the circle and throw stones than to get inside the circle and work,” Pentony said. “If they stand outside the circle and just shout about how everything is wrong, that generally doesn’t do much to solve the problem.”

Campaign of engagement

Pentony served under Bullard as assistant regional administrator for sustainable fisheries starting in 2014. He was asked what advice his predecessor gave him.

“He told me there are a lot of people cheering and hoping for your success,” Pentony said. “Not just me personally, but if I’m successful, then the regional office can be successful and the agency can be successful. And if you tie that success to our mission, then our success would mean healthy, sustainable fisheries, healthy and sustainable resources and healthy and sustainable fishing communities.”

Pentony made his fishery management bones as a staff member at the New England Fishery Management Council prior to joining NOAA Fisheries in 2002. That experience, he said, instilled in him a solid faith in the ability of the council system to ultimately arrive at the best decision once all implications are considered.

“I’ve been involved with the council process for 20 years,” Pentony said. “It’s not perfect. But I have a ton of respect for the work and effort council members put into being informed and working through what I think is unique in the federal regulatory process. We have this incredibly unique process that engages stakeholders.”

Pentony didn’t even wait for his first official day in the big chair to begin his own campaign of engagement.

The Friday before his official starting date, he traveled to the Yankee Fishermen’s Cooperative in Seabrook, New Hampshire, to meet with David Goethel — a frequent critic of NOAA Fisheries — and other New Hampshire fishermen to give them a sense of how he plans to approach the job.

Later that day, he had lunch in Gloucester with Vito Giacalone and Jackie Odell of the Northeast Seafood Coalition. He’s also traveled to Maine to breakfast with Maggie Raymond of the Associated Fisheries of Maine and met with New Jersey fishing companies and processors while in the Garden State on personal business.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

NMFS Northeast Administrator Michael Pentony taking on whale crisis

February 23, 2018 — In January, Michael Pentony was named to replace John Bullard as the new Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Office. Pentony has been with NOAA since 2002 and was most recently the Assistant Regional Administrator for the Sustainable Fisheries Division. Prior to joining NOAA, he was a policy analyst for five years at the New England Fishery Management Council.

Supervising recreational and commercial fisheries, as well as overseeing the welfare of marine species like whales and seals in 100,000 square miles of ocean from the Canadian border to Cape Hatteras and the Great Lakes is no easy task. Pentony inherited a region of tremendous potential but beset by problems both environmental and regulatory.

“The number one issue right now is the right whale crisis,” Pentony said in a phone interview Thursday. “It will occupy our resources and energy for the next several years until we can reverse the trend. That’s going to be a significant challenge.”

NOAA has the unenviable task of managing fisheries so that fishermen get the maximum sustainable yield out of commercial species while being legally bound to protect and restore the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Pentony’s agency has been named in two recent lawsuits that homed in on its management of the New England lobster industry, one of the primary culprits responsible for whale deaths through entanglement in buoy lines.

“There’s definitely a sense of urgency. We have to take action and look at all possible avenues,” Pentony said. “We have a lot of faith in the (Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team) process…Right now everything has to be on the table because it’s such a crisis.”

At the same time, lobsters, which are critical to the economy of many small coastal communities, particularly in Maine, are showing some signs that their boom years may be coming to an end. “Hopefully, lobster in the Gulf of Maine is not going to be a problem like we’ve seen in Southern New England lobster. It’s something we are keeping an eye on,” Pentony said.

A large part of the decline of the lobster population to the south of Cape Cod was warming waters due to climate change. Pentony said a warming ocean and its effect on stock abundance, prey, water currents, temperature gradients, increased susceptibility to disease, impacts many species. Many are on the move, seeking cooler water, perhaps in habitats that provide less food or inadequate protection from predators. Others require management changes that could take time.

Black sea bass, for instance, appear to be moving north into the Gulf of Maine where they were rarely seen in numbers. But the bulk of the quota is held by southern states. Unless higher quotas are negotiated for New England fishermen, they could find their fishery on other species restricted by a limit on black sea bass while losing out on selling the bass they do catch.

“That’s a climate change issue and a management conundrum,” Pentony said. “We have management challenges on stocks that are in poor shape, but even on a healthy stock we have these challenges.”

Pentony would like to see the expansion of aquaculture, both shellfish and finfish.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

Massachusetts: Post-Rafael, New Bedford fishing industry looks to move forward

February 22, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — For perhaps the first time, at least publicly, fishermen on Carlos Rafael vessels sat in the same room Wednesday as John Bullard, the former regional administrator for NOAA, who implemented a groundfishing ban for those vessels.

Bullard, wearing a blue NOAA jacket, sat in front of a four-person panel brought together by Rhode Island Public Radio. The fishermen, wearing baseball caps and New Bedford Ship Supply sweatshirts, sat to the left of the panel, which discussed fishing in New Bedford after Carlos Rafael at Star Store.

“It’s an issue that’s near and dear to my heart, not just because I was the regional administrator of NOAA Fisheries to close the sector, but I care about this,” Bullard said. “This is my hometown.”

Bullard, now retired from NOAA, declined to comment specifically on the groundfishing ban, which went into effect in November.

However, Cassie Canastra, marketing director of BASE seafood, and Dan Georgianna, economist and professor emeritus at SMAST, are each on the board of the fishing division that’s affected by the ban. They said Sector IX plans to meet with Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office to propose a new operational plan. If approved, it would end the ban, however, Canastra said no date for a meeting has been determined.

Neither offered more insight into negotiations to end the ban.

Canastra and Georgianna were joined by Laura Ramsden, co-owner of Foley Fish, and John Quinn, chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council, offered a smorgasbord of insight regarding fishing in New Bedford.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Massachusetts: Rep. Keating optimistic after meeting with NOAA on groundfishing ban

February 9, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — William Keating left a meeting with NOAA’s new regional administrator feeling optimistic regarding the agency’s stance on Sector IX.

The U.S. House member representing New Bedford met Tuesday night with Michael Pentony, who replaced John Bullard at NOAA and began his new role two weeks ago. Keating wanted to discuss the groundfishing ban that’s holding about 80 New Bedford fishermen off the water.

“What can I do to get people back fishing as quickly as possible?” Keating said. “That is creating my strong feelings of urgency around resolving the operations plan. That has to be done to go forward. NOAA is very clear about that.”

Neither NOAA nor Pentony would comment on the groundfishing ban placed on Sector IX.

However, Pentony also left the introduction with Keating with a feeling of optimism.

″(It was) very positive,” Pentony said. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the Congressman and his staff.”

Keating said his office remains in contact with NOAA on a weekly basis. The dialogue first began last spring.

The urgency, from Keating’s perspective results from the belief that the groundfishing ban established last November affects more than New Bedford.

As the most valuable fishing port in the country 17 years running, any splash in New Bedford ripples throughout Massachusetts, Keating said.

“It’s not only for our city, not only for our region, but for Massachusetts as a whole,” Keating said. “Having this cohesive industry situated the way that it is and the growth that can come from that … that is important in terms of the economic side that should be factored in.”

Because of its widespread effect on the state, Keating said he’s working with U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey on urging an immediate solution.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Scallops poised to jump back on US casual restaurant menus

January 28, 2018 — MIAMI — Previously deemed to be saddled with prices too volatile to offer at casual restaurants in the US, look for scallops to come back on menus in 2018, predicts Sean Moriarty, vice president of sales for Blue Harvest Fisheries.

Good luck finding Atlantic sea scallops at the types of sit-down dining establishments Americans most often frequent, like Olive Garden, Applebee’s or Outback Steakhouse.

The price of the shellfish have proven too lofty and volatile for such major chains to take the risk. But that could change soon as the global supply of scallops promises to reach an epic high in 2018, pushing prices to a more affordable range.

“I think the domestic consumption should continue to increase,” said Moriarty Wednesday during a panel on bivalves at the National Fisheries Institute’s (NFI) Global Seafood Market Conference, in Miami, Florida. “I think, especially in 2018, you’ll see a push to get back on the menu, not just in appetizers but in the center of the plate.”

Moriarty’s vertically integrated New Bedford, Massachusetts-based employer — one of the US’ top five producers of Atlantic sea scallops with 15 vessels operating in New England — will be among those rooting for more restaurants to join the scallop party.

Along with few abrupt changes in recent times – including a sudden drop that followed a glut of landings in May 2017 — scallop prices have grown overall since 2011, according to Urner Barry figures shared by Moriarty at the event.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Bullard: Seafood Farming Is Key for the Future of Seafood and Our Communities

January 24, 2018 — As I retire from NOAA Fisheries, I want to share my vision of a bright future where marine aquaculture is part of our collective strategy for ensuring economic and environmental resiliency in coastal communities.

If done responsibly — as it is in the United States — aquaculture is increasingly recognized as one of the most environmentally sustainable ways to produce fish protein. While world population is rising, the amount of wild fish is not. I am proud of the progress that NOAA, the fishing community, and conservation agencies made in dramatically reducing overfishing in the United States through science-based management practices. While wild harvest fisheries have always been our priority, we know that even with sound management, wild fish harvests cannot meet increasing seafood demand. However, by fostering aquaculture here and growing our seafood locally, this nation can ensure a safe, secure and sustainable seafood supply.

In our local coastal communities, farming the sea is gaining momentum as a way for fishing families to diversify income and to provide fisheries-linked professions that we can pass on to future generations.

Few things are more New England than bustling waterfronts filled with hard-working men and women making a living from the ocean, but many working waterfronts have disappeared as wild stocks declined and processing plants give way to waterfront condos. Aquaculture farms — including shellfish, salmon, and seaweed operations — provide a year-round source of high-quality jobs and economic opportunities in coastal communities that can supplement seasonal employment, such as tourism and fishing.

There are already good examples where jobs in aquaculture and seasonal employment are combining. On the Piscataqua River, fishermen collaborated with the University of New Hampshire to farm steelhead trout as a way to supplement their incomes. The New Hampshire-grown steelhead operation helps fishermen diversify their income and learn a new trade. These fish also provide New England chefs with an additional local source of healthy protein.

Aquaculture is much more than food production. Around the nation, scientists are studying how shellfish farming can benefit local ecosystems and water quality, energy agencies are exploring farming algae as a source of biofuel, and seaweed farmers are fighting ocean acidification with their crops. NOAA’s Milford Laboratory is a world leader in aquaculture science and, working alongside shellfish farmers, we are leveraging its more than 85 years of research to inform management for sustainable expansion seafood farming in the region.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Times

 

Cape Cod Times: A landmark fisheries plan

January 15, 2018 — For seafood lovers, there’s nothing better than a lightly battered scallop, freshly harvested from the North Atlantic, and dipped in simmering butter. And now that federal regulators have agreed to open an area east of Nantucket, closed since the 1990s, fishermen could catch as much as $218 million worth of scallops this year, and $313 million over three years. Expect those fried scallop plates to cost less this summer.

The reopening of the sea bed is just one of the many beneficial outcomes of a new fisheries management plan that was nearly 15 years in the making. The landmark set of regulations opens a large swath of the region’s waters to fishing while maintaining other closures to protect vulnerable species. The plan uses science and the latest technology to decide which ocean areas are important for the critical life stages of fish and shellfish species and how to protect them.

Two decades ago, habitat closures were decided based on drawing a line around areas where fish were congregating. Now, with a model that compares the sea bed with the impact of fishing, regulators can make decisions that will help restore and protect fish stocks. The new plan also sets aside research areas to investigate the link between habitat and fish productivity.

“We think these are groundbreaking regulations,” said John Bullard, NOAA’s outgoing regional administrator, who issued the regulations as one of his last acts on the job. “It puts the focus on the quality of the habitat protected — not the quantity, or how many square miles were protected.”

Cape fishermen are pleased with at least two elements of the plan. They cheered the closing of a large part of the Great South Channel that runs between the Cape and Georges Bank because it is essential habitat for spawning cod and other fish species. State and federal surveys have found that the region’s cod population has plummeted by about 80 percent over the past decade. Closing this area will now help ensure the continued survival of species like Atlantic cod, haddock, and flounder for years to come.

Read the full opinion piece at the Cape Cod Times