Saving Seafood

Pentony steps into NOAA’s top Atlantic post with much underway

January 15, 2018 — Michael Pentony, John Bullard’s successor as administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Greater Atlantic region, is a “straight shooter,” who works toward “yes,” and has a lot of experience on fisheries management issues, sources tell Undercurrent News.

NOAA ended months of speculation on Thursday when it announced that Pentony, a long-time NOAA staffer and also a one-time member of the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) staff, was its pick to lead all fishery policy making in the 100,000 square mile long region that stretches from the state of Maine to Cape Hatteras, in North Carolina, and the Great Lakes.

“Michael’s deep experience in every aspect of sustainable fisheries management, both commercial and recreational, positions him perfectly for this job. He is going to hit the ground running,” assured Chris Oliver, director of NOAA Fisheries, in a statement announcing the decision.

Bullard announced his retirement back in July, ending a nearly six-year rein in the region’s top spot, which comes with an office in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and beginning the agency’s search for a replacement. He said at the time that he had a long list of chores to complete before he could finish, most of which he took on during a recent flurry of activity at the agency.

However, Bullard left quite a few big matters for Pentony to finish up.

Pentony, who is set to assume his new role on January 22, enters his new job at the end of an eventful period, including the prosecution and sentencing of the owner of New England’s largest fishing operation, Carlos Rafael.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

‘Sad day’ for the fishing industry following marine monument designation

September 16, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Backers of the Northeast U.S. fishing industry reacted with anger, chagrin and legal arguments Thursday to President Barack Obama’s declaration of a marine national monument south of Cape Cod, saying the ocean preservation effort circumvented public process and will significantly damage a key economic engine — and way of life — in the region.

“It’s all anybody’s talking about, that’s for sure,” said Jon Williams, president of Atlantic Red Crab Co. on Herman Melville Boulevard. “The general feeling is (that) it’s a sad day for the New England fishing industry.”

Obama’s designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument — in two areas also known as New England Canyons and Seamounts — permanently bars those areas from an array of commercial and industrial uses, including commercial fishing. The areas total 4,913 square miles, are more than 100 miles southeast of Cape Cod and are the first such monument in the Atlantic Ocean. The designation follows at least a year of concerns and opposition from advocates of the commercial fishing industry, who feared yet another financial hit from government regulations that already include catch limits and quotas broadly questioned by fishermen.

“Millions of dollars of lost revenue are at stake” in the monument decision, states a letter from the Washington, D.C. office of international law firm Kelley Drye & Warren.

The firm sent the letter Sept. 14 to Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, on behalf of the Southern Georges Bank Coalition. The coalition of fishing representatives includes Williams, J. Grant Moore of Broadbill Fishing in Westport, and at least 10 other members from Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York.

The letter said those entities “are directly affected by the monument description, as it includes their fishing grounds,” and called Obama’s use of the Antiquities Act to declare the marine monument, “an illegal and illegitimate use of presidential authority.”

“I think there’s widespread and pretty much universal disappointment, anger, frustration and feelings of betrayal in the commercial fishing industry,” said Bob Vanasse, a New Bedford native and executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Saving Seafood.

“There is widespread and deep feeling that our fisheries should be managed under the public process of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,” Vanasse added.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

New Initiative Seeks to Improve Human Rights Protections in Thailand’s Fishing Sector

WASHINGTON — March 14, 2016 — Renowned Thai human rights and labor advocate Sompong Srakaew has formed a new initiative aimed at ridding Southeast Asia’s seafood sector of human trafficking and other labor abuses.

MAST, the Multi-stakeholder Initiative for Accountable Supply Chain of Thai Fisheries, brings together Mr. Sompong’s Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN) and TLCS Legal Advocate Company in Bangkok. Human rights consultancy The Mara Partners and law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP are coordinating MAST’s efforts in the U.S.

“MAST will continue the work of reforming Thai fisheries to eliminate human trafficking and all other forms of forced labor, as well as illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing practices,” Mr. Sompong said. “We will work together with civil society, industry, and governments to help put an end to these abuses.”

Mr. Sompong’s LPN, founded in 2004, has advocated for migrant worker rights, conducted raids to free migrant workers in forced labor situations, and helped strengthen The Kingdom of Thailand’s human trafficking laws. As LPN’s founder, Mr. Sompong was recognized by the U.S. State Department with a Trafficking in Persons Hero Award in 2008 for his efforts to combat modern day slavery and improve the lives of migrant workers in Thailand.

MAST’s immediate goals include the creation of a Thai fishermen’s union; the establishment of centers at ports to provide shelter, food, and first aid to fishermen; and the strengthening of public awareness of migrant worker living conditions. It aims to serve as a watchdog to prevent human trafficking and to open a legal clinic for trafficking victims.

MAST will also begin exploring effective and achievable ways to help track and monitor fishing vessels of all sizes and ensure the integrity of the supply chain from the sea to the factory. It seeks to promote full compliance with Thailand’s new law combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and requiring an ethical supply chain.

Nine Thai fishing organizations have already committed to joining MAST’s efforts, including the National Fisheries Association of Thailand, the Pair Trawlers Association of Thailand, and the Coalition of Peeling Sheds. The group will work to build a coalition of governments, international organizations, private sector companies, trade associations, NGOs, human rights lawyers, and academics.

Illegal practices in Thailand’s multi-billion-dollar fishing industry have been the focus of recent reports in international media. Mr. Sompong has been featured discussing the problem on PBS NewsHour and in The Australian.

MAST leaders Sompong Srakaew and Dornnapha Sukkree meet with U.S. Department of Labor officials in Washington. (2016)

The first group of Thai and Burmese workers rescued from Ambon Island, Indonesia by the LPN. The group was provided with food and basic necessities until their safe return home. (2014)

A group of workers being held in a private jail on Ambon Island, Indonesia. Fearing that this photo could be his last, one worker said, “Take my picture and tell my family, I am here and I am still alive.” These workers have since been rescued and retuned home, but their government only identified two of them as victims of human trafficking. (2014)

On Ambon Island, Indonesia, Samak Tubtanee, head of the Human Trafficking Office at the LPN, works to return forced laborers to their homes. (2014)

The graves of unknown Thai fishermen on Ambon Island, Indonesia. (2014)

A group of migrant workers at an immigration detention facility on Ambon Island, Indonesia. (2014)

The overgrown graves of fishermen from Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar cover the forest floor of Benjina Island, Indonesia. (2014)

LPN Program Manager Patima Tangprachakoon, alongside Laotian officials, meets with the family of a missing Laotian fisherman at the Laotian embassy in Thailand. The fisherman was eventually returned home safely. (2014)

 

Scallop Industry Fights Early Access To Nantucket Lightship Area

December 22, 2015 – Last week, The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), represented by Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, wrote NOAA Regional Administrator John Bullard, urging him to disapprove a December 3rd vote at the New England Fishery Management Council that would allow certain vessels early entry into the Nantucket Lightship area in violation of the principles of rotational closure system that has made the scallop fishery sustainable and profitable.

The vote would allow General Category scallopers access to the Nantucket Lightship area, and disallow access by Limited Access vessels. FSF says that allowing different access for different types of vessels in the scallop fleet violates laws, regulations, and the Atlantic Scallop Fishery Management Plan. FSF also argues that the vote failed to meet public notice requirements, failed to provide analysis of effects for public comment, and, as an allocation issue, requires an amendment of the Fisheries Management Plan.

Administrator Bullard himself spoke in opposition to the vote, stating “What I’m worried about is a motion like this … [takes] a chink out ofthis rotational closure and allows one group in early. And so next year, what’s the justification for someone to come in early, and the year after, what’s the rationale? And at what point do we not have the system that created the nation’s most profitable, most productive, most sustainable fishery? At what point do we look and say ‘it really isn’t a rotational closure system anymore, it’s a system where we decide who goes where at what time.'”

View the letter as a PDF