Saving Seafood

New York to study why dead bunker fish have been washing up on beaches

December 29, 2020 — Numerous reports of dead and dying bunker fish washing up on Long Island beaches in recent weeks have prompted state officials to collect samples for study.

Distressed fish — possibly sickened by low water oxygen levels or rapid changes in temperature — have been spotted from the lower Hudson River near Peekskill to Staten Island and beaches on Long Island’s North Shore and the East End, officials said.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has sent fish samples and water quality data to Stony Brook University’s Marine Animal Disease Laboratory and Cornell University for examination, officials said.

Bunker, or Atlantic menhaden, are a popular bait fish that number in the billions from Nova Scotia to Florida. Hundreds of millions of the fish are harvested annually for fish oil, fertilizer and fishmeal, authorities have said.

Read the full story at Newsday

NEW YORK: LI fishermen see tough days ahead as NYC restaurants back in lockdown

December 21, 2020 — With New York City restaurants back in lockdown, Long Island fishermen once again face the loss of one of the biggest markets for their fish as a choppy 2020 comes to a close.

A small measure of relief is being offered with federal stimulus finds, but fishermen have only till year’s end to apply.

Fishermen in the spring saw most wholesale prices tumble with restaurant closures statewide, then regain as summer opened outdoor dining and limited capacity at restaurants. The latest closure comes atop other setbacks, including the die-off for the second year in a row of Peconic Bay scallops, the sharp decline in the oyster industry, also tied to restaurant closures, and pressures such as ever-changing fishing quotas.

Read the full story at Newsday

Storm could bring 14-foot waves, disrupt fishing for a few days

December 16, 2020 — The coast could see some 14-foot wave heights from a winter snowstorm that is forecast to barrel into New Jersey on Wednesday.

We’ll see if that affects the current pattern of a morning striped bass bite on the beaches. Surf fishermen have been enjoying a good run of mostly slot size bass in spots like Sea Girt, and Brick on down through the Ocean County barrier islands.

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said any sand eel imitation was working on the bass. He was in the thick of the action over the weekend and noted a lot of shad in the surf as well. In fact, he said he dropped his teaser because he was catching too many.

George Konowall of Philadelphia has the distinction of weighing in the final bass in the Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic. Konowall landed the fish Saturday afternoon at Barneget Light fishing with bunker bait. At 12 pounds, six ounces it posed no challenge to the leader, which at the end of the tournament on Sunday, was still Bob Daley’s 24-pound bass he caught back on Nov. 26.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

$2.8 Million in Grants Awarded in New England to Improve the Health of Long Island Sound

December 9, 2020 — The following was released by the Environmental Protection Agency:

Today, top federal and state environmental officials from New England announced 24 grants totaling $2.8 million to local governments, nongovernmental organizations and community groups to improve Long Island Sound. The grants are matched by $2.3 million from the grantees resulting in $5.1 million in funding for conservation around the Long Island Sound watershed.

Work funded through the Long Island Sound Futures Fund (LISFF) has shown how projects led by local groups and communities make a difference in improving water quality and restoring habitat around the Long Island Sound watershed. The grant program combines funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF).

“Long Island Sound is vital to local communities, economies and ecosystems, and these grants will greatly benefit the Sound for years to come,” said EPA New England Regional Administrator Dennis Deziel. “Protecting and restoring Long Island Sound requires a watershed-wide approach and EPA is proud to again support diverse and innovative projects in five of the states that comprise the Sound’s watershed.”

The LISFF 2020 grants will reach more than 670,000 residents through environmental education programs and conservation projects. Water quality improvement projects will treat 5.4 million gallons of stormwater, install 23,000-square-feet of green infrastructure and prevent 3,000 pounds of nitrogen from entering Long Island Sound. The projects will also open 3.7 river miles and restore 108 acres of coastal habitat for fish and wildlife.

Representative Rosa DeLauro, Co-chair of the Long Island Sound Caucus, added: “The Long Island Sound is one of our most treasured natural resources, and it is vital that we continue to support programs and services that maintain its health and vitality. Having grown up on its shores, the Sound has always held a special place with me, and I am so proud to have the opportunity to work to ensure that its beaches and waters remain places for children and families to enjoy. We have made extraordinary strides, but issues with sewer overflows, stormwater runoff, and other climate change issues challenge us to do more – and so we will. As one of the Long Island Sound Caucus leaders, and the incoming Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, which is the committee that has jurisdiction over all discretionary funding, I am thrilled to have helped provide this funding for a revitalized Long Island Sound. I remain committed to working with NFWF and EPA and with my Congressional colleagues, and the many Long Island Sound advocates here today doing this critical conservation work.”

Read the full release here

Coast Guard Suspends Search for Fisherman off Montauk

November 9, 2020 — Authorities suspended a search Sunday for a crew member of a commercial fishing boat who went overboard off eastern Long Island.

The fishing vessel Hope and Sydney sent a distress call at 11:20 p.m. Saturday reporting that crew member Carl Whitney, 32, had gone overboard about 18 miles south of Montauk Point, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The missing fisherman was not wearing a life jacket, Coast Guard officials said in a news release.

Whitney went overboard the day after a teenage fisherman was swept out to sea at Cupsogue Beach County Park in Westhampton Beach. The search for the teenager continued Sunday, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Local fish markets reel from loss of bay scallops

November 3, 2020 — The bay-scallop season on Long Island’s East End started Monday, but Braun Seafood Co., which serves 700 restaurants and a large retail base market, has yet to take in even a pound of the prized shellfish.

“It’s a shame,” said Ken Homan, the company’s president. “Everybody needs that extra buck, particularly with the economy the way it’s been this year. But it’s a bust.”

As reported in Newsday on Sunday, the Peconic Bay scallop fishery appears to have suffered another catastrophic die-off, idling scores of baymen and recreational scallopers and leaving another $1.6 million hole in an economy already reeling from COVID-battered restaurants.

Local fish markets, which saw the bottom fall out of their businesses during spring lockdowns, had been looking to scallops to help shore up a difficult year that saw many bounce back sharply during the summer, mainly on the back of increased retail business and restaurants opening outdoors.

Read the full story at Newsday

Fishermen’s business remains in the doldrums even as restaurants reopen

June 16, 2020 — The reopening of Long Island restaurants for outdoor dining hasn’t translated into banner days for the region’s commercial fishermen and fish dealers, who say demand for wholesale fish, clams and oysters is inching up but nowhere near past levels.

While many local fishermen sell to local retailers, a steady local business even through the pandemic, the lion’s share of local fish go to companies that distribute to restaurants throughout the region and across the country. Three months of lockdowns over the coronavirus has backed up the market for the products, leaving warehouses for local frozen fish such as squid fully stocked, while drastically reducing demand for local clams and oysters. Market prices for most have fallen, though some, like fluke, are on the rebound.

Local fishermen have been catching and selling fluke, but with the New York quota at 100 pounds a day, the market isn’t lucrative. The market for porgies, also known as scup, has picked up as the plentiful fish come into season and more consumers learn to appreciate its value (and cook it whole).

Bill Zeller, owner of Captree Clam in West Babylon, said his business is down by around two-thirds from where it was a year ago, nearly all of  the drop tied to restaurant closures. He delivers to distributors across the nation — Florida, Boston, the West Coast, where protests in recent weeks also led to some order cancellations just as some states were reopening.

Read the full story at Newsday

NEW YORK: Montauk Fishermen Launch New Dock to Dish Seafood Delivery Program

May 13, 2020 — Montauk’s fishermen have launched a historic and innovative new initiative to deliver fresh, New York State-certified seafood straight from their boats to local residents’ doorsteps. The effort, called Dock to Dish 3.0, comes just in time, as restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders have hurt traditional distribution channels and put perishable catches in danger.

Dock to Dish 3.0 is now operating locally as a pilot program for Montauk area residents, offering no-contact subscriptions via an e-commerce platform, with deliveries eventually expanding in June to reach more than 1,000 customers around Long Island and the NY Metropolitan Area each week. More than 500 people have already joined a waiting lists for memberships.

Designed to replace recently crippled and collapsed supply lines, and bring safety and balance to unpredictable market conditions that have arisen during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this new system creates a distribution channel between Montauk’s commercial fishing fleet and NY consumers. The Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and United Parcel Service (UPS) have stepped up as partners to facilitate the subscription program, which will allow more than two dozen Long Island fishermen to ship New York State-certified fish fillets and sea scallops to members.

Read the full story at Dan’s Papers

Long Island fishing industry takes a hit during pandemic

May 13, 2020 — On Tuesday morning, commercial fishing boats sat idle in the water at the Montauk town dock—an uncommon sight, especially this time of year. But lately, it’s become the new normal.

Bonnie Brady, the executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said that the majority of East End commercial fishermen, who are essential food production workers, are reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve lost a tremendous amount of sales since many restaurants closed.

“When the restaurants closed, we lost the market with which we sold our fish,” Brady said. “We need to find ways to create markets, to create processing on the fly, long-term create mobile fish markets—anything and everything until we get our present system back in order.”

Pot fisherman Jim Auteri, who catches lobster, was hoping for a banner season.

Read the full story at Fox 5

NEW YORK: Where is money for Long Island’s fishing industry?

May 8, 2020 — Containing more than $2 trillion in stimulus spending, the CARES Act seemingly had something for everybody reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. That includes the nation’s fishermen, many of whom call Long Island their home. CARES contains $300 million to compensate both those who live off the sales of their catches and those whose boats are chartered by recreational anglers.

Boats that docked in Montauk alone in 2018 nabbed 12 million pounds of fish and cleared $18 million for the catch.

But for six weeks, none of the appropriated $300 million had been divvied up or released, and Rep. Lee Zeldin was badgering Congress and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for details on how it would be divided and paid out.  Then, Thursday afternoon, information began to trickle out. The money is reportedly being allotted based on past-year revenues of each state’s fishing industries, so much of it went to big fishing states. Sen. Susan Collins tweeted that Maine, for instance, got about $20 million.

Read the full story at Newsday