Saving Seafood

Commercial fishing groups sue to block wind farm auction

December 8, 2016 — Commercial fishing groups, including New England scallopers, have sued the federal government seeking to block a Long Island offshore wind-farm energy auction that is scheduled to take place next week.

The groups, including the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, seek a preliminary injunction to block the auction for a wind-energy area around 11 miles off the coast of Jones Beach. The groups say the auction and eventual construction of the wind-farm would severely hamper fishing in the area.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is among 14 parties deemed eligible to bid for the right to erect a wind farm in 81,000 acres of water off Long Island’s southern shore. NYSERDA this year took on a project begun by LIPA in 2008, and plans to bid on the area next week, officials have said. NYSERDA also recently completed a three-year study of offshore wildlife in the area.

Robert Vanasse, a spokesman for the fishing groups, said lawyers for fishermen had attempted as recently as last week to work out a compromise on the areas designated for the wind-energy area.

“It became obvious the administration had no interest in working cooperatively,” he said.

Read the full story at Newsday

Scallop & Fishing Industry, Municipalities, Sue Feds to Ensure Seafood Interests Are Considered in NY Bight Wind Energy Project

December 8, 2016 — The following was released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

WASHINGTON — December 8, 2016 – The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), which represents the majority of the limited access Atlantic scallop fleet, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to delay an anticipated lease sale for the development of a 26-mile long wind farm project approximately 11 miles off the coast of Long Island, scheduled for December 15, 2016. The story was broken today by the Associated Press.

The filing alleges that the leasing process for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) did not adequately consider the impact the proposed New York Wind Energy Area would have on the region’s fishermen. The site chosen for the 127 square mile wind farm is in the waters of the New York Bight on vital, documented scallop and squid fishing grounds, which serves as essential fish habitat and grounds for other commercially important species, including black sea bass and summer flounder. It is also an important foraging area for threatened loggerhead sea turtles and critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The lawsuit argues that fishermen’s concerns regarding the location of the lease area received “virtually no attention or analysis” from government officials ahead of the planned December 15 lease sale, despite fishing stakeholders repeatedly making their concerns known. It further states that BOEM failed to identify the proposed wind farm’s environmental, economic, social, and cultural impacts, and failed to “consider alternative sites in an open, collaborative, public forum.”

Several other members of the National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC)—including commercial fishing organizations, businesses, and communities that depend on the sustainable use of Atlantic Ocean resources—have joined the lawsuit. The suit was filed against Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, BOEM, and BOEM Director Abigail Hopper.

Organizations joining the lawsuit include: the Garden State Seafood Association and the Fishermen’s Dock Co-Operative in New Jersey; the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in New York; and the Narragansett Chamber of Commerce and Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance in Rhode Island.

The City of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the nation’s top-grossing fishing port; the Borough of Barnegat Light, New Jersey; and the Town of Narragansett, Rhode Island have joined as plaintiffs. Also joining are three fishing businesses: SeaFreeze Shoreside, Sea Fresh USA, and The Town Dock.

The New York Bight consists of the waters from Cape May Inlet in New Jersey to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island, and offshore to the outer edge of the Continental Shelf, where the coasts of New York and New Jersey form an upside-down L around shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The plaintiffs are represented by the law firm of Kelly, Drye & Warren.  The case will be heard by Judge Tanya Chutkan in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Case No. 1:16-cv-02409.

Press inquiries should be directed to Bob Vanasse at Stove Boat Communications, 202-333-2628.

Read the full legal filing and declarations from the plaintiffs at atlanticscallops.org

Effort to protect deep-sea coral has lobster industry on alert

November 28th, 2016 — Over 400 Maine lobstermen could lose their traditional fishing territory under a proposal to protect deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Maine.

The New England Fishery Management Council is considering a plan that would ban fishing in four designated coral zones spanning about 161 miles of federal waters in the Gulf of Maine – Mount Desert Rock, Outer Schoodic Ridge, Jordan Basin and Lindenkohl Knoll. Here, often on steep rock walls deep under water where sunlight cannot penetrate, scientists have found dense, delicate and slow-growing coral gardens of sea whips, fans and pens.

These coral habitats have become increasingly rare, suffering from centuries of damage from fishing gear. The council wants to protect these corals, which provide shelter, food and refuge to fish such as cod, silver hake and pollock, and serve as an essential habitat for larval redfish. A sister organization has already created deep-sea coral protection zones in deep mid-Atlantic waters from Long Island to Virginia.

Like most of the Gulf of Maine, the four coral zones under consideration here are home to lobsters. Two of the zones, Mount Desert Rock and Outer Schoodic Ridge, are prime fishing grounds for Maine lobstermen who fish offshore when the lobsters migrate to deeper waters, while the other two are primarily fished by southern New England lobstermen.

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald 

Rare Great White Nursery Found Off Coast of Long Island, New York

September 1, 2016 — Jaws is back and she’s got babies.

Even though great white sharks have been on this Earth for thousands of years and have held a place in pop culture for decades, there is still little known about these apex predators. Scientists aren’t sure how these animals mate and have never witnessed a great white shark give birth, so recent news of a great white shark nursery in the Northern Atlantic is colossal.

According to Smithsonian, research group Ocearch, led by former Shark Wranglers host Chris Fischer, believes the waters off Montauk, Long Island, in New York may be a sort of baby shark daycare center, after finding and tagging 9 great white shark pups in the area in the last two weeks.

“[This is] definitely the nursery, likely the birthing site,” Fischer tells Jeff Glor of CBS This Morning. “Probably the most important significant discovery we’ve ever made on the ocean.”

Read the full story at People

New York governor sparks anger after killing threatened shark

August 29, 2016 –The New York state governor, Andrew Cuomo, and his news anchor brother Chris have been criticised by conservationists and constituents after posing beside a threatened shark they killed on a fishing trip.

The governor tweeted two photos of himself and friends standing next to the bloodied shark as it hung from a marina-side gantry.

“Today’s catch: A 154.5-lb [70kg] Thresher shark off the south shore of Long Island,” Cuomo tweeted.

All three species of thresher shark are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of their declining populations. Fishing for them is regulated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but it is not illegal.

Despite its legality, the UN’s patron of the oceans, Lewis Pugh, said the killing and subsequent photos were “abhorrent” and worked against those trying to conserve dwindling shark numbers.

“The environment is the primary issue on the global agenda, so it is extraordinary that a senior politician could be so ignorant about it,” he said.

Read the full story at The Guardian

REP. LEE ZELDIN: To Protect the Antiquities Act, Don’t Abuse It

August 25, 2016 — The Antiquities Act was passed by Congress in 1906 and signed into law by President Teddy Roosevelt in an effort to preserve American land after the pillage and destruction of a number of Native American and archaeological sites in the Southwest United States. The Antiquities Act is one of the most important pieces of conservation legislation in our nation’s history, providing the President with the sole power to declare National Monuments on federal land for the purposes of historical and natural preservation and waters. These sites often become part of the National Parks Systems under the care of the National Parks Service which is tasked with the protection of all of our valuable monuments.

Throughout its history, the Antiquities Act has had bipartisan support and has been used by 13 Presidents. The preservation of the Statue of Liberty, Death Valley and Grand Canyon are just a few of the monumental and historic American sites that were saved through the Antiquities Act. However, for fishermen on Long Island and nationwide, the current administration’s overzealous and overly broad interpretation of this law is causing great concern.

Recent Marine Monument designations proclaimed by the Obama Administration have been the largest in U.S. history, locking out fishing in perpetuity—a severe departure from the original intent of the Antiquities Act to preserve historical sites and archeological treasures. In 2014, President Obama declared a 490,000 square mile area of water in the Pacific Ocean as a National Marine Monument after receiving little public input and through a process where transparency was severely lacking. As a result of this new monument, recreational fishing was severely limited and commercial fishing was completely banned, hurting fishermen in the Pacific Ocean. Now, important fishing areas in the Northwest Atlantic, where fishermen from Greenport, Montauk, and throughout the entire New York and New England region have worked for centuries, are under consideration for a National Marine Monument designation by the current administration. As the President is pushing to apply this power to large areas of ocean in the Northwest Atlantic, he is threatening to shutdown thousands of square miles of ocean from Long Island fishermen through abuse of the Antiquities Act.

Read the full op-ed at Rep. Lee Zeldin’s House Website

OCEARCH Tags and Releases Great White Shark Pups For The First Time Off Long Island

August 22, 2016 — MONTAUK, N.Y. — Meet Montauk and Hudson, two young-of-the-year great white sharks just tagged and released off Montauk, NY by OCEARCH and its collaborative team of multi-disciplined scientists.

“This is an exciting marine conservation event right here in our New York seascape,” said Jon Forrest Dohlin, Director of WCS’s New York Aquarium.

“We’ve learned a lot about the adult sharks in recent years, but the pups are still a complete mystery,” said Tobey Curtis, lead scientist and Fisheries Manager at NOAA Fisheries. “Tagging these baby white sharks will help us better understand how essential Long Island waters are for their survival.”

Montauk, a 50-pound, 4-foot female white shark, and Hudson, a 67-pound, 5-foot male white shark, are the first two white sharks tagged by the shark-tagging partnership in New York waters. The tags on these young-of-the-year sharks will allow scientists to track their movements up and down the coast for the next several years.

The team, which includes researchers from WCS, NOAA Fisheries, South Hampton Schools, Florida Atlantic University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Stony Brook University, collected blood samples, fin clips, parasites, muscle sample and took measurements of the sharks. Each sample provides baseline data previously unattainable for great white sharks in this initial phase of life.

Read the full release at Marketwired

Feds back off controversial plan to close commercial bluefish fishery mid-season

August 5, 2016 — The Long Island bluefish fishery will not be closed mid-season as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced last month, which prompted an outcry from federal and state elected officials and commercial fishermen.

A new federal rule will now allow transfers of bluefish quotas from the coast-wide recreational quota to the commercial quota, ensuring that the fishery can continue to harvest bluefish for the remainder of the season, the governor and members of the New York congressional delegation announced yesterday. As a result, 1.58 million pounds from the recreational fishing sector will be transferred to the commercial quota.

“With this common sense, flexible decision by the NOAA, we have reeled in a major win for Long Island’s commercial fishing boats,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer. “With the quota transfer, our Long Island fishing boats – who were facing a harsh and premature closing of the fishery — can keep earning, employing others and harvesting their catch. The feds did the right thing by heeding the call and supporting an industry that has deep history on Long Island.”

Read the full story at SoutholdLOCAL

New York State extends restrictions on hooks for shark fishing

July 26, 2016 — ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state will require fishermen use circle hooks for catching sharks for two more years in an effort to protect them.

A new law continues the ban on shark fishing with the traditional J-hooks that sharks are considered likelier to swallow, potentially gutting them.

The ban continues through 2018. Circle hooks are bent farther toward the hook’s shaft than J-shaped hooks, nearly forming a circle.

In his sponsor’s memo, Assemblyman Fred Thiele, a Long Island independent, said several shark species are endangered and others are threatened with worldwide populations dwindling.

“Scientific studies predict higher survival rates for released fish when circle hooks and catch-and-release techniques are used, as circle hooks are more likely to hook a fish in the mouth rather than the gut,” Thiele wrote. They’re also easier to remove than J-hooks, can reduce potential harm to the fish and have been well received by the fishing industry, he wrote.

Read the full story from the Associated Press in the Connecticut Post 

Confusion after LIPA wind farm meeting postponed

July 25, 2016 — New York State’s decision to postpone LIPA’s consideration of an offshore wind farm that is popular with environmentalists prompted confusion and rancor in its aftermath, as the Cuomo administration works on a wind-energy blueprint that could include other areas directly off Long Island.

A presentation prepared by the Long Island Power Authority this month – before the state stepped in recently and nixed a LIPA trustee vote – included a map of up to six “potential” New York wind-energy areas, including a long, straight swath 12 miles off the coast of the entire South Fork.

Another site comprises more than 100,000 acres in an area beyond an existing wind-energy area that LIPA and Con Edison previously had identified about 12 miles from Long Beach. Fishing groups oppose use of the location for a wind farm.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which has taken over that LIPA-Con Ed project, has been working for months on a comprehensive plan for wind energy for the state. A draft “blueprint” of that plan is due out in coming weeks.

A map similar to LIPA’s that lists the same six potential wind energy areas for New York appears in the state’s April cost analysis for Clean Energy Standard. In it, NYSERDA identified the South Fork coastal area off the Hamptons as having the potential to produce 3,081 megawatts of wind power from about 385 turbines rated 8 megawatts each.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which leases ocean sites, has yet to receive any formal request for the Hamptons-area site or other proposals beyond NYSERDA’s, said spokesman Stephen Boutwell.

If it were to, he said, the agency would work with the New York Renewable Energy Task Force, which includes federal and state agencies, local governments and tribes, to “identify other users of the areas and environmental concerns to assess the suitability of areas for leasing.”

Should the state move forward with any of the additional wind-energy areas listed in the LIPA and NYSERDA maps, they can expect opposition from fishing groups.

“Those [potential] wind-energy areas would destroy multiple fisheries,” said Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., a Rhode Island commercial fishing group. Added Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney for the Fisheries Survival Fund, representing commercial scallopers, “All of them [wind-energy areas] are right smack dab in the middle of scallop grounds.”

Read the full story from Newsday at National Wind Watch