Saving Seafood

Louisiana anglers catch too much shrimp with cast nets, LDWF says

May 26, 2016 — Four South Louisiana residents caught more than their recreational limits of shrimp using cast nets, and hid the haul at a nearby residence to avoid detection by authorities, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Department enforcement agents on Saturday cited Tony Bella, 28, of Bourg, Percy Michel, 28, of Thibodaux, Necole Hello, 32, of Thibodaux, and Courtney Boquet, 26, of Bourg, for possessing over the legal limit of shrimp and intentional concealment of seafood.

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune

LOUISIANA: Agents bust four men for illegal shrimping, LDWF says

May 17, 2016 — Four Plaquemines Parish men sought to get a jump on their competition by shrimping in inshore waters Tuesday (May 10), according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The inshore shrimp season won’t open until May 23 at 6 a.m.

Agents say they saw the vessel Captain Bean actively shrimping with skimmers in the Bayou Grand Liard area near Buras around 9 p.m.

They cited Eulice J. Ordoyne Jr, 67, of Buras, and Trebor Fabiano, 33, of Belle Chasse, for using skimmers during a closed shrimp season. Additionally, Ordoyne was cited for using improper navigation lights.

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune

Shell line leaks 88,200 gallons into the Gulf, Coast Guard says

May 13, 2016 — NEW ORLEANS — About 88,200 gallons of oil have leaked from a Shell flow line into the Gulf of Mexico about 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana, the US Coast Guard said.

Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash said the leak has been secured and cleanup crews will be dispatched. The leak was reported Thursday.

Shell spokeswoman Kimberly Windon, in a statement late Thursday, said a helicopter saw an oil sheen near the Glider subsea tieback system at Shell’s Brutus platform shortly before 8 a.m.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

Shrimp season to kick off this month in Louisiana

May 10, 2016 — Starting on 23 May at 6 a.m. local time, inshore shrimpers across the state of Louisiana will be permitted to begin their spring season.

The decision comes from the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, which voted on 5 May to go ahead with a universal opening that won’t be staggered among shrimp zones for the second year in a row, reported Nola.com.

The move to go ahead with an un-staggered opening opposes Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries data, which found that an earlier opening would benefit certain areas such as with the Barataria, Timbalier, Terrebonne and the Vermilion-Teche basins. Shrimp would reach harvestable size in the Barataria, Timbalier and Terrebonne basins on or before 16 May, according to the data presented by department biologist Jeff Marx.

Read the full story from Seafood Source

BP Drops $1 Billion Seafood Industry Spill Payments Fight

May 3, 2016 — After fighting for more than two years to avoid paying almost $1 billion in oil spill damages to Gulf Coast shrimpers, oystermen and seafood processors it claimed didn’t exist, BP Plc has thrown in the towel.

“We have withdrawn our claims seeking an injunction against payments by the Seafood Program so the program can be concluded,” Geoff Morrell, a BP spokesman, said in an e-mail Tuesday. The company will keep pursuing fraud claims against lawyer Mikal Watts and his firm, Morrell said. Watts was indicted for allegedly making false claims in connection with the BP spill.

A federal judge in New Orleans Monday allowed BP to drop its bid to avoid paying the second half of $2.3 billion in compensation promised to seafood interests harmed by the blown-out well. The subsea gusher pumped more than 4 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, closing fisheries and blackening the shores of five states.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

From coast to coast, seas shape economy — and political debate

April 26, 2016 — In 2014, Louisiana Republican Garret Graves achieved the unusual: He won a seat in Congress with the backing of both staunch conservatives and some environmentalists.

Graves, who spent five years as coastal adviser to then-Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), does not deny climate change. Under his direction, Louisiana adopted a coastal plan that recognizes climate’s role in the state’s disappearing coastline.

But asked about climate change as a freshman lawmaker, Graves chooses his words carefully.

“Look, I think — and I want to make sure I say this right because obviously it’s a loaded question — I think to deny that things are changing is unsustainable,” he said in a recent interview, pointing to the evidence of sea-level rise on Louisiana’s shores. “But the real loaded question is the role of anthropogenic causes versus biogenic.”

Read the full story at the E&E Daily

Gulf Council Meets in Austin on Eve of 40th Anniversary of Magnuson Stevens

April 19, 2016 — As the eve of 40th anniversary of the signing of the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act approached, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council met in Austin to discuss numerous fishery issues. Included on the Council’s busy agenda were changes in king mackerel allocation, stock boundaries, and sale provisions; hogfish annual catch limits, minimum size and stock definition; red grouper catch limit increases; and charter and headboat reporting requirements. However, as usual, it was Gulf red snapper that once again stole the show as well as a majority of the Council’s time and energy.

Forty years have passed since Congress passed the sweeping legislation changed the landscape of the American seafood industry and established a comprehensive framework for governing marine fisheries management in U.S. federal waters. The Act created eight regional fishery management councils – including the Gulf Council – designed to address the unique, regional differences in marine fisheries across the country.

For years, red snapper has consumed a majority of the Councils time, and the Austin session proved no exception. Red snapper management for federally permitted charter vessels, the 2016 recreational red snapper season and the extension or elimination of the red snapper sector separation sunset provision all topped the agenda, as well as federal reef fish headboat management.

The Council received an update from the NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS) on red snapper season projections for the coming year. Both the private recreational season and federal charter for-hire season will open on June 1. NMFS predicts a private recreational season of just six to nine days, and a federal charter for-hire season of between 38-56 days. The final 2016 recreational red snapper season closing dates will be announced in May prior to the start of the season.

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Institute

 

Louisiana to open state outside waters to shrimping

April 14, 2016 –BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will open a portion of state outside waters to shrimping at 6 a.m. on Friday, April 22.

The area lies seaward of Terrebonne Parish and extends a distance of three nautical miles seaward from the Inside/Outside Shrimp Line, beginning at the northwest shore of Caillou Boca and extending westward to the eastern shore of the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel at Eugene Island as delineated by the channel red buoy line.

See the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Times

US Judge OKs $20B Settlement From 2010 BP Oil Spill

April 6, 2016 — A federal judge in New Orleans granted final approval Monday to an estimated $20 billion settlement over the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, resolving years of litigation over the worst offshore spill in the nation’s history.

The settlement, first announced in July, includes $5.5 billion in civil Clean Water Act penalties and billions more to cover environmental damage and other claims by the five Gulf states and local governments. The money is to be paid out over roughly 16 years. The U.S. Justice Department has estimated that the settlement will cost the oil giant as much as $20.8 billion, the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history as well as the largest-ever civil settlement with a single entity.

U.S District Judge Carl Barbier, who approved the settlement, had set the stage with an earlier ruling that BP had been “grossly negligent” in the offshore rig explosion that killed 11 workers and caused a 134-million-gallon spill.

In 2012, BP reached a similar settlement agreement with private attorneys for businesses and residents who claim the spill cost them money. That deal, which didn’t have a cap, led to a protracted court battle over subsequent payouts to businesses. A court-supervised claims administrator is still processing many of these claims.

BP has estimated its costs related to the spill, including its initial cleanup work and the various settlements and criminal and civil penalties, will exceed $53 billion.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

LOUISIANA: Louisiana Restaurant Association Awards GSI $50,000 Advocacy Grant

March 21, 2016 — The Louisiana Restaurant Association (LRA), the industry’s organization committed to advancing and protecting Louisiana’s restaurant and foodservice industry, has awarded the Gulf Seafood Institute (GSI) a $50,000 grant to advocate for one of the most important menu items from New Orleans to Shreveport – Gulf seafood.

“Over the past couple of years, we have spent more time advocating for equitable fishing policies and improved data collection, things important for our industry to maintain it source of supply,” said Stan Harris, CEO of the Association while on a trip to Capitol Hill with GSI members. “It became clear to us there was not a central point that we could go to work with the harvesters, to work with the charter-for-hire industry, as well as the chefs and distributors. GSI gives us the opportunity to be able to do that because it convened all these different voices to advocate in a positive manner.”

According to Harris, the goals of GSI align with needs of LRA members, especially those that are in the segment that serve a lot of fresh Gulf seafood to customers coming from around the world. The story of Louisiana and Gulf seafood is all about sustainability and locality.

The LRA was established in 1946 to advocate on behalf of the state’s foodservice and hospitality industry among elected officials and regulatory agencies within Louisiana and through it’s partnership with the National Restaurant Association, address the same issues with federal agencies.

It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and operates the LRA Self Insurer’s Fund for Workers’ Compensation and the LRA Education Foundation. The nine state chapters are composed of restaurants, caterers, hotels, suppliers and related businesses.

Read the full story at Gulf Seafood News