September 29, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries announced that they are extending the vessel slow speed zone south of Nantucket due to North Atlantic right whales
NOAA initially announced the voluntary vessel speed restriction zone, or Dynamic Management Area (DMA), on August 31. The DMA was extended until September 29, and now it’s been extended again until October 9 after a New England Aquarium aerial survey observed an aggregation of whales in the area on September 24.
September 29, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council today reelected Dr. John Quinn of Massachusetts and Eric Reid of Rhode Island to serve as chairman and vice chairman, respectively, for another year in the Council’s two top leadership positions.
This is Dr. Quinn’s fifth consecutive year in the chairman’s post. He is the Assistant Dean of Public Interest Law and External Relations at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) School of Law. He also is the Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Government Relations at the UMass School of Law. Prior to becoming Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn. – NEFMC photo Council Vice Chairman Eric Reid. – NEFMC photo Council chairman, Dr. Quinn served as vice chair for three years. He joined the Council in 2012 with a long history of legislative, legal, and fishing industry experience as a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for 18 years and as a practicing attorney, first at an outside law firm from 1989-1992 and then through his own firm from 1994-2010. During these tenures, he spent a considerable amount of time working on fisheries issues, which led him to be well prepared for his extensive responsibilities as Council chairman.
This is Eric Reid’s second year as Council vice chairman. He works at Seafreeze Shoreside Inc., a large, full-service seafood processing facility in Galilee, Rhode Island. He previously owned and operated his own business, Deep Sea Fish of Rhode Island, for 11 years before joining Seafreeze in 2013. Eric has a long history in seafood processing in several of New England’s largest fishing ports, and in his early career, he spent time on both commercial and recreational fishing vessels. He currently is a U.S. Commissioner to the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.
September 28, 2020 — A quick recap: The council has been working on the measure — Amendment 23 — for more than two years. It seems like 50.
The amendment will set future monitoring levels for sector-based groundfish vessels. The council faces four alternatives: Monitors aboard 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of groundfish trips. The council has chosen 100% coverage as its preferred alternative.
That’s not good for the groundfishermen. Once the federal government stops harvesting spare change from between the sofa cushions to keep reimbursing the fleet for at-sea monitoring, the onus for paying falls on the fishermen at a current tune of about $700 per day per vessel.
If 100% monitoring carries the day, it will add an estimated $6.4 million of additional costs across the fishery. The fishermen aren’t even patting their pockets. They are serious when they say it could easily spell the end of the fleet.
So this is a big deal.
Environmental groups have poured in resources and comment in support of the preferred alternative. If they set a betting line on fisheries management, conservationists would probably be heavy favorites.
The industry is in Hail Mary mode. The long pass, not the prayer. Though at this point, it’s a difference without a distinction.
In a letter, the Northeast Seafood Coalition reached out to Gov. Charlie Baker for support and leadership on the issue — Massachusetts stands the most to lose within the fishery — and was rewarded with a palpable silence.
Sixteen members of the Massachusetts Legislature, at the urging of Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr and others from fishing communities, signed a letter asking the council to reject Amendment 23 as currently constituted. They cited the measure’s inconsistency with a number of standards within the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and executive orders.
September 25, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is buying more than $4.4 million in Northeast groundfish from Blue Harvest Fisheries, which will process the products for distribution to schools and food banks across the country.
The $4,425,480 purchase award from the USDA Commodity Procurement Program to will buy haddock, ocean perch and Atlantic pollock, with deliveries from the Blue Harvest facility in New Bedford, Mass., to begin Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.
It’s the first time in decades that East Coast seafood has been included in the commodities program, which buys farm products for distribution to institutions, nonprofit groups and needy households.
“Given the uncertainties surrounding the seafood market during the ongoing pandemic, this order will help ensure that the groundfish industry at the New Bedford waterfront can continue working, while providing food security for those who need it most,” Blue Harvest CEO Keith Decker said in a prepared statement announcing the purchase.
Company officials credited the Trump administration and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue for bringing East Coast fisheries in the program. They thanked members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Reps. William Keating and Seth Moulton, all D-Mass., who in May asked Perdue to include East Coast seafood when making purchase agreements funded by the special Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and the USDA’s longstanding Section 32 program.
September 25, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries announces an extension to the previously triggered voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area or DMA) south of Nantucket.
This DMA was originally triggered based on an August 31, 2020, sighting of an aggregation of right whales and previously extended until September 29, 2020. A New England Aquarium aerial survey observed an aggregation of whales in this area on September 24. Since the current DMA is set to expire in less than a week we are extending it through October 9, 2020.
Mariners, please go around this areas or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where groups of right whales have been sighted.
South of Nantucket DMA is in effect through October 9.
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September 24, 2020 — Following months of negotiations with interested parties, skeptics and outright opponents of the South Fork Wind Farm, the project’s developers have submitted a new outline of their construction proposal that adds a number of new conditions that bow somewhat to the demands of fishermen, environmentalists and lawmakers.
The developers have agreed to a compensation plan for commercial fishermen who may suffer damaged or lost gear or lose fishing days because of some component of the wind farm’s construction and operation. They have also agreed to conduct monitoring of electromagnetic pulses from the power cable over the first five years of the wind farm’s operations and a mandated re-nourishment of the beach at Beach Lane if erosion from storms exposes the cable or significantly lessens the depth at which it is buried.
The new outline, called a “joint proposal,” also puts a finer point on the myriad details of how the construction will be conducted on land in Wainscott, with strict parameters for the timing of work, noise impacts, access to roads and beaches during construction and the extent to which the areas of work are restored at the conclusion of construction.
September 23, 2020 — Blue Harvest Fisheries has been granted a $4.4 million (€5.9 million) award from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to supply a total of 115,200 cases of frozen haddock, ocean perch and Atlantic pollock to child nutrition and other related food assistance programs around the United States.
Deliveries will start on Oct. 1 and run through Dec. 31.
All of the fish utilized for the program will be harvested by American-flagged vessels from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified fisheries in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, according to the company.
The products will be processed at Blue Harvest’s facility in New Bedford, Massachusetts, before being distributed to recipients nationwide.
September 23, 2020 — The Northeast Seafood Coalition is trying to enlist Gov. Charlie Baker in its campaign against the monitoring measure that it charges has the “strong potential” to financially cripple the state’s commercial groundfish industry.
The Gloucester-based coalition sent Baker a letter last Friday laying out its case that Amendment 23 — which will set future monitoring levels for sector-based, Northeast commercial groundfish vessels — is highly flawed and should be withdrawn by the New England Fishery Management Council.
The council, which has been developing the monitoring measure for more than two years, is scheduled to take final action on it next Wednesday during the middle day of its three-day meeting that will be conducted via webinar.
“The letter is really a cry for leadership,” NSC Executive Director Jackie Odell said Tuesday. “We’re looking for leadership on this issue. We’re looking for attention on this issue.”
September 22, 2020 — The following was released by Blue Harvest Fisheries:
Blue Harvest Fisheries is pleased to announce that it has been granted a $4,425,480 purchase award to supply local, sustainably harvested haddock, ocean perch and Atlantic pollock to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The purchase, part of the Department’s Commodity Procurement Program, will be used to distribute Blue Harvest’s all-natural, IQF groundfish to schools, food banks, and households across the United States.
According to the USDA, the Commodity Procurement Program is “a vital component of our nation’s food safety net” that provides “wholesome, high quality products” to communities across the country.
Deliveries will start on October 1 and run through December 31. All of the fish utilized for this program will be harvested by American-flagged vessels from MSC-certified fisheries in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. They’ll be processed at Blue Harvest’s dock-side facility in New Bedford, Massachusetts before being distributed to recipients nationwide.
“We are delighted that the USDA has selected Blue Harvest to bring high-quality seafood to deserving Americans across the country,” said Keith Decker, CEO of Blue Harvest. “Given the uncertainties surrounding the seafood market during the ongoing pandemic, this order will help ensure that the groundfish industry at the New Bedford waterfront can continue working, while providing food security for those who need it most.”
Blue Harvest thanks Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, USDA staff, and the Trump Administration for expanding the Commodity Procurement Program to include East Coast seafood for the first time in decades.
The company is deeply grateful to Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Congressmen William Keating (D-MA-09) and Seth Moulton (D-MA-06) who first took the initiative on this issue. In May, they wrote to Secretary Perdue to ask that the USDA include East Coast seafood in purchasing agreements funded by the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and the Section 32 program.
“I am pleased that the USDA is supporting fishermen by purchasing seafood from the Port of New Bedford, the nation’s top commercial fishing port, during a pandemic that has affected every sector of the economy,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. “I am grateful to Secretary Perdue for his support of the seafood industry, and to our congressional delegation for their advocacy on behalf of our port and our state’s commercial fishermen.”
The USDA Commodity Procurement Program has long been vital in supporting U.S. agriculture, as well as seafood producers in other parts of the country. We hope that the program’s expansion to include East Coast seafood is the start of a productive, long-term relationship with the USDA.
September 21, 2020 — New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is excited to present “At Anchor: A Stay-at-Home Soirée.” In light of the ongoing pandemic, the center will forgo its annual in-person fundraiser this year. Instead, the center will host an online auction from Oct. 1 through Oct. 10 and will celebrate the “Bounty of the SouthCoast” with a coupon and recipe book offering discounts to local restaurants and seafood markets and recipes from area chefs and fishing families.
This year’s fundraiser begins with the auction kickoff event at the Fishing Heritage Center on Thursday, Oct. 1 from 5 to 7 p.m. Browse auction items in the center’s parking lot and enjoy live music from The Hot Club Cheese Roll. Masks will be required for entry to the parking lot and social distancing will be practiced throughout the space.
The auction will run on the center’s website from Oct. 1 through 10.