Saving Seafood

Pending Federal Report Key to Offshore Wind’s Future

January 13, 2020 — The forthcoming report from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on the cumulative environmental impacts of the Vineyard Wind project will determine the future of offshore wind development.

BOEM’s decision isn’t just the remaining hurdle for the 800-megawatt project, but also the gateway for 6 gigawatts of offshore wind facilities planned between the Gulf of Maine and Virginia. Another 19 gigawatts of Rhode Island offshore wind-energy goals are expected to bring about more projects and tens of billions of dollars in local manufacturing and port development.

Some wind-energy advocates have criticized BOEM’s 11th-hour call for the supplemental analysis as politically motivated and excessive.

Safe boat navigation and loss of fishing grounds are the main concerns among commercial fishermen, who have been the most vocal opponents of the 84-turbine Vineyard Wind project and other planned wind facilities off the coast of southern New England.

Last month, state Sen. Susan Sosnowski, D-New Shoreham, gave assurances that the Coast Guard will not be deterred from conducting search and rescue efforts around offshore wind facilities, as some fishermen have feared.

Read the full story at EcoRI

MASSACHUSETTS: Starting this Thursday 1/16 – Plymouth Hosting Lecture Series on Migratory Fish

January 13, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

As part of the Town of Plymouth’s 2020 World Fish Migration Day (May 16) celebration, they are hosting a seven part lecture series on Migratory Fish beginning this Thursday, January 16 at 6:30 pm. The series kicks off with a presentation from Dr. Matt McKenzie on How Migratory Fish Have Helped Sustain New Englanders. This lecture series is also supported by Wildlands Trust and Woods Hole Sea Grant.

What is World Fish Migration Day?

World Fish Migration Day is a one-day global celebration to create awareness of open rivers and migratory fish. The event occurs in May every other year, and is coordinated by the World Fish Migration Foundation. This year, the celebration will take place on Saturday, May 16 and the Town of Plymouth is the North American headquarters.

Read the full release here

Concerns raised with Rafael boat deal

January 13, 2020 — By the start of the new fishing year on May 1, Carlos Rafael, once owner of one of the largest fishing fleets in the country and known as the “Codfather,” will officially be little more than a memory on the New Bedford waterfront.

According to his attorney, John Markey, Rafael will have sold off all of his fishing empire as part of a settlement agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and will be out of the fishing industry forever.

“The Rafaels committed to NOAA to sell their fishing assets and they did that,” Markey said Friday.

Rafael has less than two years left to serve of a 46-month prison sentence. He pleaded guilty to falsely labeling fish, smuggling cash, tax evasion and falsifying federal records as part of a scheme to catch and sell fish for which he didn’t possess the necessary quota.

In August, he reached a settlement agreement with NOAA to pay more than $3 million in fines, sell off his fleet by December 31, 2020, and leave the fishing industry forever.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

BASE auction withdraws its bid to buy Carlos Rafael’s boats

January 10, 2020 — An attempt to gain control of a large portion of Carlos Rafael’s fleet by the local seafood auction has been withdrawn after a fight over the vessels made its way to court.

Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), the seafood display auction on the city’s waterfront, attempted to take over an existing deal negotiated by Blue Harvest Fisheries for a number of Carlos Rafael’s groundfish vessels, Blue Harvest CEO Keith Decker told The Standard-Times in December.

However, since then BASE has withdrawn their bid on the vessels, and Blue Harvest Fisheries’ original deal is back in place, according to both BASE and Decker.

The fight is an important one as New Bedford is trying to keep the fishing and scallop boats, as well as their federal permits, in the city. Though both entities have pledged to do that, Blue Harvest would consolidate ownership and BASE has said it would resell the boats to individual owners.

In a press release sent out on Thursday, BASE said, “Unfortunately the folks that encouraged BASE to move forward have now withdrawn their commitments, due to Blue Harvest’s litigation.”

Blue Harvest filed a civil suit against Carlos Rafael and the fishing corporations associated with his fishing vessels on December 23, after BASE had exercised their Right of First Refusal to their purchase, and listed BASE as an interested party in the suit, according to court documents.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Scientists Work to Save World’s Smallest Sea Turtle

January 9, 2020 — The combination of the curving shape of Cape Cod, the region’s strong winds and currents, and the rapid cooling of the ocean in October and November make for a deadly threat to the rarest and smallest sea turtle on Earth.

That’s the problem being addressed by a series of research projects conducted by an oceanographer at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass., and a doctoral student at the University of Rhode Island. The scientists used satellite-tracked oceanographic instruments called drifters to determine where Kemp’s ridley turtles that are late to return south in the fall are most likely to float ashore near death along the Cape Cod shoreline.

The critically endangered turtles lay their eggs on beaches on the Gulf Coast of Mexico in a mass nesting event called an arribada. After spending their first few years far offshore in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda, many of the young turtles visit the waters of the Gulf of Maine to feed on crabs and other small marine creatures that live on the seafloor.

“There are little warm water bridges from the Gulf Stream that come up here, and we think some of the turtles are riding those into the area,” URI student Felicia Page said. “The problem comes when those little bridges close off and the water in Cape Cod Bay and the Gulf of Maine stay warm, which keeps the turtles here longer than they should instead of heading south in September.”

Read the full story at EcoRI

Bregal’s Blue Harvest set for 15 Rafael vessel deal after Canastras withdraw offer

January 8, 2020 — Richard and Raymond Canastra, the founders and owners of the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), the seafood auction in New Bedford, Massachusetts, have withdrawn their offer for convicted former commercial fishing mogul Carlos Rafael’s 15 groundfish vessels, essentially giving the boats and their related permits to Blue Harvest, Undercurrent News has learned.

The details are as scant as the three sentences contained in an email sent by one of the attorneys to the others involved in the highly contentious fight to acquire the vessels, a copy of which has been obtained by Undercurrent News.

“BASE has provided notice to the Rafaels that they are not moving forward with the transaction. Blue Harvest is free to complete the transaction with Rafaels. Kindly forward a stipulation of dismissal of the Blue Harvest matter,” reads the email.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Rafael has deals for four more vessels, brings fleet fire sale close to completion

January 8, 2020 — Carlos Rafael has moved another step closer to completely removing himself from the New England commercial fishing scene, successfully unloading at least four more of his groundfish vessels, Undercurrent News has learned.

Between the Thanksgiving and Christmas 2019 holidays, according to sources, Rafael’s family and his New Bedford, Massachusetts-based attorney, John Markey, Jr., have succeeded in helping the former fishing mogul sell the:

  • Bulldog (a 22-year old, 75.4-foot vessel with a 855 HP engine) for $1.4 million;
  • Hera (a 31-year-old, 80.2-foot vessel with a 850 HP engine) for $1.2m;
  • Drake (a 30-year-old, 77.7-foot vessel with a 575 HP engine) for $1m; and
  • the Hercules (a 36-year-old, 76.1-foot vessel with a 575-HP engine) for $800,000.

Each vessel maintains small to large amounts of quota on the northern Atlantic Coast for cod, haddock, plaice, redfish, hake, flounder and/or pollock.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Northern Wind nears opening for new 38,000 square-foot facility, receives commerce award

January 8, 2020 — Northern Wind, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is nearing completion on a state-of-the-art 38,000-square-foot processing and freezing facility on the New Bedford waterfront.

The new facility represents a significant expansion of the company, which is a direct off-loader, processor, and distributor of fresh and frozen scallops. According to a release from the company, the new expansion represents a USD 12 million (EUR 10.7 million) investment.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fishermen, wind farm developers at odds

January 8, 2020 — A group representing New England fishing interests on Tuesday called for special travel lanes through offshore wind farms proposed off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, putting the fishermen at odds with wind farm developers who want to retain as much space as possible for their turbines.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance called for the creation of six travel lanes, each one four nautical miles in width, through the entire lease area off the coast of the two states. The offshore wind developers in November had proposed no special travel lanes, choosing instead to let fishermen navigate through turbines set one nautical mile apart traveling north and south and seven-tenths of a nautical mile going diagonally.

Federal regulators, who had hoped the two sides would find some common ground on their own, will now have to decide the best approach.

Annie Hawkins, executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, criticized federal regulators for leaving the issue of safe navigation through the wind farms to negotiations between fishermen and wind farm developers outside the regulatory process. She said it was disappointing that such an important safety issue is still being talked about so late in the regulatory process.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

Fishing Money found for at-sea monitors

January 8, 2020 — In late December, on the doorstep to the Christmas holidays, New England’s groundfishermen received an early present.

As part of a $1.4 trillion spending package, the U.S. Senate passed a $79.4 billion appropriations bill that includes another $10.3 million for NOAA Fisheries — once again secured by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen — to fully fund at-sea monitoring in the Northeast groundfish fishery for the 2020 fishing season that begins May 1.

When President Donald Trump signed the bill into law the next day, the mandated shouldering of the full financial weight of at-sea monitoring by the groundfish industry — at a cost of up to $700 per day per vessel — had been deferred for at least another fishing season.

“This is obviously very good news for our commercial groundfishermen,” said Jackie Odell, executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition. “At-sea monitoring has become such a huge financial issue for everyone in the fishery.”

It was the third consecutive year that Shaheen, a ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, bailed out the groundfish industry on at-sea monitoring. Shaheen secured the first $10.3 million in the 2018 appropriations process that fully funded at-sea monitoring during the current fishing season.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times