Saving Seafood

Blue Harvest still waiting for NOAA approval to acquire Rafael vessels

January 23, 2020 — The US’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has yet to give New Bedford, Massachusetts-based Blue Harvest Fisheries the approval it needs to acquire 15 groundfish vessels and their related skiffs and permits from Carlos Rafael, CEO Keith Decker told Undercurrent News on Wednesday.

“At this point we do not have NOAA’s approval,” he said, adding that he believes it is the last thing needed before announcing completion of the deal.

Undercurrent asked Decker for a status report on the agreement when it caught up with him here on the sidelines of the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference where he is one of more than 400 attendees. Look for many more details from our exclusive interview soon.

As first reported by Undercurrent, Blue Harvest, a US scallop and groundfish supplier backed by Bregal Partners, a New York City-based private investment firm, struck a deal in November that would have it pay $19.3 million to obtain a substantial part of former fishing mogul Rafael’s fleet in New Bedford. The agreement promises to give Blue Harvest millions of pounds of quota of Atlantic cod, haddock, plaice, redfish, hake, flounder and pollock.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing Community Celebration & Health Fair Set for Feb. 8 in New Bedford

January 21, 2020 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Community Celebration & Health Fair:

A non-profit organization dedicated to the health, safety and economic security of commercial fishermen is planning a free, day-long special event to celebrate, support and serve New Bedford-area fishing families.

Fishing Partnership Support Services will host a New Bedford Fishing Community Celebration & Health Fair on Saturday, Feb. 8, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at Kilburn Mill, 127 W. Rodney French Blvd. 

Said J.J. Bartlett, president of Fishing Partnership Support Services, “We will be celebrating fishermen and all that they mean to the great city of New Bedford and to the entire Southcoast in terms of heritage, culture, community spirit and economic impact.   

“Commercial fishing is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry in Massachusetts, accounting overall for more than 90,000 jobs.  Nowhere is fishing larger than here: New Bedford is the top value port in the country.  We often hear people celebrate this economic prosperity as a statistic; we want to focus attention on the fishermen and families behind the statistics.”

The Feb. 8 event will have programs and activities on healthy living, pediatric nutrition, enrolling in health coverage plans, massage, mindfulness, the hands-on healing art of Reiki, vaccinations, substance abuse education, Narcan training, and more. 

For children, there will be costumed characters, a reading corner, games, dancing, a photo booth, coloring and other activities. 

The first 25 persons through the door will receive a $25 Visa gift card, with a one-per-family limit.  A free raffle will be conducted every 30 minutes from 11:00 o’clock on. 

The buffet lunch will feature foods from multiple, various cultures, reflecting the diversity of the New Bedford community.  Coffee, tea, water and soft drinks will be available all day.

Twelve local non-profits that collaborate with Fishing Partnership Support Services will have representatives on hand to present information and answer questions on their objectives and services. See list of participating organizations at end.

Also providing support for the event is the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, an organization of commercial fishermen’s associations from all gear and geographic sectors of the Massachusetts fishing industry.

The New Bedford Fishing Community Celebration & Health Fair, Bartlett emphasized, is “for fishermen and their families – the partners, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews of fishermen.”

He said, “We’re providing a reason for fishing families to come together on a Saturday in winter and have fun, share stories and experiences, and partake of some delicious food in a relaxed setting. Togetherness, we believe, can be a powerful antidote to the stresses and strains that every fishing family is subjected to.”

Workplace injury and mortality studies consistently show that commercial fishing is among the most dangerous occupations in the U.S. and the world.  The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, recently reported that, in 2018, fishermen suffered on-the-job fatal injuries at a rate exceeded only by loggers.

The history of New Bedford well illustrates this tragic reality.  Hundreds of New Bedford fishermen have perished at sea through the years, with the latest fatalities occurring on Nov. 24 when three men died in the sinking of the “Leonardo” off Martha’s Vineyard. 

“As independent workers and small business owners, fishermen don’t have a human resources department,” Bartlett said, “which is why Fishing Partnership Support Services has developed into the fishing community’s human resources provider.  We help fishermen take care of things like health care coverage, safety training, immunizations and financial planning so that they can get back to doing what they do best, fishing.”

Fishing Partnership Support Services moved its longtime local office in 2019 to the historic heart of New Bedford.  “We’re now on Bethel Street in the same building as the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center and just down the street from the Seaman’s Bethel,” Bartlett noted. “Everyone should feel free to drop by and talk with one of our community health navigators anytime they’re in that area.”

More information on the New Bedford Fishing Community Celebration & Health Fair and Fishing Partnership Support Services may be found at: fishingpartnership.org

New England Ocean Cluster creating collaborative model to advance blue economy

January 17, 2020 — For the past five years, the New England Ocean Cluster has been without the collaborative working space that the model thrives on, but that’s soon going to change.

The New England Ocean Cluster is based on the Iceland Ocean Cluster, and both locations share the same mission: To connect various entrepreneurs, businesses, artists, and other talented individuals in a collaborative space to enhance the region’s seafood industry. The cluster model is intended to bring together industries that, without it, may have had no reason to collaborate or connect.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Bedford scallop boat launches in Alabama with a “positive energy bow”

January 17, 2020 — Lars Vinjerud II can’t stop growing his fisheries and seafood business.

“I’m lucky,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of good people working for me.”

Vinjerud’s company, Fleet Fisheries in New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A., has 14 boats in the scallop, lobster, and longline fisheries, and branches in seafood marketing, a machine shop, and more boats scheduled for construction.

Read the full story from National Fisherman at Seafood Source

Investigating the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Atlantic Sea Scallops

January 16, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

On a gray December day, students, faculty, and NOAA scientists packed Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s aquaculture lab. They worked shoulder to shoulder to answer high-stakes questions. The eight-week experiment, led by NOAA research chemist Shannon Meseck, was the first to directly measure the response of juvenile Atlantic sea scallops to ocean acidification.

Modeling studies have projected the effects of ocean acidification on the sea scallop fishery, but these analyses depended on data collected from other shellfish species. “Research is beginning to show that shellfish have species-dependent responses to ocean acidification. This experiment will give more definitive results that can be used to determine the effects on the fishery,” explained research chemist Matt Poach.

Partnering with the Massachusetts Maritime Academy

The project required coordination between NOAA’s Milford Lab and the Academy, including many trips shuttling people, samples, and algal cultures between Cape Cod and Connecticut. Students at the Academy—called cadets—cared for the animals, grew algae to supplement their diet, and took frequent water samples.

While the research team conducted similar experiments on surfclams and oysters at the Milford Lab, raising sea scallops requires cooler temperatures and oceanic, rather than estuarine, conditions.

“The location of the Academy on Buzzards Bay was ideal for sea scallop experiments because of the availability of pumped, unfiltered seawater in the right temperature and salinity range,” noted Milford Lab Director Gary Wikfors.

Research chemist George Sennefelder and technician Dylan Redman built two ocean acidification exposure systems at the Milford Lab. They also designed and built a smaller system to fit the Academy’s aquaculture lab.

The lab sits by the dock, in the shadow of the training vessel TS Kennedy. “The Aquaculture and Marine Sciences Laboratory is a surprisingly adaptable space for hard science,” observed Professor William Hubbard, who headed up the partnership for the Academy. “Seawater, electricity, aging pipes, and New England weather challenge the lab, but NOAA easily installed their customized system and it runs well.”

Read the full release here

Canada institutes gear-marking requirements in right whale protection efforts

January 16, 2020 — The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in Canada is instituting new requirements for the country’s lobster and crab fisheries, partially intended to help coordinate protection of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The new measure involves specially marked gear rope that will be required for roughly 14 fisheries, with all lobster and crab traps in Eastern Canada coming under the new rule, according to the CBC. According to a notice from the DFO, the requirements are part of the country’s effort to address ghost gear and to measure threats to marine mammals, particularly right whales, in the region.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Blue Harvest CEO expects 15 Rafael vessel deal to close within weeks

January 14, 2020 — Now that their only competitor has dropped out of the bidding, Keith Decker, the CEO of Blue Harvest Fisheries, expects to close his company’s deal for 15 of Carlos Rafael’s groundfish vessels in the US port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, within the next few weeks, The Standard-Times, the community’s local newspaper, reported Friday.

“At this time, no, I don’t see any further impediments to closing the transaction,” he reportedly told the newspaper, adding that Blue Harvest plans to keep the vessels in New Bedford.

Undercurrent News broke the news on Jan. 8 that Richard and Raymond Canastra, the founders and owners of the Buyers and Sellers Exchange, New Bedford’s main seafood auction, have withdrawn their offer to acquire the vessels and their related permits.

The Canastras, back on Dec. 20, attempted to use a “right of first refusal” rule in New England’s Sector VII, which gives members of the greater  Northeast Sector Service Network — including BASE — 30 days to match any offer for vessels by companies or persons from outside the network, jumping ahead of Blue Harvest and its $19.3 million bid made on Nov. 21. The Canastras said they planned to sell the boats and their permits to individual harvesters in New Bedford. However, the two brothers said they lost their financial backers when Blue Harvest filed a lawsuit, on Dec. 23, in a Massachusetts state court.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Fishermen consider next move after court upholds Atlantic national monument

January 14, 2020 — A federal appeals court has upheld the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, affirming that the federal Antiquities Act can be applied at sea as well as on land.

The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and other fishing advocates challenged former President Barack Obama’s designation of the 5,000-square-mile area at the edge of the continental shelf south of Georges Bank in 2016. A lower federal court ruled against their lawsuit in 2018.

Conservation groups and environmental advocates joined the arguments in both the lower and appeals courts, portraying the monument protections as critical to protect deep-sea corals, whales and other marine life from future offshore oil exploration and “industrial fishing.”

In an opinion for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Circuit Court Judge David Tatel explained why the three-judge panel dismissed all of the fishermen’s arguments against the monument – starting with their contention that the Antiquities Act cannot apply to the sea floor.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

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