January 22, 2019 — In this episode of the Sourcing Matters podcast, former NOAA Regional Administrator of the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office and former Mayor of New Bedford, John Bullard discusses the impacts of the federal shutdown on marine management and coastal communities.
As many industries get shutdown relief, those without political clout feel left behind
January 21, 2019 — In the chaotic landscape of the partial federal shutdown, some constituencies have gotten speedy relief and attention from federal officials — while others are still trying to get in the door.
In some cases, even players within the same industry find themselves in starkly different predicaments.
When the shutdown began, members of Alaska’s congressional delegation said they made it clear that it was imperative that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service keep enough managers on the job. Without the inspections the NOAA staff perform, boat operators would not be able to head out to the Bering Sea to catch cod starting Jan. 1 and pollock beginning on Jan. 20.
Chris Oliver, NOAA assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service — an Alaskan himself — tapped funds the agency had collected from industry to keep some employees at work over the past month and brought at least a couple back from furlough this month, according to several individuals briefed on the matter.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) credited Oliver’s “outstanding work” for keeping the fisheries in business.
“Since holiday break, my office and I have worked and been in direct communication with a number of Commerce Department officials to ensure that federal fisheries in Alaska opened on time and fishermen were able to gain the necessary approvals and inspections to get out on the water,” Sullivan said in a statement. “This approach is vastly different from the 2013 government shutdown, which delayed Alaska’s lucrative and iconic crab fishery, and the agency’s efforts at mitigating impacts from the lapse in funding should be commended.”
But some fishing operators on the East Coast have yet to receive similar help — leaving their vessels grounded.
John Lees, managing partner of the scallop fishing vessel Madison Kate in New Bedford, Mass., said he was in the final stages of getting NOAA officials to transfer his federal permit from his old boat to his new one last month when the agency closed. Under federal rules, he has until March 31 to catch 134,000 pounds of scallops under certain conditions.
If he cannot sail, he said, he and his crew stand to lose $1.5 million worth of seafood.
“All we’re looking for now is for NOAA to just assign a number. That’s it,” Lees said in an interview, adding that he is working to reach agency officials amid the short staffing and that his assigned quota could now be out of reach. “It’s possible that we won’t be able to do it.”
NOAA spokeswoman Julie Roberts said in an email that agency staffers were working on key matters, despite the shutdown.
“NOAA continues to conduct enforcement activities for the protection of marine fisheries including quota monitoring, observer activities, and regulatory actions to prevent overfishing,” she said. “This is not specific to Alaska.”
New bill would change Massachusetts lobster processing laws
January 18, 2019 — The first bill introduced in the Massachusetts Senate in 2019 aims to modernize the state’s lobster processing rules and expand in-state processing.
Massachusetts currently allows only for the production and sale of live and cooked lobsters and canned lobster meat, while raw and frozen lobsters are shipped to either Maine or Canada for processing before returning to the state.
“Our state has the second-largest lobster catch in the country. Yet without this bill, raw and frozen lobster parts are processed in Canada or Maine only to be brought back to our local consumers,” said the bill’s sponsor, State Senate Majority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester). “This bill modernizes those lobster laws to bolster the fishing industry and give consumers, including local restaurants and food stores, more choices, all while sustainably supporting coastal fishing communities.”
In 2017, Massachusetts lobstermen landed 16.57 million pounds of lobster for a total value of $81.54 million.
Offshore Wind, Commercial Fishing Industries Partnering Up In Unusual Collaboration
January 18, 2019 — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a group representing fishermen from Maine to North Carolina formed specifically to interact with offshore wind companies, and developer Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind (formerly Deepwater Wind) said the partnership is the first-of-its-kind.
As development of offshore wind farms is underway off of Rhode Island and Massachusetts’ coasts, commercial fishermen have been in talks with developers to figure out the best way to build wind farms that sustain the fishing industry.
However, RODA and Orsted feel the way the industries have been engaging with one another has been inefficient.
“The fishermen are being pulled in a million directions and we’re very excited to have a more structured approach where we can get that input and give it back to the developers as well as to the government,” Annie Hawkins, executive director of RODA, said.
Jeff Grybowski, Co-CEO of Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, agreed the new partnership will make it easier for the industries to communicate.
“It can often be difficult for a developer to find the right people to talk to because obviously fishermen are, they’re small businesses and some of them are big businesses, but there are lots of different people,” Grybowski said.
Hawkins added the goal is to have fewer, more productive meetings, however any recommendations that come out of them are nonbinding.
Commercial fishermen have raised multiple concerns about offshore wind farms, such as the layout of the turbines affecting their access to fishing grounds and ability to safely return to shore, and spinning turbines interfering with their radar navigation.
Offshore Wind Giant and Fishing Group Agree to Partnership
January 18, 2019 — A new agreement has been announced between a group representing commercial fishermen and the world’s leading developer of offshore wind farms.
The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance and Orstead U.S. Offshore Wind are looking for ways to improve communcation with each other.
Alliance Director Annie Hawkins says the agreement provides a structure to help fishermen give direct input to Orsted.
“Having a structured partnership will create a much better opportunity for fishermen to be involved,” said Hawkins. “It’s a good faith agreement; it provides a forum for the concerns of fishermen to be heard.”
The agreement calls for the creation of a joint industry task force to explore issues like the siting and design of offshore wind facilities.
Hawkins says when it comes to the North Atlantic fisheries, Orsted is still learning. “They are certainly a developer with a lot of experience in offshore wind, but probably a little less experience in dealing with Federal fisheries in the U.S.”
MASSACHUSETTS: As shutdown’s effects worsen, locals say ‘It’s wrong’
January 18, 2019 — On the Outer Cape there are 23 U.S. Coast Guard members, at least eight Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees and around 60 Cape Cod National Seashore workers not receiving paychecks due to the partial shutdown of the federal government.
And it’s not just federal employees who are missing their paychecks. Contract workers, like those who are rebuilding Herring Cove’s north parking lot in Provincetown, are also affected.
“It’s wrong,” said Arthur “Butch” Lisenby, the Provincetown Municipal Airport manager, of the TSA employees who, because they are deemed “essential,” are now working without compensation. “They are trying to do their jobs and not getting paid. That’s not fair. They have a nice attitude. I’m kind of surprised. I don’t know if I could do the same thing. They are doing their job and dealing with it the best they can.”
The TSA employees themselves were not allowed to speak to the press, according to an employee at the Provincetown airport.
Read the full story at Wicked Local Wellfleet
Environmental groups raise concerns over state of New England groundfish fishery
January 17, 2019 — Two environmental organizations have requested a meeting with federal officials this month over the concerns they have about groundfish stocks in New England.
Representatives from the Conservation Law Foundation and the Environmental Defense Fund sent a letter last month to Timothy Gallaudet, the assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere in the U.S. Commerce Department, and Chris Oliver, NOAA Fisheries’ assistant administrator. The groups called for the meeting to take place before the next full meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council, which starts on 29 January in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
While the groups claim NOAA Fisheries is rebuilding domestic fish stocks across the country, they criticize the government for failing to properly monitor Atlantic cod, flounders, and other groundfish in the northeastern United States.
“NOAA Fisheries and the Council have consistently failed to prevent overfishing on some of these stocks since ‘overfishing’ metrics were first approved in 1989,” the letter states. “If there isn’t a radical change in management direction, the prospect of these stocks ever rebuilding remains tenuous at best.”
The groups also take federal officials to task for not having good data available. They claim the Atlantic cod stock is overfished to the point of a potential collapse, and they also say, citing government reports, that fishermen also discard tons of cod without it being officially reported by onboard observers.
2nd North Atlantic right whale calf spotted off Florida
January 17, 2019 — Another North Atlantic right whale calf and its mother have been spotted off Florida, the critically endangered species’ second confirmed newborn of the winter birthing season, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The mother, tentatively identified as #3317, is an important example of the ideal calving rate for a reproductively mature right whale female, said Philip Hamilton, a research scientist with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life.
“She actually gave birth three years ago,” Hamilton said about a previous birth, compared to the nine years between documented births for the season’s other right whale mother, #2791, spotted with a calf Dec. 28 off Jacksonville Beach, Florida. “That’s very heartening that at least some right whales are able to reproduce as quickly as they can.”
Right whale #3317 is about 16 years old, and has been spotted by government surveys since 2002 from Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, according to the aquarium’s right whale database. She was spotted in Cape Cod Bay several times in 2016 by researchers for the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.
Government shutdown costing New Bedford fishing company more than $17,000 a week
January 16, 2019 — The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is beginning to affect the most valuable fishing port in the country.
The partial shutdown reached day 25 on Tuesday, which means many offices within NOAA have been closed for more than three weeks.
“Our shell stock has dwindled because I have one boat in limbo and only one boat that’s fishing,” CEO and President of Nantucket Sound Seafood LLC Allen Rencurrel said. “So we’re definitely feeling the effect of the government shutdown.”
Without an open government, Rencurrel can’t get federal approval for leasing licenses or “tags.” It’s led Nantucket Sound Seafood to only have one vessel to harvest clams in federal waters and one in state waters.
The regulations in state waters are far more restrictive including less quota.
Without receiving approval for leasing, Rencurrel estimated losses exceeding $17,000 a week.
“And that’s the smallest boat in the fleet,” he said.
It’s just one example of the fallout the New Bedford fishing industry is feeling in dealing with the shutdown in Washington. While monitors and observers continue to police quotas, other aspects of the shutdown have crippled production on the waterfront.
“I think the industry would pay them to go in to work for a week. Just to get all the transfers done,” Rencurrel said.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times
Commercial fishermen stand to lose billions from government shutdown
January 16, 2019 — The government shutdown is jeopardizing jobs and tens of billions of dollars in revenue for the heavily regulated commercial fishing industry, a coalition of groups representing fishermen from Cape Cod to Alaska said Tuesday.
The Commerce Department’s fisheries service has furloughed key employees that help to oversee commercial fishing operation and the quotas handed out to fishermen that need to be in place and enforced before they can enter the water.
Without the oversight, fishing data isn’t collected, and the risk of overfishing becomes a problem. That situation prevents fishermen from working and results in lost catches.
Specifically, a plan worked out between the federal government and anglers to fish for highly prized red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico could be in jeopardy due to the shutdown.
Read the full story at the Washington Examiner
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