Saving Seafood

‘A Whole New Industry’: N.H. To Work With Neighboring States On Offshore Wind in Gulf of Maine

October 25, 2019 — New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts will work together on large-scale offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine. Stakeholders from the three states met today in Manchester talk about the possibilities and obstacles for that new industry.

The event was hosted by the Environmental Business Council of New England at the state headquarters of Eversource, which is developing several large offshore wind projects elsewhere in the Northeast.

Taylor Caswell, commissioner of the state’s Department of Business and Economic Affairs, said at the meeting that he thinks Northern New England could add tens of thousands of jobs building these offshore turbine farms, and the transmission infrastructure to bring their power on-shore.

“This is not just a project. This is not just an individual, ‘we’re going to find a site and put a couple of turbines up,’” Caswell says. “This is the establishment of, really, a whole new industry.”

Read the full story at New Hampshire Public Radio

Emails show bond between NOAA, fishermen against project

October 25, 2019 — Meghan Lapp was steamed. It was late February, and Rhode Island regulators had just finalized a mitigation plan intended to blunt an offshore wind project’s economic impact on local fishermen. Lapp, who handles government relations at a Rhode Island fishing company, viewed the plan as a farce.

“What happened last night in R.I. was an absolute roll over the fishing industry,” she wrote to two staffers at NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency that regulates commercial fishing.

State regulators had taken little input from fishermen on the plan, she wrote. What input they did receive did not sway them. A calamari processor told Rhode Island officials his biggest customer would likely have to source squid from China if the 84-turbine project proposed by Vineyard Wind in federal waters off Massachusetts was allowed to proceed.

Lapp’s company, Seafreeze Ltd., fishes for squid in the area and has taken a lead role in opposing the project.

“We are losing on every angle,” Lapp wrote federal officials. She later added, “I appreciate all the work you guys are doing on the offshore wind issue, and I thought particularly with regards to the squid industry that this was important to share.”

Doug Christel, a fishing policy analyst at NOAA, responded a week later. The federal agency had not been closely tracking the state process but had discussed Lapp’s concerns, he said.

“Similar to some of your comments, we feel the DEIS [draft environmental impact statement] underestimates landings from within the WDA,” he wrote, referring to the wind development area leased by Vineyard Wind from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full story at E&E News

Two Months Later, Vineyard Wind’s Delay Still Clouds US Offshore Picture

October 24, 2019 — Two months after the U.S. government abruptly delayed Vineyard Wind’s 800-megawatt offshore wind project, the industry is still looking for answers.

It’s not exactly clear when Vineyard will get its final go-ahead, let alone what effect the government’s unexpected “cumulative impacts analysis” will have on the pathbreaking $2.8 billion project or the broader American offshore wind market.

If anything, the timeline for a resolution has slipped. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management initially said it anticipated completing Vineyard’s supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) in late 2019 or early 2020, delaying the project by about six months. But BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank said this week that the Interior Department agency now expects to have the supplemental draft EIS “out for public comment early next year.”

Read the full story at Green Tech Media

Mysterious Lobster Deaths In Cape Cod Raise Climate Change Concern

October 24, 2019 — Last month, lobstermen in Cape Cod Bay hauled up something disturbing. In one section of the bay, all of their traps were full of dead lobsters. Research biologists went to work trying to solve the mystery, and what they found suggests we may see more of this as the climate changes.

When the fishermen first started pulling up traps full of dead lobsters, their first call was to Beth Casoni of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association.

“As you can imagine, they were concerned — greatly concerned — because they didn’t know how they died or why they died,” Casoni said.

Over the next five days or so, she got more calls about dead animals in the traps.

“And it wasn’t just lobsters,” she said. “It was skate and flounder and ling, which is an eel.”

Casoni called the state Division of Marine Fisheries, which sent divers out to take a look at the seafloor in the area.

“The fishermen were fearful that there would have been a mass die-off and the bottom would be littered with carnage,” Casoni said. “And the division was happy to report that they did not see any mass die-off in the area.”

Read the full story at WGBH

NOAA Fisheries Awards Bycatch Reduction Grant Funding

October 24, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries has awarded $1.1 million in funding for seven New England and Mid-Atlantic projects through the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

The awards support key partners in research and development of innovative approaches and strategies for reducing bycatch, bycatch mortality and post-release mortality.

The New England Aquarium was awarded $125,000 for a project to study whale release ropes as a large whale bycatch mitigation option for the lobster fishing industry.

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries received $176,572 for a bycatch reduction of red hake project in the Southern New England silver hake trawl fishery.

There were also a few projects related to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, which only number around 400.

Maine Department of Marine Resources was awarded $198,018 for a project to assess the feasibility of Time Tension Line Cutter use in fixed gear fisheries to reduce entanglement risk for right whales.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobstermen’s association director takes wind farm job

October 23, 2019 — Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, has joined EnBw North America as its fisheries liaison. EnBw North America is a subsidiary of EnBw AG, a German utility and wind farm company.

EnBw North America, which has offices in Boston and Jersey City, N.J., was runner-up for federal lease areas off Massachusetts that went out to bid Dec. 18, 2018, according to Bill White, managing director of EnBw North America. The winners of those bids were Equinor Wind, Mayflower Wind Energy, and Vineyard Wind. With its successful bid, Vineyard Wind was allotted an ocean area off Massachusetts where it can potentially build a second wind farm.

EnBw North America remains in the game despite the recent loss, and is working to establish a strong presence in the commercial fishing community with Casoni.

“I think the world of her,” White said of Casoni. “She’s got an enormous amount of expertise and knowledge.”

Read the full story at the MV Times

NEW YORK: Stonington fishermen say wind farm developer not responding to their concerns

October 23, 2019 — Local fishermen say they’ve been waiting for months for Ørsted to respond to a host of concerns they’ve presented  about a proposed 75-turbine wind farm about a dozen miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard.

Joe Gilbert, who has a fleet of four commercial boats based at the Stonington Town Dock, said he met with John O’Keefe, head of marine operations for Ørsted, in March to discuss the “vast” concerns that he and other fishermen have ranging from potential environmental impacts to spacing in between turbines. The meeting, which lasted several hours, was productive with O’Keefe taking copious notes, Gilbert said.

“I thought it was the beginning of an open dialogue between the wind developer and the fishermen,” Gilbert said. “I understand we have to try and coexist, and these folks came down wanting to know what our issues were to hopefully work with us so we would all be good neighbors.”

Gilbert said he never heard back from O’Keefe about how Ørsted plans to address the issues, even after following up multiple times with him and other company officials. Eventually, he and a group of Stonington fishermen were offered a meeting in September with Matthew Morrissey, Ørsted’s head of New England markets.

They reiterated their concerns, including those that required more immediate attention, such as a close call earlier in the year between a survey vessel and a fishing vessel in the waters south of Martha’s Vineyard. Gilbert said the fishing vessel tried to communicate with the survey vessel to determine right of way, but the operators on the bridge of the survey vessel, which operates under the Marshall Islands flag, did not speak English.

Morrissey “promised a two-day response” to address their concerns, Gilbert said, but he and the others still haven’t heard back.

Read the full story at The Day

Blockchain-traced seafood: Helping historic New England fisheries thrive

October 21, 2019 — The following was released by IBM:

In Massachusetts, we like to think we know our scallops. Barely 15 miles from our headquarters at Raw Seafoods sits the town of New Bedford, where New England fishermen first began using “catboats” to dredge bay scallops in the early 1900s. By the mid 1950s, more than 85 percent of the national scallop catch came through New Bedford.

We also learned the hard way what happens when we take our precious fisheries for granted. By the 1990s, the New England scallop fisheries were all but depleted. Thanks to a series of reforms and the implementation of new technology, the industry banded together and last year’s catch in 2018 was the fifth largest ever recorded. For 18 straight years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ranked New Bedford as the most valuable fishing port in the United States.

The unique history of our fishery has taught us that collaboration can yield dividends where competition cannot, and that the upfront investment required for game-changing innovation can often be a matter of survival. That’s why New England scallopers are now uploading information about their catch to Raw Seafoods with IBM Food Trust, a blockchain-based platform that promotes food traceability, safety, and sustainability. This information will automatically be shared with other members of the scallop supply chain, from processors and distributors to supermarkets and even restaurants.

Read the full release here

Scallops on the double

October 21, 2019 — The Atlantic sea scallop fishery took off in the 1950s when Norwegian immigrants started dragging in the waters off of New Bedford, Mass. Environmental conditions and lack of management created dramatic supply swings in the fishery until the early 2000s. That’s when the industry collaborated with federal regulators to change data collection and management; the fishery rebounded and was declared fully rebuilt in 2001.

For the last two decades, the fishery has been among the most lucrative in the world, with the Atlantic Coast landings of Placopecten magellanicus valued at more than $500 million. The most recent stock assessment in 2018 revealed that the fishery is not being overfished and is not subject to overfishing. The rebound of the Atlantic scallop and the profitability of the fishery has made it one of the world’s best success stories in fisheries management.

In late August, I connected with Kent Island, Md., waterman David Tedford and his crew of three out of Ocean City to go out on a one-day scalloping trip onboard the 43-foot Chasin’ Rainbows. Tedford began his career on the water in Chesapeake Bay, dredging for soft-shell clams and trotlining for blue crabs.

In 2005, he saw a financial opportunity in bluewater fishing and found the 43′ x 14′ 6″ Chasin’ Rainbows in Canada’s Prince Edward Island. He hauled it to West Ocean City on Sinepuxent Bay and has spent every year since scalloping from April through August and harvesting whelk in the winter.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Fishermen Use Electronic Reporting in Real Time to Help Understand Ocean Ecosystem

October 18, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — It’s been almost 15 years since New England groundfish fishermen began monitoring data from their hauls, bottom temperatures from gauges connected to their gear, numbers and types of discards, and other fishing observations to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center biologists.

The Study Fleet, a pilot project of the Cooperative Research Program at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), began by assembling commercial New England groundfish vessels willing to provide high resolution or haul-by-haul self-reported data on catch, effort and environmental conditions while conducting normal fishing operations.

“If we are going to manage the ocean, we need to understand it, and participating in programs like this helps me as a fisherman to understand what is going on,” David Goethel, captain of the F/V Ellen Diane said in an interview in 2008. “It also helps the scientists learn how fishermen do things, what knowledge and skills they have. Everybody learns.”

Seven years ago, New Bedford fisherman Tony Borges joined the group and began to get useful real-time information from monitoring.

The software both fishermen use is called Fisheries Logbook Data Recording Software (FLDRS or “Flounders”). Study Fleet vessels may also collect biological data from their catch when additional data needs are identified by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center scientists.

“We verify what is being reported by the captain and crew both at sea and through statistical data quality checks. Vessel owners are financially compensated for their participation in the Study Fleet,” said Bill Duffy, Port Agent, Greater Atlantic Region.

Borges, who fishes groundfish, fluke and squid, get useful real-time information from monitoring.

“It helps me as a fisherman, since the water temperature at the bottom tells me when I am on fish, and if I move away a couple of degrees, it makes a big difference to what I catch,” said Borges.

“When he sells the fish, NOAA Fisheries can check his data against the dealer report. We can get information on where the fish was caught, the water temperature data for that tow, and the reported catch for that tow,” said Duffy.

“This provides valuable information to fisheries scientists and managers who evaluate the health of the stocks. They can incorporate data like these into their research and assessments. For fishermen, participating in Study Fleet allows them to contribute quantitative information to scientific research and improve understanding of the northeast’s complex ocean ecosystem.”

Duffy and the fleet are working to develop an app called Graphic Offshore Fishing Information System Homepage (GOFISH) that will allow commercial fishing captains and vessel owners to map, graph, and analyze the data they have entered through FLDRS. The GOFISH app produces temperature-depth plots, bycatch analysis graphics, and other visualizations that can assist in fishing operations. The data remain the property of the vessel owner, but can also be used in research to improve our understanding of marine ecosystems.

Electronic monitoring is not an easy sell to fishermen who have learned through years of experiencing the ocean, the weather, and the vagaries of stock movements. They trust their instincts.

“Nobody likes it, let’s be honest, nobody likes to be monitored, nobody likes observers,” says Borges. Instead, Borges suggests, “Let us do our stuff out there and monitor us at the dock, make it so you can’t unload without a monitor.”

But the value of the information is worth any inconvenience, and Borges knows how important it is to manage the resource sustainably.

“Imagine if we had this data 40 years ago,” Borges said.

In 2008, when the system had been running for only a few years, Bill Lee expressed the same sentiment about the importance of data from the fishermen. Lee was captain and owner of the F/V Ocean Reporter from Rockport, Mass., and been involved in NOAA’s Cooperative Research Program and the Study Fleet project from the beginning.

“It is very important to have fishermen involved in the research about their industry,” he said. “The only way we are going to get things to improve is to participate in the process. I get frustrated at times that things haven’t moved further forward, but at least they are moving in the right direction.

“It is all about cooperation. Scientists need and want data about the ocean, and fishermen can help provide that,” Lee said.

In January 2008, the Study Fleet project expanded into two data-poor fisheries, hagfish and tilefish. Mike Palmer, a NEFSC fisheries biologist, said the study fleets have the highest chance of improving stock assessments in data-poor fisheries where there is limited observer coverage and species are not sampled well by NEFSC surveys.

The Cooperative Research Program, of which the Study Fleet project is a part, was established in 1999 by NOAA Fisheries to involve the fishing industry directly in planning and conducting studies that provide useful information for managing fisheries.

When the electronic logbook system was field-tested nearly twenty years ago (between November 2002 and August 2005) about 1,100 trips were reported by 33 vessels using the system in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and Mid-Atlantic Bight.

Data were more accurate and precise than that provided by fishing vessel trip reports in terms of identifying the area of fishing and the duration of effort, and more timely because of the electronic collection and at-sea transmission.

“Sometimes fishermen are surprised by the results from a cooperative research project, but they know they are accurate because they were there,” Goethel said. “The results speak for themselves. We need more efforts like this. There is a lot to be gained for everyone.”

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It was reprinted with permission.