Saving Seafood

State judge’s order thwarts auction owners’ apparent last stab at buying Rafael vessels

September 19, 2019 — Raymond and Richie Canastra, the long-time owners of the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based seafood auction, have made another apparent attempt to purchase some of Carlos Rafael’s commercial fishing vessels and again have been thwarted, Undercurrent News has learned.

This time the two brothers’ effort, which involved stepping in front of another buyer, has been done in by a state judge’s order.

Merita Hopkins, an associate judge in the Bristol County, Massachusetts, Superior Court, on Friday vacated her approval, given two days earlier, of a request by BASE for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would have stopped Rafael from selling seven of his 11 scallop vessels to Charlie and Michael Quinn, the father-and-son owners of Quinn Fisheries, a 33-year-old, New Bedford-based scallop operation with six vessels already harvesting, for nearly $46 million.

The move by the Canastras, whose auction handles roughly half of all the Atlantic scallops caught in New England as well as a considerable amount of groundfish, seems to have been a prelude to them making an offer themselves for the boats, which also come with some groundfishing quota.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Trump move to delay Mass. wind farm concerns NY officials

September 19, 2019 — New York State is “watching closely” the federal government’s decision to stall a Massachusetts offshore wind project to review environmental and fishing impacts, a top state official said Wednesday, adding there’s no sign yet that the scrutiny will affect New York’s ambitious offshore wind plans.

“That concern does exist,” Alicia Barton, president and chief executive of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, told business leaders at a Long Island Association meeting in Melville Wednesday. She called the federal review a “significant setback” in the permitting schedule for that project, called Vineyard Wind.

Vineyard Wind in August said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the federal Bureau of Energy Management’s decision to scrutinize the “cumulative impacts [of offshore wind] driven by rapid growth of the industry beyond our project.”

For now, Barton said she had “no reason to believe” New York projects, which are slated to be in service in 2024, would be affected by the federal review. Nor does it appear to delay her expectation that additional leasing areas off New York will be offered by the federal government soon.

Read the full story at Newsday

MASSACHUSETTS: Congressional delegation urges feds to find new lobster markets

September 19, 2019 — As the United States trade war with China continues to take its toll on Massachusetts lobstermen, members of the state’s Congressional delegation, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are urging the Trump administration to find new markets for American lobster exports.

Sens. Warren and Ed Markey and Congressmen Joseph Kennedy III, William Keating, Stephen Lynch and Seth Moulton wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday imploring him assist the local lobster industry.

The lawmakers said that China’s 25 percent tariffs on imported American lobsters has had a “material impact” on the state’s lobster industry, already forcing at least two businesses to close and leaving 250 people out of work.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Governor, local officials celebrate $24M grant for harbor dredging

September 18, 2019 — Since the Port of New Bedford has ranked as the most valuable fishing port in the country for 18 consecutive years, there’s no doubt that it’s an important part of the city and beyond, and with a $24 million state grant for dredging, officials are proud and excited about what this means.

Gov. Charlie Baker Tuesday afternoon called the port “an incredibly important asset” to the community and region and underscored its greater significance.

It landed and processed $427 million of locally harvested seafood last year and processed an additional $275 million in international seafood, among other large statistics, Baker said.

Tuesday afternoon in the Whaling Museum Harbor View Gallery, local and state elected officials, including Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, talked about the listening, collaboration and hard work that helped turn out a $24 million grant for Phase 5 of the city’s dredging project.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Atlantic Herring Days Out Call Information and Notice of Spawning Closures for Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire in Effect September 23 through November 3, 2019

September 18, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set effort control measures for the Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery via Days Out meetings/calls. These members are scheduled to convene via conference call on October 2nd from 9:30 to 11:30 AM to consider fishery specifications for Quota Period 4. The details of the call are as follows:

Meeting webinar: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/239062933

Join the conference call:

Phone: 1.888.585.9008

Passcode: 853-657-937

Spawning Closures

The Atlantic Herring Area 1A fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine, and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal states III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

Read the full release here

Lobster industry pinched by tariffs

September 18, 2019 — The trade war with China is putting the squeeze on the state’s lobster industry, and the damage is seeping into other sectors of the seafood economy, lawmakers were told Tuesday.

China has imposed 35% tariffs on U.S. lobsters — and many other food products — over the past year amid rising trade hostilities with the United States.

As a result, U.S. lobster exports to China have fallen off a cliff, dropping by 80% since its retaliatory tariffs went into effect.

The pain is being felt in Massachusetts, the nation’s second-largest market, where lobster sales to China plummeted 62% in the past year, according to state export officials.

“Canada is experiencing a boom in lobster sales as Chinese buyers find alternative markets,” Mark Sullivan, executive director of the state Office of International Trade and Investment, told members of Legislature’s Committee on Export Development on Tuesday. “Cargo planes are coming into Halifax, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick to handle this bump in growth.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Moulton praises local lobsterers for staying at whale rule table

September 17, 2019 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton on Monday called the Maine Lobstermen’s Association shortsighted for stepping away from the federal plan to increase protections for North Atlantic right whales, saying the defection will dull its membership’s ability to influence the plan ultimately adopted by NOAA Fisheries.

“It limits their involvement in the solution going forward,” Moulton said on a teleconference organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “We really want to get everyone on board here and we want to make sure that it’s a solution that works for all the stakeholders. I don’t think you’re going to find any lobstermen that who say they want the right whale to go away.”

Moulton, a primary author of a House bill to help save the endangered right whales, said he believes the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association’s decision to remain at the table as the Atlantic right whale take reduction team thrashes out the final plan for the approval of NOAA Fisheries is the proper one.

“I think part of the reason the Massachusetts lobstermen are at the table to be a part of this process and its agreement moving forward is because they recognize that if this gets even more dire, they may literally be regulated out of business,” Moulton said. “I think the lobstermen in Massachusetts are being really smart. I think right now the lobstermen in Maine are being shortsighted. But we hope to bring them back on board, because ultimately they’re going to be better off having a seat at the table than not.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MA Lawmakers Press U.S. Trade Representative for Real Solutions for Massachusetts Lobstermen Impacted by Trade Tariffs

September 17, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), along with Representatives Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA-08), William Keating (D-MA-09), Seth Moulton (D-MA-06) and Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-MA-04), yesterday sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer urging him to explore new markets for American lobster exports to address the impact of China’s 25 percent tariffs on imported American lobsters. The lawmakers’ letter comes ahead of a Joint Committee on Export Development oversight hearing in the Massachusetts State House to assess the impact of Chinese tariffs on the Commonwealth’s lobster industry.

U.S. lobster exports to China are down more than 80 percent since June 2018, which is reflected in the losses reported by local Massachusetts lobster companies. At least two businesses in the state have been forced to cease operations, leaving more than 250 employees out of work, and the U.S. lobster industry more vulnerable to long-term decline and competition from Canada.

“While Massachusetts state legislators are exploring solutions for economic relief at the state level, it is imperative that there be federal resolve to assist the Massachusetts lobstermen whose livelihoods heavily relied on exports to China,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

In June 2018, in response to concerns from local elected officials, Senator Warren sent a letter to Ambassador Lighthizer urging him to explore ways to open new markets for American lobster exports. In response to her letter, Ambassador Lighthizer acknowledged her concerns and indicated that trade agreements with countries in Africa and South East Asia and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Foreign Commercial Service could help mitigate the loss of the Chinese market.

In their letter to Ambassador Lighthizer, the lawmakers highlighted the harmful impact of the Trump Administration’s trade war on the Massachusetts lobster industry and reiterated calls for the USTR to explore new export markets for American lobstermen.

“We urge you to work with the Massachusetts lobster industry to provide specific solutions and resources to end the dire losses to the Massachusetts economy,” the lawmakers continued. 

The lawmakers requested a response to their letter by September 30, 2019.

Fishermen demand a say in decisions on offshore wind energy

September 16, 2019 — Fishermen insisted Monday to a congressional subcommittee looking at offshore wind energy that they be consulted when crucial decisions are being made on the development of such projects, including where they are located and the level of access to the waters near them.

Fishermen should have been brought into the planning process from the start, Peter Hughes, of Atlantic Capes Fisheries, told U.S. House members from New Jersey and California who were holding a hearing at the Jersey Shore.

“Look at these slides,” he said, referring to diagrams of where proposed wind projects would be built. “They’re right smack dab where we are fishing. This is going to put people out of business.”

The purpose of the hearing was to gather input from the fishing industry and its advocates to be considered in future regulation of the nascent wind energy market. So far, a single five-turbine wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island, is the only operating offshore wind farm in the U.S., but states up and down the East Coast are readying plans for similar projects.

Capt. Ed Yates, a fisherman from Barnegat Light, New Jersey, said flounder, cod and other species have moved away from underground cables at a wind project off Denmark.

“How does offshore wind energy affect the fishing industry?” he asked. “The answer we get from the wind operators is ‘We won’t fully understand the impacts until the facilities are already built.’”

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance formed last year to represent the interests of the fishing industry regarding offshore wind. The group’s executive director, Annie Hawkins, said more scientific studies are needed, adding there has been virtually no public discussion of important questions like how wind energy projects would be dismantled after reaching the end of their lifespans.

The hearing was chaired by Rep. Alan Lowenthal, a California Democrat, and Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a Democrat who represents the area of southern New Jersey including the productive Cape May fishing port.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post

NEFMC September 23-26, 2019, Gloucester, MA, Listen Live, View Documents

September 16, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

New England Fishery Management Council will hold a four-day meeting from Monday, September 23 through Thursday, September 26, 2019.  The public is invited to listen-in via webinar or telephone. Here are the details.

MEETING LOCATION:  Beauport Hotel, 55 Commercial Street, Gloucester, MA 01930, Beauport Hotel.

START TIME:  The webinar will be activated at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, September 23 and at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, September 24, 25, and 26.  However, please note that the meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Monday and at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  The webinar will end at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST or shortly after the Council adjourns each day.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (631) 992-3221.  The access code is 776-880-095.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  The agenda and all meeting materials are available on the Council’s website at NEFMC September 23-26, 2019 Gloucester, MA.  Additional documents will be posted as they become available.

NOTE:  During the Groundfish Committee report, the Council will not be approving the DEIS and selecting preliminary preferred alternatives for Amendment 23 as initially intended.  Instead, the Council will use the time at this meeting to gain a detailed understanding of the alternatives and analyses in order to facilitate future decision-making.

THREE MEETING OUTLOOK:  A copy of the New England Council’s Three Meeting Outlook is available HERE.

COUNCIL MEETING QUESTIONS:  Anyone with questions prior to or during the Council meeting should contact Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.