Saving Seafood

Special zone around Block Island proposed

September 16, 2019 — OK, you fish Block Island and want to bring your black sea bass, summer flounder or scup catch back to your home port in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut or New York. You caught the fish in state waters — within the three-mile limit surrounding Block Island (federal water is from three to 200 miles offshore) and you have a state fishing permit.

But here’s the catch. To get those Block Island fish home you need to cross federal waters as Block Island’s northern tip is about seven miles from shore. So you will need to cross a mile-wide section of federal waters, and if you do, you may be transporting them illegally.

The State of Rhode Island, under the leadership of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), has been advocating to establish a Block Island Sound Transit Zone for state-only permitted vessels fishing in, and returning to state waters.

The transit zone would mirror the current transit area for striped bass and allow for transit by state-only permitted commercial, party/charter vessels and private recreational anglers with summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass on board that were legally harvested in state waters.

Read the full story at The Providence Journal

Nation’s first mega-offshore wind project stalled for additional study

September 16, 2019 — The nation’s first large-scale offshore wind farm has been delayed by the federal government, leaving unclear how long it will be until America’s next renewable energy sector will launch. The main opposition: outspoken commercial fishing interests in New England.

On most afternoons in Point Judith, Rhode Island, commercial fisherman Brian Loftus steers his trawler back into port after a 12-hour day. Loftus unloaded some 1,500 pounds of whiting, scup, skate and squid. Estimated revenue: $3,000. Loftus has fished for three decades here, but to him there’s a looming problem: Offshore wind developers plan to plop turbines more than 70 stories high into his fishing grounds.

“Some of the grounds are just east of where the wind farms are,” Loftus said. “Some of them are right around where they want to put the wind farms. And there’s a lot of other fish that migrate through there.”

At issue: Vineyard Wind, the nation’s first large-scale offshore-wind farm, 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Vineyard Wind had scheduled construction to begin by the end of 2019. It is the first of several offshore wind farms planned on the Atlantic Coast; the projects span from Rhode Island all the way down to the waters off North Carolina.

Read the full story at Marketplace

MASSACHUSETTS: Commercial shellfishing looked at for Scituate

September 13, 2019 — As the demand for shellfish continues to increase, Scituate is perched to join 29 other Massachusetts communities in developing its own commercial shellfish operation.

And there is already plenty of interest.

It was standing room only on Sept. 4 in the Community Room at the Scituate Town Library when members of the Scituate Shellfish Advisory Committee gave a presentation on establishing commercial shellfishing in Scituate waters.

“We’re looking to bring something to the town that is very beneficial,” said Brian Kelly, chairman of the Waterways Commission. “This will bring a new environmentally-friendly business, it will bring new jobs, and some opportunities for town in marketing, such as serving Scituate-grown oysters in restaurants, having oysters become part of Heritage Days, and educational/tourist potential.”

Read the full story at Wicked Local

New England Herring Fishery Restricted For Several Weeks

September 12, 2019 — Commercial fishing of an important species of bait fish is going to be shut down in one of its key areas in New England for about six weeks.

Interstate regulators say the Atlantic herring fishery in the inshore Gulf of Maine is nearing a quota limit and will be subject to restrictions from Sept. 15 to Oct. 31. That means fishermen will not be allowed to bring the fish to land until that date.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

MASSACHUSETTS: F/V Innovation: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center launches new exhibit and program series

September 12, 2019 — F/V Innovation, a new exhibit exploring the evolution of vessels and gear and paying tribute to some of the individuals whose innovations propelled the industry into the modern era, will open on the Sept. 12 AHA! Night.

The exhibit will be on display in the Center’s gallery through March of 2020.

The City of New Bedford has a long history of maritime innovators. Perhaps most notable is blacksmith Lewis Temple, who developed the Toggle Iron in 1848, a harpoon that revolutionized the whaling industry.

In the years since, there have been many who have made their mark on the working waterfront including some who hold patents for their inventions.

F/V Innovation will feature Dan Mullins, known as the father of the modern fishing industry, Hathaway Machine Co., which produced essential fishing gear including the Hathaway winch, and the F/V Narragansett, America’s first stern trawler, as well as others whose contributions helped to make fishing safer, easier, more profitable, and more sustainable.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Rafael sitting on $46m deal for 7 scallop vessels?

September 11, 2019 — New England’s commercial fishing industry has yet to see any kind of a public announcement regarding who will step up to buy Carlos Rafael’s 30 groundfish and scallop vessels or their 43 related permits, but documents —  copies of which were obtained recently by Undercurrent News — reveal he had a deal lined up almost two weeks ago for nearly a quarter of his fleet.

Whether the deal remains in place, however, remains unknown.

A seven-page purchase agreement, dated Aug. 29 and signed by Stephanie Rafael DeMello, daughter of the imprisoned former New Bedford, Massachusetts-based seafood mogul, show him selling seven of his total 11 scallop vessels, including the Apollo and Athena, and all of their related scallop and groundfish permits to an undisclosed buyer for $45,950,000.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Massachusetts Attorney General pushes for right whale regulations, lobstermen feel left out

September 11, 2019 — The Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, has sent a letter to the coalition of New England governors (NEG) and Eastern Canadian Premiers (ECP) pushing for greater regional effort to prevent more North Atlantic right whale deaths.

The whales, one of the most endangered whale species on the planet, have been the subject of an ongoing debate over what steps need to be taken by fishermen – particularly in the lobster industry – to prevent entanglements, which have led to a series of deaths. Through several meetings of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team – comprised of industry, nonprofit, and government representatives – Massachusetts agreed to a 30 percent cut in the number of vertical buoy lines by lobstermen, as well as using ropes with a lower 1,700 pound breaking strength.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

BOEM Delays Vineyard Wind Until 2020

September 10, 2019 — Construction of the country’s first commercial scale offshore wind farm off Massachusetts’ coast will be delayed until at least next year while the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management determines the cumulative effect of construction of multiple wind farms in the region, the agency said in a recent update.

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture of Copenhagen Investment Partners and Avengrid Renewables, is developing the 800-MW, $2.8 billion project. Five other offshore wind projects are planned adjacent to the site.

The developers had expected to begin construction before the end of the year to take advantage of a significant federal tax credit for renewable energy that expires on Dec. 31.

BOEM’s original timeline was to release a final environmental impact statement in July, but that timeline was delayed when BOEM said stakeholders and cooperating federal agencies requested “a more robust cumulative analysis.” It anticipates completing the supplement to its draft EIS “late this year or early next year,” with a public comment period and public meetings to follow.

Read the full story at the Engineering News-Record

NAFO Consultative Committee Meeting September 16 in Gloucester MA

September 9, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is holding a public meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Consultative Committee.

NAFO is a regional fisheries management organization that coordinates scientific study and cooperative management of the fisheries resources of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, excluding salmon, tunas/marlins, whales, and sedentary species (e.g., shellfish).

This meeting will help to ensure that the interests of U.S. stakeholders in the fisheries of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean are adequately represented at the Annual Meeting of the Organization.

Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Consultative Committee members and all other interested U.S. stakeholders are invited to attend.

Meeting Details

Date: September 16, 2019

Time: 1 pm – 3:30 pm EST

Location: Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930

Questions?

If you would like information about webinar access or have other questions about this meeting, please contact Moira Kelly, Regional Office, 978-281-9218

Vineyard Wind Delays Hold Up Other Offshore Projects

September 9, 2019 — The Vineyard Wind project is a major test of the offshore wind industry. The 84-turbine project is hailed as the first large utility-scale power source, after the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm went on-line in December 2016.

As a pilot project, Block Island showed that the United States can profitably produce and deliver offshore wind energy, and create jobs. More than a dozen other proposals have followed, and new federal wind-lease areas are expected along the East Coast.

Vineyard Wind, with 800 megawatts of electric capacity, is presumed to clear the way for more than 10 gigawatts of power coming from the waters off southern New England.

Read the full story at EcoRI