Saving Seafood

America’s Got Scallops: Catch Is Up, Consumers Shelling Out

July 22, 2019 — America’s harvest of scallops is increasing to near-record levels at a time when the shellfish are in high demand and the value of the fishery has surged in recent years.

Sea scallops, harvested mostly by boats from the cold Atlantic Ocean, are the target of one of the most valuable fisheries in America. New data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the harvest topped 58.2 million pounds last year, the highest total since 2011 and the fifth-highest in history, according to federal statistics going back to 1945.

The availability of scallops for consumers hasn’t changed much as the U.S. harvest has long been supplemented by foreign sources. Prices to consumers have also held about steady.

The value of the fishery itself, though, is rising. American scallops were worth $532.9 million at the docks last year. That’s the third-highest figure on record and more than $100 million higher than the 2014 total.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WBUR

Vineyard Wind wants federal review within 6 weeks

July 19, 2019 — Vineyard Wind has given the federal agency in charge of permits for its offshore wind farm up to six weeks to issue a key environmental review document, after the agency announced last week it would not meet a summer deadline.

“Through all of our communications with government officials, it has been made clear to us that there was no intention to prevent the Vineyard Wind 1 project from moving forward,” the New Bedford-based company said in a statement Thursday.

The company has told the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, though, that for a variety of reasons “it would be very challenging” to move ahead with the 84-turbine project south of the Islands in its current configuration if the final environmental impact statement is not issued within approximately four to six weeks.

The final impact statement is a review of the $2 billion construction of the offshore wind farm and its operation. The statement is a key document but one of a half-dozen federal reviews underway for the project.

In its statement, Vineyard Wind said the federal agency indicated that it understood the reasons for the company’s constraints and that it intended to communicate that to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Vineyard Wind said it has communicated directly with Bernhardt as well about its concerns regarding the delay.

“Vineyard Wind notes that it is not unusual for there to be ongoing review of an environmental impact statement as it makes its way through the internal approval process, especially for a project of this significance,” the company said in the statement. “The National Environmental Policy Act requires an environmental impact statement to consider all best available information, which we believe BOEM has done. We are therefore confident that any remaining reviews can be concluded and an FEIS released soon after.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Meeting scheduled to discuss recent shark sightings off Massachusetts coast

July 18, 2019 — According to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s “Sharktivity” app, dozens of shark sightings have been reported off Cape Cod in the last month.

Greg Skomal, a shark biologist with the Division of Marine Fisheries, tweeted Tuesday that the agency tagged four white sharks, bringing its total to a dozen this season.

‘We haven’t tagged this many this early, so it’s been a banner year,” he said.

While this means it’s potentially easier to track the sharks and know just how many are new to the area or not, it still has beachgoers on edge.

On Wednesday, ATI Systems of Boston and the Wellfleet Concerned Citizens Coalition are presenting to the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners.

The groups have scheduled educational presentations on “Cape Cod seal and shark-related issues.”

Read the full story at WPRI

Baker, Vineyard Wind mum on Feds’ project guidance

July 18, 2019 — The federal government has offered new “guidance” on the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project, Gov. Charlie Baker said, but neither the governor’s team nor project officials will talk about it.

The Baker administration chose Vineyard Wind in May 2018 for the state’s first commercial-scale offshore wind effort under a 2016 clean energy law and state officials are counting on the project to produce 800 megawatts of power and touting its importance to the state’s renewable energy portfolio. In April, state regulators approved long-term contracts between Vineyard Wind and the state’s electricity distribution companies.

But project officials announced last week that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) was not ready, as Vineyard Wind expected it to be, to complete a critical final environmental impact statement.

A long delay could affect project financing, as well as plans to start construction later this year and become operational in 2021, but questions remain about the federal government’s stance on the project.

In Connecticut on Tuesday, Baker said that his team and project officials have been given a clearer understanding of the issues in play, and are working this month to address them.

“We’ve talked to the federal agencies about this,” Baker said. “They’ve made pretty clear to us that the reason they didn’t render a decision and the reason why they didn’t put a date on rendering a decision was because they wanted to continue the dialogue and the discussion with Vineyard Wind around some of the outstanding issues and they gave Vineyard Wind and us a fair amount of guidance with respect to the things we should focus on and people are going to be focusing on those between now and the end of the month.”

On Wednesday, a Baker spokesman declined to comment when asked about the nature of the project guidance.

A Vineyard Wind spokesman also declined to comment when asked what the feds have told project officials.

Baker, who says Vineyard Wind will be the largest offshore wind project in the country and will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, on Wednesday said he thought the federal government treated offshore wind projects as “standalone, fact specific issues.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Tide turning on wearing safety gear

July 18, 2019 — Joshua Carpenter is 16 and is working this summer as the stern man on Junior McKay’s lobster boat Running Blind. He is justifiably concerned about his onboard safety, not to mention something of a frugal shopper.

On Wednesday, Carpenter stopped by the Everett R. Jodrey State Fish Pier to check out the 11 different varieties of personal flotation devices available for inspection and purchase as part of the Lifejackets for Lobstermen campaign being run by the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety.

The campaign, designed to convince more commercial lobstermen to wear personal flotation devices while fishing, has spent the summer in 40 lobstering communities up and down the New England coast.

It is in the midst of a four-day run — ending Friday — at the State Fish Pier, where so many of the city’s lobstermen tie up. Last week, the caravan spent three days at Manchester’s Masconomo Park.

Wednesday’s event was a collaborative affair promoting safety along the waterfront.

The Massachusetts Fishing Partnership and Support Services set up an informational booth. The Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association provided free monkfish soup, Sicilian baked goods from la maestra, Nina Groppo, and cold drinks.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA Fisheries Sets 2019 Management Measures for Northeast Groundfish

July 18, 2019 — We are approving Framework 58 and implementing new catch limits for seven groundfish stocks for the 2019 fishing year (May 1, 2019 – April 30, 2020), including the three stocks managed jointly with Canada. These revised catch limits are based upon the results of stock assessments conducted in 2018.

In 2019, commercial groundfish quotas increase for four stocks from 2018: Georges Bank cod (+15%), Georges Bank haddock (+20%), Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder (+31%), and Acadian redfish (+2%); and decrease for three stocks: Gulf of Maine haddock (-5%), Georges Bank yellowtail flounder (-50%), and American plaice (-7%).

Framework 58 also:

  • Exempts vessels fishing exclusively in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Regulatory Area (i.e., in international waters) from the domestic groundfish fishery minimum fish sizes to allow them to better compete in the international frozen fish market.
  • Extends the temporary change to the scallop accountability measure implementation policy for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder to provide the scallop fishery with flexibility to adjust to current catch conditions while still providing an incentive to avoid yellowtail flounder.
  • Revises or creates rebuilding plans for five stocks: Georges Bank winter flounder, Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder, witch flounder, northern windowpane flounder, and ocean pout.

In this rule, we are also announcing:

  • Reductions to the 2019 commercial quota for Gulf of Maine cod by 29.2 mt because the quota was exceeded in 2017.
  • A permanent extension of the annual deadline to submit applications to lease groundfish days-at-sea between vessels from March 1 to April 30 (the end of the fishing year); and
  • Changes to the regulations to clarify that vessels must report catch by statistical area when submitting catch reports through their vessel monitoring system.

Read the final rule  as filed today in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin available on our website.

Read the full release here

Sea Scallop Camera-Based Survey Expanded on Georges Bank

July 18, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, School for Marine Science and Technology will add the Northern Flank and Closed Area II North to this year’s planned survey work around Georges Bank to track sea scallop aggregations.

The survey, which uses a drop-camera array, is also covering the Great South Channel, Nantucket Lightship, and the Closed Area I Access Area.

“Taking on this additional work while in the middle of a busy survey season exemplifies the School for Marine Science and Technology’s dedication to supporting the scallop fishery,” said Jon Hare, director of NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center. “It’s also a great example of the importance of our strong partnerships in the region that provide science to support management of this valuable resource.”

The University’s survey is funded by the sale of sea scallops that are set aside from the annual catch limit through the Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program. The New England Fishery Management Council established this unique program to address research questions that support management of the sea scallop resource.

Awards are made in pounds, not dollars, and no federal funding is provided. Instead, proceeds generated from the sale of set-aside scallops are used to fund research activities and compensate participating vessels.

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTS: Feds share ‘fair amount of guidance’ with state, Vineyard Wind

July 17, 2019 — Days after the Trump administration injected a level of uncertainty into the Vineyard Wind project planned off of Martha’s Vineyard, Gov. Charlie Baker said the federal government has given his administration and the company a “fair amount of guidance” about the decision to delay a key permit.

Baker, who met Tuesday afternoon on the campus of Eastern Connecticut State University with Govs. Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, also said he did not think federal regulators were trying to send any broader message about their approach to offshore wind development.

The Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management notified Vineyard Wind last week that the government was “not yet prepared” to issue a final environmental impact statement for the 800 megawatt wind power project, which the the state is trying to advance in connection with its 2016 clean energy law.

The indefinite delay in the decision, which was expected on July 12, threw a wrench in the project’s tight timeline, which has a construction start date this fall and is scheduled to be operational in 2021.

Baker said he thought the federal government treated offshore wind projects as “standalone, fact specific issues,” rather than trying to send a broader message to the industry by holding up the Vineyard Wind permit.

“There’s no question the fact that the Vineyard Wind one is the biggest project of its kind in U.S. history. It means it’s receiving what I would describe as a significant and probably more significant level of scrutiny, probably appropriately from the federal agencies,” Baker said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Climate Change and its Effect on Our Coastal Ecosystem

July 16, 2019 — Climate change and rapidly warming water mean a major impact on our coastal ecosystem.

The North Atlantic shelf, which includes our Connecticut shoreline and extends all the way up to the coastal waters of Canada, is warming faster 99 percent faster than our global oceans. Scientists are concerned for what the future holds.

“There’s a lot of concern about what climate change can do. The Gulf of Maine which is an incredibly productive body of water which includes Cape Cod and parts North is warming at an alarming rate. And it will be interesting to see how that changes the distribution of both the predator and prey,” said Dr. Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

In the case of great white sharks, climate change will likely affect the prey before the predator.

Read the full story at NBC Connecticut

MASSACHUSETTS: Will Magnuson roundtable come to Gloucester?

July 16, 2019 — Congress continues to bumble around in its effort to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which should come as breaking news to no one who understands the complexity of the law and the usual banality that ensues in Washington whenever more than three people gather in a room to discuss anything.

With that in mind, U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman of California is taking his act on the road, going coast to-coast to hold a series of roundtable discussions to “engage diverse perspectives, interests and needs of individuals who have a stake in the management of our ocean and fisheries resources.”

Correct us if we’re wrong here, but isn’t that just about everyone in the whole US of A? Just sayin’.

Anyway, Huffman, who is chairman of the House Water, Oceans and Wildlife subcommittee, has not offered a specific agenda or schedule for his personal rolling thunder tour.

But he did say he is committed to holding at least one session in each of the eight regions managed by a federal fishery management council – including New England. So, perhaps Gloucester?

He also said he is committed to introducing a draft Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization bill by next spring. So, keep a sharp orb peeled for that on Amazon. Or just wait for the movie.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times