Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: NOAA to meet with public about possible new whale protection

August 12, 2019 — Federal officials will meet with fishermen and other members of the public in a series of meetings about possible changes to rules designed to protect vulnerable whales.

A federal team has called for gear modifications and a reduction of the vertical trap lines in the Gulf of Maine to reduce the risk of entanglement, injury and of death of North Atlantic right whales, which number about 400, by 60 percent.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s looking for comments on the new management options, which have been highly criticized by some lobster stakeholders and public officials, particularly in Maine.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NY spending $2M to study offshore wind impact on waterways, fishing

August 9th, 2019 — New York State said Thursday it will spend more than $2 million for five studies to examine ways to reduce offshore wind farms’ impact on marine environments and commercial fishing.

The studies, awarded by the state Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, followed Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s announcement of the first two large offshore wind projects for the state power grid.

The projects will produce 1,700 megawatts of a potential 9,000 megawatts planned by the state by 2040. Hundreds of turbines upward of 800 feet high will spin in waterways off Long Island, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

Another project by Norway-based Equinor for 816 megawatts will be located as close as 15 miles offshore from Long Beach.

Read the full story at Newsday

Vineyard Wind Races Against the Clock

August 9th, 2019 — Construction on Vineyard Wind, a massive plan to build 84 wind turbines 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, is slated to begin by Jan. 1, but regulatory snags on two different fronts have created a race against the clock for what would be the nation’s first industrial-scale offshore wind project.

In early July, the Edgartown conservation commission dealt a surprise setback to wind developers when it voted 5-1 to deny two undersea cables that would connect the turbines to mainland Massachusetts, after hearing concerns from local fishermen. On the same day, Vineyard Wind received news that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) had delayed the release of the project’s final environmental impact statement (EIS). In a press release shortly thereafter, Vineyard Wind acknowledged the need to have an EIS in hand “within, approximately, the next four to six weeks.”

Now, three weeks later, Vineyard Wind has appealed the conservation commission ruling to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Developers are awaiting that decision, along with a statement from BOEM on the EIS.

The developments are early challenges for a huge infrastructure project that lies on the frontier of a nascent, billion-dollar renewable energy industry. Further delays have the potential to jeopardize hefty tax credits, utility contracts and equipment leases dependent upon an already tenuous supply chain and construction timeline. A source close to the project said meetings with regulators are ongoing, and that the plan is still to have construction begin by the new year.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board Approves Draft Addendum VI for Public Comment

August 9th, 2019 — The following was published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board (Board) approved Draft Addendum VI for public comment. The Addendum was initiated in response to the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment which indicates the resource is overfished and experiencing overfishing. The Draft Addendum explores a range of management alternatives designed to end overfishing and reduce fishing mortality to the target level in 2020.

“The Draft Addendum is a critical first step to stem overfishing as quickly as possible and begin efforts to rebuild the biomass,” said Board Chair Dr. Michael Armstrong with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. “Following approval of the Addendum, the Board will likely initiate a new amendment to consider a longer-term strategy to fully rebuild the resource.”

The Draft Addendum proposes management options for both commercial and recreational sectors in the ocean and in the Chesapeake Bay in order to reduce total fishery removals by 18% relative to 2017 levels. The proposed measures include reduced quotas for commercial fisheries, and changes in bag limits, minimum sizes, and slot size limits for the recreational sector. Since catch and release practices represent a significant component of overall fishing mortality, the Draft Addendum also explores the mandatory use of circle hooks when fishing with bait to reduce release mortality in recreational striped bass fisheries.

It is anticipated the majority of Atlantic coastal states will conduct public hearings on the Draft Addendum; a subsequent press release will announce the details of those hearings once they become finalized. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum will be available on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org) under Public Input by August 19th. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on September 27, 2019 and should be forwarded to Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org  (Subject line: Draft Addendum VI). Organizations planning to release an action alert in response to Draft Addendum VI should contact Max Appelman at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Read the press release here

Watch as a response team helps partially untangle a right whale

August 8, 2019 — A right whale received some extra help off the coast of Cape Cod as a response team partially disentangled him Aug. 2.

“Despite a horrific entanglement, the whale was highly mobile,” according to the Center for Coastal Studies.

This particular whale, a male, was initially discovered July 4 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. He was spotted again July 19, and a team from the New England Aquarium was able to attach a telemetry buoy to the whale to track his movements, the center said.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MASSACHUSETTS: Young humpback whale sighted in Boston shipping lanes

August 7, 2019 — A young humpback whale has been reported swimming for the past three days in the shipping channel in Boston Harbor, according to a statement issued Tuesday by New England Aquarium.

The 30- to 33-foot whale was born in 2018 to the well-known humpback Whirlygig and would likely have been weaned by its mother last fall, the statement says. It has probably been on its own since early this year. The young whale has been seen feeding alongside one of the dredge barges that is deepening the channel.

“It actually isn’t a calf, but rather a yearling, meaning it was born last year and no longer with a mom,” humpback expert Jooke Robbins, with the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, said. “We just haven’t named it yet and so we are still referring to it as Whirlygig 18 calf. It really isn’t unusual for young whales to wander into nearshore habitats.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

CCS Team Frees Minke Whale from Entanglement, Shark

August 7, 2019 — The Center for Coastal Studies’ Marine Animal Entanglement Response Team freed an entangled minke whale last Thursday off Rockport and saved it from a great white shark.

The 18-foot whale was anchored by gear with rope through its mouth and around its tail.

The whale had a deep cut from the rope and minor bleeding had attracted a great white.

A video showing the extent of the entanglement can be viewed below.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Looking at the lobster double-squeeze

August 7, 2019 — The forklifts didn’t stop for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton on Tuesday afternoon when the congressman visited a Gloucester lobster wholesaler to talk about the challenges facing the Massachusetts lobster industry. But that didn’t seem to deter the congressman.

As Moulton toured the tank room and docks at the Cape Ann Lobstermen co-op in East Gloucester with co-owner Tessa Browne, the blur of activity continued, the constant beep-beep of forklifts serving as the soundtrack to the discussion on the double-squeeze facing the industry — expanded Chinese and European tariffs internationally and new protections for the North Atlantic right whales here at home.

Moulton asked Browne, who owns and operates the business with her husband Ryan, how much drag the tariffs have created for the lobster dealer. She quickly offered him a palpable example. Moving to the larger of the two lobster tanks, she explained how the bugs were stored by size.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

You Asked, We Answered: How Will Vineyard Wind’s Compensation Plan To Fishermen Actually Work?

August 7, 2019 — Manuela Barrett, a listener, wants to know more about how Vineyard Wind’s compensation plan to Rhode Island and Massachusetts fisherman is actually going to work?

First off, the compensation package assumes that the presence of wind farms will have an economic impact to commercial fishermen. That’s the basis of this entire compensation plan offered to both Rhode Island and Massachusetts fishermen. Both plans include an annual direct payout to fishermen for potential lost income because of the wind farms and also a supplemental trust fund dedicated to paying fishermen for unforeseen situations including damaged gear.

Let’s say, for example, a fisherman gets his net destroyed in the wind farm’s transmission cables. Vineyard Wind will use the money from the trust fund in order to pay for that damage.

The Rhode Island compensation plan for commercial fishermen has been finalized. That’s a $16.7 million plan. But the Massachusetts plan is still currently being reviewed by state regulators. Right now Vineyard Wind has proposed a $10 million compensation plan.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

US fishing industry’s wind worries divide Trump camp, slow $2.8bn project

August 6, 2019 — The US Department of the Interior (DOI) had seemed poised to move forward with the environmental impact assessment (EIS) needed for Vineyard Wind to begin building the US’s first offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean as soon as this year.

The New Bedford, Massachusetts-based company, a joint venture between Avangrid, a division of the Spanish wind giant Iberdrola, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a Denmark-based investment firm with €6.8 billion ($7.6bn) under management, wants to erect more than 80 wind turbines that are 600-to-700-foot-tall – at least twice the height of the Statue of Liberty — in an 118 square mile stretch of the ocean starting some 15 miles from the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. It would contribute to America’s goal of reducing its dependence on fossil fuels by providing at least 400,000 New England homes and businesses with a combined 800 megawatts of power, while reducing carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year.

One problem: Citing concerns expressed by New England’s commercial fishing industry, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) — a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is part of the US Department of Commerce — is not yet willing to give its blessing on the $2.8bn project’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS).

Read the full story at Undercurrent News