Saving Seafood

Offshore opponents urge Supreme Court to grant Vineyard Wind challenge

April 22, 2025 — Advocacy groups opposed to offshore wind development are calling for the Supreme Court to consider how federal approval of a project off the coast of Massachusetts could be violating recent high court decisions curbing agency authority.

The America First Policy Institute and others recently filed “friend of the court” briefs backing a pair of petitions led by the fishing company Seafreeze Shoreside and the fishing industry trade group Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) seeking to block completion of the Vineyard Wind 1 project.

The briefs are backing the parallel claims before the court: that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management overstepped its authority and that lower courts failed to properly review the agency’s decision after a Supreme Court decision limited courts’ deference to agency decision-making.

Read the full story at E&E News

As New England waters warm, invasive sea squirts move in

April 22, 2025 — At a dock on Cape Cod’s Buzzards Bay, a group of researchers and marine biology students lie on their stomachs, peering over the wooden planks to examine what living things are stuck underneath.

Using fishing nets and kitchen spatulas, they scrape samples into plastic trays for a closer look. Kristin Osborne, a sea squirt expert and assistant professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, likes to use her bare hands.

“I said I wasn’t gonna get down here and do this, but I can’t help myself,” Osborne said with a laugh while reaching into the chilly ocean. She has a sea squirt tattoo on her left middle finger.

Sea squirts are a type of filter feeding marine invertebrate officially known as tunicates. These colorful blobs can squirt water when removed from their aquatic homes, earning them the nickname.

Read the full story at WBUR

 

Mass. pushes feds for May 1 groundfish season start

April 17, 2025 — Massachusetts is calling on federal regulators to act swiftly to ensure the 2025 commercial groundfish season opens on time. On April 15, Tom O’Shea, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick urging immediate regulatory action to authorize the May 1 start date.

“Without fishing measures, federal fishing vessels from ports of Gloucester south to New Bedford will be tied up with no opportunity to sustain their businesses,” O’Shea wrote in the letter.

The Northeast multispecies (groundfish) fishery is jointly managed by NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. The plan governs thirteen species, including iconic New England stocks like Atlantic cod, haddock, halibut, and winter flounder. However, to legally land and possess these fish, federal regulations must be in place to start the fishing year on May 1.

If the Department of Commerce does not act in time, federal groundfish vessels in Massachusetts will be effectively shut out of the fishery, causing serious economic disruptions across the state’s fishing ports. “The impacts will be particularly acute in Gloucester, New Bedford, and Boston, where our federal groundfish permit holders are concentrated,” the Department of Fish and Game warned in a separate briefing.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts launches Commercial Fisheries Commission

April 15, 2025 — To safeguard the future of the Bay State’s commercial fishing sector, Massachusetts officially convened its first Commercial Fisheries Commission (CFC) meeting on April 8, 2025, setting the stage for a new era of collaboration and state-level advocacy for the seafood industry.

Born out of legislation passed in 2022, the CFC is designed to strengthen communication between commercial fishing stakeholders and state agencies while shaping strategies to promote long-term sustainability. The commission brings together a wide range of representatives—from fishermen’s alliances and seafood cooperatives to academic leaders and local port authorities—with a mission to protect and propel the state’s seafood economy.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHSUETTS: State setting new albie, bonito restrictions

April 15, 2025 — Island fishermen will likely need to pay close attention to their false albacore and Atlantic bonito catches this summer as Massachusetts regulators, for the first time ever, are poised to set a new, 16-inch length minimum and a combined, five-fish daily catch total for the two species.

The Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission approved the recommendation in late March in a 5-2-1 vote; final regulations are expected to be in place before the albie and bonito arrive to Vineyard waters in the summer.

The state’s division of Marine Fisheries has stated that the measures are precautionary, as there is no formal stock assessment for either species of fish. But while no formal study, the state has noted that recreational fishing of the two species has increased over the last few years across New England, and that is leading advocates to push for precautionary measures. State officials say that Atlantic bonito landings spiked this past year in Massachusetts, nearly six-fold the time-series median. The increase, state officials have noted, could be driven in part by a changing environment and warmer water temperatures increasing their local summertime availability, while other species have become less abundant.

While many Island fishermen are understanding of the Division of Marine Fisheries move to protect both of the species — two of the most popular sport fishes locally — some are questioning why the two are combined under one regulation and are pushing for bonito and albie to have individual sets of regulations.

Read the full article at MV Times

 

NOAA employees in R.I. and Mass. fired, rehired, then fired again

Apirl 14, 2025 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week fired its previously reinstated probationary workers, including many who worked at local facilities in Narragansett and Woods Hole.

NOAA employees in Rhode Island and Massachusetts told The Publics Radio that they received a mass email on Thursday informing them their jobs had been terminated – again. The NOAA firings were also reported by The Guardian and Reuters.

Until Thursday, the employees had been in a state of paid limbo. But the March 17 order that reinstated the fired NOAA employees to a form of paid leave “is no longer in effect,” according to an email shared with The Public’s Radio. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s general counsel in Washington, D.C. said in the email that “the Department is reverting your termination action to its original effective date.”

“Everyone I know who was in my situation has received the same message,” said Sarah Weisberg, a fisheries biologist formerly with NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Centers in Rhode Island. “Everyone who had been reinstated,’’ she said, “has now been un-reinstated.”

Read the full article at CT Public 

MASSACHSUETTS: Massachusetts Commercial Fisheries Commission Holds Inaugural Meeting

April 11, 2025 — On April 8, 2025, the Massachusetts Commercial Fisheries Commission (CFC) met for the first time to discuss the purpose, role, and direction of this new public body created to strengthen coordination, communication, and support for Massachusetts nation-leading seafood industry for generations to come.

“The Healey-Driscoll Administration fully supports Massachusetts’ vibrant, iconic and economically valuable commercial fishing industry,” said EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “We are proud to establish Commercial Fisheries Commission and look forward to working with the seafood industry representatives to improve opportunities for our commercial fishers, seafood processors, dealers, restaurants, and other industry participants.”

“Commercial fishing is the oldest of industries in Massachusetts and critically important to the culture, economy, and identity of our coastal communities,” said DFG Commissioner Tom O’Shea. “We need to work collaboratively with the industry to ensure that we achieve conservation of our marine resources, long-term sustainable harvest, and a bright future for the people who depend on the incredible abundance and diversity of Massachusetts fisheries.”

“An important aspect of our mission is to promote and support the Commonwealth’s fisheries and seafood industry. The CFC will provide a valuable venue for interests from various ports and sectors of the seafood industry to come together and address the challenges and opportunities facing the industry state-wide,” said DMF Director and co-chair Daniel McKiernan. “I anticipate this will provide an opportunity to collaborate to promote economic development, address critical infrastructure upgrades, enhance input into offshore energy development projects, and promote strategies to secure the short and long-term sustainability of this legacy industry. I look forward to the opportunity to co-chair this public body and steer it towards success.”

Read the full article at Mass.gov

MASSACHUSETTS: What’s new with wind projects off Massachusetts and beyond?

April 9, 2025 — By sight, the offshore wind industry seems to be moving forward on the East Coast. Gargantuan, bright white turbine towers stand tall against New Bedford’s busy waterfront, and poke above I-95 as cars whiz by over the Thames River in New London. But the future of the industry beyond these active projects is uncertain at best under a hostile Trump administration.

In late March, Massachusetts announced another delay of contracts between state utilities and two projects that together promise to power more than 1.5 million homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The state said uncertainty about federal policy was a factor.

The Trump administration, through executive order, effectively froze new permits for offshore wind in January. That has empowered opponents to mount even more legal challenges to projects — including some in March from Nantucket town officials and activists.

The federal government could pause still-pending projects for at least the next four years, eventually leaving New Bedford and New London’s purpose-built marine terminals empty once again. And in an extreme scenario, the administration could even try to stop the projects that are already under construction.

Yet Massachusetts is counting on offshore wind to meet its climate goals of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and achieving net-zero emissions (meaning the state offsets or removes as much carbon as it emits) by 2050.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: In MA, first-ever fishing limits for false albacore and bonito likely coming

April 8, 2025 — Massachusetts is poised to become the first East Coast state to set regular fishing limits on false albacore and Atlantic bonito.

Though there aren’t clear numbers about the abundance of either fish, fishermen have urged the state regulators to set precautionary limits to prevent the stocks from getting depleted. It’s somewhat unusual; often, the fishing community pushes back against new regulations.

“I think a lot of the guides and charter boat captains are really trying to protect the golden egg here,” said Chris McGuire, director of the Massachusetts Ocean Program at the Nature Conservancy. “Things are seemingly good right now. And if there’s a way of putting precautionary management in place to maintain the status quo, that would be amazing.”

The regulations establish a minimum size limit for both species at 16” and a combined bag limit of 5 fish per angler. There are some exemptions for the mackerel fishery and the weir fishery.

In letters to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), many fishermen voiced their support.

Read the full article at New England Public Media

MASSACHSUETTS: Trump’s shadow looms as offshore wind price negotiation deadline missed

April 2, 2025 — Negotiators working on contracts for two new offshore wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts say they need more time to strike a deal, yet another sign that President Trump’s anti-wind philosophy is wreaking havoc with the state’s energy plans.

The price negotiations between the state’s utilities and the offshore wind developers, Avangrid and Ocean Winds, were scheduled to wrap up on Monday, but they couldn’t reach a deal in the allotted time and set a new deadline of June 30. Under the updated timeline, the contracts won’t become public until August 25.

The latest delay was the second time since Trump was elected that the two sides have failed to meet a deadline and contract negotiations had to be extended.

Officials for all the parties declined to comment on the cause of the holdups, but a spokeswoman for the Healey administration indicated Trump’s opposition to offshore wind is making it difficult to reach a deal.

Read the full article at the CommonWealth Beacon