Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Seafood Soiree to Benefit Fishing Heritage Center

June 26, 2019 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

Enticing seafood appetizers from some of the area’s finest chefs are on the menu for a Seafood Soirée, the second annual gala fundraiser to benefit the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.

Scheduled for the evening of July 18th at the Wamsutta Club at the James Arnold Mansion, a Seafood Soirée will feature the bounty of the sea with over a dozen dishes prepared by area chefs, as well as handmade desserts; live gypsy jazz by Hot Club Cheese Roll; and live and chance auctions.

“We invite the community to join us for this fun and delectable evening, a showcase of seafood from the nation’s most valuable fishing port,” said Executive Director Laura Orleans. “We are grateful to all our chefs, restaurants, seafood companies, and sponsors for their role in helping us promote the local seafood industry.”

Finest Kind lead sponsors for the Soirée include Farm Credit East, Fleet Fisheries and the Wamsutta Club at the James Arnold Mansion.

Highliner Sponsors include BayCoast Bank; Commercial Fisheries News; Edie and Marie Boat Settlements; Hancock Marine, Inc.; SouthCoast Media Group; and The Town Dock.

Skipper Sponsors include Moses Smith, Markey & Walsh and Seafuels Marine.

The cocktail hour from 5:30 to 6:30 pm will feature sushi from Turk’s Seafoodand mini lobster rolls by Oxford Creamery, both in Mattapoisett.

From 6:00 to 7:30 pm, signature seafood dishes will be offered by the following chefs (committed to date):

  • Clam Chowder donated by Blount Fine Foods;
  • Lobster sausage with chourico aioli prepared by Chef Chris Cronin of Union Flats opening soon on Union Street in New Bedford;
  • Korean barbeque Mackerel with charred bok choy and sweet chili glaze created by Chef Chris Cordeiro, Corporate Chef for Sid Wainer & Son;
  • Squid dish created by Chef Arthur Dill from Chartwells Dining Service at UMass Dartmouth;
  • Scallops with mustard and endive garnish, as well as scallop and codfish casserole created by Eastern Fisheries Executive Chef, George Karousos;
  • Smoked bluefish pate with pickled red onion and homemade crackers prepared by Chef Lisa Lofberg of Little Moss in Padanaram;
  • A Skate dish created by Chef Mike Melo of M&C Café;
  • New Bedford Seafood Paella featuring clams, scallops, mussels & chorizo by Chef Greg Morton of Morton’s Fork Catering;
  • Mini fish and chips prepared by Chef Jayme Reno of Merrill’s on the Waterfront in New Bedford;
  • For non-seafood eaters, Wamsutta Club Executive Chef Raymond Fonseca will offer assorted petite quiche, spanakopita, bruschetta, and chicken allouette.

Dessert from 7:30 to 8:30 pm will feature handcrafted chocolates by Life is Sweet and home baked cookies by Jo’s Breads & Muffins, along with coffee and tea.

Beginning at 7:30 pm, a live auction will feature items ranging from Red Sox HP State Street Pavillion Club seating tickets to a scallop dinner for four in the galley of a working fishing vessel. Throughout the evening, guests will enjoy gypsy jazz by Hot Club Cheese Roll, and try their luck at a Fluke and Flounder chance auction. A complimentary glass of champagne and a cash bar will round out the evening.

Tickets are $75 per person; proceeds will benefit the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, the city’s newest museum. For tickets, visit the Center at 38 Bethel Street, call 508-993-8894, or email info@fishingheritagecenter.org. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://fishingheritagecenter.org/soiree/

Helping New England fishing communities adapt

June 26, 2019 — New England fishing communities must adapt or fail. That’s the advice published in a new study co-authored by UMass Dartmouth scientist Dr. Robert Griffin.

Climate change is altering ocean temperatures, as researchers have previously documented, and entire fish populations are migrating further north or into deeper waters in search of cooler environments. For fishing communities, that means the slow disappearance of species that may be integral to the area’s identity.

For example, lobster in southern New England is migrating out, while black sea bass and Jonah crab have become more abundant.

“[Fishermen] all seemed to understand that this is happening,” Griffin said. “They go out and try to continue to catch the fish they’ve been trying to since they started, but it’s much harder.”

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Vineyard Wind moves turbines to aid fishing vessels

June 25, 2019 — Vineyard Wind announced Monday that it has adjusted the layout for its 84-turbine wind farm to give more room for fishing vessels operating south of the Islands.

The company has moved the planned location of three 9.5 megawatt turbines farther away from the Nantucket Historic District and Chappaquiddick to create additional distance between the wind farm and commercial fishing areas just south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The redesign also aids fishing vessels traveling around Nomans Land and heading toward fishing grounds southeast of the wind farm, the company said.

The project’s plan to deliver 800 megawatts of electricity annually to three Massachusetts utilities is not affected by the adjustments, according to the company.

“Where possible, we have a responsibility to minimize the project’s footprint with respect to the history and culture of the Cape and Islands, and existing uses of these waters,” said Erich Stevens, Vineyard Wind’s chief development officer.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

This Discovery Could Be The Key To Managing New England’s Cod Population

June 24, 2019 — Cod has long been a staple of the New England fishery, but this once-plentiful fish has declined in recent decades. Despite repeated attempts to rebuild the stock, assessments suggest that the species has not recovered, frustrating biologists and fishermen alike.

Although the species is managed as a single population, cod in the Gulf of Maine can be divided into two genetically-distinct groups. And according to a new study, understanding the unique behavior and lifecycles of these two groups may be the key to creating a better management strategy.

“These subpopulations are dramatically different from one another,” says Micah Dean, a doctoral student at Northeastern’s Marine Science Center who led the study. “And the mix of these subpopulations changes over space and season, and over time. This sort of complexity needs to be accounted for.”

Incorporating the differences between these two groups into population models could improve management decisions, says Dean, who is also a senior biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. And those decisions are vital to the survival and recovery of the fishery.

Both fisheries managers and fishermen have known that groups of cod in the Gulf of Maine gather to release and fertilize eggs twice each year, when the bottom temperatures are between 6 and 8 degrees Celsius (42.8 and 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit). In the last decade, researchers have confirmed that the fish spawning in May and June are distinct from the fish spawning in November and December. But there hasn’t been a clear way to incorporate this information into management strategies, so the animals have continued to be grouped together.

Read the full story at News at Northeastern

MASSACHUSETTS: Whole Foods committed to Gloucester, despite plant exit

June 24, 2019 — Even though Austin, Texas, U.S.A.-based Whole Foods market is closing its seafood processing facility in Gloucester, Massachusetts, it plans to continue sourcing seafood from the Bay State.

Whole Foods recently said that its North Atlantic region will be permanently closing its Pigeon Cove Seafood facility in Gloucester, effective 15 August.

The plant closing will eliminate 60 full-time positions. However, Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken said that Linda Shear, executive coordinator of team member services for Whole Foods, confirmed in a phone call that the retailer’s seafood processing will stay in Massachusetts.

“We addressed Whole Foods Market’s commitment to buying local and fresh seafood, and I am happy to report that this remains a priority for them,” Romeo Theken said in a statement provided to SeafoodSource. “I have asked them to buy it [seafood] here in Gloucester and my team will continue the conversation about Gloucester Fresh with Whole Foods Market.”

And, while Theken is “disappointed” in Whole Food’s decision to close the Pigeon Cove Seafood Facility, she was “pleased to hear that they are actively addressing the needs of the displaced employees”.

“I learned that all of the employees will be offered employment and training opportunities at Whole Foods Markets in the area [and] all employees are eligible for some type of severance package as well as unemployment benefits,” Romeo Theken said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Officials confirm year’s second right whale death

June 24, 2019 — The second dead right whale of the year was found Thursday by a surveillance flight, drifting northeast of the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, according to the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The death was confirmed by New England Aquarium, which has identified the whale as “Punctuation,” an adult female that has been studied by researchers for nearly 40 years and seen more than 250 times along the coast of the U.S. and Canada.

The aquarium maintains a photographic identification catalog that encompasses most of the right whale population. Punctuation was first photographed in 1981.

“All right whale deaths hit hard, but this one is particularly devastating to the population,” the aquarium staff wrote in an emailed statement.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Rep. Moulton seeking money for right whale research

June 21, 2019 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton is trying to secure additional funding for North Atlantic right whale research through an amendment to the federal government funding bill for fiscal year 2020.

Moulton, D-Salem, successfully amended the House of Representatives’ funding bill to include an additional $1.5 million for cooperative research by federal fishery regulators, commercial fishermen and conservation groups.

The amended funding bill now contains $2.5 million for right whale research.

To secure the funding however, the amended legislation first must first pass the House next week and survive negotiations between the House and the Senate on a final spending bill. Ultimately, it would have to have to be signed by President Donald J. Trump.

Moulton, a Democratic presidential candidate, said the fight to save the remaining North Atlantic right whales — whose population now is estimated at 411 — “is also a fight to protect thousands of jobs in commercial fishing and tourism in Massachusetts.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Whole Foods’ seafood plant closing, impacting 60 employees

June 20, 2019 — The mayor of Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is “disappointed” that Whole Foods Market is suddenly closing its seafood processing facility in the city.

The Austin, Texas-based retailer notified the city via a letter to Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken that its North Atlantic Region will be permanently closing its Pigeon Cove Seafood facility in Gloucester, effective 15 August.

“I am disappointed at the decision made by Whole Foods Market to close its Pigeon Cove Seafood Facility. This closure will result in the elimination of 60 full-time positions,” Romeo Theken said in a statement provided to SeafoodSource.

However, Whole Foods officials agreed to talk to Romeo Theken about the closure next week, the Gloucester Daily Times reported.

“We want to talk with them about what they’re going to do to try to get their employees other jobs, but we also want to speak with them about the reasons for closing it and their plans for the space at 15 Parker St.,” she told the newspaper.

The company’s rental lease at the Parker Street facility – which is owned by a Montagnino family trust controlled by James Montagnino – is not set to lapse until November 2020, according to Romeo Theken.

“We want to find out if they plan to sublet that space or exactly what they plan to do,” she said.

This is the second time in a month that a seafood processing plant appears to be shutting down operations in Gloucester, after National Fish and Seafood closed in May. Since then, however, a new group called NSD Seafood Group re-opened the facility and said it would re-hire as many NFS employees as possible.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Study to Aims to Keep Beachgoers Safe From Great Whites

June 20, 2019 — Researchers on Cape Cod are launching a new study focused on the hunting and feeding habits of the region’s great white sharks following last year’s two attacks on humans.

Greg Skomal, a state marine biologist leading the effort, says the hope is to contribute critical information to the ongoing debate over how to keep Cape beachgoers safe.

The new research calls for placing sophisticated tags on sharks to track their swimming speed, depth and body position in the water.

Read the full story at NBC Boston

New study to examine feeding habits of Cape Cod great whites

June 19, 2019 — Researchers on Cape Cod are launching a new study focused on the hunting and feeding habits of the region’s great white sharks following last year’s two attacks on humans, including the state’s first fatal one in more than 80 years.

The hope is that the work, which starts in the coming days, contributes critical information to the ongoing debate over how to keep Cape beachgoers safe, said state marine biologist Greg Skomal, who has been studying the region’s great whites for years and is leading the new effort.

“If we can figure out how, where and when these sharks are attacking seals, we may be able to see if there is a pattern or any predictability to it,” he said. “That’s really useful information for someone trying to manage their beach and enhance public safety. If there are hot spots that can be identified, we certainly want to share that information with the public.”

Cape Cod officials have been wrestling with how to respond to public concern in the aftermath of last year’s attacks. A New York man was badly mauled by a shark last August off a beach in Truro but survived. Then weeks later a Massachusetts man was killed by a shark while boogie boarding in nearby Wellfleet.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Daily Times