Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod Bay fishing gear restriction lifted

May 13, 2019 — The director of the Division of Marine Fisheries has rescinded the Cape Cod Bay gear restriction for fishermen and speed limit restrictions intended to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, according to a statement released Thursday night.

The restrictions originally were set to end May 14, but a recent aerial survey by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies showed that right whales have migrated out of state waters adjacent to Cape Cod.

Commercial and recreational fishermen are now allowed to set their trap gear in the waters north and east of Cape Cod, the statement says. Boaters operating vessels smaller than 65 feet in length may now operate at a speed greater than 10 knots.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Facing “too many legacy issues,” National Fish and Seafood closes

May 13, 2019 — National Fish and Seafood announced that it was immediately ceasing operations on Friday, 10 May, marking the end of its long history in the seafood business and putting 150 employees out of work.

Founded in 1979, the Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based seafood processor, which sells the Matlaw’s stuffed clam line, had been reeling financially since owner Pacific Andes filed for bankruptcy in 2016. NFS put itself up for sale, and several companies – including Red Chamber – considered purchasing it, but ultimately never did.

“Unfortunately, despite great strides we made in improving operating performance, National Fish just had too many legacy issues that prevented us from consummating a sale,” NFS President Todd Provost said in a press release.

In January 2019, NFS demanded payment from Pacific Andes, which owes NFS USD 30 million (EUR 28 million), according to court documents. Plus, NFS was paying out legal fees for its trade secrets lawsuit against Tampa Bay Fisheries for the latter half of 2018 and early 2019, before both suppliers agreed to settle the case in mid-March. And former NFS President Jack Ventola was convicted of fraudulently diverting money from the company and then not paying taxes on the income.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobstermen rally against delay in opening season

May 10, 2019 — South Shore lobstermen rallied Thursday morning at Town Wharf to protest the decision by the state Division of Marine Fisheries to delay the opening of the season until May 14 to protect right whales.

“There’s a lot of people that are suffering with this closure,” said rally organizer Sheryl Holmes, whose husband, Roscoe “Stoney” Holmes, is a commercial lobsterman who owns the F/V Haley’s Comet out of Plymouth.

The seasonal speed reductions and trap-gear bans imposed by the state to protect right whales typically end May 1, but have been extended first to May 8, and now to May 14.

Read the full story from the Cape Cod Times at the Patriot Ledger

“A Big Fugazi”: Why Fishermen Still Can’t Get Behind Offshore Wind

May 10, 2019 — In Ken Schneider’s 40-year fishing career, he’s fished for pretty much everything that’s out in the Mid-Atlantic.

Now, at 60 years old, Schneider spends most of his time hunting for lobster. On this day, he’s making some extra cash building a boat deck at Leonard’s Wharf in New Bedford before his next fishing trip. He takes his son with him sometimes.

“He don’t like fishing with me probably,” Schneider says. “Somebody else would be easier.”

His son works as an engineer at a drafting company. But if anything ever happens to him financially Schneider says, “he’s got a [fishing] license and everything and if everything else goes bad he’s always got this.”

Schneider’s daughter owns part of the family business too. But now, Schneider says all of it is at risk. He and other fishermen in New Bedford will soon have to share the open ocean with Vineyard Wind. The company is building the the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind farm…84-turbines about 14 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

There are final federal and state permits still pending approval but it’s expected onshore construction will start this fall. And by next year, construction will move to the ocean as the over 600 foot turbines settle in their new home.

Schneider says the seismic activity from the construction is going to change the ocean floor and marine life isn’t going to stay around. He thinks he could lose over 30-percent of his lobster catch because of the construction.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

Scallops sales to fund ocean research on East Coast

May 10, 2019 — The federal government says a program that sells scallops to pay for marine science will include a study of how shellfish harvesting impacts sea turtles in this year’s projects.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside will help pay for 13 projects in 2019 and 2020. Regulators use the program to set aside more than a million pounds of scallops, which generates millions of dollars for the science projects.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

Lobstering industry objecting to ‘unfair closure’

May 9, 2019 — Lobstering industry members plan to gather in Plymouth on Thursday to speak out against what they see as the unfair closure of lobstering in the waters south of Scituate.

Industry representatives on the South Shore say they have worked to implement fishing techniques to protect right whales but say their efforts have been ignored by regulators in favor of blanket policies. They plan to make the case that there have been no whale entanglements in certain parts of Cape Cod Bay.

In late April, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team recommended measures that could protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobstermen to rally in Plymouth over Cape Cod Bay closures

May 9, 2019 — After a period of bad weather, surveyors of North Atlantic right whales were able to fly on Tuesday over Cape Cod Bay, where the continuing presence of the animals has led state officials to extend seasonal bans on high boating speeds and lobstering through May 14.

But commercial lobstermen are beginning to bristle at the closures, citing the impact on their livelihood. South Shore lobstermen are planning a rally Thursday morning in Plymouth to protest the extended ban.

“There’s a lot of people that are suffering with this closure,” said rally organizer Sheryl Holmes, whose husband, Roscoe “Stoney” Holmes, is a commercial lobsterman who owns the F/V Haley’s Comet out of Plymouth.

The seasonal speed reductions and trap-gear bans imposed by the state Division of Marine Fisheries to protect right whales typically end May 1, but have been extended first to May 8, and now to May 14.

The Plymouth rally will be the first time commercial lobstermen in the region have come out as a group to protest against the closure extensions due to the ongoing presence of right whales, Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Beth Casoni said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

There are plenty of fish in the sea. Why do we eat so few?

May 7, 2019 — The waters off New England teem with a wide range of species, from scup, white hake, and mackerel to whelk, surf clams, and peekytoe crab. But despite this abundance, just a small handful of regionally available species dominate the marketplace—mostly lobster, scallops, and cod. Why don’t supermarket shelves better mirror the diversity of local waters?

That question is the subject of a new survey of fish and shellfish diversity in grocery stores and specialty markets in New England. The study, published on Monday by Eating with the Ecosystem, a nonprofit that promotes local and sustainable seafood harvesting in the Northeast, looks for “symmetry”: namely, the balance between the creatures found in nearby waters and the products found in the seafood section. For now, the study found, that proportion is greatly out of whack.

The report is based on the shopping experiences of 86 citizen scientists, who collected data over a six-month period of time. Each week, participants were randomly assigned four species from a list of 52 species commonly found in the waterways where New England fishers harvest their catch. They were instructed to seek their targets out at up to three markets, bring one home, cook out, and rate their experience. Basically, it was adult hide-and-seek but with pollock and sea urchins instead of people.

Read the full story at The New Food Economy

Changes in lobster processing rules on Massachusetts Legislature’s plate

May 6, 2019 — Lawmakers are moving toward consensus on an overhaul of Massachusetts’ lobster processing laws.

The plan was recently endorsed by the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries, which concluded it would deliver “economic benefits throughout the state’s seafood supply chain” and give consumers more choice of lobster products to purchase.

The legislation would change state rules to allow for processing and sale of raw and frozen lobster parts that are still in the shell — claws and tails, for example — and permit shell-on lobster parts to be imported for further processing.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Boston.com

NOAA Team Reaches Consensus on Right Whale Survival Measures

May 6, 2019 — After many hours of discussion over a span of four days, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team was able to reach nearly unanimous consensus on right whale survival measures.

The agreement consists of a package of measures that would achieve at least a 60-percent serious injury and mortality reduction goal in each of the lobster management areas. Two general risk reduction approaches emerged as the Team’s preferred options: line reduction and gear modification.

“This is hard work. The Team members brought not only their expertise but also their passion for the people and communities they represent to the table. Everyone understands that there are real and difficult consequences to fishermen as a result of the choices made in this room,” said Sam Rauch, NOAA Fisheries deputy assistant administrator for regulatory programs.

“I am confident that the meaningful measures supported by the majority of the Team today present a substantial opportunity to reduce the impacts of U.S. fisheries on right whales and an opportunity to support the recovery of this species.”

The measures in the package include reductions in vertical buoy lines as well as gear modifications to reduce the strength at which lines will break. Reduced breaking strength lines would allow entangled whales to more easily break free of gear.

Additionally, an expansion of gear marking to create larger and more frequent marks on U.S. trap/pot fishery buoy lines throughout U.S. East Coast waters was supported by most team members.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com