January 29, 2019 — The federal government says there is a large aggregation of an endangered species of whale south of Nantucket, and mariners should avoid it for the safety of the animals.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the group of 100 North Atlantic right whales was seen in the area in mid-January. It’s asking mariners to route around the area or transit through at 10 knots or less. The management area is in effect until Wednesday.
January 29, 2019 — Despite the partial federal government shutdown ending, public comment meetings led by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management regarding Vineyard Wind’s plan to construct an offshore wind-turbine farm have been indefinitely postponed, according to David Bernhardt, acting secretary of the interior.
Meetings were scheduled Jan. 8, 9, 15, 16 and 17 but were continually pushed back as the government shutdown extended and BOEM workers were forced to stay home. Bernhardt tweeted Jan. 24 that BOEM would “reschedule public meetings for the Vineyard Wind offshore renewable project very soon,” but gave no timeline on the issue.
Despite the delay in public comment meetings, “construction activities on the site will begin by the end of this year” if all permits are secured, Vineyard Wind spokesman Scott Farmelant said. “Every single permit is expected to be getting in by the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter,” he added. Vineyard Wind has a tax credit from the federal government should they begin building in 2019, so the timeline for construction is crucial. “They’re eligible for 12 percent tax credit if they begin construction this year,” Farmelant said. “That program is expiring as of right now.”
Vineyard Wind is confident the project will remain on schedule despite the effects of the shutdown, Farmelant said.
January 29, 2019 — Furloughed NOAA Fisheries staffers returned to work Monday from the partial shutdown of the federal government and commenced the task of playing catchup as a new fishing season beckons.
In Gloucester, the furloughed workers, sent home 35 days ago, resumed their duties at the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office on Great Republic Drive as Regional Administrator Mike Pentony acknowledged the shutdown’s impact on fishing stakeholders and set the overarching agenda moving forward.
“We will have three priorities as we ramp back up to full and normal operations: getting fishermen back to work; completing consultations so federally permitted projects in your communities can move forward; and ensuring that adequate monitoring and protections are in place for our protected resources,” Pentony said in a statement.
Pentony conceded the shutdown has left the agency behind schedule for completing several essential actions as the 2018 fishing season winds down and the May 1 start of the 2019 season moves closer.
January 28, 2019 — Many things fell into place Friday that led to the government reopening, including the words of a New Bedford scalloper in the nation’s capital.
Capt. Jack Morris, director of operations for FV Holdings LLC, spoke on a panel conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as the shutdown prevented one of his vessels from fishing.
“We’re bleeding,” Morris said. “We need to go fishing.”
Hours later, President Donald Trump announced a deal had been struck to reopen the government through Feb. 15.
The shutdown didn’t allow Morris to transfer a license from an out-of-service vessel to a new one.
“It’s a simple application that’s done all the time, and it’s sitting on the desk of the permit office in Gloucester,” Morris said. “There’s nobody at that desk. It’s empty.”
January 28, 2019 — We have a tradition that we follow every year when the Super Bowl rolls around. We ignore it for as long as possible.
We avoid all mention of the big game until as close to kickoff as we can manage. Otherwise, you just drown in the endless drek of mindless and irrelevant reports about teams we already know way too much about.
Still, people tell us things. We don’t encourage it, but there you are. They tell us the big game will pit the Patriots of New England against the Rams of Los Angeles (by way of Cleveland, Los Angeles (the first time), Anaheim and St. Louis).
Well, that sounds like a corker. Feel free to invite us to your Super Bowl party. We’ll bring Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken. The man, as Newman attested, makes a pretty strong bird.
What we won’t be bringing is our home-grown shrimp. Didn’t know you could grow shrimp at home? Well, according to researchers at the University of New Hampshire, you can.
“Researcher Michael Chambers says the shrimp can be cultivated in any larger container or tank, or even in a backyard kiddie pool, at a relatively low cost,” according to a story in the Boston Globe. “Chambers said people could make $40,000 or more a year if they invested in a large-scale operation. The homegrown shrimp could replace frozen or processed shrimp found in supermarkets during the winter.”
January 28, 2019 — The city continued its outreach to Gloucester seafood businesses on Thursday, hoping to bolster its presence — and the array of fresh Gloucester seafood products — at the upcoming Seafood Expo North America in Boston.
Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken and other city officials met at City Hall with executives from Mortillaro Lobster Inc., Intershell and Cape Seafoods and its North Atlantic and Pacific Seafood subsidiary to expound on the benefits of attending one of the largest seafood shows in the world.
In a sense, the city was preaching to members of the choir. Intershell and Cape Seafoods already have booked their own booths at the show, which is set to run March 17 to 19 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston.
January 28, 2019 — Jack Morris and Justin Dube, scallop boat captains fishing out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, shared with Saving Seafood how the recent federal government shutdown negatively affected their businesses.
Capts. Morris and Dube discussed how the closure of NOAA offices prevented them from getting necessary permits from the agency for their scallop fishing vessels. Without these permits, they were unable to fish during the shutdown, negatively impacting their livelihoods and those of their crews.
The captains were in Washington for a Chamber of Commerce event where people from around the country shared how they were negatively affected by the 35-day shutdown.
January 25, 2019 — Vineyard Wind officials are not waiting for federal officials to return to their desks: The company has reached an agreement with environmental groups to protect North Atlantic right whales and has offered Rhode Island fishermen a $6.3 million deal to compensate them for any economic damages they may incur from the wind farm’s construction and operations.
“We have not voted yet,” said Lanny Dellinger, chairman of a fisheries advisory board of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. “We are currently in the process of reviewing (the Vineyard Wind) proposal.”
On both fronts the company’s intention, in part, is to pave a smooth path for the 800-megawatt wind farm project planned south of Martha’s Vineyard, which is on a tight schedule to take advantage of federal investment tax credits that are expiring at the end of the year.
The 84-turbine wind farm is expected to deliver enough electricity to power about 400,000 homes in Massachusetts via an underwater, high-voltage cable that will land on a Barnstable beach, company officials said. As planned, it could be the nation’s first industrial-size offshore wind project.
January 25, 2019 — The U.S. Interior Department will press forward with a wind power project during the partial government shutdown using money already granted by Congress, its acting head announced Thursday.
The move could assuage Democrats’ concerns about the Trump administration pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic during the shutdown, which has lasted 34 days.
Wind is generally viewed as an alternative to fossil fuels that is better for the environment because it is renewable, readily available and does not create air emissions.
January 24, 2019 — Rescuers who respond to distressed whales and other marine animals say the federal government shutdown is making it more difficult to do their work.
A network of rescue groups in the U.S. works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to respond to marine mammals such as whales and seals when the animals are in trouble, such as when they are stranded on land or entangled in fishing gear. But the federal shutdown, which is entering its 33rd day on Wednesday, includes a shuttering of the NOAA operations the rescuers rely upon.
NOAA plays a role in preventing accidental whale deaths by doing things like tracking the animals, operating a hotline for mariners who find distressed whales and providing permits that allow the rescue groups to respond to emergencies. Those functions are disrupted or ground to a halt by the shutdown, and that’s bad news if whales need help, said Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium in Boston, which has a rescue operation.
“If it was very prolonged, then it would become problematic to respond to animals that are in the water,” LaCasse said. “And to be able to have a better handle on what is really going on.”
The shutdown is coming at a particularly dangerous time for the endangered North Atlantic right whale, which numbers about 411, said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, a senior biologist with Whale and Dolphin Conservation of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The whales are under tight scrutiny right now because of recent years of high mortality and poor reproduction.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at CapeCod.com