Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Project to Clean Buzzards Bay Watershed Receives $420K in Grant Funding

October 4, 2018 — The Buzzards Bay Coalition has received nearly $420,000 in grant funding for its effort to expand wastewater treatment to more upper Buzzards Bay watershed communities.

The Southeast New England Program awarded the funding for the Coalition’s partnership that would reduce tens of thousands of pounds of nitrogen each year to help clean several waterways in the watershed that are on the state’s dirty waters list.

The project would expand wasterwater treatment to more upper Bay communities in Wareham, Bourne, Plymouth and Marion.

Wastewater, particularly from traditional home septic systems, is the largest source of nitrogen pollution to the bay.

Nitrogen pollution turns the water cloudy and murky and harms habitat for underwater species like fish, crabs, quahogs, and bay scallops.

The waterways of the upper portion of Buzzards Bay – the Agawam River and Wareham River,Buttermilk Bay and Little Buttermilk Bay, Sippican Harbor,Aucoot Cove, and the Weweantic River– make up one-third of the entire Buzzards Bay watershed. Every single one of these waterways is on the state’s “dirty waters” list.

The first phase of this project, funded with a SNEP grant in 2015, studied whether it would be feasible to move the discharge pipe from the narrow, upstream waters of the Agawam River to the site of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s existing wastewater treatment plant discharge pipe at the Cape Cod Canal. Through sound science, the project showed that relocating the Wareham discharge pipe would not harm the upper Bay’s health – in fact, it could reduce approximately 80,000 pounds of nitrogen to the Bay per year.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Findings from summer ’18 right whale study

October 4, 2018 — The Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s right whale aerial survey team was busy documenting whales off Cape Cod and in the Gulf of Maine during the spring. Once the season started to change and sightings got sparse in U.S. waters, the team packed up and headed to Canada, where they helped with whale survey efforts for a second year from June 1 through Aug. 12.

“Once we started seeing just a few right whales in Cape Cod and Massachusetts Bay in the late spring and few in the Gulf of Maine, we knew many had likely moved further north into Canadian waters and into the Gulf of St. Lawrence,” said Tim Cole from the NEFSC’s aerial survey team.

“Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans invited us to come help them conduct surveys over the summer. We focused in the area where most of the right whales were aggregated, while they surveyed throughout the Gulf and Maritimes regions to chart the distribution of right whales and the abundance of other marine mammal species.”

The NOAA Fisheries team and the NOAA Twin Otter were based for the summer in Moncton, New Brunswick. They worked in the western part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, making six-hour flights several times a week and as often as possible, weather permitting, at an altitude of 1,000 feet.

They looked primarily for right whales but also recorded sightings of other large whales. Over the nearly three months of survey effort, the NOAA team was joined by staff from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Center, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Sightings included fin, humpback, blue, and North Atlantic right whales. In June, for example, the team recorded 79 fin whales, 4 blue whales, 21 humpback whales, and 301 right whales. Many of the right whale sightings are repeated sightings of the same whales.

Read the full story at Wicked Local Eastham

Judge Tosses Seafood Industry Challenge to East Coast Wind Farm

October 3, 2018 — A seafood industry challenge to a $42.5 million lease for a wind farm off the coast of New York was filed prematurely, a federal judge has ruled.

Led by the Fisheries Survival Fund, the plaintiffs in the case said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management failed to adequately consider how the Statoil Wind US LLC wind energy facility would impact fishermen, along with other environmental and economic impacts.

The plaintiffs also argued that the agency failed to consider adequate alternatives or prepare an environmental impact statement, which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said was unnecessary after determining that there were no foreseeable environmental impacts that would significantly impact the human environment.

But U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, while finding that  the Fisheries Survival Fund and the other  plaintiffs had standing to bring claims under the National Environmental Policy Act, ruled Sunday they were not yet ripe.

That’s because Statoil Wind US LLC, the company developing the 26-mile wind farm roughly 11 miles out from Long Island, must first submit its construction and operations plans, along with a site assessment, while the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management retains authority to reject any or all of those.

“The presence of these ‘conditions’ does not transform the lease into an irretrievable commitment of resources,” the 24-page ruling says.

Chutkan later adds: “The lease sale does not represent the final word on anything, nor does it commit any resources, even putting aside the question of whether it does so irretrievably,” the 24-page ruling says.

If its site assessment plan is approved, Statoil will have five years to conduct surveys and propose construction and operations plans.

Read the full story at Courthouse News

Right whale protections could force change for lobster industry

October 3, 2018 — In the second week of October, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team will meet in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A. to discuss what efforts are necessary to stop the deaths of right whales, one of the most endangered species on the planet.

Those efforts will likely include some restrictions on various North Atlantic fisheries that use roped gear, such as the New England lobster fishery. A string of recent whale deaths has been linked to entanglement in fishing gear, such as one whale found floating near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, on 27 August.

Those entanglement deaths have already pushed regulators towards requiring any roped lobster gear to be removed from areas that right whales are known to be present, with month-long fishery bans proposed for certain areas. The threat has also led to some companies trying to innovate ropeless lobster gear in order to keep the lobster fishery working while roped gear is banned.

The need for action is dire, according to a recent report by NOAA. While the right whale had been in recovery, the series of recent deaths has put that recovery in question.

“At the current rate of decline, all recovery achieved in the population over the past three decades will be lost by 2029,” the NOAA report said.

In Maine, the lobster industry was recently awarded a grant to gather data on the affect of lobster gear on right whales. Finding out what impact Maine’s lobster industry has would be of vital importance to the states economy. In 2017, the state took in USD 434 million (EUR 376 million) in 2017, and generated another USD 1 billion (EUR 867 million) in post-dock revenue.

The lobster industry in Maine has been confident that the entanglements haven’t been caused by their gear. None of the whale deaths in 2017 could be directly attributed to lobster gear.

According to the Portland Press Herald, the state has proposed putting a mark unique to Maine on all gear used by lobstermen from the state so that regulators can rule out Maine fishermen from entanglements.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Seafood industry lobbies state leaders to ‘buy local’

October 3, 2018 — The farm-to-table movement has renewed a focus on locally produced foods, from fresh milk and meat to fruits and vegetables.

So too the state’s seafood industry hopes to leverage a growing interest among consumers in buying local products to lift sales amid intense foreign competition.

To that aim, industry officials gathered at the Statehouse on Tuesday to celebrate the annual Seafood Day, highlighting the contributions of the multi-billion dollar industry.

“More than 98 percent of the fish in the United States comes from overseas,” said Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, a nonprofit group that supports the region’s commercial fishing industry.

“So the public needs to support us by demanding local seafood when they go out to eat,” she said. “When you buy fish, make sure its local.”

The Statehouse event, co-sponsored by the nonprofit Fishing Partnership Support Services and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, featured freshly prepared seafood, music, speeches by state officials and industry leaders, and general information about the size and scope of the industry.

“This is all about increasing awareness of the seafood industry and showing appreciation for our courageous, hard-working fishermen,” said John Hanley, a spokesman for the event.

Gloucester fisherman Joe Orlando said the industry is constantly struggling to adapt to frequent closures and strict limits on how many fish can be caught.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Court upholds BOEM lease for New York offshore wind energy

October 3, 2018 — Seafood industry groups were dealt a setback Sept. 30 when a federal court judge in Washington, D.C., refused to grant a ruling in their challenge of a federal lease for an 80,000-acre offshore wind energy project near New York.

The Fisheries Survival Fund and its allies sought a summary judgement from U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., to overturn the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management’s grant of a $42.5 million lease to Norway-based Equinor, formerly Statoil, for its Empire Wind project. 

Fishermen argued BOEM ignored potential impacts on the environment and fishing. On Sunday the judge ruled that challenge to the initial December 2016 leasing was premature, as the agency has yet to review a construction and operations plan from the company.

But other court precedents have held that offshore leaseholders “gain more rights as development proceeds, and as more time and money are invested in a project,” the Fisheries Survival Fund said in a prepared statement. “That means that the further development proceeds, the more difficult it becomes for plaintiffs to overturn a leasing decision.”

The decision comes as wind energy companies are vying to lock in agreements with state governments in New York and New Jersey – and get priority for ratepayer subsidies that will help develop a U.S. industry.

The judge has found the fishing industry and affected communities; including scallop fishing ports like New Bedford, Mass., have standing to contest the wind farm proposal. The challengers say the “unsolicited bid procedure allowed BOEM to decide, behind closed doors, what area of the ocean was to be leased.”

Read the full story at WorkBoat

New Study Shows Climate Change Could Reduce Scallop Population

October 3, 2018 — Researchers in Massachusetts say under the worst case scenario, climate change could reduce the scallop population by more than 50 percent in just a few decades, which could be bad news for New Bedford’s lucrative fishing port.

In 2016, commercial fishermen landed more than $300 million worth of fish at the Port of New Bedford, and 85 percent of that value came from scallops.

A new study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows as carbon emissions in the atmosphere increase, so does the acidity in the ocean.

Jennie Rheuban, lead author of the report, said that could affect how well scallops can grow.

“Adults may actually be growing slower and calcifying less quickly under these acidified conditions because it’s more difficult for them to lay down calcium carbonate as a shell,” Rheuban said.

Rheuban said ocean acidification could also cause scallops to become more vulnerable.

“They aren’t able to swim quite as well when they’re experiencing acidified conditions, and so we hypothesize that under acidification, scallops may be more susceptible to predation,” she said.

Read the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

MASSACHUSETTS: If you love the fishing industry, New Bedford center has a volunteer opportunity for you

October 3, 2018 — New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is recruiting new volunteers and will launch a volunteer training on Saturday, Oct. 20. A nonprofit, the center is dedicated to telling the story of the commercial fishing industry past, present and future through exhibits, programs and archives.

From 8:30 to 10 a.m., current and prospective volunteers are invited to attend an orientation session. The session will include an overview of the mission and activities of the center as well as an introduction to the commercial fishing industry. A light breakfast will be provided.

In the coming months, volunteers will be invited to participate in a series of insider tours to learn firsthand about the commercial fishing industry. Tours will include visits to the seafood auction, a processing plant, a gear shop, a shipyard, and the School of Marine Science and Technology at UMass Dartmouth, as well as waterfront and dockside vessel tours. Periodic talks will be presented by commercial fishermen, fisheries scientists, maritime authors and other industry experts.

To register for the training or more information, email operations manager Sarah Bowen at operations@fishingheritagecenter.org or call 508-993-8894.

Volunteer opportunities include welcoming visitors, staffing the reception area and gift shop, engaging visitors with the exhibits, assisting with educational programs, conducting research, and helping with special events.

For those with commercial fishing industry connections, opportunities will be available to share industry skills and knowledge with visitors by leading walking tours, speaking to school groups, and demonstrating skills such as net mending, knot tying, or model boat making.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

‘They’re eating our children’: Hundreds of furious Cape Cod beachgoers demand officials kill off seals to help cut down shark attacks after 26-year-old man is killed

October 1, 2018 — Residents of Cape Cod are demanding city officials do more to protect beachgoers following two shark attacks this year, one of which was fatal.

Hundreds of concerned locals packed into the Wellfleet Elementary School gym on Thursday for a public forum with officials and experts to discuss possible ways to keep people safe from sharks.

One by one residents tossed out a number of suggestions on how to deter sharks, including demanding officials to look into reducing the growing seal population on Cape Cod beaches. Many believe increased numbers of seals are attracting sharks hunting for food.

‘The seal population on the Cape is way of our control. They’re eating all of our fish and now they’re eating all of our children,’ said resident Gail Sluis of Brewster.

‘No sharks or seals are worth a young man’s life — they’re just not,’ she added.

According to a 2017 report by Cape Cod Times, there are 30,000 to 50,000 seals living in the waters of Southern Massachusetts, primarily on and around Cape Cod.

City officials acknowledged the seal population has grown tremendously but told locals at the forum that there are federal laws preventing the removal of seals.

Read the full story at the Daily Mail

Scientists Say Black Sea Bass Behavior Could Be Affected by Offshore Wind

October 1, 2018 — WOODS HOLE, Mass. — Scientists from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center say that offshore wind energy construction could affect the behavior of Black Sea Bass.

Black Sea Bass live up and down the east coast from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, providing a significant ecological and economic importance.

The fish are also attracted to structurally complex habitats, often found around rocky reefs, mussel beds, cobble and rock fields, and artificial habitats like shipwrecks.

Scientists, commercial and recreational fisherman have expressed their concerns about how the sounds that come with the development of offshore wind energy overlapping with the natural habitats of Black Sea Bass.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com