Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: New herring rules prompt angst at dock

September 27, 2018 — The protections for the Northeast herring fishery enacted this week by the New England Fishery Management Council are not welcome news for Cape Seafoods and could force the Gloucester-based seafood company to change the way it fishes.

The council, meeting this week in Plymouth, voted to supplement severe rollbacks of herring quotas with a new inshore buffer zone aimed specifically at preventing mid-water trawlers — such as Cape Seafoods’ 141-foot boats, Challenger and Endeavour — from fishing within 12 miles of shore in most areas of the Northeast.

In some areas around Cape Cod, the buffer zone expands to 20 to 25 miles.

The council also voted for cuts in catch levels for the next three years. In 2019, catch levels will be capped at 21,226 metric tons — less than half of the 50,000 metric tons allowed in 2018. Those catch-level reductions and the creation of the buffer zone still must be approved by NOAA Fisheries.

“It’s not good,” Gerry O’Neill, president of Cape Seafoods, said Wednesday. “The majority of fish we catch every year are caught inside that 12-mile buffer. The long and short of it is this is going to have a serious impact on our business and I’m not really sure what we will do to survive it.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Who Has The Edge In The Lobster Trade War?

September 27, 2018 — There are few New England scenes as iconic as the ol’ lobster shack. Local crustaceans being served up fresh and delicious in whole or in roll form. Well, it turns out that “just-off-the boat” experience has pretty broad appeal … like as far away as China.

“There’s always been a demand for it, but they wanted the live lobster,” said Arthur Sawyer, a Gloucester lobster fisherman and President of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association. “Live lobster — ya know — it’s like a 36 hour thing to get to China.”

A decade ago, the Chinese market for U.S. live lobster was essentially nonexistent. But a few years back, shippers finally worked out how to reliably get fresh live lobster to China. It was a game changer. Last year, the country imported nearly $150 million worth.

“There’s a whole lot of exporters that have gotten into the lobster business strictly because of China,” said Sawyer.

But live lobster got swept up in the trade war this July, when Beijing slapped a 25 percent tariff on U.S. imports. And just three months in, it’s already having an impact here. Vince Mortillaro, a local wholesaler, said China has stopped buying from him completely, and he’s has had to lay off three employees.

“They’re affecting me a lot,” he said of the tariffs. “We’re losing like 40,000 pounds of sales a week.”

For now, the pinch wholesalers are feeling has yet to trickle down to lobster fishermen on the boats, who sell to the wholesalers, or the lobster-craving public. As for why? Well, it’s complicated. Live lobster exports are an important part of the equation. But a sizable chunk of New England total haul each year gets sold off to be processed.

Read the full story at WGBH

NEFMC Reelects Dr. John Quinn as Chair and Terry Stockwell as Vice Chair

September 27, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

At the start of its September 24 -27, 2018 meeting in Plymouth, MA, the New England Fishery Management Council reelected Dr. John Quinn of Massachusetts and Terry Stockwell of Maine to serve as Council chair and vice chair for another term. The two ran unopposed and were ushered in unanimously.

This marks Dr. Quinn’s third consecutive year as chairman. Prior to that, he served three years as Council
vice chair under Stockwell. The two switched leadership positions during 2016 but continued to work
together as a team to direct the Council’s management and policy initiatives. “I appreciate the confidence the Council has shown in me over the past couple of years,” said Dr. Quinn. “I look forward to doing more good work with all of our Council members and stakeholders.”

Dr. Quinn recently was promoted to Assistant Dean of Public Interest Law and External Relations at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) School of Law. He is a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he spent 18 years. He also represented many fishing interests while practicing law in private practice for over two decades in New Bedford before joining UMass.

Read the full release here

Fishing crew member charged with murder in attack at sea

September 26, 2018 — BOSTON — A member of a fishing boat crew attacked his fellow crew members at sea with a knife and a hammer, killing one of them, federal prosecutors said.

Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez, 27, was charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the attack Sunday on the Virginia-based fishing vessel Captain Billy Haver about 55 miles off Nantucket, Massachusetts, the U.S. attorney’s office for Boston said in a statement.

Vazquez will appear in federal court in Boston at a time to be determined. The Associated Press could not locate a lawyer for him Tuesday.

He assaulted three crew members with a knife in one hand and a hammer in the other, authorities said.

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

 

City leaders angered by US government action against former Rafael captains

September 26, 2018 — A recent action by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to punish 22 captains of fishing vessels owned by convicted New England fishing mogul Carlos Rafael crosses the line, believe some important figures in the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the South Coast Today reports.

Last week NOAA filed a 51-page superseding charging document that added 20 of Rafael’s ship captains to the list of the two previously charged with violating a long list of fishing-related regulations. It seeks the revocation of 17 of the captains’ operator permits.

The captains have 30 days to request modifications to the charges against them, administrative hearings to challenge the charges, or additional time to respond.

NOAA’s latest move, which also includes increasing civil money penalties from about $1 million to $3m, builds on a civil action filed in January.

Rafael began serving a 46-month sentence in November after pleading guilty in March 2017 to operating a long-running scheme through which he submitted falsified records to the federal government to evade federal fishing quotas.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Drastic measures considered to arrest plunge in herring population

September 25, 2018 — The small, silver fish that teem in large schools in the waters off New England are vital to the marine ecosystem, providing a crucial source of food to many of the region’s iconic species, including cod, striped bass, humpback whales, and seabirds such as puffins.

But recent surveys have found that the Atlantic herring population in the Gulf of Maine is at risk of collapse, with so few being born that federal officials have slashed fishing quotas and are now considering even more draconian steps to reduce the catch.

The proposed measures, which the New England Fishery Management Council is slated to take up on Tuesday, are so controversial that they have pitted fishermen against each other and have raised concerns about the future of the region’s lucrative lobster fishery, which mainly uses herring as bait.

“The decline of Atlantic herring represents an existential threat to many New England fisheries and the fishing families who depend on them for their livelihoods,” said Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, an advocacy group that promotes sustainable fishing. “Without food in the ocean, without bait in the traps, the ecosystem and the entire fishing economy of New England begins to crumble.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: NOAA’s recent Codfather update leaves New Bedford reeling

September 25, 2018 — Right when it seemed as if the seas were settling around New Bedford, Massachusetts and the crimes of disgraced fishing magnate Carlos “Codfather” Rafael, another wave of controversy has hit the beleagured city.

The latest contention in New Bedford comes in the wake of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) issuance of a 51-page superseding charging document related to the agency’s civil administrative case against Rafael, initiated in January 2018.

Earlier this month, NOAA filed the new document, which called for the revocation of 17 operator permits held by Rafael’s captains and increased the civil penalties associated with the case from just under USD 1 million (USD 983,528, EUR 834,673) to more than USD 3 million (USD 3.3 million, EUR 2.79 million). The noncriminal document also upped the number of alleged fishing law violations – ranging from misreporting species to gear, scallop, and observer violations – to 88, according to The Standard Times.

These new developments have left some stakeholders in New Bedford’s fishing industry baffled. Jim Kendall, a former fishing captain and executive director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting, told local newspaper South Coast Today that he suspects former New Bedford mayor and ex-regional administrator for NOAA John Bullard of continued involvement with the case, even though Bullard retired from his post back on 19 January.

“I’ll tell you right now, you can print it or not, but I think John Bullard still has his thumb on the scale,” Kendall said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

One mariner killed, another injured in attack aboard a fishing vessel

September 25, 2018 — One fisherman is dead and another was injured when another person aboard the Captain Billy Haver trawler allegedly attacked crew members.

“We just responded to a report of an attack on the 82-foot fishing vessel,” said Andrew Barresi, a petty officer with the U.S. Coast Guard.

The attack occurred Sunday and radio calls from the fishing vessel said the suspect allegedly used a knife or a hammer, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Times. The Coast Guard did not confirm this detail with the newspaper, and Barresi also couldn’t give a timeline for when things happened.

The Mein Schiff 6, a German cruise ship, responded to the fishing vessel, according to the Times. It took the two injured mariners aboard; a doctor pronounced one of them dead.

Coast Guard officials met the trawler, which was about 60 miles east of Nantucket, according to the Times, with the Legare, a 270-foot Coast Guard cutter. The suspect was taken into custody.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center presents Working on the Waterfront

September 25, 2018 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the opening of its’ latest exhibit Working on the Waterfront. An opening reception will take place on October 11th at 6:30 p.m. during AHA. The exhibit will run through January 2019.

In New Bedford, there are over 5,000 people working in the commercial fishing industry both on and off-shore. Those in shoreside businesses work in a variety of positions such as electronics technicians, fuel barge operators, welders, fish samplers, settlement staff, fish cutters, and fish sellers. From preparing a vessel to go out to sea to processing the product for market, all of these workers are vital to the success of the fishing trip and the industry.

Working on the Waterfront highlights the vital role of these shoreside workers. These men and women understand the importance of doing the best job possible because the quality of their work means a safe, successful trip for the vessel or a better price for the product. They talk with pride about their jobs and how, in spite of challenges, love what they do. The majority of those interviewed work for family owned businesses, creating a unique workplace environment which they value.

These oral history excerpts and photographs are from interviews recorded as part of an Archie Green Fellowship from the Library of Congress awarded to the Center. The project, Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront, produced interviews and photographic portraits of 58 shore-side workers involved in the local commercial fishing industry with a particular emphasis on female workers and Central American workers. In addition to being a part of the Center’s archives, these interviews and photographs are part of the permanent collection of the Library of Congress.The exhibit includes an interactive oral history kiosk which allows visitors to listen to audio excerpts.

Interviews were conducted by: Laura Orleans – Folklorist & Executive Director of the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center; Madeleine Hall-Arber – retired anthropologist, MIT Sea Grant; Corinn Williams – Executive Director of Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts; and Fred Calabretta – Oral historian at Mystic Seaport Museum. Project Photographer was Phil Mello of Big Fish Studio. Support for the project and exhibit was provided by Archie Green Fellowship – Library of Congress and NOAA’s Voices from the Fisheries.

The Center is open Thursday – Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is free. Located at 38 Bethel Street in the heart of the National Park, the Center is wheelchair accessible with free off-street parking.

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is dedicated to preserving and presenting the story of the commercial fishing industry past, present, and future through exhibits, programs, and archives. For more information, please email programs@fishingheritagecenter.org or call (508) 993-8894.

BOEM looking at traffic lanes, buffers for offshore wind power

September 24, 2018 — Concerns raised by the maritime and commercial fishing industries now have federal officials considering wider buffer areas, and spacing as far as two nautical miles between proposed offshore wind power turbines.

At meetings in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey, representatives of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said the burden of proof is on offshore wind energy development companies to show their plans for turbine arrays will be compatible with other ocean industries.

“Right now we’re asking developers to prove that fishermen can still fish” if offshore turbines are built, said Amy Stillings, an economist with BOEM.

The agency is also looking at setting aside a corridor for shipping and barge traffic cutting across the New York Bight, which extends from Cape May Inlet, N.J., to Montauk Point, N.Y., on the eastern tip of Long Island, to maintain a safe buffer between future turbine arrays and vessel traffic.

That idea for a cross-Bight corridor nine nautical miles wide – a five-mile traffic lane, with two-mile buffers on either side – recognizes trends in maritime transportation that allow towing vessels to take the route farther offshore than the traditional paths closer to shore.

Read the full story at Work Boat