Saving Seafood

‘Alarm bells.’ After low oxygen scare in Cape waters, Falmouth company uses $2M to help

March 3, 2025 — In a small room in the Falmouth Technology Park, Noah Van Home is assembling 450 sensors that will be scattered in waters from Maine to New Jersey to help scientists, fishermen and businesses in the blue economy learn more about the ocean.

The sensors, or data loggers, are part of a project involving a private-public partnership funded by a $2 million grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and spearheaded by the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.

Lowell Instruments of Falmouth has been hired to manufacture the data loggers that will collect bottom water temperature and dissolved oxygen readings. The program gives fishermen and scientists a look at what’s happening in the water, not just on top of it.

Read the full article at WickedLocal.com

Vineyard Offshore lays off 50 employees

February 25, 2025 — As the shadow of uncertainty continues to loom over the offshore wind industry, one company recently axed 50 positions from its payroll.

Vineyard Offshore, an offshore wind company founded by the same team that established Vineyard Wind, recently laid off 50 positions in the United States and Europe. According to a Vineyard Offshore spokesperson, the eliminated positions included unfilled roles, contractors, and staff.

The spokesperson did not say whether any of the laid off Vineyard Offshore employees were from Martha’s Vineyard or any other parts of southeastern Massachusetts, though noting that staff at Vineyard Wind would not be impacted.

“Vineyard Offshore believes that offshore wind is a vital part of the nation’s future energy independence,” a company statement reads. “Our projects will provide over 6 gigawatts of reliable and affordable energy to meet growing energy needs on the east and west coasts, while creating thousands of jobs and fueling economic growth. In an effort to position our projects for sustainable long-term success we have made the difficult decision to reduce our current team size in light of recent market uncertainties. We look forward to continuing to advance these transformative American energy projects in the years ahead.”

Read the full article at MV Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Offshore wind execs, No plans to come ashore in Westport

February 25, 2025 — Vineyard Offshore’s Rick Musiol cut right to the chase when he and a colleague stepped before the microphone Thursday afternoon to bring Westporters up to speed on a project that many fear could see high-current electric cables come ashore at Horseneck Beach, laid along the bottom of the Westport River, and finally trenched up Route 88 to points north:

“Our intent is to land our project in New London County, Connecticut,” said Musiol, the director of external affairs and community engagement for Vineyard Offshore, which is working to develop the Vineyard Wind II project off the coast of Nantucket.

His colleague, Carrie Hitt, was just as direct:

“We have no indication that we would go anywhere but New London at this point,” she said.

For more than a year, many Westporters have feared that Vineyard Offshore, which is currently building Vineyard Wind I off Martha’s Vineyard and is in the planning stages of Vineyard Wind II, would choose Westport as its preferred landing site for the 1.2 gigawatts of power the wind farm would eventually generate.

There has been good reason for that concern, as a Vineyard Offshore plan on file with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) lists Westport alongside New London as a potential landing point for that power.

Read the full article at East Bay RI

How do Caribbean fish species end up in Cape Cod waters?

February 24, 2025 — Scientists are tracking the abundance of these fish in local waters. You can help.

Gulf Stream orphans is a term for tropical fish who took a journey far from home via the Gulf Stream and ended up in northern waters, like here off Cape Cod.

Associate Curator of Aquatic Collections at the New England Aquarium Mike O’Neill launched the Gulf Stream Orphan Project a decade ago. Now, he and his colleagues have published a paper that looks at all the data they’ve collected over the years.

Gilda Geist Mike, I want to talk about this term, Gulf Stream orphans. Where does that term come from?

Mike O’Neill So that is a term that has been used here at the aquarium for a while. These fish have been called a variety of things depending on where you are. They also are referred to as tropical strays and Gulf Stream riders.

These are unusual tropical and subtropical species that show up here naturally every summer and fall, but it’s due to getting carried by the Gulf Stream. And the Gulf Stream is this massive mover of water that carries tropical water northward from the Caribbean, and water from the Gulf Stream can make landfall in Massachusetts and along the coast of North America. In all that water from the tropics are the planktonic forms and juvenile life stages of a lot of different species. When our environmental conditions in the summer and fall are warm enough, the species from the tropics can continue to survive that transport, and then they arrive along our coasts and continue to grow up and develop and take their role in our ecosystems.

Read the full article at nhpr

MASSACHUSETTS: Moulton gets an earful from fishing industry

February 21, 2025 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, got an earful from representatives of the 402-year-old seaport’s fishing industry about the uncertainty and opportunity amid a sea change in Washington, D.C., with the month-old Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency filleting certain federal agencies.

Moulton sat in a conference room of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association in Blackburn Center with Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Deputy Commissioner Sefatia Romeo Theken leading a discussion among local fishing industry representatives, including about a dozen commercial lobstermen and fishermen, seafood processors and industry advocates.

Read the full article at Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center features new generational fishing exhibit

February 20, 2025 — The popular seafood restaurant and market Turk’s Seafood will be featured this Thursday as the first in a new series of mini exhibits at the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.

This fishing family’s story kicks off Hauling Back: A Generational Fishing Family Project exhibit.

The Hauling Back exhibit will open this Thursday, Feb. 20, and will present the story of Turk’s Seafood and the Pasquill family.

The first mini exhibit will remain on display through March. Turk’s is closed for the winter, but will reopen March 5.

Read the full article at The Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Videos Highlight New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center and Port

February 19, 2025 — “Catch the Tradition,” a series of promotional videos touting the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center and the fishing industry, are now finished and ready to share with the public.

Overseeing the project was Marketing Specialist Matt Moyer Bell, who joined Townsquare Sunday this week to discuss the videos.

“The Fishing Heritage Center is not just a museum, it’s a community resource that documents an entire culture and community that is the backbone of New Bedford,” Bell said. “It’s a major part of the economy and the people who live here.”

Read the full at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTS: Cans of tuna are being recalled. Does this affect Massachusetts? What to know

February 13, 2025 —  Tri-Union Seafoods brand of tuna fish being sold at Walmart, Costco and Trader Joe’s locations are being recalled, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“This voluntary recall is out of an abundance of caution following the notification from our supplier that the ‘easy open’ pull tab can lid on limited products encountered a manufacturing defect that may compromise the integrity of the product seal (especially over time), causing it to leak, or worse, be contaminated with clostridium botulinum, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning,” a release from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated.

Here’s what to know.

Read the full article at South Coast Today

ASMFC repeals proposed gauge increase

February 5, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission(ASMFC) sided with New England lobstermen and voted to repeal the proposed increase to the minimum allowable cast size of lobsters in the Gulf of Maine.

On Friday, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries announced at the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association meeting that it would join Maine and New Hampshire in rejecting the gauge increase.

Maine and New Hampshire decided to withdraw the increase following strong opposition from the fishing community in both states. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell called for the repeal of the gauge increase. In a letter to ASMFC on Feb. 3, Mayor Mitchell warned that the rule would place U.S. lobster fishermen at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to Canadian counterparts.

New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) COO Dustin Delano commented on the final decision, “NEFSA thanks the commission for hearing the voice of lobstermen. Raising catch sizes at this time would bankrupt many lobstermen and surrender the U.S. market to foreign competitors. NEFSA is grateful that the commission has chosen to support our historic trade, which contributes billions to New England’s economy and shapes the character of the region.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Mayor Calls for Repeal of Lobster Size Limits New Bedford Mayor Calls for Repeal of Lobster Size Limits

February 4, 2024 — Mayor Jon Mitchell has penned a letter he hopes will help New Bedford lobstermen not feel the pinch come this summer.

Mitchell sent a letter today to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Executive Director Robert Beal pushing for the repeal of Addendum XXVII to the ASMFC’s lobster fishery management plan, which is set to take effect in July and will limit the catch size of lobsters.

“As Mayor of America’s top commercial fishing port, I write to urge the ASMFC to repeal Addendum XXVII concerning lobster gauge size,” Mitchell wrote.

“I submit that the ASMFC should listen to lobstermen and work with them on alternatives that would be far less draconian and far more effective at sustaining the fishery and the fishermen in the long term,” he wrote.

Read the full article at WBSM