Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: GOP hopeful Geoff Diehl forms fishing advisory council

August 31, 2018 — Geoff Diehl, who’s running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, announced Thursday morning the formation of his “Fishing Advisory Council.”

Diehl made the announcement on the city’s working waterfront at Bergie’s Seafood.

“Understanding the importance of fishing to our economy, I have been meeting with leaders of the industry for well over a year. It is clear that fishermen need and deserve a full-time senator who will work to revive and protect the industry,” Diehl said in a statement. “That’s why today I am pleased to announce my Fishing Advisory Council. They will be advising me on fishing and related matters that effect our local ports.”

Members include:

    • Bill Mantville, Leading Seafoods, Boston
    • John Haran, Sector 13, New Bedford
    • John Reardon, Sector 9, New Bedford
    • Mark Bergeron, Bergie’s Seafoods, New Bedford
    • Mike Orlando, Intershell International, Gloucester
    • Rob Rizzo, Eastern Fisheries, New Bedford
    • Patrick Hughes, Harbor Blue Fisheries, Fairhaven
    • Captain Dave Marciano, FV Hard Merchandise, Gloucester
    • Chris Basile, Quaterdeck Seafood, Maynard

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Another Whale Carcass Spotted in Massachusetts Has Scientists Alarmed for Population

August 30, 2018 — The second right whale death of 2018 has been recorded near Martha’s Vineyard.

North Atlantic right whales are one of the most endangered marine mammals with an estimated population of 450.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the young whale was first reported floating off Tom’s Neck Point, Martha’s Vineyard, on Sunday. The carcass of the 30-foot whale again was spotted Monday and the agency began planning to tow it to shore to perform a necropsy.

On Tuesday, however, the U.S. Coast Guard and two staff members of the NOAA Fisheries Woods Hole Laboratory sailed to the carcass and determined it was too decomposed to bring to shore. The crew attached a satellite tag and took tissue samples. If the whale carcass does make it to land, they will collect more samples.

Read the full story at NH1

MASSACHUSETTS: Senate hopeful Lindstrom visits the New Bedford fishing industry

August 30, 2018 — The New Bedford fishing industry rolled out the red carpet Wednesday for Beth Lindstrom, one of three Republicans locked in a primary battle to see who will go up against incumbent Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Lindstrom’s first visit to the fishing industry was arranged by Saving Seafood, a Washington, D.C.-based industry advocacy group founded by New Bedford native Bob Vanasse.

The half-day-long visit began at the BASE seafood auction on Hassey Street, owned and operated by Richard Canastra. There, buyers and the general public can watch as fish are auctioned off electronically, a far cry from the old system of chalk on a blackboard.

Lindstrom, former executive director of the Massachusetts State Lottery, mainly asked questions and listened to fishing industry representatives who told her of the difficulties they have with federal regulations.

An added concern, they said, is the pending construction of huge offshore wind energy farms that they say will keep fishing boats at bay to avoid the risk of entanglement.

The case of Carlos Rafael, known as The Codfather, was also brought up because of the hardship that the government imposed on fishing boats in sectors 7 and 9 and on-shore services who weren’t involved in Rafael’s misdeeds. Rafael is serving a 46-month federal sentence on charges including conspiracy, false labeling of fish, bulk cash smuggling, tax evasion and falsifying federal records.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

JON MITCHELL: New York Wind Farms Could Harm Fishing Industry

August 30, 2018 — The city is continuing progress in developing the offshore wind industry without adversely affecting the commercial fishing industry. Mayor Jon Mitchell says we’ll see more activity in the area within the coming months.

However, in his weekly appearance on WBSM, the mayor voiced his concerns with proposed offshore wind farms that are proposed in the waters off New York and New Jersey

Mayor Mitchell said that those waters are much more heavily fished by New Bedford-based vessels than the wind farm areas off Massachusetts. He said that if those proposed wind developments become a reality, it will have a very adverse effect on the local fishing industry.

Read the full story at WBSM

Senate Panel Told Nation’s Algae Woes Will Worsen If Not Addressed

August 29, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The spread of toxic algal blooms in the nation’s waterways – largely caused by a combination of warming water, contaminant run off and “supercharged bacteria” – won’t stop anytime soon, one scientist told lawmakers Tuesday.

During a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee hearing, scientist Donald Anderson of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, told lawmakers that after 40 years of study on toxic blooms, he is convinced that the outbreaks will only persist and worsen if left unaddressed.

The blooms vary greatly in composition and color; some are red, some green, and others gold.

In freshwater, the blooms are typically caused when simple algae collides with cynobacteria, or blue-green algae.

While some algae growth can be beneficial and the exact causes for emergent blooms vary in both fresh and marine water, Anderson said, it is climate change which will “almost certainly” continue to influence the pervasiveness of dangerous algal build up.

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

 

New Study Seeks To Reveal The Secrets Of Halibut

August 29, 2018 — Fred Bennett has been a fisherman for about 60 years and he just stared, perplexed, at a graph supposedly showing a halibut, tagged to track its progress, moving in the water column.

He shook his head in consternation and looked at fellow captain Mike Anderson who has spent more than 40 years on the water.

How is that possible? Bennett wondered.

Anderson was laughing.

It’s not, he said – unless the storied flat fish had been eaten by something, most likely a great white shark.

“The tag was hanging out near the bottom during the day and was near the surface of the water during the night time, plus the tag temperature shot up suddenly and stayed there – pretty clear indications that it was eaten by a shark,” agreed George Maynard, research coordinator at the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.

Stumping Bennett and Anderson would be tough. The two spent many years catching halibut, a great-tasting fish that is making fishermen money in Canada, and used to make fishermen money here. But stocks crashed, and for the last 18 years local fishermen have been allowed to land only one fish per trip, and that one has to measure at least 41 inches.

Read the full story at The Cape Cod Chronicle

 

Massachusetts raises fines as it updates fishing rules

August 29, 2018 — It’s going to cost you more to run afoul of the law out on the waters of the commonwealth beginning this November.

The state has doubled the civil fines and simplified and modernized the criminal fine system to run between $400 to $10,000 and as much as 30 months of jail time for offenders.

“It was really a big cleanup, especially on the criminal side, where we got rid of a lot of sections of penalties because they really reflected past enforcement priorities that just didn’t match the priorities of today,” said Jared Silva of the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

The revisions emerged from a two-year effort by DMF staff, Massachusetts Environmental Police and others to bring the state’s marine fine and penalty system into the 21st century, eliminating outdated enforcement measures and consolidating wherever possible.

“We repealed several sections,” Silva said.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Lobstermen Asked to Look Out for Tagged Crustaceans

August 29, 2018 — New England’s lobster fishermen are being asked to keep an eye out for tagged lobsters that are part of a survey of the valuable crustaceans.

The lobsters are tagged with green bars that say “SNECVTS” and black acoustic tags. They are part of a tagging program that’s part of a southern New England lobster study being conducted from May to November by Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation and the University of Rhode Island.

The study is designed to find out about lobster and Jonah crab abundance and distribution in the RI/MA Wind Energy Area, which is located south of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, in the area of Cox’s Ledge.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

BETH CASONI: Canada needs to do more to protect right whales

August 28, 2018 — For generations, Massachusetts lobstermen have been part of a revered tradition of marine coexistence that has sustained a proud New England fishing industry and protected an ecosystem for marine mammals. Now, that coexistence is threatened and international action is needed.

The North Atlantic right whale is critically endangered and faces extinction within our lifetime. For centuries, these enormous and majestic animals have migrated through New England waters, but largely due to unintentional human harm from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, today the right whale population is estimated to be down to as few as 435. And the last year has been especially disastrous, with 17 confirmed right whale mortalities and no new calves sighted in the most recent calving season.

Now is the time for cooperative international intervention to turn this situation around and head off the preventable tragedy of extinction of this species.

For decades, the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association has worked in concert with conservation organizations like the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the International Fund for Animal Welfare to be good stewards of the ocean and marine mammals. Facing serious concerns about how to make a living and keep businesses going, we work to find middle ground between our industry and the efforts of conservationists to advance the shared aims of all.

Over the years, regulators have imposed restrictions on U.S. Atlantic Coast fisheries in an effort to reduce harm to endangered species including the right whale. The MLA is proud of our history of adopting and complying with these requirements. To name a few: Vessels, aircraft or other approaches must be restricted within 500 yards of a right whale; and, all vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in certain locations along the East Coast of the United States at certain times of year to avoid collision with right whales.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Fisheries and Climate Change: What’s Going On in New England?

August 28, 2018 — From cod to lobster, it’s no secret that New England’s fisheries are suffering at the hands of rising water temperatures and ecological shifts related to climate change. But, sometimes, it smacks you in the face.

This past week alone, a new assessment found no improvement in the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery, which has been closed for five years. And another study linked rising water temperatures to the spread of a shell disease that has hit lobsters in southern New England hard in recent years.

Andrew Pershing, the chief scientific officer for Gulf of Maine Research Institute shared his thoughts on what’s happening in the New England fisheries, and while it’s not great, it’s not all bad news.

“You have to really put lobster in Maine and New Hampshire and north-of-Cape-Cod in the winner category, where the warming over the last 30 years has been a real boon to that population and it’s helped them achieve the record catches that people in Maine have had over the last three or four years,” Pershing said.

But in southern New England, those warming waters have been the cause of a decline. They’re essentially making it too hot for baby lobsters to thrive, and now it also seems to be contributing to the spread of a lobster shell disease.

Read the full story at WCAI