Saving Seafood

New Bedford Standard-Times: Time for NOAA to let Sector IX fish again

June 21, 2018 — Seventy-two thousand pounds of grey sole.

That’s the amount of fish that NOAA calculates Carlos Rafael misreported in his illegal groundfish scheme.

Multiple people at a Monday meeting of the New Bedford fishing community cited the number. So after months of NOAA saying it could not let Sector IX fishermen back on the water because it didn’t know how much overfishing took place in the sector dominated by Rafael, now the federal agency knows.

We don’t officially know it from NOAA, however, because the oversight group remains silent, even as the ban on the groundfish sector drags on into its eighth month. We know it because the members of the New Bedford fishing community — the fishermen, the fuel depot owners, the gear suppliers, the settlement houses — are all struggling because of the lost fishing. And they cited the number publicly Monday, based on information from NOAA itself.

“Everyone knows (the money in) the account is overdrawn. How do we get the money back in the bank,” asked Sector 9 attorney Andrew Saunders.

That’s the conundrum. The sector is ready to deduct the 72,000 pounds of grey sole from its fishing effort. But it needs NOAA to tell them to go ahead, and the agency remains silent. As it has for months.

The inaction has caused an estimated 240 jobs lost across the Northeast, estimated SMAST professor Dan Georgianna.

Richard Canastra, the co-owner of the New Bedford Seafood Display Auction, estimated it will take a long time to bring the groundfish industry back in New Bedford after so many months without fishing. It was not a very profitable industry to begin with, but it played a key role in keeping many of the New Bedford waterfront support industries active.

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

Atlantic Herring June 26th Days Out Conference Call Cancelled

June 21, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set effort control measures for the Area 1A fishery via Days Out meetings/calls.

The previously scheduled Days Out call on June 26, 2018 at 10:00 AM has been cancelled. Given the current weekly landings limit in the Area 1A fishery has not been fully harvested by all vessels and catch rates have not exceeded projections, the states have decided a Days Out call is not warranted at this time. The Section awaits the results of the 2018 Atlantic Herring Benchmark Stock Assessment, which is scheduled for peer review onJune 26-28, as well as the outcome of the recommendation from the New England Fishery Management Council to NOAA Fisheries to reduce the 2018 sub-ACLs.

The Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are scheduled to reconvene via conference call to review fishing effort on the days listed below. If the states determine a Days Out call is needed ahead of July 17th, a call can be scheduled and the public will be notified via a press release.

  • Tuesday, June 26 at 10:00 AM – CANCELLED
  • Tuesday, July 17 at 10:00 AM
  • Wednesday, August 8 (time TBD)

To join the calls, please dial 888.585.9008 and enter conference room number 845-202-505 when prompted.

Please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740 for more information.

A PDF of the announcement can be found here.

New Bedford fishermen, businesses losing out while waiting on NOAA

June 20, 2018 — The wall of windows within the Harborview Room on the top floor of the Whaling Museum provided a look of serenity across the waterfront as the sun shined down on countless fishing vessels.

The conversation within the walls painted a much different picture as those from the fishing industry described the suffocating effects that NOAA’s groundfishing ban has imposed on fishermen and shoreside businesses.

“If something doesn’t happen with groundfishing soon, it’s gone,” general manager of Hercules SLR John Reardon said.

NOAA implemented the ban Nov. 20 and has continued because of an overage calculated at 72,000 pounds of grey sole, according to multiple people who spoke Monday evening.

The overage represents the amount of fish calculated by NOAA that Carlos Rafael misreported. He is serving a 46-month prison sentence, but the NOAA punishment aspect has held many along the waterfront hostage.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

China tariffs threaten booming lobster business

June 20, 2018 — China’s proposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. lobsters would have a crushing impact on Gloucester lobster exporters such Mortillaro Lobster Inc. and Intershell, likely pricing their lobsters and all others from the U.S. completely out of the most vibrant lobster market in the world.

“I think this is going to kill us,” said Vince Mortillaro of the Commercial Street lobster sellers that bears his family’s name. “We’re already dealing with the treaty Canada has with the European Union that allows them to sell their lobsters cheaper there. Now with this on top of it, forget about it.”

On Friday, China announced additional 25 percent tariffs on approximately 545 American exported products with a collective value of $50 billion and the seafood industry — particularly U.S. lobster harvesters, processors and sellers — was hit hard.

Those tariffs were in retaliation to U.S. import tariffs on Chinese goods announced earlier by President Donald Trump.

China said it is imposing new tariffs — set to go into effect July 6 — on about 170 U.S. seafood products worth approximately $1 billion.

While the number of seafood products represents about 31 percent of the total U.S. products affected by the new tariffs, it accounts for only 2 percent of the $1 billion value of all U.S. products facing additional 25 percent tariffs from the Chinese.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Hearing on Cape Cod for rules to limit herring trawlers

June 19, 2018 — For over 15 years, Cape and other small-boat fishermen in the Northeast have lobbied against the large vessels of the herring fleet, saying they are too efficient at catching fish. They claim these vessels remove such large amounts of herring from an area that there is nothing left to attract cod, striped bass, bluefish, tuna and other species that eat herring close enough to shore for local fishermen to catch them.

These concerns resulted in a proposed regulation from the New England Fishery Management Council, known as Amendment 8 to the herring fishery management plan, which bans these vessels from inshore waters. A public hearing on the amendment is scheduled Tuesday in Chatham.

Right now, these vessels of around 120-150 feet in length, frequently towing huge nets between two ships, can come within 3 miles of the Cape coastline. Fishermen and the public will have a number of options to comment on, including herring trawler bans that extend from 6 to 50 miles from shore. A few months ago, local fishermen and environmental groups were unsure how far offshore they wanted to push large herring trawlers, but recent preliminary reports indicating the herring stock may be in trouble have united many in the fishing and environmental community to press for the maximum: a 50-mile buffer zone. They say this measure not only helps them catch fish in their traditional fishing grounds, but also helps the herring stock recover.

“If you had a bigger zone of 50 miles, you would encompass spawning sites that herring use,” said Peter Baker, director of U.S. Oceans, Northeast, for The Pew Charitable Trusts. “The benefit to the herring fishery is a place, a pretty huge one, where they could live without being chased down by industrial fishing trawlers, the most efficient fishing vessel around.”

A second component of the hearing, hosted by the New England Fishery Management Council, would allow for changes in the annual allowed catch dependent on how the stocks are doing.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Renewable Energy Bill Heading to Massachusetts House

June 18, 2018 — A bill that aims to sharply increase the state’s use of renewable energy is on its way to the Massachusetts House.

The Senate approved the bill Thursday, saying it will help ensure a healthier, cleaner environment for future generations of Massachusetts residents.

The sweeping legislation is intended to help protect public health, increase renewable energy use, reduce greenhouse emissions, put a price on carbon, and create renewable energy jobs.

The bill would also raise renewable portfolio standards, lift the cap on solar net metering, authorize additional hydropower and offshore wind procurement, establish market-based greenhouse-gas emission limits, and implement statewide energy storage goals.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Alliance watchful on cable-laying proposal

June 18, 2018 — Both supporters and opponents of Vineyard Wind’s plan to bring its offshore wind farm cable to land on Cape Cod have emerged in two state decision-making arenas. But at least one well-known advocacy group is remaining noncommittal but watchful.

“We’re not taking a position against the project,” Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound President Audra Parker said. “We’re preserving our right to participate.”

The alliance, which worked to defeat the never-built Cape Wind project in the Sound, is one of five groups that have been granted intervenor status before the state Energy Facilities Siting Board, along with seven individuals who have limited participation status. The intervenor and limited participation statuses allow groups or individuals to participate in the siting board proceedings beyond simply submitting public comments.

Despite participating in and supporting the designation of federal offshore wind energy areas south of the Islands, where Vineyard Wind plans 50 or more turbines, the alliance remains concerned that some other project could connect to that company’s new cable, leading to new development in the Sound, Parker said.

“We are watching closely,” she said.

The towns of Barnstable and Yarmouth, a resident of Rhode Island and Eversource Energy Service Company are the other intervenors. Among the limited participants are four West Yarmouth residents, a Yarmouth Port resident, one from Barnstable, and Vineyard Wind competitor Bay State Wind.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New England Fishery Management Council to Host Herring Trawler Forum

June 18, 2018 — Members of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance will meet with federal fisheries managers Tuesday to discuss the impact of big mid-water trawls working of the Cape’s coast.

After decades of lamenting the trawlers’ effect on local fishing, the fishermen will be able to testify in front of managers about how the local ecosystem has suffered from the prolonged presence of the industrial-scaled boats.

They will be advocating for a buffer zone off the coast that not only protects ocean herring, but also river herring and other forage fish that are caught and discarded as bycatch.

Public officials from every Cape town, Barnstable County, and the region’s State House delegation all support a year-round buffer, as do many environmental, scientific and civic organizations.

“Of all the issues facing us as a fishing community, protecting herring and forage fish might be the most important step we could take to rebuild our fishery and revitalize our waters,” said John Pappalardo, CEO of the Fishermen’s Alliance.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: First three sharks of the season detected off the coast of Cape Cod

June 18, 2018 — Shark season in New England officially kicked off this week, and marine biologists have already detected the first three great whites of the year off the coast of Cape Cod.

The sharks first showed up on marine biologists’ scanners June 7 and have been detected off the outer Cape intermittently since Tuesday, said Greg Skomal, a shark expert at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

The research team began checking receivers on the Cape on Thursday and were able to pick up signals from Monomoy Island to Wellfleet, Skomal said.

“I don’t think the sharks have left. I’m sure they’re still around,” he said. “And more and more will start trickling in as time goes on over the course of the month.”

The researchers detected the great whites in multiple areas over several days — including the first, whom biologists call Omar, off the coast of Orleans on June 7, followed by another shark, Turbo, near Wellfleet two days later, said Marianne Long, the education director at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which is assisting the Division of Marine Fisheries in the research.

Sandy, the third great white, was also detected swimming near Orleans on Monday, and Omar was detected again in Chatham on Tuesday, Long said.

Many sharks in the area have acoustic tags on them, she said, so although none of these sharks were actually spotted, the receivers picked up their acoustic signals.

The region has been “very active” with sharks in the past several years, Skomal said.

“These are great whites, and they feed on seals during the summertime,” he said. “We have a sizable seal population on the Cape, so that’s where they usually go.”

The shark season usually begins in June and can last until November, Long said. Most Cape Cod residents and vacationers are generally aware of the marine animals, she said, but she advised the public to be cautious and avoid swimming beyond waist-deep waters, especially off the coast.

“It’s important that when people go to the beach, they read all the signage to make them aware of all the recent sightings,” she said. “We do have these large animals off the coast in the water.”

New England Fishermen Worry About Trade Dispute With China

June 18, 2018 — New England fishermen could be caught in the middle of the escalating trade dispute between the United States and China.

In response to Trump administration tariff threats, China is planning its own 25 percent tariff on more than 500 U.S. products, including seafood.

Latest numbers from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries put the value of seafood caught in Massachusetts in 2016 at $551 million.

But Chatham’s Doug Feeney says small boat fishermen like him are already hurting. He’s been traveling to China to try to expand his market.

Read the full story at WBUR