Saving Seafood

New protections for right whales

April 27, 2018 — The plight of North Atlantic right whales remains at the forefront of priorities for state and federal fisheries regulators, leading them to impose new measures to protect the marine mammals as their seasonal presence grows in the waters off Massachusetts.

Within the past week, pods of the endangered whales have announced their presence with authority in the waters off the Bay State to the delight of whale enthusiasts, marine biologists and the general public.

According to the state Department of Marine Fisheries, the most recent aerial survey last week showed 100 right whales — or about 25 percent of the species’ known population — in western Cape Cod Bay.

Last weekend, a pod of about 30 right whales — whose global population has shrunk to about 450 — was spotted feeding off the coast of Marshfield. Gloucester-based whale watch boats this week also reported the presence of right whales near the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank.

On Wednesday, the state Division of Marine Fisheries enacted two emergency regulations “to protect vulnerable aggregations of endangered northern right whales in Cape Cod Bay” from collisions with vessels and entanglements in fishing gear.

The measures are effective immediately.

The first emergency regulation extends trap gear closures throughout most of Cape Cod Bay to May 6 from the original ending date of April 30. The closure extension does not apply to waters north of Cape Cod on Stellwagen Bank or within the Outer Cape Cod Lobster Management Area.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Lawsuit challenges fishing methods that could threaten right whales

April 27, 2018 — BOSTON — A noted environmental activist has gone to court to stop the use of vertical buoy fishing lines in Massachusetts waters to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

In a lawsuit filed in late February in U.S. District Court in Boston, Cambridge-based conservationist Richard Maximus Strahan names the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the assistant administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, the commissioners of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, as a representative of its 1,800 members.

The lawsuit is the third filed in federal court this year related to protecting North Atlantic right whales.

Strahan is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop lobstermen’s association members from further lobster pot and gill net commercial fishing operations that could result in the entanglement of any endangered whale or sea turtle, according to the amended complaint. In that same order, Strahan seeks to stop government defendants from licensing those types of commercial fisheries operations unless they can scientifically demonstrate that endangered whales and sea turtles would not be killed or injured.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

Massachusetts Punts on Big Offshore Wind Decision

April 26, 2018 — Massachusetts has opted to delay by at least one month its much-anticipated choice of a developer to build a 400-MW to 800-MW offshore wind farm—citing the unexpected complexity of bids received, complications of three extreme storms in March and an outside jurisdictional decision affecting the state. The state’s three utilities on April 23 notified officials that the May 23 selection will not affect the July 2 contract execution date, attorneys said in a letter.

Utilities National Grid, Eversource Energy and UNITIL said the three developer proposals received in response to a solicitation last June actually were made up of about 20 separate bids—some with multiple pricing and other options, including several complex scenarios that require detailed and demanding analysis. Baystate Wind submitted two bids with eight project variations. Vineyard Wind proposed two 400-MW wind farms combined with 1,600 MW of expandable transmission and a plan to accelerate supply chain development. Deepwater Wind proposed adding offshore wind incrementally to await falling costs and building grid-scale pumped storage and expandable transmission. It said the incremental addition could save ratepayers from $300 million to $600 million.

Read the full story at ENR

 

NEFMC Discusses Offshore Wind, Clam Dredge FW, Skates, Groundfish, Herring, IFM, and More at Mid-April Meeting

April 25, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:  

The New England Fishery Management Council met April 17-19 in Mystic, CT and discussed a wide range of issues that touched on everything from industry-funded monitoring to whether or not river herring and shad should be considered as stocks in the Atlantic herring fishery. In several cases, the Council directed its species committees to conduct additional analyses for further consideration before taking action.

The Council received an overview of offshore wind energy initiatives in the Atlantic region. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is collecting public comment on several projects. Since the comment periods end before the Council meets again June 12-14, 2018 in Portland, ME, the Council authorized its Habitat Committee and staff to draft comment letters for the following solicitations:

  • Vineyard Wind – BOEM has issued a notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement;
  • New York Bight – BOEM has issued a “call for information.” The Council’s letter, among other things, will include an analysis of fisheries active in the call areas;
  • Massachusetts Areas – BOEM has issued a proposed sale notice for additional lease areas off Massachusetts. Within its comments, the Council will express its position that, if granted, any lease provisions should require developers to have a Fishery Communication Plan and Fisheries Liaison; and
  • Path Forward – BOEM is collecting comments on a proposed “path forward for offshore wind leasing.” In addition to providing specific suggestions, the Council will request a 90-day extension to the comment deadline, which at present is May 21.

View the release in its entirety here.

 

Lobster Shortage Sends Prices Rising ‘Off the Charts’: Report

April 25, 2018 — If rising temperatures have you dreaming about that first lobster roll of the season, be prepared to get sticker shocked.

The price of lobster has surged over the past few months as Maine, the state the dominates the U.S. lobster haul, saw the catch fall due to a long winter and chilly spring while global demand remains on the rise, according to The Boston Globe. Cold weather in Canada is keeping its fisheries iced over, adding to the shortage.

Hard-shell lobster prices have shot up to about $15 a pound, nearly double from last year’s $8 a pound. And restaurants looking to buy pre-shucked lobster meat for their rolls can expect to shell out about $40 a pound.

The Globe surveyed seafood prices in restaurants around Boston and found the cost of many lobster dishes to be “off the charts,” the paper reports. A lobster roll at Chef Chris Coombs’ restaurant Deuxave will set you back $49, instead of the usual $22. And another area restaurateur told the Globe that it currently costs $47 to prepare his lobster rolls, but has kept the menu price at $29.

Read the full story at NBC New York

Frozen fish: NMFS approves Sector IX management plan

April 25, 2018 — Fishing boats in New England’s Sector IX groundfish fleet that were in danger of being barred from leasing groundfish quota moved into Sector VII in late March in order to recoup losses from a post-Carlos Rafael trip shutdown of the New Bedford groundfish industry. But the process of approving new operating plans will keep that quota frozen until midsummer at the latest.

NMFS reported that Sector IX was shut down completely in order to determine how much of the sector’s quota was illegaly used to cover Rafael’s quota evasion scheme.

Under a new plan operating plan put forward by the sector, which was narrowly recommended for approval by the New England Fishery Management Council with a 7-5-5 vote, NMFS will treat illegal catch in each fishing year as if it was known immediately after the end of the season, eliminating any carryover of unused quota into the next fishing season if there was any illegal fishing.

The council recommended that that NMFS authorize the “lease only” operations plan “with the condition that all overages attributable to the known misreporting are paid in full.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Massachusetts: Through the Lens: Our Fishing Heritage

April 24, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:       

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the opening of Through the Lens: Our Fishing Heritage on Thursday, May 10th at 6:30 p.m. during AHA.  This juried show captures the working waterfront and our fishing heritage as seen through the lenses of area photographers.

Photographers allow us to look at life through their lens and capture moments we might otherwise miss.  Through their art, they focus our attention on the world around us.  This exhibit explores a world many do not see – our working waterfronts and those who make their living at sea and on shore.

Organized by the Whaling City Camera Club, this show showcases the talents of local photographers. Award winning photojournalist, Peter Pereira, will select the winners with awards being presented during the opening reception.  Proceeds from this show benefit the Center and its educational programs.The Center is grateful to the Whaling City Camera Club for the support with a special thanks to guest curator Sally Erickson and juror Peter Pereira.

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

 

3 Sentenced for eel poaching and selling

April 24, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — Three men accused of together poaching and selling as much as $1 million worth of baby eels, called elvers, have been sentenced to a combination of probation and fines.

The sentencing Thursday was part of a bust of an eel poaching ring, the Bangor Daily News reports. The Operation Glass Eel bust led to 21 men being prosecuted on charges of illegally catching, selling and transporting more than $5 million worth of elvers in nine East Coast states. Twelve of the men are from Maine.

Two of the men sentenced Thursday in Portland were from Massachusetts. The third lives in Maine.

Elvers are one of the country’s most lucrative fisheries on a by-the-pound basis. They are sold to Asia for sushi.

Maine is the only U.S. state with a significant fishery for baby eels, or elvers. The tiny, translucent eels are sold to Asian aquaculture companies to be raised to maturity for use as food. They’re a key piece of the worldwide supply chain for Japanese dishes such as unagi, and some eventually make it back to the U.S.

The elvers are also legally harvested in South Carolina. Massachusetts only has a fishery for older eels, those larger than 9 inches, as do Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Massachusetts: New Bedford fishermen docked for season’s start

April 23, 2018 — The New Bedford groundfishing fleet will remain at dock — and without the ability to lease quota to other fishing entities — when the 2018 fishing season dawns on May 1. What happens after that is anybody’s guess.

NOAA Fisheries staffers informed the New England Fishery Management Council earlier this week that operations plans for New Bedford-based Northeast Fishing Sectors VII and IX will not be completed in time for the opening of the 2018 fishing season.

But the discussion following the briefing, as well as the council’s widely split vote on a draft recommendation to NOAA Fisheries, reflected stark divisions within the council and the Northeast groundfish fishery at large over how NOAA should resolve the issues borne from the long-standing catch misreporting and conviction last year of New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael.

 In the end, the council voted 7-5, with five abstentions, to recommend NOAA Fisheries authorize the “2017 and 2018 Sector IX lease-only operation with the condition that all overages attributable to the known misreporting are repaid in full.”

It also recommended that, following full repayment of the overages associated with Rafael’s cheating, NOAA Fisheries work with Sector VII “to ensure that the 2018 sector operation plan and associated conditions” are fully implemented.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

These whales will be extinct in 25 years, scientists say — unless we act now to save them

April 20, 2018 — PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — The crew of the research vessel Shearwater has been out on the water for six frigid hours with almost nothing to show for it.

On deck, two coverall-clad observers brace themselves against the biting wind and snow, alert for the white plume of a spout or the fleeting wave of a tail.

On the bridge, marine biologist Charles “Stormy” Mayo searches, too, his brow furrowed in a deepening frown. It is early April, and these plankton-rich waters should be full of hungry animals. But all he can see are dark gray waves and dull, cloudy sky.

“Where the hell are the whales?” he demands.

For years, spring has signaled the return of North Atlantic right whales — one of Earth’s most endangered species — to Cape Cod Bay.

Read the full story at the Washington Post