Saving Seafood

Another New Bedford Scallop Boat Affiliated with Carlos Rafael Caught Cheating on Scallop Landings

January 30, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — According to information posted by the Massachusetts environmental police, on Sunday January 28, they conducted a marine fisheries inspection aboard a federally permitted scallop vessel in New Bedford.  After observing the offload of the permitted limit of scallops, the police confirmed with the captain and crew that all sea scallops had been offloaded from the vessel.

During a subsequent inspection, police located five additional bags of shucked sea scallops hidden below a foot of ice and food stores.  The violation was documented and forwarded to NMFS.  The illegal sea scallops were held for disposition by NMFS.

Subsequent reporting was that the vessel in question was the FV Dinah Jane, permit #320244, owned by Leeanne & Noah Fishing LLC.  This permit was ordered revoked by NOAA on January 10th, with a 30 day deadline for the owners to appeal the notice of violation.

The owners of the F/V Dinah Jane also owned the F/V Hercules together with Carlos Rafael, and were cited for filing false landing reports.

The vessel Dinah Jane and its permit was cited in count 15 of the NOVA sent by NMFS to Carlos Rafael, for filing false records with Sector IX, which was cited in count 20.  Sector IX is currently under suspension by NOAA for failing to properly account for catch overages and false reporting.  However, scallop fishing is not subject to the sector allocations under the New England multi-species groundfish management plan, so the vessel was able to continue to fish.

The proposed permit revocation would take effect on February 10th at the earliest.  The vessel was still legally able to harvest scallops until then.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

Fishermen Workshops to Focus on Fisheries Science, Management

January 29, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A unique educational experience designed for fishermen, by fishermen is coming to Southeastern Massachusetts next month.

The Marine Resource Education Program offers fishermen, and other fisheries stakeholders, an opportunity to learn the basics of fisheries science and how the fishery management process works.

The program demystifies the acronyms and vocabulary, along with equipping fishermen with the tools to engage in shaping regulatory action and participating in collaborative science.

A workshop organized and moderated by members of the local fishing community will be held in New Bedford February 26-28.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

 

Massachusetts: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

January 29, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to present a performance of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by the WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company on Thursday, February 15th at 7:00 p.m. Rime is the story of the misfortune the ancient mariner experiences on his last voyage when he does something terrible for unknown reasons and for which others pay the price.

First published in 1798, Rime was included in the book, Lyrical Ballads, a collection which launched the movement known as British Romanticism. In the poem, Taylor Coleridge explores the ideas of sin, suffering, and salvation.  The popular phrases “albatross around the neck” and “water, water everywhere/nor any drop to drink” originate from this poem.

WatermelonAlligator’s cast for this production includes Jess Wilson of Onset, Korey Pimental of New Bedford, Veronique Sylvia of Fairhaven, Sue Salvesen of Marion and Tony Ferreira of Swansea.  The WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company is a consortium of theatre professionals and dedicated amateurs who are committed to producing quality theatre in a local setting. They also provide theatrical education and training to interested individuals at all levels of experience and ability, with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in their educational and performance opportunities.

The performance will be accompanied by a slideshow of Gustav Doré’s etchings photographed from an original 1876 edition of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner donated to the Center by Virginia Vatelle. The original volume will be housed in the New Bedford Free Public Library’s archive.

Admission is $8/members and $10/non members. Doors open at 6:30.  Free parking is available in the Center lot.  This program is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Dartmouth Local Cultural Council, the Mattapoisett Local Cultural Council, the New Bedford Cultural Council, Fairhaven Local Cultural Council, and the New Bedford Free Public Library.

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.

 

Officials ask fishing vessels to slow down for right whales

January 29, 2018 — Federal officials are asking large commercial fishing vessels to slow down after nearly two dozen North Atlantic right whales were spotted in the waters off Nantucket.

The Boston Globe reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a statement Friday saying a voluntary speed restriction zone has been established 30 nautical miles south of Nantucket. It says 22 right whales have been seen in that area.

Mariners are asked to go around the area or to pass through it at 10 knots or less. The request remains in effect through Feb. 5.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WITF

 

Massachusetts: A day at sea: Cod, skate, discards and an observer

January 29, 2018 — It’s cold, dark and slippery at 2 a.m. at the Gloucester pier, and as most people are in bed or just going home from a late night out, Capt. Al Cottone is trying to start his engine and prepare his fishing vessel, the Sabrina Maria, for a day out at sea.

The Sabrina Maria is a member of Gloucester’s day fishing fleet, now hovering around 12 boats of what used to be a much larger contingent. This morning Cottone is taking the 42-foot trawler out around Stellwagen Bank, about 15 miles southeast of Gloucester, to trawl for cod, haddock and other groundfish as he skims the coast.

It’s a calm Friday in week of days of snow and freezing rain. Cottone and other fishermen have few good weather days in winter to fish, so they take advantage of whatever clear and calm days they can.

“In the wintertime you sometimes go two-week stretches without going out with the weather,” Cottone said. “Small boats have limitations.” An icy deck, big waves, a false step or slip and Cottone would be in the water with no one to pull him back on deck. He cannot afford a first mate or deckhand, and usually fishes alone.

“The days you fish, you save your money,” said Cottone. No fish means no money. “The winters are usually tough. Once the weather breaks, usually in the spring, you work harder and you make up for it.”

The weather is not all Cottone has to deal with. He also has to deal with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It controls what he and other fishermen can catch, how they must catch it, and how much they can bring back. It’s called the quota.

On this trip Cottone catches well over a thousand pounds of skate fish, but because of quota limitations is only allowed to bring in 500 pounds. The rest is thrown back overboard, mostly dead from being out of the water and in the frigid air for so long.

Cottone also has to deal with and pay for NOAA observers on his boat.

“Once federal at-sea observers became a reality, they added further insult to injury when they forced fishermen to pay for it,” Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken said. “If they created the mandate for these observers, they should pay for them to go out with their own money instead of shifting the costs to those that are most vulnerable.”

Last week, NOAA announced groundfishermen such as Cottone can expect to have at-sea monitors aboard 15 percent of all trips boats in their sectors take in 2018. Still in the air is whether NOAA Fisheries will find money to reimburse the groundfishermen for any of their at-sea monitoring costs as the agency has in the past two seasons. In 2017, NOAA reimbursed groundfishermen for 60 percent of their at-sea monitoring expenses — estimated at about $710 per day per vessel — which was down significantly from the 85 percent reimbursement provided fishermen in 2016, the first year the industry was responsible for funding at-sea monitoring.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Massachusetts: Local fishing titans battling in court

January 26, 2018 — Two of the Gloucester waterfront’s heavy hitters are squaring off in federal court in a lawsuit with at least $710,000 at stake — and potentially much more.

Kristian Kristensen, owner of the Cape Ann Seafood Exchange auction and Zeus Packing on Rogers Street, is suing longtime Gloucester fisherman Giuseppe “Joe” DiMaio, alleging DiMaio has failed to repay the approximately $710,000 balance remaining on two corporate and personal loans made to him by Kristensen and his related businesses.

Kristensen is seeking the remaining balance on the loans, as well as “costs, expenses and attorneys’ fees.” The suit also says Kristensen will seek “damages resulting from defendants’ abrupt and unjustified repudiation of their contract.”

It claims the auction suffered more than $400,000 in lost auction fees and has lost “an important supplier of fish” to the auction.

The suit, filed Jan. 19 in U.S. District Court in Boston, names DiMaio as the defendant, along with separate corporations he controls which own four Gloucester-ported groundfish vessels — the F/V Capt. Joe, the F/V Lucy, the F/V Tyler and the F/V Orion.

It alleges that DiMaio and Kristensen entered into an exclusive agreement in March 2012 in which Kristensen, through his Zeus Packing business, lent DiMaio $175,000 in return for DiMaio’s pledge to exclusively land all of his catches and dock all of his boats at the longtime Gloucester seafood auction.

“The parties operated under the exclusive sales agreement for over five years,” the suit alleges. “In July 2017, without notice or warning, defendants suddenly stopped selling the fish they caught on their vessels to plaintiffs and instead began selling said fish to plaintiffs’ competitors.”

Neither Kristensen nor DiMaio could be reached Thursday for comment. Their respective attorneys also did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Fishing Gear Deaths, Low Birth Rate Tell Grave Tale for Right Whales

January 26, 2018 — About 25 North Atlantic right whales gathered south of the Vineyard this week, marking an early-season sighting of a species that scientists warn could go extinct in the next 20 years.

The sighting belies the plight of the species, Dr. Mark Baumgartner told a crowd of about 50 people gathered in the Gazette newsroom Tuesday for a talk. There are an estimated 450 whales left.

Mr. Baumgartner, a scientist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and president of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, said he and other scientists have documented an alarming decline in right whale calving rates alongside a rise in deaths from fishing gear entanglement.

“We have years, not decades to fix this problem. The longer we wait, the harder the problem gets to fix.” Mr. Baumgartner said. “We don’t need more science to be done on this species. We need to act.”

While the situation is grave, he said, solutions including weaker fishing rope and an emerging ropeless fishing technology that could reduce the number of entanglements that kill or injure the whales.

North Atlantic right whales are about the size of a city bus, and individuals can be identified by unique patterns of callosities on their heads. The whales eat copepods, tiny crustaceans, to the tune of one or two tons a day, Mr. Baumgartner said, the caloric equivalent of about 3,000 Big Macs.

Right whales got their name because they were the “right” whales to pursue during the whaling era. The whales are slow-moving, live near shore, and float after they are killed, making them easier to drag ashore.

The population was decimated beginning around the time of the Revolutionary War. “They’ve been down for along time, but not out,” Mr. Baumgartner said.

More recently, scientists have closely monitored the population from the southern Atlantic calving grounds they visit in the winter to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. Two recent trends paint a dire picture, Mr. Baumgartner said. Last winter, five right whale calves were born, the smallest number scientists have documented in 17 years. So far, he said, no calves have been seen this year. “This year I fear may be worse,” he said.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

 

Massachusetts: ‘Cod is Dead’ uses New Bedford to highlight hurdles affecting fishermen

January 25, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — One of the first scenes in “Rotten: Cod is Dead” opens at night in the Port of New Bedford. Spotlights atop the fishing vessels light the area.

A few belong to Carlos Rafael, noted by their green color and “CR” logo.

A recording of Rafael from 2012 then plays. “I consider myself the biggest player right now on this industry…” he said. “I’m not going down. I’ll be the last one fallen, you can rest assured.”

The case of Rafael first attracted investigative reporters from the documentary to New Bedford in 2016. The episode “Cod is Dead” premiered Jan. 5 on Netflix.

Through two years of reporting, interviewing and filming, director David Mettler discovered more within the fishing industry than the man known as “The Codfather,” who now is serving a 46-month prison sentence.

“It’s so much more than just a way to pay the mortgage,” Mettler said. “There’s a very deeply felt connection to this way of life, and it’s very emotional and very powerful for a lot of people.”

The hour-long show looks beyond Rafael and focuses on catch shares within the New England fishery.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Scallops poised to jump back on US casual restaurant menus

January 28, 2018 — MIAMI — Previously deemed to be saddled with prices too volatile to offer at casual restaurants in the US, look for scallops to come back on menus in 2018, predicts Sean Moriarty, vice president of sales for Blue Harvest Fisheries.

Good luck finding Atlantic sea scallops at the types of sit-down dining establishments Americans most often frequent, like Olive Garden, Applebee’s or Outback Steakhouse.

The price of the shellfish have proven too lofty and volatile for such major chains to take the risk. But that could change soon as the global supply of scallops promises to reach an epic high in 2018, pushing prices to a more affordable range.

“I think the domestic consumption should continue to increase,” said Moriarty Wednesday during a panel on bivalves at the National Fisheries Institute’s (NFI) Global Seafood Market Conference, in Miami, Florida. “I think, especially in 2018, you’ll see a push to get back on the menu, not just in appetizers but in the center of the plate.”

Moriarty’s vertically integrated New Bedford, Massachusetts-based employer — one of the US’ top five producers of Atlantic sea scallops with 15 vessels operating in New England — will be among those rooting for more restaurants to join the scallop party.

Along with few abrupt changes in recent times – including a sudden drop that followed a glut of landings in May 2017 — scallop prices have grown overall since 2011, according to Urner Barry figures shared by Moriarty at the event.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Study: Warming Gulf of Maine endangering lobster stock

January 24, 2018 — Is the lobster boom on the decline in the Gulf of Maine because of warming waters? A newly released study by a Maine-based marine research group suggests that is the case.

The study, released Monday by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, touched on many of the same climate issues that have left researchers and lobster stakeholders anxious about the future.

“In the Gulf of Maine, the lobster fishery is vulnerable to future temperature increases,” GMRI said in the statement released with the study. “The researchers’ population projections suggest that lobster productivity will decrease as temperatures continue to warm, but continued conservation efforts can mitigate the impacts of future warming.”

The study, compiled with the University of Maine and NOAA Fisheries, said the anticipated decline highlights the need for vigilant conservation within the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery, especially since scientists say the gulf’s waters are warming faster than 99 percent of the rest of the world’s oceans.

Researchers said they expect the lobster population to decline from recent highs — GMRI pegs the peak year at 2010, when it estimated the Gulf of Maine lobster stock contained 518 million lobsters — to levels more in keeping with traditional lobstering years.

It estimates the population could shrink to about 261 million lobsters in 2050.

“The 30-year outlook for the Gulf of Maine fishery looks positive if conservation practices continue,” GMRI said. “In their 30-year projection, the researchers anticipate average populations similar to those in the early 2000s.”

Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said lobster stock assessments in the Gulf of Maine have shown the annual settlement of young lobsters — when they transition from floating in open waters as plankton to settling on the bottom to begin the seven- to eight-year stretch it requires to mature — has declined from previous assessments.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times