Saving Seafood

NEFMC: Weather Update for Coral Workshops, Herring MSE Peer Review

March 13, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

As a result of the winter storm that’s forecasted for our region on Tuesday, the New England Fishery Management Council is: (1) modifying the schedule for its two Coral Workshops; and (2) reminding members of the public who are interested in the Atlantic Herring MSE Peer Review that a webinar option is available.  Here are the details.

CORAL WORKSHOP #1, NEW BEDFORD, MA:  This workshop will begin as planned at 9 a.m. on Monday, March 13 and extend into the early evening to accommodate as much of the original two-day agenda as possible.  The second day of the workshop — Tuesday, March 14 — has been cancelled to avoid unnecessary travel.  The workshop will be held at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, 185 MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, MA 02740.

CORAL WORKSHOP #2, PORTSMOUTH, NH:  This workshop will take place on Wednesday, March 15 as originally scheduled, but the start-time has been advanced by two hours — from 9:00 a.m. to 11 a.m. — to allow additional travel time.  The workshop will be held at the Sheraton Harborside, 250 Market Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801.

CORAL INFORMATION:  Visit the Council’s Coral Workshops webpage to access all meeting materials, including the agendas for both workshops, maps, and presentations.

QUESTIONS:  Email Michelle Bachman at mbachman@nefmc.org.

 

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ATLANTIC HERRING MSE PEER REVIEW:  The March 13-15 MSE peer review will proceed as planned on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the Embassy Suites near Boston Logan Airport.  Technical experts involved in the peer review will be traveling to and from the meeting outside of the forecasted storm window. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. each day.

ALTERNATIVES TO TRAVELING:  Members of the public who are concerned about traveling may listen to the discussion via webinar or telephone.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at:

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/473795069

There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (312) 757-3121.

The access code is 473-795-068.

Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.  Also, please be sure to mute your telephone or computer microphone upon joining the meeting so there will be no interference.

MATERIALS:  Meeting materials are available on the Council’s website at MSE documents.

QUESTIONS:  Email Deirdre Boelke at dboelke@nefmc.org.

Skate liver oil could boost fishing industry

March 13, 2017 — Two engineers showed up at the Chatham Fish Pier a few winters ago and struck up a conversation with some fishermen who were unloading their catch.

Steve Daly and Bill Hannabach asked for some of the fish because they were doing research for a new business venture. The fishermen obliged and the men took home totes with a variety of species.

“You have two rubes from out of town. They could have easily said get out of here,” said Daly with a grin. “They didn’t know what we were doing. We could have been making fertilizer, we could have been making pottery.”

This week Daly and Hannabach were once again at a Cape Cod dock, this time at Saquatucket Harbor in Harwich, with some of the same fishermen they had met when they first began experimenting with everything from monkfish to dogfish. But now they had with them the results of their foray into the fishing industry, their first product, MassOMEGA: New England’s Wild Fish Oil, set to be launched today and almost totally made from winter skate brought in by local fishermen.

“We have taken some of Nick’s skates, basically pulled the oil out and purified it,” said Daly, standing beside Nick Muto and his 40-foot boat the Dawn T.

Muto had just come in with his crew after close to 30 hours at sea with a hold full of skate.

“It is truly an amazing fish oil. It’s better than cod liver oil. Skates have such a high level of omega-3s. Tuna is a close second, but after that it drops off significantly,” Daly said.

Muto, as many fishermen do, keeps the wings of the skate to sell, but usually throws the bodies, or racks, overboard. But after fellow fisherman Doug Feeney introduced him to Daly and Hannabach, Muto carved up the skate bodies and gave the businessmen a big bag of livers.

The fishermen knew that capitalizing on an under-utilized fish in a sustainable way was important to the small boat fishery as well as the economic health of the wider community. They also knew that fishermen were busy fishing and running a business and lacked outside investment to launch new products.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

Long-term study planned in ocean south of Martha’s Vineyard

March 13, 2017 — A group of scientists is taking a deep dive into the salty waters and the food web south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Heidi Sosik, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will use submersible robotic microscopes she helped design and build, as well as an array of other sophisticated scientific gadgets to gain a fuller understanding of the ecosystem on part of the continental shelf stretching from just south of the Vineyard to an area where coastal waters meet the open ocean.

The study, which will involve a group of scientists and researchers led by Sosik, is being funded with $6 million from the National Science Foundation.

“The goal is that these ecosystems will be studied indefinitely,” Sosik said.

The team of experts will scrutinize the very foundation of the marine food chain: tiny plankton invisible to the eye but which can be seen with the aid of powerful underwater microscopes. The goal is to determine patterns in the ocean’s food web and how and why they change over time, so better management practices can be developed.

Waters off the Northeast coast are rich in fish, which depend on plankton to survive and in turn support the vigorous regional fishing industry that’s existed there for centuries.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod officials push for Sea Grant program’s survival

March 10, 2017 — Judith McDowell and Bob Rheault were both drawn to Washington this week for the same reason: They wanted to salvage a threatened federal program that plays a key role in Cape Cod’s marine-dependent industries.

McDowell, the director of the Woods Hole Sea Grant program, and Rheault, the executive director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, were hoping to save the national Sea Grant program from elimination. The Washington Post reported last week that the program’s $73 million budget is part of a proposed 18 percent cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

McDowell said she couldn’t comment on a budget cut she said hadn’t been officially released but was leaked to news organizations. But Rheault, who was making the rounds of congressional offices this week, was highly critical of the proposal to scrap Sea Grant, calling it a “job killer.”

His time in D.C. revealed there might be a chance the program, which President Lyndon Johnson created in 1966, could be saved, Rheault said.

“Most of the people in government who looked at Sea Grant realize it was a tremendous investment for the money,” Rheault said. “The impact (Sea Grant) has on local jobs, food production … it’s hard to say anything bad about it.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Rafael scheduled to plead guilty to evading fish quotas, smuggling money

March 9, 2017 — Carlos Rafael, who was labeled by the Department of Justice as the owner of the largest commercial fishing business in New England, will plead guilty to federal charges as part of a settlement he reached with the government, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts said Wednesday.

Rafael of Dartmouth was scheduled to appear in federal court on March 20. Instead he’s scheduled to plead guilty to evading fishing quotas and smuggling profits to Portugal in U.S. District Court in Boston at 2 p.m. on March 16. The U.S. Attorney’s office provided no further details regarding the plea deal.

Rafael’s attorney, William Kettlwell, did not return requests asking for comment.

Often referred to as the “Codfather” as the owner of more than 40 boats ported in New Bedford and Gloucester, Rafael faced one count of conspiracy, 25 counts of lying to federal fishing regulators and one count of bulk cash smuggling.

The indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney last May listed 22 examples of Rafael falsely claiming his vessels caught either haddock or pollock from June 2012 through January 2016. According to the indictment, in those circumstances Rafael actually caught fish that were subject to stricter quotas than haddock or pollock like American plaice, yellowtail or gray sole.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center seeks volunteers

March 8, 2017 — The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is looking for volunteers to help with day-to-day operations, walking tours, educational programs and maintaining the center’s growing archive. The center, which opened to the public last June, is dedicated to telling the story of the fishing industry past, present and future through exhibits, programs and archives.

Volunteer opportunities include: welcoming visitors, staffing the reception area and gift shop, engaging visitors with the exhibits, assisting with educational programs, and helping with special events. During the summer months, the center will provide weekly walking tours for cruise-ship passengers and seeks volunteer tour guides to “learn the ropes” and become tour leaders. Additionally, the center is developing a digital archive of scanned photographs and documents and needs volunteers interested in assisting with this project. Training will be provided for all volunteers, according to a news release.

The center also is looking for people with fishing industry connections to talk with school groups and the general public about their work and lives.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Small-Boat Fishing Groups Make Pleas to New Congress

March 7, 2017 — Local fishermen were in Washington, D.C. earlier this month to present their issues and concerns to the new Congress.

Cape Codders and other fishermen from across the nation with the Fishing Communities Coalition make the trip whenever a large number new representatives or senators are elected.

Cape Cod Fisherman’s Alliance CEO John Pappalardo was among those who visited over 30 Congressional offices.

He said that securing funding for fisheries management, managing a sustainable industry, and providing a clearer financial path for new fishermen to join the career path were among the top talking points.

“Fisheries have been a bi-partisan issue, and I would expect that when we and other industry groups make the case for how important the jobs and the protein these fishermen provide are, it’ll be a pretty easy sell,” Pappalardo said.

He also said that there was some discussion over converting many of the species caught for export into a domestic product.

The importance of building on the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act was also touched on, he said.

Pappalardo said he advocated for the National Young Fishermen’s Development Program, an initiative which would tackle the increasingly high cost of entry and limited growth opportunities young men and women face in the career path.

The trip took place before the announcement of a potential federal budget cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Pappalardo said he and his colleagues will keep an eye on that.

Read the full story at Capecod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing Heritage Center seeks volunteers

March 2nd, 2017 — New Bedford, MA – The Fishing Heritage Center is looking for volunteers to help with day to day operations, walking tours, educational programs and maintaining the Center’s growing archive.  The Center, which opened to the public last June, is dedicated to telling the story of the fishing industry past, present and future through exhibits, programs, and archives. 

Volunteer opportunities include: welcoming visitors, staffing the reception area and gift shop, engaging visitors with the exhibits, assisting with educational programs, and helping with special events.  During the summer months, the Center will provide weekly walking tours for cruise ship passengers and seeks volunteer tour guides to “learn the ropes” and become tour leaders. Additionally, the Center is developing a digital archive of scanned photographs and documents and seeks volunteers interested in assisting with this project. Training will be provided for all volunteers.

For those with a fishing industry connection, we hope you will consider talking with school groups and/or the public about your work and life.

Volunteers are needed during Center operating hours (Thursday-Sunday 10-4) and for occasional evening programs and special events. Volunteer hours are flexible and can be scheduled according individual availability and particular areas of interest. The Center is located at 38 Bethel Street, in the heart of the National Park. The Center is wheelchair accessible and free off-street parking is provided to volunteers.

For more information please contact the Fishing Heritage Center at: operations@fishingheritagecenter.org or call (508) 993-8894

MEDIA CONTACT:

Laura Orleans, 508-993-8894

info@fishingheritagecenter.org

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Hosts Scanning Day

March 2, 2017 — The following has been released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford, MA – The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center will host Scanning Day on March 11, 2017 from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Scanning Day is an opportunity for the public to share and preserve a digital image of their fishing industry photographs, documents and other records for future generations.

The Center invites the public to bring their fishing industry related photographs, both historic and contemporary, as well as documents such as settlement sheets, union books, or news clippings to be scanned. Staff will scan the materials and record any information the owner shares about each piece.  The owner will leave with their originals along with a digital copy  of the scans on a flash drive. The Center is working to create a digital archive of these materials which will be made available to researchers and the public. These documents will help us to tell the story of the fishing industry.  Scanning Day will take place the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to noon. This event is free and open to the public.

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 more information please contact the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center at info@fishingheritagecenter.org or call (508) 993-8894.