Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: South Shore ground fishermen skeptical of plan to use digital cameras for monitoring mandate

June 9, 2016 — A program to get New England fishermen using video technology instead of human monitors to track their adherence to catch limits and document fish discarded from boats is getting mixed reviews in South Shore fishing ports.

Longtime commercial fishermen from Marshfield and Scituate said the project to equip some groundfishing boats with digital cameras comes with numerous pitfalls, including cost burdens and concerns about how video footage would be used.

Beginning this week, up to 20 groundfishermen from the Maine and Cape Cod will use three to four cameras to document fish handling on their vessels. At the end of each fishing trip, boat captains will send hard drives to third-party reviewers, who will view the footage and determine how much fish was discarded.

The Nature Conservancy is overseeing the project and hailed it Tuesday as a “new era in fisheries monitoring” that would be less costly than the current federal mandate, which requires having human monitors aboard boats on a percentage of fishing trips – at a cost to the fishermen of more than $700 a day.

Last December, South Shore fishermen threw their support behind a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Cause of Action on behalf of Northeast Fishery Sector 13, which represents fishermen from Massachusetts and New Hampshire down to North Carolina. The federal lawsuit challenges the legality of the federal mandate and came in the aftermath of news that government funding to cover the cost of monitors was running out.

Christopher McGuire, The Nature Conservancy’s marine program director, said his group has begun working with National Marine Fisheries Service personnel in hopes of winning approval for the video-monitoring program.

If video monitoring can deliver verifiable data at an affordable cost, McGuire expects federal approval to come within two years.

South Shore fisherman Ed Barrett questioned whether there would be any cost savings, saying the camera equipment would cost thousands of dollars.

“Then someone has to sit in a cubicle and watch the video,” said Barrett, who lives in Marshfield. “ In a multi-species complex like we have in New England, it’s impossible for the video to pick out which fish are being discarded.”

Read the full story at the Patriot Ledger

 

NOAA grants SMAST $1.6 million for monkfish study

June 9, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass — Researchers at the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology have won a federal grant valued at $1.6 million to conduct research into the growth and movement of monkfish, NOAA announced Tuesday.

The grant is part of a unique “research set-aside” program that pays for at-sea research not with direct dollars but with fishing opportunities whose proceeds pay for the researchers and for the boat they are using.

In the case of SMAST, where Dr. Steven Cadrin and research technician Crista Bank will be doing the study, 250 days at sea allocated in the grant each year for 2016 and 2017 should produce $1.361 million to pay for the boat and $270,000 for the research over two years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The research set-aside program began with scallops, according to Ryan Silva of NOAA. “There are no federal funds awarded, instead there are fisheries resources,” he told The Standard-Times

Cornell University also won an award that is slightly larger than that of SMAST.

Silva said that the research set-asides are the concept of the New England Fisheries Management Council, and are unique to the Northeast fishery. “Periodically we hear from other regions,” he said, but to date none have duplicated this program.

NOAA said in its announcement that “SMAST will tag juvenile monkfish to improve monkfish growth estimates, a critical parameter for the model used in the monkfish stock assessment.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Gloucester seafood executive indicted on tax fraud charges

June 9, 2016 — The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston has indicted Richard J. Pandolfo, a senior executive at Gloucester-based National Fish & Seafood, on four counts of filing false federal tax returns between 2009 and 2012.

The Pandolfo indictment, unsealed Wednesday night, comes seven months after Jack Ventola, then president and part-owner of National Fish & Seafood, stepped down following his federal indictment on conspiracy to defraud the United States government by failing to pay taxes on about $2 million in income he received between 2006 and 2009.

The Ventola case has not yet gone to trial, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston.

According to the federal indictment, Pandolfo, 70, of North Andover, received about $95,000 in “supplemental income” from Ventola — some directly to Pandolfo and others to his wife — and did not accurately report or pay taxes on about $90,000 of it.

The indictment also alleges that other payments were made to a shell company established in the name of Pandolfo’s wife, who is not named in the indictment, and were directed to it through a shell company controlled by Ventola.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Chinese travel pros test Gloucester’s waters — and lobster

June 9, 2016 — The world, it seems, keeps coming to Gloucester. And eating pretty well when it’s here.

The last two years have seen the city’s international profile grow significantly through its participation in events such as the Seafood Expo North America in Boston and subsequent city-organized visits to America’s oldest seaport by seafood buyers from around the world.

In April, the city hosted a large delegation of Chinese seafood buyers and executives to lay the groundwork for potentially generating more seafood trade — particularly lobsters — between Gloucester and the most populous country on the planet.

Each of the events has usually involved a luncheon showcasing the bounty of seafood that local fishermen pull from the waters around Cape Ann and the Gulf of Maine.

On Wednesday, the city shifted gears a bit by welcoming a group of 10 travel and tour professionals from Sichuan Province in southwest China. The group is being hosted by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism to explore bringing more Chinese tourists to Massachusetts — and, by extension, Gloucester.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

MASS. STATE REP. BILL STRAUS: Baker has the right to change board’s makeup

June 9, 2016 — To the editor:

On May 24, your paper published an article regarding the action of the Baker administration in replacing seven of the nine members of the state’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission.

All seven members whom Gov. Baker replaced were serving as hold overs whose statutory terms had long expired; five of them had begun on the panel as appointees of Republican governors going back to 1991.

I believe the new appointees reflect a diverse experience in fisheries and no one quoted in your article could credibly assert that the new members aren’t qualified for this panel.

Read the full letter at the Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center to Open June 25th

June 8, 2016 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center: 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center opens to the public on Saturday, June 25th. A Grand Opening Celebration is slated for 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.   A ribbon cutting and remarks will be followed by a mini-festival.  The event is free and open to the public. The Center is located at 38 Bethel Street in the heart of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. The 3000 square foot space will accommodate changing exhibits, public programs, school groups, archives, and community gatherings.

“The commercial fishing community deserves a place to preserve and present its stories and artifacts, share its skills and knowledge, and educate the public about its rich traditions, heritage, and contemporary existence. We are excited to provide that opportunity.” Executive Director, Laura Orleans.

The Center’s inaugural exhibit From Boat to Table presents all aspects of the industry from the time a keel is laid on a vessel to the time the catch is landed and brought to market. A variety of interactive components include a net mending activity, dress up area, and Eastern Rig style pilothouse designed and built by Fairhaven Shipyard with electronics provided by Furuno USA.  The Center worked with Chris Danemayer and Neal Mayer of Proun Design to take the exhibit from concept to fabrication. A team of volunteer carpenters have assembled many of the exhibit components.

The June 25th Grand Opening is envisioned as a mini-festival with demonstrations of industry skills such as net mending, dredge making, shucking, and filleting, as well as safety demos, model boat making, author signings, fishermen-led walking tours, and hands on kid’s activities.  The Oxford Creamery will offer lobster rolls, chowder, and ice cream for sale and Center exhibits will be open free of charge during the event.

During 2016 the Center will continue to present Dock-u-mentaries, its monthly film/speaker series and Something Fishy, its free summer camp program presented in collaboration with the National Park and Whaling History Alliance. Weekly cruise ship programs and fishermen-led walking tours will be offered during the summer months.  A variety of public programs including author readings, talks, occupational demonstrations, and performances will be presented.  The Center is also working in collaboration with MIT Sea Grant, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Boston, and the New Bedford Free Public Library on a year-long initiative to create a digital archive of fishing community history with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Fisheries meetings pushed back

June 2, 2016 — The state Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission was scheduled to hold its regular monthly meeting in Gloucester on Thursday, but that was before Gov. Charlie Baker purged seven of its sitting members and replaced them with new appointees.

Those wholesale changes on the nine-member board, which prompted charges of political tampering from many of the outgoing members, forced the Baker administration to reschedule Thursday’s meeting until later in the month.

Actually, two meetings.

The first, which Baker administration officials describe as an informal orientation meeting to help indoctrinate the new members on the workings of the commission, has been set for June 15 at a Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Field Headquarters in Westborough.

The second will be the regular monthly business meeting, set for June 28, also at the DFW facility in Westborough. That will be the first time the full board has met for a business meeting since April.

Read the full story in the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: No Saltonstall-Kennedy grant money headed for Cape Ann this year

June 7, 2016 — Cape Ann has been shut out this year from sharing any of the $11 million NOAA said it will distribute as part of the Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program.

Neither of the area’s two applicants — the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund (GFCPF) and the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute (GMGI) — were among the 50 applicants the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recommended for funding.

The recommendations are not absolute guarantees for receiving funding, according to NOAA. Final approval is subject to funding availability and a final review and approval by NOAA’s grants management division and the Department of Commerce’s financial assistance law division.

“It’s disappointing because we believe we had a great proposal,” GMGI Executive Director Chris Munkholm said.

The GMGI proposal was to use genetic-based testing to better classify the cod populations from various fisheries, Munkholm said.

“We believe this will help lead to developing the innovative technology that will be the future for classifying all species of fish,” she said.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rules for Northeast Skate Fishery

June 6, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region:

Today, NOAA Fisheries proposes, and opens for public comments, new management measures for the northeast skate fishery.

These were developed through Framework Adjustment 3 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan at the recommendation of the New England Fishery Management Council.

The proposed measures are:

  • New quotas for the skate wing (8,372 mt) and bait (4,218 mt) fisheries for the 2016 and 2017.
  • All skate trip limits are proposed to remain unchanged from current levels.
  • Splitting the skate wing fishery quota into two seasons (May through August and September through April) to allow the directed fishery to be temporarily closed in-season if the seasonal quota is reached.

Read the proposed rule as filed in the Federal Register.

The comment period is open until 5pm on June 21.

Please submit your comments online or by mailing them to:

John Bullard, Regional Administrator
NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA 01930

Please mark the outside of the envelope “Comments on Northeast Skate Fishery Proposed Rule.”

Northward Movement of New England Lobsters Putting Strain on Industry, Trade Group Says

June 6, 2016 — One of Southern New England’s most iconic sea creatures is being displaced by a warming planet.

A trade group says rising ocean temperatures has been putting a strain on lobster fisheries in Southern New England, including Southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.

According to a report from the National Observer, the Lobstermen’s Association of Massachusetts revealed that lobsters are moving further north, seeking habitats in colder waters.

“This is a real concern for us,” Beth Casoni, executive director of the Lobstermen’s Association of Massachusetts told weather.com in a phone interview.

Megan Ware, Lobster Fishery Management Plan Coordinator at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, explained to weather.com that the number of adult lobsters in Southern New England —south of Cape Cod— has plummeted to “roughly 10 million.”

Read the full story at The Weather Channel