Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Proposed exemption good for Cape Cod fishermen

CHATHAM, Mass. (March 24, 2016) — When a fisherman is getting just pennies to the pound for fish, paying an additional $710 for someone to ride along and count each one can really cut into the bottom line.

“We couldn’t afford the $700,” said Chatham fisherman Jan Margeson. “It would have put you into a negative day.”

Margeson and other Cape Cod fishermen who pursue relatively low value species like skate and dogfish argue they use nets with such a large mesh that almost all other species simply swim right through and escape.

The observers they are occasionally required to carry are intended to double check the amounts of groundfish, like cod, haddock and flounder they are catching along with dogfish and skates. But Cape fishermen say they don’t catch any of the groundfish and feel the observers, known as “At-Sea Monitors,” are unnecessary and expensive.

Newly proposed regulations released for public comment this week confirm what Cape fishermen have been saying for years, by granting them an exemption to the requirement to carry the monitors on nearly all their fishing trips for skate and dogfish, which became the dominant species landed in Cape ports after the decline of groundfish, especially cod, in recent years.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Proposed fishing framework: Something for everyone to hate

March 23, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries has opened the public comment period for the proposed management rule that includes withering cuts to several groundfish species and reductions in the overall level of at-sea monitoring (ASM) coverage for the beleaguered groundfish fleet.

It seems the proposed rule, also known as Framework 55, has a little bit of something for everyone to hate. They have until close of business on April 5 to submit their comments to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Environmental groups, such as Oceana, are bitterly criticizing the projected reduction in ASM for groundfish boats to about 14 percent from about 24 percent, saying the rule will “weaken the chances of recovery for this historic fishery.”

Fishermen point to the further reductions in what they already consider minuscule catch quotas and say those reductions — combined with the absorption of the costs for ASM — could finally be the management initiative that shutters the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery for good.

Savage quota cuts

The catch limits, set by the NOAA Fisheries for the 2016 fishing season that begins May 1, include savage cuts to the annual catch limits for gray sole (55 percent), Georges Bank cod (66 percent), northern windowpane flounder (33 percent) and Gulf of Maine yellowtail flounder (26 percent).

“We will not have a fishery as we know it anymore,” Vito Giacalone, policy director for the Northeast Seafood Coalition, said on Tuesday. “In fact, I think you can already make the case that we don’t have a fishery you can recognize now compared to any period in the past.”

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: A National Marine Monument for New England? Maritime Gloucester Talk

March 23, 2016 — A National Marine Monument for New England. Should the President designate the Cashes Ledge Closed Area and the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts as the first Marine National Monument in the Atlantic? Come and hear experts Vito Giacalone from the Northeast Seafood Coalition and Peter Shelley of Conservation Law Foundation tackle the issues and the controversies surrounding Presidential action. A Panel with Vito Giacalone, Volunteer Chair of Governmental Affairs, Northeast Seafood Coalition and Peter Shelley, Senior Counsel, Conservation Law Foundation Massachusetts, with moderator, Sean Horgan, Gloucester Daily Times. Recorded at Maritime Gloucester on 3/3/2016

Watch the full video at Cape Ann TV

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford fishermen face ‘devastating’ cod cut

March 23, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The city’s commercial fishing industry — battered by last month’s arrest of magnate Carlos Rafael on federal conspiracy charges, last week’s drug raids on the waterfront and ongoing monitoring costs — took another punch to the gut this week, as government regulators proposed new cuts to cod catches that could take effect May 1.

“Those cuts will be devastating to the groundfishing fleet of New Bedford, and the whole New England coast,” said John Haran, manager of groundfish Sector 13.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in conjunction with the New England Fishery Management Council, released a proposed update Monday to the federal management plan for the northeastern fishery.

The proposal includes updated catch quotas and fishing limits for the fishery’s 20 groundfish stocks — including cod, flounder, haddock and more — for the next three years. The 2016 groundfish year starts May 1.

The proposal includes a new, 62-percent reduction from last year in the allowable catch for Georges Bank cod, a key species for the New Bedford fishing industry.

“Our fleet is entirely concentrated on Georges Bank West cod,” Haran said, referring to boats not only in his sector, but also in New Bedford-based sectors 7, 8 and 9.

“We also fish for Georges Bank East cod, but not as much,” said Haran, who is running for Select Board member in Dartmouth.

The proposal allows a total catch limit of 762 metric tons of Georges Bank cod in the 2016 fishing year. The total catch limit for Georges Bank haddock, by comparison, is 56,068 metric tons — an increase of 130 percent from a year ago.

Haran said the problem is that cod is a “choke species,” because once a crew reaches its quota for cod, it can no longer fish for other species, such as haddock, because everything is caught at the same time.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Standard-Times

STATE REP. BILL STRAUS: Impact of the federal fisheries arrests in New Bedford

March 22, 2016 — By now the local reaction to the waterfront arrests in New Bedford of one of the port’s major figures has begun to shift to inevitable questions of the role of the federal government in the regulation of commercial fishing. Operating under federal law, the current groundfish system of control, the so-called “catch shares” plan, began with Amendment 16 in 2009 by vote of the New England Fishery Management Council. This intricate system of allocating by fish species what can be caught and landed by licensed federal permit holders has clearly changed the market economics for New England fishing; a rapid concentration of fish permit holders has led to what functions as a government-created near monopoly. The fact that a single owner now controls at least 40 New England groundfish permits means that one person’s actions, whether driven by good or bad motives, reverberates through the regional economy.

We need to remember that this discussion is critical to the future of our port, and in my mind is distinct from the ultimate guilt or innocence of those charged to date. The presumption of innocence holds for anyone accused of a crime and they are entitled to a vigorous defense on their behalf. Regardless of the outcome of those proceedings, however, our port’s future depends on candidly looking at whether there has been a detrimental role played by the government’s regulations and how we got to this point. After all, the Port of New Bedford has a key role in the movement of seafood nationally; NOAA statistics for 2014 identify the port’s product value for landings at $327 million overall of which $251 million is from scallops. Using a conservative economic multiplier, the value to our local economy is over $600 million a year. By comparison, Gloucester’s seafood dollar value is only one-seventh of ours at $46 million during the same period.

The public documents now available online growing out of the New Bedford prosecutions point to a pattern of deceptive behavior where catch share quotas for specific types of fish were allegedly misreported for private economic gain. Because this type of behavior is alleged to be overseen by someone who owns and controls the most permits, the local groundfish industry in New Bedford is therefore more vulnerable and susceptible. That is a departure from history, where a diverse port economy relied on the decisions of many stakeholders. I don’t believe this concentration is a good thing for the overwhelming majority of those who look to and depend upon the seafood industry. Whatever is occurring at sea with respect to the science of habitat quality, species survival and sustainability is one thing; its quite another for a port’s success or failure to be put in jeopardy as a result of a narrow band of ownership encouraged by the Federal regulations adopted to protect the fisheries.

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

Study eyes fisheries for menhaden— a key forage fish

March 21, 2016 — Gloucester, Mass. — Interstate fishing managers will commission a study of the commercial fisheries for Atlantic menhaden, an important forage fish that is caught all along the East Coast.

Menhaden are an important bait fish and are also caught for use as fish oil and fish meal. States from Maine to Florida have been the site of commercial fisheries for menhaden in the past ten years.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The San Francisco Chronicle

New tool to help industry deal with fishing disasters

March 21, 2016 — The Fishing Partnership Support Services has developed a new manual to help fishermen prepare for potential crises on the water and to serve as a blueprint for communities dealing with fishing tragedies.

The manual, which the fishing advocacy organization assembled with help from researchers from Harvard University’s School of Public Health and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will be unveiled Thursday afternoon at an event scheduled at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Station Gloucester.

“It’s something that we’ve been working on for a while,” said J.J. Bartlett, executive director of the Fishing Partnership Support Services. “The fishing communities, such as Gloucester, have developed incredible networks of support for people performing these most dangerous jobs and we wanted to come up with a standard operating procedure manual that everyone involved can use.”

Bartlett said the five-chapter manual will be available via free download from the Fishing Partnership Support Services website, as well as by hand-outs.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times

Eight arrested in drug raids on New Bedford fishing boats

NEW BEDFORD, Mass — Eight people were arrested on local fishing boats over the past two days in drug raids by national, state and local law enforcement, who seized heroin and opiates that fishermen were intending to use at sea, police said.

“This is the second time we’ve done this, and it’s actually a continuing effort to (stop) the flow of illegal drugs from getting to sea, aboard fishing vessels,” said Major Patrick Moran of the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

“This operation, we had eight arrests,” he said.

Moran said environmental police worked with the New Bedford Police Department’s marine unit and local officers from the Department of Homeland Security in the two-day operation.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

DAVID GOETHEL: Should catch share management be indicted?

March 16, 2016 — According to accusations from Federal investigators, the seafood business run by Carlos Rafael “laundered” fish to evade quotas, sold fish for cash to evade taxes, and cheated captains and crews by paying them for lower-valued fish than what they landed. These are serious criminal accusations, but they also raise a disturbing question: Is the system known as “catch shares” at least in part responsible for what occurred?

Catch shares are a system of managing fish where fishermen are given fixed quota for each species, which they can either catch or lease. All legal fish must be retained, and the quota cannot be exceeded. According to proponents of the system, giving fishermen economic incentive not to exceed limits will promote sustainability.

Fifty-three million dollars has been spent implementing catch shares in New England. Since implementation, the NOAA regional office moved into a new four-story building with room to accommodate all the new hires and subcontractors maintaining the program, while environmental non-governmental organizations have wrung millions from their multimillionaire donors to run a relentless promotional public relations campaign. A cottage industry of companies, consultants, and academic institutions has received millions in grants to implement, monitor, and study catch shares. Meanwhile, most fishermen and their families, other than a handful of winners, have been eliminated from the fishery or reduced to near bankruptcy.

As a fisherman, you either work or you don’t eat. The people running Mr. Rafael’s boats essentially became modern-day sharecroppers. The exorbitant cost of leasing quota was deducted from their share of the catch, and, as of March 1, they are additionally responsible for the cost of government-mandated monitoring. Mr. Rafael also allegedly told the captains how to fill out their logbooks so that his fish-laundering scheme could operate. The captains, who signed the logbooks under penalty of perjury, had a choice: Sign, or do not eat.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Standard-Times

Massachusetts lobstermen want to create in-state processing industry

March 12, 2016 — With two of the top five lobster ports in the state, the South Shore could see newly created jobs and increased income for its local fisherman if legislators pass a law clearing the way for lobster parts to be processed in Massachusetts.

The bill to allow shell-on lobster parts to be processed, transported and sold in the state passed the State Senate in January and is waiting on action by the House, possibly before April, said co-sponsor Rep. James Cantwell, D-Marshfield.

Approval would allow Massachusetts to compete with Maine lobster processors that are going up against the dominant players globally – lobster meat processors based in Canada’s Maritime Provinces.

The dynamics of the international lobster processing market are starting to shift. America exported about 69 million pounds of lobster to Canada in 2014, and the 2015 figure was less than 67 million, federal data show.

Massachusetts lobstermen are eager to enter this market, especially on the South Shore.

Read the full story at The Patriot Ledger