Saving Seafood

MA Gov. Baker backs fishermen’s call for NOAA to pay for monitors

August 13, 2015 — With a crystalline portrait of America’s oldest seaport serving as the backdrop, Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday attacked NOAA’s plan to force fishermen to pay for at-sea observers on their boats and reiterated his pledge to help convince the federal fishing regulator to consider science other than its own.

Baker, speaking to a crowd of about 100 near the Fishermen’s Wives Memorial on Stacy Boulevard, with the city’s Outer Harbor sparkling in the background, called the federal at-sea observer proposal “the most perfect example of an unfunded mandate I think I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I think it’s ridiculous and it’s outrageous,” Baker told the audience of fishermen, fishing advocates, Gloucester officials and members of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association. “If they want to send observers out on the boats, they should pay for them with their own money.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has told the commercial fishermen in the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery that it expects to run out of money to fund the at-sea observer program by Oct. 31 and then will shift the responsibility for funding it  — estimated at $600 to $800 per day for each boat that carries an observer — to the fishing permit holders.

“It’s insult to injury as far as I’m concerned,” Baker said. “And I’m sure that most of the people in the fishing industry feel the same way.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

MA Governor Baker meets fishermen in Gloucester

August 13, 2015 — Gov. Charlie Baker will journey to Gloucester this afternoon for a private meeting with fishermen and fishing stakeholders to hear concerns and address recent and pending regulations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the governor’s office confirmed.

Baker’s press office said the the event is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Memorial on Stacy Boulevard, and that his private meeting with the fishing stakeholders will be followed by a press availability session.

The governor also is scheduled to meet with the editorial board of the Gloucester Daily Times during the day.

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

A Handy New Use for Drones: Collecting Whale Snot

August 10, 2015 — A spouting whale is a majestic sight, spraying everything around it with minuscule droplets of whale snot. (Okay, so it’s not technically snot—it’s more like lung mucus.) But aside from being pretty, that spray, which scientists call “blow,” is a coveted substance in marine biology. Rich with DNA, hormones, viruses, and bacteria from the whale’s respiratory tract, the goo can give researchers clues about a whale’s stress levels and overall health. So, naturally, scientists decided they needed to try collecting the stuff with drones.

Last month in Stellwagen Bank, Massachusetts, scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NOAA used a hexacopter to collect blow samples and snap photos of 36 humpback whales, gathering data to compare the pod to their brethren in more pristine Antarctic waters. And that’s just one of the conservation research groups that’s decided to capitalize on drones. Ocean Alliance, a nonprofit in Gloucester, Mass., recently launched a Kickstarter for their “Snotbot,” which proposes to collect data from whales off the coasts of Patagonia, Mexico, and Alaska.

These multi-coptered machines are driving a small renaissance in biology and conservation research, allowing researchers—marine scientists especially—to study subjects and places they can’t typically reach. Drones are getting better at carrying scientifically useful payloads: things like more complex sputum samplers, and heavier, better-quality cameras. And as those high-quality drones get cheaper and easier to outfit, they’re helping to answer ecological questions that scientists couldn’t even begin to ask before.

Read the full story at Wired

 

Members of Massachusetts Congressional Delegation Write to NOAA on Lobster Monitoring

WASHINGTON — August 12, 2015 (Saving Seafood) — On July 31, 5 members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation–Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Reps. Bill Keating, Stephen Lynch, and Seth Moulton–wrote to NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eileen Sobeck expressing concerns over the agency’s plan to expand at-sea monitoring in the lobster fishery.

Specifically, they expressed concern that, without federal funding paying for the expansion, the cost of $650-$800 per trip will be borne by the vessel operators. This, the letter claims, will cause “many workers to leave the fishery to pursue more economically viable livelihoods in other industries.” The letter also expressed concern over other issues, such as the cost of legal liability.

Read the letter here

 

JACKIE ODELL: Emergency action needed on at-sea monitoring

August 10, 2015 — The New England senators stated in their April 29, 2015, letter to NOAA Fisheries that such a directive would “avert the collapse of our fisheries and secure their healthy and stable future.” The Northeast Seafood Coalition greatly appreciates the exceptional efforts and support the groundfish industry has received from the Senate Appropriators and members of Congress throughout the Northeast on at sea monitoring. Unfortunately, we continue to bite our nails and watch the clock tick. At this time, one crucial request by the Council to NOAA Fisheries remains unanswered. Specifically, the council’s request for NOAA Fisheries to initiate an administrative action to improve the efficiency of the existing at-sea monitoring program that will reduce costs of the program for groundfish sectors, fishery-wide — without compromising compliance with regulatory requirements.

This administrative action request is logical — it follows regulatory directive — and is another attempt to reduce inefficiencies of the at-sea monitoring program and thus costs to groundfish fishermen, fishery wide. It also reflects the strong message delivered by the Senate Appropriators in their pending fiscal year 2016 funding legislation for NMFS — to work with the regional fishery programs on a transition plan to an at-sea and dockside monitoring program that is more cost-effective, accurate, and commensurate with the ex-vessel value. The Northeast Seafood Coalition strongly supports the council’s request.

Read the full letter at the Gloucester Daily Times

Read a letter from the New England Fishery Management Council to NOAA regarding at-sea monitoring

 

Lawmakers appeal to NOAA over lobster monitors

August 6, 2015 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton and four other members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation have stepped into the fray over expanded federal monitoring of the state’s lobstermen, saying NOAA’s plan appears “duplicative and unnecessary.”

NOAA, citing the need to adhere to more stringent regulations for recording bycatch and discard data, announced earlier this summer it is significantly expanding the monitoring coverage for lobstermen with state and federal permits, while also mandating they complete vessel trip reports.

The lawmakers, in a letter to NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eileen Sobeck, point out that the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries already conducts annual lobster stock surveys in Massachusetts waters that produce similar data to the information the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seeks by expanding the coverage.

“At a time when the financial resources to federal agencies are limited, efforts by NOAA to expand the NEFOP (Northeast Fisheries Observer Program) to a subset of lobster vessels that hold federal permits, and to require vessel trip reports in order to meet the requirements of the Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology appear duplicative and unnecessary,” they wrote in the July 31 letter to Sobeck.

NOAA’s plan has outraged local lobstermen. At a contentious June 4 meeting in Gloucester, dozens of lobstermen ripped the plan as unwarranted and disproportionately unfair to Massachusetts-based boats, as well as creating safety and liability issues for permit holders.

“If an accident does occur involving an observer, it is unclear to the industry as to who would be financially liable,” said the letter, which was also signed by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, as well as U.S. Reps. William Keating of New Bedford and Stephen F. Lynch of South Boston. “Many in the lobster industry simply cannot afford the costs for legal services that would be required in the event of an observer injury.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times 

 

 

Gloucester Fishing Boat Catches Fire, Family Evacuated

August 3, 2015 — GLOUCESTER, MA — Five people on the Gloucester fishing boat Amanda Marie were evacuated shortly after noon today when a fire broke out on board.

No one reported any injuries, according to Harbormaster Jim Caulkett.

Capt. Mike Parisi, who owns and operates the 35-foot Duffy as a charter boat, said the vessel was on the oceanside of Ten Pound Island when they first “smelled something that smelled like smoke” from a fire that started started somewhere below deck. An unnamed gillnet fishing vessel came alongside the Amanda Marie, and the five people transferred from the burning boat to it, according to Caulkett.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

Massachusetts boat captains face charges for alleged clam harvesting violations

July 28, 2015 — PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — Reports to the state environmental police about illegal dredging for surf clams off Herring Cove Beach has resulted in criminal charges pending against two boat captains.

Matthews Collins, 29, of New Bedford will be arraigned Wednesday in Orleans District Court on a charge of violating state law for allegedly harvesting surf clams on the F/V Aimee Marie on March 24 shoreward of what is called the 12-foot depth contour line, according to the report of Massachusetts Environmental Police Lt. Robert Akin. The police seized 36 bushels of surf clams, with an estimated value of $666.

Under state law, dredging for surf clams is prohibited from Nov. 1 to April 30 within an area shoreward of the 12-foot depth contour, as measured at mean low water, south of Point Allerton in Hull to the Rhode Island border including Cape Cod and the Islands.

Collins is also charged with failing to properly display the boat’s identification number. The 1974 commercial fishing vessel is owned by Patricio Palacios, according to Akin’s report. The vessel typically works out of Provincetown, Provincetown Harbormaster Rex McKinsey said.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Feds: ‘Wicked Tuna’ TV fisherman claimed to be disabled

July 27, 2015 — MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – A Massachusetts man seen manning big fishing rods and harpooning huge fish on the reality show “Wicked Tuna” collected government benefits while claiming to be disabled and unable to work, federal prosecutors said.

Paul Hebert, 50, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, accepted more than $44,000 in Social Security and Medicaid benefits between 2010 and 2013, according to a four-count indictment filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Burlington.

Hebert first filed for Social Security disability in the spring of 2009, claiming on his application that he was unable to work at any job, could not walk properly, could not lift heavy weights or drive for more than short distances, according to the indictment. Hebert also said he lived alone that he had no financial resources, no vehicle and no income. He began receiving benefits in October 2010, authorities said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at New Jersey Herald 

 

 

NOAA begins fence-mending with Northeast fishermen

July 23, 2015 —  NOAA Fisheries this week undertook an effort to build trust and cooperation from the New England fishing industry by including the industry in upcoming groundfish stock assessments.

NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, based in Woods Hole, conducted meetings at five sites Wednesday, with web meeting access provided for several more sites up and down the New England coast.

The NOAA scientists made a presentation of the assessment process and some of the options that the New England Fishery Management Council’s Science Committee has for action on assessments.

According to the NOAA web site, those options range from the status quo to a complete review and rebuild of all the methods and computer models being used by the science center to guide NOAA’s annual quota decisions on 20 different groundfish stocks.

With very few fishermen fishing for groundfish, few were among the 20 or so participants, according to Don Cuddy, spokesman for the New Bedford-based Center for Sustainable Fisheries.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times