Saving Seafood

US judge overturns closure of Massachusetts Restricted Area Wedge to commercial fishing

March 19, 2024 — A federal judge has overturned restrictions on lobster and Jonah crab fishing off the U.S. state of Massachusetts, ruling that a 2023 law restricting fishing gear to protect whales applies to an emergency rule enacted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

That emergency rule entailed NMFS seeking to extend 2022-23 area closures in the Massachusetts Restricted Area Wedge, making late winter and spring gear restrictions permanent when endangered North Atlantic right whales are often in the area.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Predicted economic stability arriving just in time for financially stressed seafood industry

March 18, 2024 – The seafood industry has faced strong headwinds over the past two years, and the system of financial institutions supporting it didn’t have it any easier.

A panel of financial experts at Seafood Expo North America, which ran from 10 to 12 March in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., said 2022 and 2023 represented one of the toughest operating environments for lenders and financial institutions in recent memory.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: State closes shellfish areas in Buzzards Bay after public health concerns

March 14, 2024 — The state is issuing a shellfish closure in parts of Buzzards Bay in an area, following guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Officials concluded a bigger buffer zone is needed between the outflow from the New Bedford and Fairhaven Wastewater Treatment plant and the area where shellfishermen are growing and harvesting.

Bob Glenn, deputy director of the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), said as filter feeders, bi-valve shellfish are highly vulnerable to contamination from polluted waters, which can create health issues if consumed.

“Because municipal waste — even treated municipal waste — has a fair amount of E.Coli in it, it basically can lead to a whole host of different gastrointestinal illnesses,” he said.

According to officials, the closure will impact some recreational shellfishermen, the city of New Bedford, which had hoped to open up an aquaculture industry within the Clark’s Cove area, and two quahog harvesters — effective immediately.

Read the full article at CAI

MASSACHUSETTS: State shutting down many South Coast shellfish beds due to sewage

March 13, 2024 — The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is immediately shutting down thousands of acres of shellfish beds surrounding the New Bedford and Fairhaven wastewater treatment plant outfalls to comply with federal health and safety standards.

More than 18,000 acres of the Dartmouth, Fairhaven and New Bedford coastline, including quahogging areas off the outer New Bedford Harbor, will be reclassified from being conditionally approved shellfishing areas to prohibited. This means the state will not permit harvesting shellfish from these areas under any conditions.

The decision represents a roughly 11,000-acre increase in closures from the roughly 7,000 acres in New Bedford Harbor that were closed in October 2023 over concerns about sewage contamination. The state agency will not be revisiting the classifications for another year, at least.

Shellfish beds along roughly 90,000 acres of lower Buzzards Bay — from Westport to Mattapoisett, and out to the Elizabeth Islands — will also be reclassified, from being approved shellfishing areas to conditionally approved. These beds will be open to harvest except under emergency conditions like sewage overflows, which occur during heavy rains. Shellfish caught in those areas also cannot be sold to the European Union.

“Here in Massachusetts, we pride ourselves on our nation-leading seafood industry, including culturally and economically important traditions of shellfishing in Buzzards Bay,” Department of Fish & Game Commissioner Tom O’Shea said.

“While it’s difficult to see any additional areas closed to shellfishing, these actions are necessary to comply with national standards and protect consumers from real public health risks.”

The shellfish bed reclassifications will affect recreational fishermen on the west side of Fairhaven, and two commercial quahog fishermen who historically dredge the offshore beds, DMF officials said. These vessels had commercial landings of less than $20,000 in 2020.

There will be no recourse for fishermen affected by the closures. However, they can use other open and conditionally open beds to fish, a DMF official said.

Read the full article The New Bedford Light 

Events schedule released for 2024 Seafood Expo North America

March 6, 2024 — The full itinerary of onsite experiences, events, and networking opportunities at the 42nd edition of Seafood Expo North America, taking place 10 to 12 March 2024 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., has been released.

This year’s schedule will include events at the new Wave Makers’ Zone, located at booth #3165,  an area that will serve as a networking hub for industry leaders, and a platform to showcase the latest market innovations and discoveries. The Wave Makers’ Zone will host the new product showcases, the annual Seafood Excellence Awards, live recording sessions at The Podcast Reef, a women in the seafood industry networking event, demonstrations, and the expo’s annual oyster-shucking competition.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Fishermen can start applying for offshore wind compensation: Learn how

March 6, 2024 — Commercial fishermen in Massachusetts and other states who have been negatively impacted financially by the growth of the offshore wind industry have a relatively short window in which to apply for compensation under Vineyard Wind’s new Fisheries Compensatory Mitigation Program.

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid, Inc. and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through its affiliate Vineyard Offshore, announced March 4 that the deadline for impacted fishermen to apply and qualify for payments based on defined criteria is June 3 and that there will be no other opportunity to apply.

Read the full article at the Standard-Times

Seafood Expo North America – 2024 Expo Preview

March 5, 2024 — After months of anticipation, it is time once again for the Seafood Expo North America / Seafood Processing North America – the largest gathering of seafood professional on the continent – to take over Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

The 2024 iteration of the expo kicks off this Sunday, 10 March, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and will continue through Tuesday, 12 March.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: Female-run fishing businesses are keeping the industry alive in Gloucester, Mass.

February 28, 2024 — A few local business owners in Gloucester are hoping to expand the image of who is a fisherman. Melissa and Donna Marshall are two of those women. They own Cape Ann Fresh Catch, the largest community-supported fishery in the country. Donna started working with the CSF in 2009 when it was founded. When Melissa took the reins, she expanded Cape Ann Fresh Catch to include a smokehouse, Twin Light Smokehouse. Smoking fish is another way that the CSF can reduce waste.

Read the full release at WCVB

He’s the One Who Got Away: New Documentary Tells the Ultimate Fish Story

February 28, 2024 — As a commercial fisherman based in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Michael Packard is accustomed to bringing home the bounty of Cape Cod’s waters. One of the few remaining (if not the very last) of the area’s diving lobstermen, instead of setting traps, Packard dons a wet suit, mask, fins and oxygen tanks to pursue his quarry by hand where it lives on the ocean floor.

But in June 2021, there was a dramatic reversal of fortune when Packard, the predator, became Packard, the prey, as he was hunting for lobsters. That’s when a humpback whale came upon the fisherman and scooped him up in its massive jaws. Packard’s world suddenly turned pitch black as the whale closed its mouth around him. From the deck of Packard’s boat, the Ja’n J, Josiah Mayo, his first mate and friend, had no idea what had happened — until the moment he saw Packard get spat out by the whale and launched through the air. Though he had been inside the whale for roughly 30 seconds, for Packard, it must have felt like an eternity.

Packard’s trip inside the whale made international news. To many, it sounded like an unbelievable fish story, and the modern day Jonah had serious doubters and detractors. But Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker David Abel was not one of them. He believed Packard, and in his story, which he wrote for The Boston Globe, he also saw the makings of a documentary film.

“In the Whale,” Abel’s new documentary, recounts the fantastical events surrounding Michael Packard on that June day in 2021. But the documentary also delves into the humble seafaring life of the lobsterman and his family, detailing what they had been through, both before and since that fateful day. “In the Whale” will have its Long Island premiere at 7 p.m. this Saturday at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. Abel, a New York native, will be on hand to take part in a Q&A and discussion following the screening.

Abel has been a reporter for 25 years at The Boston Globe, where he covers climate change and environmental issues. Stories on New England’s fisheries, like the one about Michael Packard, are also firmly part of his beat. But in recent years, Abel has also become an accomplished filmmaker, and he explained in a recent interview how that part of his career came into focus.

Read the full article at 27 East

 

BOEM Releases Final Environmental Report as New England Wind Nears Approval

February 27, 2024 — The U.S. offshore wind energy sector continues to develop momentum as the Biden administration continues forward with its clean energy agenda. In the latest development, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its environmental review of the proposed New England Wind project offshore Massachusetts. This month, BOEM completed this review as well as approved the construction plan for Empire Wind, and defined the Oregon offshore wind area.

Today’s announcement highlights the time involved in the review process which several projects have now completed. The first lease for the site originally known as Vineyard Wind South was awarded in 2015 but in 2021 was transferred by Avangrid to Park City Wind and renamed New England Wind. The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement closed a year ago.

BOEM has completed the process and will publish the final statement at the end of this week. They note that they considered 776 comments received when developing the Final EIS for this project. The final environmental impact statement (Final EIS) analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the activities laid out in the New England Wind project’s construction and operations plan and reasonable alternatives.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive