Saving Seafood

SENATORS MARKEY, SULLIVAN INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION TO PROTECT PHYSICAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH IN COMMERCIAL FISHING INDUSTRY

December 5, 2023 — The following was released by the office of Senator Ed Markey:

Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced the Fishing Industry Safety, Health, and Wellness Improvement (FISH Wellness) Act, bipartisan legislation that would build upon the success of the Commercial Fishing Occupational Safety Research & Training Program to better address the range of occupational safety and health risks facing fishermen in this highly strenuous and dangerous industry, including worker fatigue and substance use disorder. This legislation would also increase the authorized funding for the program and make these research and training grants more accessible on every coast by eliminating the match requirement.

“Every day, our fishermen are faced with demanding and dangerous working conditions that take both a physical and mental toll, all while they work to bring food to the tables of families across the country,” said Senator Markey. “The FISH Wellness Act will provide much needed funding to ensure that fishermen are getting the information and resources they need to stay safe and healthy on the job.”

“Fishermen contend with extreme weather, long distances and periods away from shore and family, and often strenuous working conditions—factors that contribute to the industry being consistently ranked among the most dangerous in the country,” said Senator Sullivan. “I’m glad to introduce the FISH Wellness Act with Senator Markey, which would expand job safety training opportunities to support our fishermen as they sustainably harvest a world-class renewable resource and strengthen our coastal economies.”

Read the full release at the office of Senator Ed Markey

New Bedford South End Wind Turbine Just a Temporary Research Project

December 5, 2023 — There was some concern Monday morning regarding an offshore wind project happening down in the Clark’s Cove area of New Bedford’s South End, with rumors that a wind turbine was being erected off the shores of West Beach without any notification to the public.

However, what is being launched today is actually a prototype of a floating offshore wind turbine. The aluminum and fiberglass structure weighs 1,500 pounds and sits on a 19 foot-by-19 foot square platform, with a hub height of 27 feet off the water.

The blades on the turbine are 12 feet long, so when a blade is in the 12 o’clock position, the entire height of the structure will be 39 feet. It is 1/16th scale of a full-sized turbine.

The structure is being launched as a prototype demonstration by T-Omega Wind to study the effect of the wind and waves on the anchors for these floating offshore wind turbines. It is expected to last roughly 60 days, depending on the weather.

Read the full story at WBSM

 

The collapse of fishing giant Blue Harvest exposes the weakness of catch share policies

December 2, 2023 — In October 2023, wrecking crews finished scrapping the last of a dozen fishing boats that had once owned by the notorious New England fishing magnate nicknamed “The Codfather.” Carlos Rafael, who started out as a fish gutter in New Bedford, Massachusetts, aggressively worked — and sometimes cheated — his way up the ladder, eventually coming to dominate New England’s groundfish fishery (which includes cod, hake, flounder and other white fish) before a 2017 court decision sent him to prison for nearly four years and forced him to sell off his fleet. The sale, completed during his prison sentence, would earn him another $100 million. It was a profitable end for a fishing empire built on seafood fraud, tax evasion and consolidation.

So when the private equity-backed Blue Harvest Fisheries announced in 2020 that it was buying most of Rafael’s fleet and putting the boats back to work, some welcomed it as good news for the port of New Bedford, the hub of Cape Cod’s fishing industry. But others were alarmed that Blue Harvest’s majority equity holder was the Dutch-owned firm Bregal Partners — and that most of the money would ultimately move through a Swiss holding company and into the hands of a family of European billionaires, with only a tiny fraction going to the local fishing community. Now, only three years after assuming control and becoming the dominant player in the New England groundfish fishery, Blue Harvest has suspended its operations and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, leaving many fishermen unemployed once again.

In filing for Chapter 7, Blue Harvest may be leaving as much as $100 million in outstanding debts — many of them to local vendors who performed maintenance and upgrades on its fleet. An investigation by the New Bedford Light has found that the bankruptcy is likely an avenue for Bregal to avoid paying those debts and maximize the cash it could extract.

The following was released by salon

MASSACHUSETTS: Representative Dylan Fernandes Grants Cape Fishermen $500,000 to Boost Local Fishing Industry

December 2, 2023 — Massachusetts state Rep. Dylan Fernandes presented $500,000 in funding to the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance (CCCFA) at the Chatham Fish Pier yesterday.

The funding was earmarked for the Alliance in the state’s 2024 budget for their efforts in modernizing and maintaining sustainable fishing and was part of $1.2 million in funding Fernandes secured for the Cape and Islands during the FY2024 budget process. Of that, $940,000 in funding was devoted to protecting oceans and combating climate change.

“Fishing is not just an industry on the Cape and Islands; it’s woven into the very culture and fabric of our communities,” said Fernandes. “These funds are a pathway toward adaptive fishing practices, healthier oceans, and a sustainable industry that can be passed down to future generations of fishing families.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Ropeless Buoy Technology Tested in New England

November 25, 2023 — A federal program testing the viability of “fishing on demand” technology – also known as ropeless buoys – is seeing growing interest and success off the waters of Massachusetts.

But even though the program is experimental, free, and voluntary – and allows fishermen to trap in seasonally closed waters and keep what they catch – many of the state’s lobstermen don’t like it.

The project was started by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2018, in response to federal court rulings and NOAA regulations that seasonally closes thousands of square miles of fishing grounds to protect critically endangered right whales from the risk of entanglement in fishing gear.

Research shows there are fewer than 350 right whales left in the world, a population that has fewer than 70 reproductive females living off the U.S. East Coast and Atlantic Canada. Their biggest threats are entanglements in fishing gear and vessel strikes. The legal and regulatory action to protect the whales through seasonal fishing and speed restrictions in critical areas stems from lawsuits brought by environmental groups and subsequent court rulings to enforce provisions in the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act.

The seasonal closures prohibit lobster and Jonah crab fishing with traps and vertical lines in high-risk areas, covering almost 13,000 square miles in several restricted blocks off Massachusetts, with additional closures off New Hampshire and Maine. Fishermen who agree to participate in NOAA’s program and test the gear can access those areas under a special permit, using various ropeless buoy technologies being developed by NOAA, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, other non-governmental organizations and several marine technology companies.

“We acknowledge the tremendous impact these closures have on fishing communities and are looking for solutions that would allow fishing without increasing entanglement risk” when vertical line restrictions are in effect, said Henry Milliken, head of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Protected Species Gear Research Program.

“We are just trying to provide opportunities for fishermen who want access to those [restricted] areas. Nobody wants to close down the lobster fishery, especially in Maine and Massachusetts,” said Milliken.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: Turbines are in the water – offshore wind has arrived in Massachusetts

November 20, 2023 — After more than two decades of proposing and planning, offshore wind is up and spinning. Fifteen miles off the coast of Matha’s Vineyard, the Vineyard Wind Project is installing 62 massive turbines. They estimate that this $4 billion project will power 400,000 homes and businesses. But some environmentalists believe the project could cause more harm than good.

Offshore wind is making a splash in New England, but it isn’t new to the Bay State. For more than two decades, plans for offshore wind turbines have been under discussion. Nearly 20 years after developers proposed the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound – a project that was eventually scrapped – offshore wind is up and spinning.

From concrete gray to ‘tutu’ green, Mass. shows off the many colors of coastal resilience

November 18, 2023 — Hurricane Carol devastated the port of New Bedford in 1954, leaving millions of dollars of damage in its wake. The fishing community couldn’t risk another blow, so business leaders decided to construct a massive barrier at the mouth of the port.

The hurricane barrier is made of 900,000 tons of stone, 20 feet high and stretches 3.5 miles across New Bedford’s port. It can protect New Bedford, Fairhaven and Acushnet from a Category 3 hurricane.

When a storm comes and the water level stops rising behind the barrier, it is “such a feeling of security,” John Bullard, the former mayor of New Bedford and president of the board of the New Bedford Ocean Cluster, told Boston Public Radio on Thursday. Bullard was 15 when the barrier was built.

Yet there are only two hurricane barriers on the East Coast — the other is in Providence. And coastal cities are facing growing threats from sea level rise and storm surge connected to climate change.

In 30 years, sea levels may be as much as 1.5 feet higher than they were in 2000. And by 2070, they may be as much as 3 feet higher, according to predictions from NOAA and Climate Ready Boston.

Read the full article at GBH

MASSACHUSETTS: Deadly fentanyl raises stakes for addicted fishermen

November 16, 2023 — As the crew of the clam vessel Lori Ann prepared to set out from Fairhaven, the fleet manager was told that something wasn’t right with a fisherman below deck.

The manager climbed down into the cabin. There, he recalled, he found Thomas Post, a 48-year-old deckhand and father of two. The manager had worked with Post for years, and described him as an eccentric mentor to the young crew.

But on Oct. 8, 2021, Post was sitting upright at the galley table. He was naked. His eyes were wide open. His skin was cold. He had no pulse. Post, who often slept on the boat the night before fishing trips, had died that morning due to the combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine.

Post was just one of at least 70 New Bedford fishermen who died of drug overdoses in the five years between 2018 and 2022, according to state death records analyzed by The Light.

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for commercial fishermen in Massachusetts, records show. The vast majority of those deaths involve fentanyl. Since 2015, the powerful synthetic opioid has killed fishermen more than anything else. More than car crashes. More than work-related accidents. More than heart disease or cancer.

“This fentanyl is just everywhere,” said the manager who found Post dead in 2021. “I haven’t seen anything like it.” Earlier that same year, he recalled, a 24-year-old deckhand didn’t show up the morning of a fishing trip. When the fisherman’s mother came to pick up his last check, she told the manager that her son had died of a fentanyl overdose the morning of the trip.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

New England lobstermen threaten to sue feds over planned Massachusetts fishing closure

November 10, 2023 — New England lobstermen are threatening to sue a federal agency planning to make fishing on Massachusetts waters even more challenging from February until May, when they already face restrictions on where they are allowed to tend to their livelihood.

NOAA Fisheries is looking to permanently add a wedge between state and federal waters to an existing closure that stretches roughly 9,000 square miles off the Massachusetts coast, a measure feds have put in place to preserve the North Atlantic right whale.

An emergency rule prohibited trap and pot fishery buoy lines on the wedge during the past two years, but the feds are looking to make the zone permanent and have the backing of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

The proposed permanent expansion to the Massachusetts Restricted Area has caught lobstermen by surprise.

Dustin Delano, chief operating officer of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, took exception to the “recklessness” of the proposal after an amendment was included in this year’s $1.7 trillion federal spending bill that looked to delay protections for the North Atlantic right whale by six years.

Read the full article at Boston Herald

Canastras buy vessels, permits from Blue Harvest bankruptcy

November 8, 2023 — The Canastra family, owners of New Bedford’s seafood auction, closed a deal to buy out groundfish giant Blue Harvest Fisheries from bankruptcy, a move finalized Wednesday with the approval of a federal judge.

After a short bidding war, Cassie Canastra submitted the highest bid of $12 million on Monday, beating out the second-highest bid from O’Hara Corporation, which is a part owner of New Bedford-based Eastern Fisheries, by $750,000.

The sale includes “all the vessels, all the permits” that once belonged to Blue Harvest Fisheries. It includes eight vessels and 48 state and federal fishing permits, representing about 13% of all Northeast groundfish permits or about 250 million pounds of quota for the current fishing year.

The sale marks the final chapter in the saga of Blue Harvest Fisheries, which was founded in 2015 by the Dutch billionaire Brenninkmeijer family, through their Manhattan-based private equity firm. The company quickly expanded to become the single-largest groundfish company on the East Coast before declaring bankruptcy in September and liquidating its assets.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light