Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: MAYOR MITCHELL SUBMITS CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

October 10, 2023 — The following was released by the City of New Bedford:

Mayor Jon Mitchell was invited by the U.S. House of Representatives to submit written testimony to the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in conjunction with a recent Congressional hearing entitled “Examining Barriers to Access in Federal Waters: A Closer Look at the Marine Sanctuary and Monument System.”

In his written submission (see attached), the Mayor explained why the federal government’s approach to fisheries management within the recently designated marine monuments matters to New Bedford’s commercial fishing fleet–the top-grossing fleet in the nation:  “The management of marine fisheries in federal waters within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a matter of vital importance to the Port of New Bedford, Massachusetts – America’s top-valued commercial fishing port.”

The Mayor encouraged Subcommittee members to take into account the unique role that New Bedford plays nationally in commercial fishing, saying “Our harbor serves not only the needs of the vessels that call New Bedford their home port, but also the needs of numerous East Coast vessels from North Carolina to Maine which land their catch in our port at different times during each fishing season.  The proper management of our nation’s marine fisheries is therefore crucial to the vitality of our port and our local and regional economy, but also to the nation, as we service the needs of an industry whose vessels operate up and down nearly the entirety of the East Coast.”

Mitchell noted that the Port and the City of New Bedford’s position has been consistent since 2016 when the proposal for a Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument originated. In the years following 2016, Mayor Mitchell has continued to argue for a more deliberate process to establish marine monuments, including providing in-person testimony before the U.S. House Natural Resources on Water, Power, and Oceans. (Copies of Mayor Mitchell’s previous 2016 testimony are available upon request.)

The Port and City maintain that marine fisheries in federal waters everywhere, including in national monuments, should be managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery and Conservation Management Act (MSA), the 169-page long legal instrument governing marine fisheries management in U.S. federal waters.  The MSA, originally enacted in 1976, has been amended and improved by several Congresses in its nearly 50-year history and is considered by many worldwide to be the ‘gold standard’ for fisheries management.

The Mayor explained how the current commercial fishing ban imposed under the authority of the Antiquities Act contrasts with the science-based, inclusive regulatory processes established by Magnuson-Stevens.  The Mayor described how the current ban in marine monument waters creates multiple difficulties for affected fisheries, including:

  • In years when highly migratory species, such as swordfish and tuna, are traversing the monument region, our longline fishermen are likely to be unable to harvest their internationally negotiated quotes.
  • Harvesters targeting quid, butterfish, and other fisheries are forced to travel for hours across the monument unable to fish until they exit the far side of the monument passing schools of these species so that they can easily see in the monument waters. This wastes time and fuel, and unnecessarily increases their carbon footprint.
  • Although the Atlantic scallop industry (the most valuable federally managed wild-caught fishery in the nation) does not operate in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the commercial fishing ban is moving the offshore lobster industry from the region and leaving them nowhere to go except onto scallop grounds, creating a potential for conflict between fisheries.
  • The Atlantic red crab industry, which is sustainable and has brought an underutilized species to market, relieving pressure on over-exploited species can no longer be harvested in areas where they have been successfully harvested for decades.

Mayor Mitchell summarized his view for the Subcommittee members, saying “For all of these reasons, I remain convinced that fisheries management under existing Magnuson-Stevens authority, is the most sensible approach to managing fishing activity within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.”

New England states join to buy offshore wind power as US industry struggles

October 5, 2023 — Three U.S. states in New England – Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut – on Wednesday agreed to jointly procure offshore wind power as soaring interest rates and rising equipment and labor costs have made some projects uneconomic.

By joining forces, the states hope to counter the pain rippling across the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry, which is expected to play a key part in decarbonizing the power sector and revitalizing domestic manufacturing.

Earlier this week, another offshore wind developer canceled agreements to sell power to local utilities – this time in Connecticut – because the previously agreed upon prices for that power was too low to cover the rising cost of building the project.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced the agreement between the three states at the American Clean Power Association’s Offshore WINDPOWER Conference in Boston, according to a press release on the governor’s website.

Read the full article at Reuters

Creditors, investors likely to be wiped out by Blue Harvest’s bankruptcy

October 2, 2023 — Creditors of Blue Harvest Fisheries are not expected to recoup much, if any, of the money owed to them by the New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Blue Harvest Fisheries, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on 8 September.

The company, which filed 40 separate Chapter 7 applications for its various subsidies, cumulatively listed more than 2,200 parties as creditors. The list includes fishermen who had worked for Blue Harvest, municipalities from Georgia to Maine, seafood companies such as Eastern Fisheries and Atlantic Capes, and hundreds of small- and medium-sized support businesses, including the companies supply stores, shipyards, and mechanics.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: Four centuries and surviving

September 29, 2023 — Traditions and new thinking make Gloucester thrive

In Gloucester, Mass., it is easy to get the impression that its recognition as one of America’s oldest seaports is something that residents and those who make a living here do not take for granted. It is also not hard to feel far away from Boston – even though only around 20 nautical miles (or 40 miles by car) separate the cities.

Locals you meet in Gloucester are likely to mention the annual St. Peter’s Fiesta, where crowds have gathered since 1927 to celebrate St. Peter, the patron saint of netmakers, shipbuilders, and fishermen. For some, the centerpiece of the city-wide party is The Greasy Pole contest, where men of all ages, from teenagers to elders, climb out along a greased-up telephone pole extending from the pier, 25 feet above the surface of the ocean to capture an Italian flag at the end – without slipping and dropping into the water below.

While the St. Peter’s tradition brings together the close-knit community, there are other local connections and networks running throughout the city of about 32,000 residents, including some multigenerational women. The women are all active within the fishing industry and their leadership, advocacy, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit are central to Gloucester’s evolving fishing culture and community.

Read the full article the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: In Gloucester, fishing traditions inform art, culture, and tourism

September 29, 2023 — The feeling in Gloucester is of multiple layers of support for a fisheries tradition and honoring of the past, while simultaneously facing a new future, and how that all fits together with issues that other working harbors and cities are confronting.

Around every corner of the city, there is public art and interpretive trails, much of it connected to fishing. On the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce building is The Fish Workers Mural (featuring fishermen and quarry workers) organized by the organization Awesome Gloucester. The organization also helped create The Doryman’s Mural, in an exterior wall of the Dory Shop on the Maritime Gloucester campus. It commemorates the role dorymen played in the area.

The impressive legacy and efforts of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives, many women, and the group’s longtime president Angela Sanfillipo are on full display at the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wife Memorial, which is situated on a stretch of waterfront road that wraps around the city’s western harbor. The bronze statue depicts a woman facing out toward the sea, with a baby in her left arm, and her hand on the back of a young boy. The monument honors the women who have been, and continue to be, the soul of fishing communities.

The Fishermen’s Wife Memorial took over a decade to be fully realized. It was unveiled in the summer of 2001 after more than $700,000 was raised for its completion. For some, the sculpture complements the nearby Man at the Wheel sculpture built in 1925, a bronze fisherman braced at the wheel on the sloping deck of his ship, looking out to Gloucester Harbor. The heavily visited site memorializes the thousands of fishermen lost at sea in the first three centuries of Gloucester’s history.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: Regional Officials Push For NOAA To Stay In Woods Hole

September 29, 2023 — As the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration studies next steps for its Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Barnstable County and state officials have joined forces to urge the agency to stay in the village.

To that end, the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners endorsed a letter to NOAA from state Representative Dylan A. Fernandes (D-Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket) on Wednesday, September 27.

“Moving NOAA’s facilities out of Woods Hole would not only fragment our scientific community, but would also further silo research, impede collaboration and the sharing of best practices between institutions, and negatively impact the oceanic sciences in our region for generations to come,” said the letter, which was co-signed by several other state legislators representing the Cape.

NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center was founded in 1871; a permanent facility was built on Water Street in 1885. The current building, still in the original location, dates back to 1961.

Read the full article at The Enterprise

Nantucket group files appeal in lawsuit against wind turbine farm off Martha’s Vineyard; alleges right whales in danger

September 27, 2023 — A group opposing an offshore wind farm being built south of Martha’s Vineyard has appealed a ruling that dismissed its lawsuit to halt the project, arguing that a “gravely flawed environmental review” failed to consider the dangers the turbines pose to the vulnerable North Atlantic Right Whale population.

Nantucket Residents Against Turbines filed its appeal last week in the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, after US District Court Judge Indira Talwani in May dismissed its lawsuit, records show.

The defendants are the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service, US Interior Secretary Debra Haaland, US Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo, and wind farm developer Vineyard Wind 1 LLC, according to court records and the group’s lawyer, Thomas Stavola Jr.

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

Nantucket Residents Appeal Vineyard Wind Decision

September 27, 2023 — A group of Nantucketers is challenging key environmental approvals for Vineyard Wind, the offshore wind energy farm under construction south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Nantucket Residents Against Turbines filed an appeal with the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Saturday, calling on the court to overrule a district court’s decision to dismiss the group’s prior lawsuit. The residents previously alleged the federal agencies involved in permitting Vineyard Wind failed to consider the impacts of the project’s 62 turbines on the critically endangered right whale, which is known to swim through the Cape and Islands’ waters.

The lawsuit is one of several courtroom battles that have been waged in an attempt to stop Vineyard Wind. The project is expected to be the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the country and could start producing energy this fall. Construction started earlier this year, and the farm has come out victorious in other legal cases.

The Nantucket residents initially sued the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2021. In May, a federal court judge in Boston dismissed the case.

But the group contends the case needs reconsideration.

“Absent an order from this Court reversing the District Court summary judgment denial, the project, which is now in the inchoate stages of construction, will be permitted to continue, sending the already highly endangered [North Atlantic right whale] careening further down the road toward extinction,” the group wrote in its appeal.

Read the full article at the Vineyard Gazette

New England council elects chair, seats new member Jackie Odell

September 26, 2023 — The New England Fishery Management Council has elected Eric Reid as chair and Rick Bellavance as vice chair, returning the two Rhode Islanders as officers for the third year in a row during the Sept. 25-28 meeting week in Plymouth, Mass.

New member Jackie Odell of Massachusetts was appointed to her first three-year term on the council as an at-large member. Three current council members were reappointed to new three-year terms:  John Pappalardo of Massachusetts, Daniel Salerno of New Hampshire and Alan Tracy of Maine.

Re-elected to the chair, Eric Reid is a fisheries consultant based in North Kingstown, R.I., with a 54-year career in commercial and recreational fisheries. He also serves as the New England council’s liaison to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, as U.S. commissioner to the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) and representing Rhode Island at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman