Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Spring Migration of Right Whales Happening Off the Massachusetts Coast Inbox

April 18, 2023 — There are an estimated 350 North Atlantic right whales in existence. Most, if not all, will pass along the Massachusetts coast between now and late spring.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, “Every winter, many right whales migrate more than 1,000 miles. The right whales travel from their feeding grounds off Canada and New England to the warm, shallow coastal waters of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida’s east coast.”

“These southern waters are the only known place where right whales give birth and nurse their young,” according to NOAA.

In the spring, the right whales begin the slow migration north to their feeding and mating grounds in the Gulf of Maine and the eastern Canadian Atlantic.

Read the full article at WBSM

 

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Port Authority calls for changes to NOAA National Seafood Strategy

April 6, 2023 — The New Bedford Port Authority (NBPA), in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, recently submitted comments on NOAA Fisheries’ National Seafood Strategy, asking the administration remain cognizant of the many challenges the fishing industry faces in the coming decade.

NOAA Fisheries released its draft National Seafood Strategy in February 2023, outlining how the federal government plans to support the domestic seafood sector in the coming years. The strategy, which NOAA said is “based on sound science,” addresses factors affecting the seafood industry, including the financial viability of fisheries and the resilience of coastal communities – like New Bedford, Massachusetts – that depend on them.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSSETS: Blue Harvest suspends New Bedford processing operations, plans groundfish fleet upgrade

March 27, 2023 — Blue Harvest Fisheries is temporarily suspending operations at its processing plant in New Bedford, Massachusettsm U.S.A. as part of an overall strategy shift to “realize potential” of its groundfish operations.

The company announced on 24 March it is planning to continue a shift further into the New England groundfish fishery. It said as part of the shift, it was halting operations at its processing plant, laying off 64 employees, the New Bedford Light reported.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: Offshore wind in New Bedford: A guide to what you need to know

March 26, 2023 — An already busy port of New Bedford will be even busier when the full effect of the offshore wind industry hits.

A direct impact on the New Bedford/Fairhaven Harbor is already being felt, and seen, most recently with the demolition of the former Eversource plant chimney to make way for the New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal on the New Bedford waterfront.

With Massachusetts preparing for a fourth round of funding for offshore wind projects, what comes next?

Offshore wind companies, electric companies and local leaders from Greater New Bedford have weighed in on changes that should be made to the process during this next round. Vineyard Wind was the winning bidder in the first round, Mayflower Wind Energy LLC won the second round, and Commonwealth Wind and Mayflower Wind LLC were the winning bids in the third round. Massachusetts is preparing for bid submissions for a fourth round of offshore wind contracts.

Read the full article at SouthCoastToday

MASSACHUSETTS: SouthCoast Wind Environmental Report Draws Divergent Views

March 26, 2023 — Falmouth residents joined others from across Massachusetts in a lively expression of their frustrations and hopes for SouthCoast Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm during a virtual public comment session on the project’s draft environmental impact statement.

Work on the nearly 2,000-page impact statement, prepared by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), began in November 2021.

BOEM’s SouthCoast project coordinator Genevieve Brune presented the statement’s findings to the 71 participants at the session, held online Monday, March 20. The evaluation is required under the National Environmental Policy Act and will guide permitting judgements by state and federal authorities, including the Army Corps of Engineers.

Read the full article at The Enterprise 

MASSACHUSETTS: From spawners to tuna sampled in the Annisquam, GMGI talk focuses on sustainable fisheries

March 26, 2023 — Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute’s 10th anniversary just happens to coincide with 400th anniversary of the nation’s oldest and one of its most storied working seaports at a time when the fishing industry has been snagged by state and federal regulations meant to keep the local fishery sustainable.

A community talk as part of the Gloucester 400+ celebration with 100 people in Kyrouz Auditorium in City Hall on Wednesday showed how the use of advanced molecular techniques at GMGI can be used to support sustainable fisheries into the future.

A team at GMGI has figured out how to identify Atlantic cod which spawn in winter versus those that spawn in the spring. Its staff have used environmental DNA techniques to survey the types of fish found in the Annisquam River, among other things.

GMGI fisheries research scientist Tim O’Donnell talked about how his team’s research may help keep fisheries sustainable so future generations “can also have the privilege of having access to the bounty of the ocean.”

When it comes to fisheries science and management, O’Donnell said, various entities collect data on their local fisheries through classic surveys or by analyzing fish biology. But certain species or areas in the ocean can be hard to study and that can create gaps in the data.

Read the full article at Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Lobstermen Would Rather Wait Than Switch

March 23, 2o23 — A 21-year-old North Atlantic right whale known as Porcia was observed in Cape Cod Bay on March 18. The whale was seen swimming with her 2023 calf by her side. And last week, before this first mother-calf pair of the season was spotted, Scott Landry, director of the disentanglement team at the Center for Coastal Studies, estimated there were already between 30 and 40 right whales in the bay.

That means Cape Cod lobstermen are on land, waiting out the whales.

Elsewhere in Massachusetts waters, however, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is running an experiment that gives lobster fishermen exempted fishing permits to work in areas that are otherwise restricted. What they are testing is something called on-demand fishing gear — gear operated via an app to minimize the time that lengths of rope stay in the water.

Landry wants to see “our absolute reliance on rope to harvest our food” go away. But for the time being Cape Cod Bay is not the site of any on-demand gear experiments.

Lobsterman Mike Rego, who lives in Truro, is glad about the cautious approach. He sees the strict closures, though they shorten his season, as too important. “I don’t want to lose four months of my fishing season, but I don’t want to kill a whale either,” he said. “The whales are protected while they’re here. Why jeopardize any of that?”

The North Atlantic right whale is a critically endangered species with only some 340 animals remaining in the world. The majority of those whales feed in Cape Cod Bay during their thousand-mile spring migration from their calving grounds off the coasts of Georgia and Florida to Canada, where they summer.

Read the full article at The Provincetown Independent

Northern Wind expanding its lobster traceability with right whales in mind

March 8, 2023 — New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Northern Wind is expanding its scallop traceability program into its lobster supply, with an aim of developing the technology to help reduce the risk of North Atlantic right whale entanglements.

Northern Wind finalized a partnership with traceability technology company Legit Fish in 2021, enabling full-chain of its North Atlantic scallop supply. That technology, which traces product origin, harvest area, and landing-date – verifiable to government records – will now be utilized in the company’s lobster supply.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford advocates for fishing industry compensation in response to offshore wind impact

March 2, 2023 — With offshore wind farms moving in, the fishing community faces the real possibility of a financial burden from revenue loss, officials say.

A proposed fisheries compensation fund has the potential to alleviate that burden from the likely physical and economic damages they will incur, including gear loss, habitat degradation, loss of essential fishing grounds and other impacts that will cause serious economic challenges to the fishing industry.

The New Bedford Port Authority supports the establishment of a common set of rules and procedures that would apply to the nine Atlantic Coast states that are working together to establish a framework that requires offshore wind developers to offer compensation.

Read the full article at Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford mayor has a plan to capitalize on the economic benefits of offshore wind

March 2, 2023 — The whaling industry put New Bedford on the map long ago by bringing the city commercial success, but in this day and age the focus has turned to offshore wind, in combination with the fishing industry as a way to drive New Bedford’s economy.

Civic and business leaders are joining Mayor Jon Mitchell in asking that investment in offshore wind be made a priority in Gov. Maura Healey’s statewide economic development plan as New Bedford strives to be a leader in both the offshore wind and fishing industries.

“We’ve been committed to the proposition that the two industries can coexist successfully, but we also know that it has taken a lot of work and will continue to take an awful lot of work,” he said. “We’re convinced that it’s in the interests of our city that we preserve our leading role as America’s leading fishing port and that we also lead on offshore wind.”

In a letter to Healey and legislators from committees focusing on climate and jobs, Mitchell recommends policies and approaches to strengthen the state’s ability to compete for investment the offshore wind industry with other states further ahead.

Read the full article at the Standard-Times