Saving Seafood

Concern about endangered whales cited in suit over wind farm

August 25, 2021 — The construction of dozens of wind turbines off the coast of Nantucket threatens the survival of a dwindling number of endangered Northern Atlantic right whales that inhabit the waters, a group of residents on the affluent resort island in Massachusetts argue in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

ACK Residents Against Turbines said Vineyard Wind’s proposed project of some 60 turbines 14 miles (22 kilometers) south of the island is located in a crucial area for foraging and nursing for the species, which researchers estimate number less than 400.

Mary Chalke, a Nantucket resident and member of the opposition group, said the lawsuit isn’t just about Vineyard Wind, but other turbine projects also in the pipeline up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

Bob Vanasse, who heads the fishing advocacy group Saving Seafood, said Vineyard Wind and other projects proposed in the region could impact a range of significant fisheries, including squid, clams and scallops.

“There are a number of groups in various fisheries who have raised concerns about the insufficiency of the planning and review effort,” he said Wednesday. “This group is far from alone in that.”

Vineyard Wind also comes years after the infamous Cape Wind project, which failed after bitter litigation from another group that included Nantucket property owners.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Legit Fish partners with Mission Driven Meat & Seafood, hires new staff

August 25, 2021 — Legit Fish is partnering with Mission Driven Meat & Seafood and Big Easy Foods as the company continues to expand the species covered by its full-chain traceability program.

Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based traceability company Legit Fish first launched its new traceability technology at Seafood Expo North America in 2019, and went on to work with ButcherBox to provide fully traceable sea scallops to e-commerce customers. In its latest partnership with Big Easy Foods and Mission Driven Meat and Seafood, the company is planning to offer fully traceable wild-caught Gulf of Mexico shrimp to e-commerce customers this summer.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: “Women’s Work,” a new exhibit opens September 9 at the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center

August 25, 2021 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the September 9 opening of its new exhibit, Women’s Work: At Sea, On Shore, At Home, In the Community. The exhibit will shine a light on the many roles women play in commercial fishing communities.

The public is invited to meet the featured photographers at an opening reception from 6:00-8:00 pm September 9; the exhibit will remain on view in the Center’s gallery through March 2022.

Through photographs and oral histories, the exhibit profiles more than sixty women from fishing communities in Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island, and amplifies the voices and experience of women who work in what is often perceived to be a male-dominated world. The exhibit features the photography of Shareen Davis, Markham Starr, and Phil Mello, and draws on oral history interviews conducted over the past 15 years.

Visitors will meet women who work on deck as fishermen and scientists, on shore as welders and electricians, women who own businesses and boats, and women who advocate on behalf of the fishing industry. In addition, the exhibit explores topics ranging from “What do You Call a Woman who Fishes?” to “Women in Myths and Marketing.”

Photographer bios
Shareen Davis is a commercial and fine art photographer, a former photo editor and commercial fisherman and advocate. Her photography conveys political and environmental messages addressing issues of coastal fishing community workers as well as capturing the history, environment, and beauty of Chatham’s coastline. She is a 13th generation Cape Codder and resides in Chatham. Davis and her husband Ernie Eldredge owned a weir fishing business now owned by their daughter.

Markham Starr is a documentary photographer working in New England. Author of more than a dozen books and numerous documentary films, his photographs have been featured in magazines such as LensWork, Yankee, Vermont Magazine, and Rhode Island Monthly, and can be found in numerous museums in New England. His major projects are in the permanent collection at the Library of Congress.

Phillip Mello has worked on the New Bedford waterfront in a variety of capacities for 40+ years and has been taking photographs of fellow waterfront workers since 1975. As an insider with direct knowledge of the fishing industry he has access to what is often a closed community. He was the photographer for the Fishing Heritage Center’s 2016 Archie Green project, Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront. His images for that project are presently on display at the American Folklife Center and archived at the Library of Congress.

The Center is also presenting a year-long series of films, talks, performances, and demonstrations in conjunction with the exhibit, which are designed to engage visitors in exploring the lives, skills, and experiences of women who work in the fishing industry as well as those who are connected through family. Learn more about these programs on the Center’s online calendar, fishingheritagecenter.org/programs/calendar.

Women’s Work: At Sea, On Shore, At Home, In the Community is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Women’s Fisheries Network, the Mass Cultural Council, and the Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, and Westport Cultural Councils.

Please contact programs@fishingheritagecenter.org with any questions.

MASSACHUSETTS: Investigation continues into fisherman who went overboard on New Bedford scalloper

August 24, 2021 — Blue Harvest Fisheries CEO Keith Decker told the Standard-Times last week that crew members met with Coast Guard officials when they returned to port on Tuesday. He said they were waiting for the investigation to determine what happened.

There were seven crew members on the vessel, including the captain and the man who went overboard. Decker said the man was a first-time crew member with Blue Harvest who had never fished with them before. However, he had heard the man was an experienced fisher.

The man was woken because he had the next watch, but never showed up, according to the Coast Guard. The agency said the man was not wearing a life jacket, which is only required under federal law for children under 13 years of age while the vessel is underway.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

New Bedford Ocean Cluster incorporated as nonprofit

August 24, 2021 — The New Bedford Ocean Cluster (NBOC) has announced its official incorporation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

The NBOC aims to enhance the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.’s maritime industries while “advancing new programs, start-ups, and technology partnerships with a primary focus in four different industry areas,” NBOC said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

SEAN HORGAN: On Henri, a Bell, and sharks

August 23, 2021 — Sharks were back in the news last week, which should make our pal Bob Masjoan at the Crow’s Nest happy. He is all sharks, all of the time.

One time, during Shark Week, a misguided Irish soul, we’ll call him Cormac, asked Bob to turn the bar’s largest television to a European Cup soccer match instead of the shark fest. His request was rebuffed with extreme pelagic prejudice.

Anyway, no shortage of sharks last week. One viral video showed a herd of sharks — whites, blues et al — feasting on the carcass of a dead humpback whale out on Stellwagen Bank while an intrepid shark researcher on a tagging project lingered in his sea kayak mere feet away.

Us? We would have requisitioned a Los Angeles-class submarine.

Then came a fisherman’s photo — we spied it on the website of radio station WOKQ 97.5 — of a huge hammerhead shark swimming somewhere off the coast of Maine, looking for all the world like the most evil creature on the planet.

The accompanying story said hammerhead attacks on humans are rare — only 16 documented throughout the world, none fatal.

The piece also said the hammerheads are more afraid of us than we are of them. We here at FishOn are here to tell you that is not even remotely true.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Daily Times

Atlantic Herring Eastern Maine Spawning Closure in Effect Starting August 28, 2021 through October 9, 2021

August 23, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal stages III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

There are currently no samples from the Eastern Maine spawning area to determine spawning condition. Therefore, per Addendum II default closure dates, the Eastern Maine spawning area will be closed starting at 12:01 a.m. on August 28, 2021 extending through 11:59 p.m. on October 9, 2021. The Eastern Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

Maine coast     68° 20’ W
43° 48’ N          68° 20’ W
44° 25’ N         67° 03’ W
North along the US/Canada border

Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Eastern Maine spawning area during this time. The incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip per day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Eastern Maine spawning area. In addition, all vessels traveling through the Eastern Maine spawning area must have all seine and mid-water trawl gear stowed.

For more information, please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or efranke@asmfc.org.

The closure announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/M21-98AtlHerring_EM_SpawningClosure_Aug2021.pdf

THE NEW BEDFORD OCEAN CLUSTER ANNOUNCES ITS INCORPORATION

August 23, 2021 — The following was released by the New Bedford Ocean Cluster:

The New Bedford Ocean Cluster (NBOC) today announced that it is now is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. The NBOC’s mission is to leverage New Bedford’s coastal position, marine knowledge base, and landside capacity to drive employment and wealth creation in Greater New Bedford. The NBOC looks to accomplish this through a dynamic approach, combining recruitment of targeted businesses, creation of unique economic infrastructure, workforce development, and support for homegrown ocean economy companies.

The New Bedford Ocean Cluster will seek to enhance the City and Port of New Bedford’s existing strengths in maritime industries, while advancing new programs, start-ups and technology partnerships with a primary focus in four different industry areas. These four industry areas include: Commercial Fishing and Processing, Aquaculture, Offshore Renewables, and the Innovation & Technology Sector. The NBOC was originally formed in 2015 as a program of the New Bedford Port Authority. In 2019, the NBOC merged with the former New Bedford Wind Energy Center, which focused on business development in the offshore wind industry.

The NBOC is governed by a ten member Board of Directors who represent key focus areas of the organization. Recently, elections were held to nominate and select members of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. Former New Bedford Mayor John Bullard will serve as the President of the Board, along with former New Bedford Port Director Edward Anthes-Washburn as Vice President, and Jennifer J. Menard, Vice President, Economic and Business Development, Interim – Bristol Community College, as Treasurer and Secretary. The remaining board members are as follows: Keith Decker (CEO of Blue Harvest Fisheries), John Quinn (Assistant Dean for Public Interest Law & External Relations: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth), Anthony R. Sapienza (President, New Bedford Economic Development Council), Chris Rezendes (Professor Emeritus – Marine Biology & Aquaculture Extension Specialist: Roger Williams University), and Michael Quinn (Co-Owner: Quinn Fisheries, Inc.).

NBOC President John Bullard had this to say about the organization and his role within it, “I have often said you can describe New Bedford in one word: seaport. We send our people to sea. The mission of the New Bedford Ocean Cluster is to build on that centuries old relationship to create economic opportunity for future generations by building on our dominance in commercial fishing, leading the way in offshore wind, breaking new ground in marine technology, and joining the fast growing field of marine aquaculture. These four fields and the relationships between each of them create the potential for thousands of local jobs that pay well and that involve every segment of our diverse community. I am honored that Mayor Mitchell invited me to serve on this mission for New Bedford’s future. We have a dynamic Board with world class expertise in all the fields where we will operate and I am humbled to have been asked to lead them.”

Mayor Jon Mitchell serves on the NBOC’s Board of Directors in an Ex Officio role, stated, “The NBOC will be instrumental in ensuring New Bedford achieves its full potential as a leading maritime center. We seek to capitalize on our advantages in fishing, offshore wind and other industries so that we can create new and sustainable opportunities for the residents of our region.”

More information about the NBOC can be found on the organization’s website: www.newbedfordoceancluster.org

MASSACHUSETTS: Judge dismisses waterfront businesses’ lawsuit against New Bedford and port authority

August 19, 2021 — A lawsuit filed by two waterfront businesses against the city and the New Bedford Port Authority was dismissed in Superior Court this week.

Marine Hydraulics and Nordic Fisheries sued the city in January, alleging it was breaching a 99-year lease contract and misleading the companies regarding the expansion of the North Terminal, located on the west side of the harbor.

Nordic Fisheries bought Marine Hydraulics’ assets and lease in 2015 according to court records, but both companies filed the lawsuit. The city filed a motion to dismiss it in March.

The crux of the lawsuit is direct water access. According to site plans issued for bids dated Nov. 25, 2020, the terminal expansion would, as the complaint states, landlock Marine Hydraulics by filling the waterfront area with approximately 250,000 square feet of sediment. The fill would cover Marine Hydraulics’ boat ramp and establish a bulkhead a few hundred feet from the current shoreline.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Coast Guard Suspends Search For Man Who Fell Overboard Off Nantucket

August 17, 2021 — The Coast Guard said Tuesday it has suspended the search for a man who fell off a fishing vessel southeast of Nantucket late Sunday night.

The search was suspended after combing 1,444 square nautical miles, the Coast Guard said in a tweet.

The fishing vessel Blue Wave out of New Bedford contacted the Coast Guard late Sunday night when the 36-year-old man failed to report for his night watch and could not be found on the boat, Petty Officer Ryan Noel said.

The man was not believed to be wearing a life jacket. His name has not been made public.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WBUR