Saving Seafood

High Density of Right Whales in Massachusetts Waters

April 23, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Update from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

The Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) is closely monitoring the presence of North Atlantic Right Whales in Massachusetts coastal waters. From the period of April 6, 2021 through April 20, 2021 aerial and acoustic surveillance conducted by the NOAA Fisheries and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) has detected moderate to high densities of right whales in Massachusetts coastal waters including; Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts Bay, Stellwagen Bank, state waters on the backside of Cape Cod, and the nearshore federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Trap fishermen in Lobster Management Area 1 and Outer Cape Cod are reminded that the  state waters portion of these areas are closed to lobster trap fishing until May 15, 2021. NOAA Fisheries and PCCS are conducting routine aerial surveillance throughout Massachusetts’ coastal waters and adjacent federal waters multiple times per week. DMF will continue to monitor surveillance information and could open portions or all of state waters as early as May 1, 2021 if less than 3 right whales are detected in an area.

Mariners are reminded that there is a 10-knot small vessel (less than 65’ overall) speed limit in Cape Cod Bay to protect endangered right whales from the threat of ship strikes that remains in effect until April 30, 2021. During the late winter and early-spring, right whales migrate into and aggregate in Cape Cod Bay where they feed on zooplankton. As we move into the spring, these whales begin to feed closer to the surface and become more susceptible to ship strikes. Ship strikes are a significant source of mortality to these endangered whales. However, the lethality of ship strikes is greatly reduced when vessels are operating at less than 10-knots speed.

This small vessel speed limit— established in 2019—applies from March 1 – April 30 within those waters of Cape Cod Bay south of 42° 08’ north latitude, as well as those waters north of Cape Cod that are west of 70°10’ west longitude. A complementary federal speed limit applies to all vessels 65’ overall length and greater. DMF may extend or rescind this seasonal small vessel speed limit based on the continued presence or absence of whales. This small vessel speed limit does not apply to emergency and enforcement personnel, including federal whale disentanglement teams. Additionally, small vessel traffic operating within the inshore waters of Plymouth, Duxbury, Kingston, Barnstable and Wellfleet Harbors are exempt.

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTS: Scituate fishermen push to keep catch local

April 21, 2021 — Cod brought in by a Scituate fisherman doesn’t stay in town for long; it is loaded onto a truck and taken to New Bedford, cut into filets, trucked to the Boston Fish Pier and sold to the highest bidder, shipped to a retailer or restaurant and becomes dinner for someone hundreds of miles from where it was brought to shore.

It is far from the simple sea-to-table fishing industry that once thrived on the South Shore, but has since been overshadowed by a global marketplace that locals say they can’t compete with.

Now, the few remaining federally-permitted fishermen in Scituate are hoping to turn back the clock by partnering with a fish peddler to have fish caught by local fishermen processed and sold within a one-mile radius of the Scituate town pier. The fishermen say the system will reduce their shipping costs, reduce wholesale prices for local restaurants and bolster the economy of a harbor that has largely shifted away from the fishing industry.

“The fish coming out of Scituate Harbor is the best around, but it all goes to New Bedford and Boston, none of it stays here,” Phil Lynch, one of the four remaining federally-permitted fishermen in Scituate, said. “We’re hoping something like this here in town will work for us.”

Read the full story at Wicked Local

After Years Of Uncertainty, Expected Decision On Vineyard Wind Could Launch New Industry

April 20, 2021 — New Bedford’s Marine Commerce Terminal is a huge spread of open concrete jutting into the harbor. On a recent day, a few refrigerated trucks were unloading seafood at a processing plant next door, but the terminal itself just looked like a giant empty parking lot. As the wind swept across the vast space, the biggest action was the crowds of seagulls hunkered down, squawking at each other.

This is where Bruce Carlisle wants you to use your imagination.

“In my mind’s eye, I see the tower sections stacked and lined up. I see the blades all ready to go. I see forklifts and cranes and crawlers and just all sorts of activity,” says Carlisle, managing director of offshore wind at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, or MassCEC.

The goals are ambitious. But not everyone is thrilled.

“They may play it down like there’s no effect on the ecosystem. I can’t see how it can’t, when you start putting hundreds and hundreds of these poles in the water,” says Peter Anthony, who has worked in the New Bedford fishing industry for 40 years and now serves as treasurer for the seafood supply company Eastern Fisheries. “We’ve been here forever. The fishing communities have been fishing these areas because they’re fertile fishing areas.”

Anthony says many fishermen have felt blind-sided by the federal government’s support for offshore wind. And while companies like Vineyard Wind have made some accommodations to the fishing industry — like increasing the space between turbines in the water — he still feels like it’s all moving too quickly.

Any day now the Interior Department will approve, deny, or suggest changes to Vineyard Wind’s construction plan. The company will need a few small permits and federal sign-offs afterwards, but this represents the last big hurdle for the project. If the ruling is favorable, which seems likely, Vineyard Wind could start offshore construction next year and deliver power by the end of 2023.

“I’m sure they’ll be drinking champagne and pumping their fists and they will be all happy about it, but I think in the fishing community they’re going to look at it as a loss,” Anthony says.

Anthony says fishermen feel like the country has decided to trade one renewable resource — seafood — for another: wind energy. And he thinks it’s a shame.

Read the full story at WBUR

Extended Slow Zone East of Boston to Protect Right Whales

April 19, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces the extension of a Slow Zone set to expire east of Boston, MA. On April 17, 2021, residents of Nahant, MA observed (and photographed) the presence of right whales east of Boston, MA. This Slow Zone is in effect through May 2, 2021.

Mariners are requested to route around this or transit through it at 10 knots or less.

Slow Zone Coordinates:

East of Boston, MA, April 8 – May 2, 2021 *Extended*

42 39 N
41 54 N
070 08 W
071 06 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.

Active Seasonal Management Areas 

Mandatory speed restrictions of 10 knots or less (50 CFR 224.105) are in effect in the following areas:

Cape Cod Bay, January 1 – May 15

Off Race Point, March 1 – April 30

Great South Channel, April 1 – July 31

November 1 – April 30

Block Island Sound

Ports of New York/New Jersey

Entrance to the Delaware Bay
(Ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington)

Entrance to the Chesapeake Bay
(Ports of Hampton Roads and Baltimore)

Ports of Morehead City and Beaufort, NC

Within a continuous area 20-nm from shore between Wilmington, North Carolina, to Brunswick, Georgia.

Find out more and get the coordinates for each mandatory slow speed zone.

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘More than a job’: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center reopens Thursday with new exhibit

April 15, 2021 — Just a few minutes from the city’s waterfront sits a collection of films, photos, audio recordings and artifacts that tell the story of an industry not often seen firsthand by the general public: the fishing industry.

After closing in December, the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center reopens this Thursday with its new exhibit, “More than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Commercial Fishing Industry.” The center describes it as an “introduction” to New Bedford’s preeminent industry.

“The nation’s most valuable port has long deserved an institution dedicated to telling its story,” said Laura Orleans, executive director of the center. “The Fishing Heritage Center fills that void.”

The exhibit explores the industry in New Bedford beginning in the 1900s by considering sustainability, labor unions, diversity, family, community and the “American dream.” It illustrates what the industry does and represents through the voices and stories of those in it, Orleans said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: You Can’t Scallop Over Zoom: New Bedford Works to Vaccinate Seafood and Fishing Communities

April 14, 2021 — New Bedford is the country’s largest commercial fishing port and has the largest collection of seafood processing plants in the United States.

But these two accolades also create some unusual circumstances for the city when it comes to reaching and vaccinating those communities.

This past weekend, New Bedford held a vaccine clinic specifically geared towards those working in these industries. More are planned for this week.

Mayor Jon Mitchell said the city made a push with workers, as well as their employers.

“One of the big barriers to vaccine uptake, not just here in New Bedford but everywhere, is the fact that shift workers just have a harder time, for reasons that everyone can understand, getting away from work and going to a vaccine appointment,” Mitchell said. “If you’re a professional, if you’re a lawyer, a doctor, or an accountant, it’s no matter just to go break away from your work for an hour to go get your shot. But if you’re on a shift, and you are, like many shift workers, given two specififed periods of the day to take a break, you can’t readily get away to get a shot.”

Read the full story at WGBH

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘We’re helping make a difference’: New Bedford waterfront center administers 1,100 vaccines

April 13, 2021 — The new vaccination center on New Bedford’s waterfront vaccinated 1,100 people on Saturday, many of whom work in the fishing industry, according to Greater New Bedford Community Health Center leadership.

Noelle Kohles, chief nursing and clinical operations officer at the health center, said there were about 1,200 appointments on Saturday and that most belonged to workers from the fishing industry.

Cheryl Bartlett, CEO of the health center, said all the fish house businesses encouraged their workforce to sign up or signed them up directly through the health center.

The city’s stated focus for the new center is workers in the fishing industry, of which there are about 6,200, according to a 2019 report from the New Bedford Port Authority.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Biden’s Big Bet On Offshore Wind

April 12, 2021 — The Biden administration recently announced a plan to substantially expand the use of offshore wind power along the East Coast, aiming to tap a huge new source of clean energy that is likely to gain widespread acceptance in the United States.

The bold bet would result in the generation of 30 gigawatts (GW) of wind power by 2030, enough to power over 10 million homes and cut 78 million metrics tons of CO2 emissions. Currently, the United States has only one offshore wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island generating 30 megawatts (MW) — 1,000 MW are in one GW.

Offshore wind farming represents a significant opportunity for the creation of “green-collar” jobs, with maintenance and day-to-day operations requiring regular support. Yet, the more labor-intensive an energy-generating operation is, the more expensive the kilowatt of energy becomes. Offshore wind is currently the most expensive form of mainstream power generation available – more than 3x the cost of a combined cycle natural gas plant on a $/MWh basis – when all factors are considered (see chart below). The so called “levelized cost of electricity” or LCOE for offshore wind is climate and labor-market dependent, but the Energy Information Agency sees the regional weighted average LCOE of new offshore wind projects in 2040 dropping t0 65% of 2020 costs in ideal cases.

Read the full story at Forbes

MASSACHUSETTS: A New Exhibit About New Bedford and Fishing

April 12, 2021 — Restrictions are slowly being lifted and more COVID-19 vaccine is becoming available, and the people running the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center are hopeful they’ll be welcoming more visitors this spring and summer to their 38 Bethel Street location.

When those visitors arrive, they can enjoy a new exhibit about New Bedford and its fishing industry.

The Center’s Executive Director, Laura Orleans joins Townsquare Sunday to discuss the new exhibit, entitled “More Than A Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Commercial Fishing Industry.”

The exhibit attempts to explain the culture of New Bedford and its connection to one of the world’s most dangerous professions.

Read the full story at WBSM

Extended and New Slow Zones to Protect Right Whales

April 12, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces the extension of two Slow Zones set to expire south of Nantucket and establishes another Slow Zone southeast of Chatham, MA. On April 9, 2021 several aggregations of right whales were detected south of Nantucket, MA by the NOAA North Atlantic Right Whale Sighting Survey and southeast of Chatham, MA by the Center for Coastal Studies survey team. These three right whale Slow Zones are in effect immediately through April 24, 2021.

Mariners are requested to route around these areas or transit through them at 10 knots or less.

Slow Zone Coordinates:

Southeast of Chatham, MA, April 9 – April 24, 2021 *NEW*

41 56 N
41 15 N
069 23 W
070 16 W

South of Nantucket, MA, February 26 – April 24, 2021 *Extended*

41 23 N
40 40 N
069 39 W
070 35W

South of Nantucket, MA, March 30 – April 24, 2021 *Extended*

41 01 N
40 19  N
069 50 W
070 46 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones currently in effect.

Read the full release here