Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Count finds more elvers visiting Rockport

July 12, 2021 — The numbers, brought to you by Eric Hutchins and his volunteers from their annual census of eel movement along the Mill Brook, have been down for several years.

Not in 2021. This summer, the mighty Mill Brook has exploded into the eel-formational super highway.

The year began promisingly, with 350 eels counted from April 1 to the second week of June. But no sooner had the first wave abated than another began and the Mill Brook was en fuego.

Hutchins, a NOAA Fisheries biologist and Gulf of Maine restoration coordinator, said the streak included several hundred-eel days. As of June 29, the total count was 985 — including a jump of 402 eels in a single week.

Eel-lectrifying!

Now the really important stuff: The Eel Raffle fundraiser, where ticket buyers tried to get closest to the pin on the final number of eels counted between April 1 and Columbus Day.

“Of the original 58 raffle tickets sold, only 14 are left viable with total count guesses over 1,000,” Hutchins wrote in a June 29 email. “The next closet ‘guess’ is 1,033. But that might fall later today. Things are fast and furious this year at the eel trap.”

Where they always respect their elvers

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Haddock chowder a winner for small boat fishermen — and the hungry

July 7, 2021 — When the pandemic hit last winter, restaurants and fish markets were among the first businesses to shut down.

The combination hit the region’s fishing fleet really hard, said Seth Rolbein, director of the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust at the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance. May starts the new fishing year and summer is by far the industry’s busiest season.

“It took the legs out from under the fleet,” said Rolbein.

Additionally, fish processors in ports like New Bedford and Gloucester had the same issues as meat packing plants in the Midwest, Rolbein said. With employees working in close proximity, the fish processing plants weren’t built to contain the spread of the virus, said Rolbein, and they shut down too.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Meet the women of New Bedford’s Waterfront: Scientists analyze data to support fisheries

July 7, 2021 — Scientist Kevin Stokesbury pulled up a digital presentation in his New Bedford office at the School for Marine Science and Technology. Across from him sat fisheries consultant Cate O’Keefe with a notepad and pen in hand.

For about an hour, O’Keefe asked Stokesbury (her former doctoral advisor) a series of questions about scallop surveys, the potential impacts of offshore wind development on data collection, and the ways in which survey collaboration could improve.

She will meet with other researchers in the region in the coming weeks for a project with the New England Fishery Management Council — the organization that regulates fisheries in federal waters from Maine to Connecticut. The working group O’Keefe is involved with expects to issue a set of recommendations to improve scallop surveys by next summer, which will ultimately inform the future management of New Bedford’s most lucrative fishery

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: 40 rescued when charter fishing vessel catches fire in Gloucester Harbor

July 7, 2021 — Forty people had to be rescued from a charter fishing boat that caught fire in Gloucester Harbor on Wednesday morning, but there were no reported injuries, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard as well as local harbormasters responded to the fire aboard the Yankee Patriot II, the Coast Guard posted on its official Twitter feed.

The vessel returned to its home berth under its own power using its port engine due to a fire in the starboard engine, the Coast Guard said.

No other information, including the cause of the fire, was immediately available.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Boston.com

New slow zone to protect right whales off Martha’s Vineyard

July 7, 2021 — The federal government is implementing a new “slow zone” for boaters south of Martha’s Vineyard to try to protect rare whales.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday that the new slow zone will be in effect until July 18. It’s designed to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 360.

The agency is asking mariners to route around the area altogether or travel through it at 10 knots (11.5 mph) or less. The zone went into effect on July 2.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

Fishing Industry Feels Stranded As Offshore Wind Gathers Momentum

July 6, 2021 — On a clear morning in early June, cotton sacks filled with shucked scallops hit the scale at Gambardella’s dockside warehouse in Stonington, Connecticut. They’re being offloaded from the Furious, a scallop boat just back from a 12-day trip.

Owner and longtime fisherman Joe Gilbert runs four scallop boats out of this dock. Up in the wheelhouse of the Furious, he indicated on a chart where in the future, this same trip might be a lot more difficult to navigate.

“This entire area here is slated to be a wind farm,” he said. “It’s an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.”

In its pursuit of green energy, the Biden administration has given strong backing to the nascent offshore wind industry in the U.S. While Europe has 20 years of experience developing offshore wind, it’s relatively new in North America.

Last month saw the final approval for the very first commercial-scale project, Vineyard Wind, off the coast of Massachusetts — just one of 14 projects being considered off the Atlantic coast.

But these aren’t empty seas. Plenty of other ocean users have concerns about the massive steel turbines being erected offshore, not least commercial fishing, which is a multimillion-dollar industry in New England.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance has taken the lead in advocating for the fishing industry. Its major concern is that fishing vessels could strike one of the massive wind farm turbines in bad weather. In addition, the spinning blades interfere with the radar vessels use to find their catch. And fishermen like Gilbert worry that the structures will alter the ocean ecosystem as they change current patterns and cause formerly distinct layers of water to mix.

“We’re racing forward without the proper science to evaluate if this is good or if this is bad,” said Gilbert.

Read the full story at WNPR

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford hires new port director from New York City port

July 2, 2021 — The New Bedford Port Authority has hired its new port director, five months after the former director left his role for the private sector.

Justin Poulsen, who currently serves as vice president and executive director of PortNYC for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, will start his new role on July 30.

He was selected by the port authority’s commission, which Mayor Jon Mitchell chairs, from a pool of more than 75 applicants, according to the city. He is replacing former Port Director Ed Anthes-Washburn.

“I am thrilled to join the New Bedford Port Authority as its next Executive Director, leading an outstanding organization with a very distinguished history and extremely bright prospects for the future,” Poulsen said in a statement. “I want to thank the Commissioners for their trust, and I am excited to get to work with the dedicated team to ensure the Port continues to attract business from across the globe by offering world-class services and infrastructure.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford mayor unhappy with Baker pick for fish panel

July 2, 2021 — New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell is once again expressing frustration with Beacon Hill leaders for a lack of focus on the Whaling City.

Last week, Plymouth resident Michael Pierdinock was named to a seat representing Massachusetts on the New England Fishery Management Council, a panel that sets rules for the fishing industry such as catch limits. It is one of eight such regional councils nationwide.

Pierdinock will replace former state Rep. John Quinn, a Dartmouth resident and longtime member who had years of expertise regarding commercial fishing issues in Greater New Bedford.

Pierdinock, a civil engineer who owns a charter boat, was Gov. Charlie Baker’s top choice for the seat and listed as a recreational fisherman. State campaign-finance records show he has made $2,500 in campaign donations to Baker since 2016.

A Baker administration official emphasized that Pierdinock docks his vessel in New Bedford, and said he is knowledgeable about issues “that impact recreational anglers and the for-hire industry.”

But that defense didn’t satisfy Mitchell.

Read the full story at WPRI

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘More Than a Job’ offers a look into New Bedford fishing industry

July 1, 2021 — New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center has recently celebrated the opening of its new, permanent exhibit, “More than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Commercial Fishing Industry.”

The center held a grand opening of the new exhibit and marked its fifth anniversary on Saturday, June 26, with a free public event. The celebration at 38 Bethel St. included demonstrations of industry skills, kids’ activities, and live music by the Rum Soaked Crooks. A speaking program featured remarks delivered by Congressman Bill Keating, state Rep. Tony Cabral, and Brian Boyles, executive director of Mass Humanities.

“The nation’s most valuable port has long deserved an institution dedicated to telling its story,” said Executive Director Laura Orleans. “The Fishing Heritage Center fills that void, and our new exhibit offers visitors the sort of immersive experience usually reserved for larger museums.”

“More Than a Job” provides visitors with an introduction to the New Bedford fishing industry. Visitors can explore the changing nature of work and community through displays that present labor history, immigration and sustainability. They can also experience a working deck, which includes a scallop dredge, galley table and bunks. Guests can view historic and contemporary images and footage, and listen to more than sixty audio clips sharing the many voices of the fishing community:

Read the full story at The Herald News

Offshore wind projects line up for federal review

June 30, 2021 — The pipeline of offshore wind projects is coming into clearer view with federal officials this week planning to start their official review of a development that could offer as much as 2.3 gigawatts of power to northeastern states.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans on Wednesday to publish a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for Vineyard Wind South, a project of up to 130 turbines that the company, which is separately developing a project solely for Massachusetts utilities, plans to build out in phases. The first phase, 804 MW of power, is earmarked as Park City Wind and is under contract with Connecticut.

The notice of intent will kick off a 30-day public comment period during which BOEM will hold three virtual meetings to identify issues it should consider as it prepares a draft environmental impact statement which will then be subject to further review and its own approval. Earlier this month, BOEM began a similar process for Equinor’s 816-megawatt Empire Wind project that’s expected to deliver power to New York.

The Vineyard Wind South project is planned for the remaining southwestern portion of the 260 square mile lease area that will host the Massachusetts-contracted Vineyard Wind I project at the northeastern end. If the Vineyard Wind South project is fully developed, BOEM said it could include “up to 130 wind turbine generators, two to five offshore substations, inter-array cables, and up to five export cables connecting to the onshore electric grid in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, at up to three onshore substations.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times