Saving Seafood

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Seacoast Chamber Alliance hosts Offshore Wind Forum

February 18, 2021 — The Seacoast Chamber Alliance will host an Offshore Wind Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 23.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. via the online platform Zoom. The forum will consist of a panel discussion featuring Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, and New Hampshire Offshore Wind Industry Development Director Michael Behrmann. The forum is sponsored by Eversource.

The forum is free and open to the public but pre-registration is required. The Zoom link will be sent the day before the event. Register at dovernh.org/wind.

Additional panelists include Susannah Hatch, of New England for Offshore Wind and Environmental League of Massachusetts; Curt Thalken, of Normandeau Associates; Joe Casey, of IBEW; Bob LaBelle, former BOEM deputy associate director; and Elizabeth Donohue, of Eversource.

Read the full story at The Portsmouth Herald

Legal Sea Foods leaves some creditors in the lurch

February 18, 2021 — Several unsecured creditors of Legal Sea Foods still have not been paid by the seafood restaurant chain after its sale to PPX Hospitality Group, according to a news report.

It is not clear how many vendors are still owed funds, but several lawsuits were filed by vendors to Legal last year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced Legal to close its restaurant dining rooms for months, according to The Boston Globe.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Inshore lobstering ban to begin in March

February 17, 2021 — The seasonal closure of virtually all Massachusetts waters to commercial lobstering will not begin before March 5 and could be delayed another two weeks into March.

Daniel McKiernan, executive director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the recently enacted state rules to help protect North Atlantic right whales remain under review by federal regulators.

“If not March 5, then it will be two weeks later,” McKiernan said in a text message.

The Feb. 1 to May 15 closure, imposed in all state waters except those south and west of Cape Cod, is the centerpiece of a rules package approved Jan. 28 by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission, based on recommendations from DMF.

“We think this is surgical and appropriate,” McKiernan told the commission. “We believe this is the most responsible way to manage the fishery.”

The closure is set for the period in the late winter and early spring when the North Atlantic right whales travel north through the waters off the Massachusetts coast on their feeding migration into the Gulf of Maine and on into Canadian waters.

The closure, which is two weeks longer than DMF’s initial recommendation, is designed to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines in the water to help avert injuries and deaths from right whale entanglements in lobster and other commercial trap gear.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: South Shore fisheries received $2.9 million in federal relief

February 17, 2021 — South Shore fisheries hauled in $2.9 million in federal money designated for the industry last year, about 10 percent of the total received for Massachusetts.

That money went to 126 commercial fishermen, charter boat owners, aquaculture farmers and seafood processors.

The 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, known more commonly as the CARES Act, authorized over $2 trillion in relief to individuals, businesses, hospitals, loan programs and other recipients to help ease the economic impacts of COVID-19.

The Paycheck Protection Program loans, known as PPP loans, were also part of that package, which injected $1.3 billion into the South Shore economy, with forgivable loans to 10,974 companies.

Read the full story at The Patriot Ledger

MASSACHUSETTS: Panel: ocean acidification threatens shellfish sector

February 12, 2021 — As a result of climate change and direct human factors, the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Massachusetts are becoming more acidic, making them a less friendly habitat for the shellfish that drive a key industry here.

With no action, many of the scallops, clams, mollusks and lobsters at the bottom of the ocean in the Gulf of Maine will begin to dissolve by 2060 and new ones will struggle to form, imperiling an industry that supports thousands of people in the Bay State, a special commission said in a report Tuesday.

The Special Legislative Commission on Ocean Acidification recommended that Massachusetts establish a broad ocean acidification monitoring system and funnel more money into existing programs that address some of the things that are making the ocean more acidic, like residential and agricultural runoff, septic discharges and the deterioration of natural wetlands.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

MASSACHUSETTS: Charlie Baker’s embattled climate undersecretary targets fishing industry

February 11, 2021 — The Baker administration’s embattled climate change undersecretary David Ismay is again being called out for his questionable comments — this time against fishermen.

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, that broke the first video on the $130,000-a-year official’s rhetoric, says he also told climate activists that in order to obtain enough wind power, “something has to give” in regard to the fishing industry.

“We need offshore wind, and yes there is fishing out in the ocean too, but you know, there’s, we can’t have no offshore wind, no transmission, no solar, and have clean energy. Right. Something has to give,” Ismay is quoted telling Vermont climate advocates last month. He goes on to discuss transmission lines that will be placed in the ocean.

Massachusetts is home to some of the nation’s most productive commercial fishing ports, the state Division of Marine Fisheries states. The agency adds they are “happy to help commercial fishermen learn about permits, regulations, and the other commercial fishing resources.”

Read the full story at The Boston Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Report: Shellfish industry under threat as oceans grow more acidic

February 11, 2021 — Carbon emissions and wastewater are making the ocean more acidic, an accelerating chemical reaction that could threaten the ability of young scallops, oysters and lobsters to survive to maturity, according to a report published by the Massachusetts legislature on Tuesday.

A coalition of scientists, conservationists and representatives from the seafood industry found that a third of mollusks could be wiped out within 80 years if ocean waters continue to acidify at current rates. The effect on lobsters and crabs is less clear, though they are suspected to be more resilient.

“We’re running out of time before the consequences of ocean acidification become truly catastrophic,” said State Rep. Dylan Fernandes, a Democrat from Cape Cod who co-founded the coalition.

The group’s 84-page report says that oceans have been acidifying since the industrial revolution by soaking up excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When the gas dissolves, it triggers a chain reaction that raises acidity and saps the ocean of carbonate ions that shellfish use to grow their shells, making them more vulnerable to predators and bruising waves.

It’s hardly the first time scientists have predicted doom for New England’s seafood industry, but the report found rising ocean acidity is threatening scallops, the very species that fishermen in New Bedford and other nearby ports turned to to survive an earlier ecological catastrophe: the overfishing of cod.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

MASSACHUSETTS: COVID-19 federal relief funds for SouthCoast fisheries topped $5 million

February 11, 2021 — Keith Decker, CEO of Blue Harvest Fisheries, said federal relief funds made a “big difference” in minimizing the impact of the pandemic. The company received just over $510,000 last year for its processing facility and four of its fishing vessels, according to state records.

Decker said they used the funds for production line modifications to allow for social distancing and improved worker safety. The company also adopted a temporary wage increase for “hazard pay” for workers who were able to continue working during the height of the pandemic, he said.

SouthCoast commercial fishermen, charter boat owners, aquaculture farmers and processors like Blue Harvest received about 18.5%, or $5.1 million, of federal funds allocated to Massachusetts last year for economic relief for fisheries.

The 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, known more commonly as the CARES Act, authorized over $2 trillion in relief to individuals, businesses, hospitals, loan programs and other recipients to help ameliorate the economic impacts of COVID-19.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Panel: Ocean acidification threatens lucrative shellfish sector

February 10, 2021 — As a result of climate change and direct human factors, the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Massachusetts are becoming more acidic, making them a less friendly habitat for the shellfish that drive a key industry here.

With no action, many of the scallops, clams, mollusks and lobsters at the bottom of the ocean in the Gulf of Maine will begin to dissolve by 2060 and new ones will struggle to form, imperiling an industry that supports thousands of people in the Bay State, a special commission said in a report Tuesday.

The Special Legislative Commission on Ocean Acidification recommended that Massachusetts establish a broad ocean acidification monitoring system and funnel more money into existing programs that address some of the things that are making the ocean more acidic, like residential and agricultural runoff, septic discharges and the deterioration of natural wetlands.

“Ocean acidification poses a serious threat to the Massachusetts state economy, and a potentially existential threat to coastal economies that rely heavily on shellfishing,” the commission wrote in the conclusions of its report. “Massachusetts should act to combat ocean acidification now, rather than later. Ocean acidification is expected to worsen significantly before the end of the century. Actions taken now will ultimately be more cost-effective and valuable than actions taken when significant damage has already occurred.”

Global carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by the ocean and nutrient pollution of waterways drive the pH level of areas of the ocean down, making the waters more acidic and limiting certain ions that help clams, oysters, scallops, mussels and lobsters form their protective shells.

Read the full story at WHDH

Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Birthplace of NOAA Fisheries

February 10, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

When the U.S. Fish Commission was established in 1871, there was not much question as to who should lead the special investigation into a serious food fish decline off southern New England.

Spencer Baird ticked a number of boxes—prominent scientist, already in the government, willing to work in the job without additional pay—and he knew just about everyone in the field. He also  had a demonstrated track record for attracting Congressional interest and funding for his work. Much has been written about Baird’s subsequent accomplishments in the job. But what led to the decision to site the first permanent federal fisheries laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts?

For the initial work of the U.S. Fish Commission, Baird settled on Woods Hole as a base. Up to this point, the village was mostly a tourist location. People fished and farmed; whaling was nearly a thing of the past. The largest employer was a fertilizer factory that relied on guano shipped from Pacific islands.

Read the full release here