Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Virtual Dock-u-mentary Discussion from New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center

April 2, 2021 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center’s Dock-u-mentaries film series continues with a virtual discussion of the film, The Long Coast.

The event will take place over ZOOM at 7:00pm on Friday, April 16th and will feature a discussion with Robyn Metcalfe, the Executive Producer of The Long Coast. To join the ZOOM Meeting, use the link, bit.ly/AprilDock.

Visitors are asked to watch the film on their own as we will not be screening the film during the Zoom meeting. Register at the following link to receive access to watch the film, bit.ly/WatchLongCoast. Register by April 15th to receive access before the discussion on April 16th. Once you receive the link, you will have 48 hours to watch the film.

In a series of lyrical portraits, The Long Coast illuminates the stories of Maine’s seafolk, those whose lives and livelihoods are inextricably connected to the ocean. This atmospheric film shows the beauty, intimacy, and uncertainty that coastal dwellers face in rooting their lives in the ocean, particularly as human actions — from overfishing, to aquaculture, to warming seas — confront Maine and its people with profound change. Learn more at thelongcoast.me.

Please contact Hannah at programs@fishingheritagecenter.org with any questions.

Dock-u-mentaries are presented by New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. Thank you to Zapalac Advisors for funding this event.

$23.6M in fish aid coming to Massachusetts

April 2, 2021 — Elements of the Massachusetts seafood industry are set to receive another $23.6 million as part of continuing federal and state efforts to mitigate the detrimental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Massachusetts allocation represents 9% of the total $255 million in new federal fisheries assistance funding and supplements the $28 million allocated to the Bay State fishing industry from the CARES Act in March 2020.

“It’s basically the same as the first round,” said Dan McKiernan, director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. “We’re being urged to get the money out as quickly as possible.”

McKiernan expects the process for distributing the money to be almost identical that in 2020 when the state distributed the $28 million from the CARES Act appropriation.

As in 2020, the Massachusetts allocation is the third largest among all states. Only Alaska and Washington, at $40 million each, received more.

Elsewhere in New England, Maine was fifth among all states with a $17.14 million allocation. New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut each received $3 million.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

SENATOR MARKEY RESPONDS TO $23 MILLION IN FISHERIES ASSISTANCE FUNDING FOR MASSACHUSETTS

April 1, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Ed Markey (D-MA):

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its plan to distribute $255 million in fisheries disaster funds appropriated in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, supporting previously authorized activities in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Massachusetts received $23 million, the third-highest award out of the 28 fishing states and territories that were listed. In 2020, Massachusetts received $28 million from the initial CARES Act fisheries disaster funding appropriations. For 20 consecutive years, New Bedford has remained the highest grossing port in the country, bringing in more than $430 million annually.

“Our fishing industries are at the core of our culture and economy in Massachusetts. Given the unrelenting challenges associated with the pandemic, the $23 million in aid for the Commonwealth is another down-payment on the help these industries deserve,” said Senator Markey. “We are home to the highest grossing port in the nation, and additional support will be needed to match our vital contribution to the fishing economy.”

Massachusetts lawmakers, led by Senators Markey and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have championed the allocation of financial aid to fishery participants. In March 2020, Senators Markey and Warren, and Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan called on Senate leadership to include support for the fishing industry in coronavirus economic relief packages and secured a $20 million USDA procurement of Atlantic seafood.

In April 2020, Senators Markey and Warren led a letter urging the Department of Commerce and NOAA to act swiftly, equitably, and transparently in allocating fisheries disaster assistance funding. Also in April of last year, Senators Markey and Warren led a letter to the Commerce Department demanding immediate release of federal guidance on how fishery participants could access the $300 million in CARES Act funds, and identified the bureaucratic inefficiencies that were behind the failure to issue this guidance in a timely manner. In June 2020, Senators Markey and Warren called on Senate leadership to include additional fisheries assistance in the next coronavirus relief package.

MASSACHUSETTS: Vaccine site for seafood workers to open next weekend in New Bedford

April 1, 2021 — Meat processing plants have experienced some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks of any workplace in the country. Officials feared the same would be true of the New Bedford’s fish houses.

Last spring, Mayor Jon Mitchell’s administration passed an emergency order that set strict safety protocols for seafood companies and other manufacturers, threatening fines of $300 per day against companies that fail to provide PPE and enforce social distancing.

And on Wednesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren, the mayor and other public officials introduced plans for a new vaccine clinic targeting the workers who kept America’s most valuable fishing port operating during the pandemic.

“This center is about protecting our essential workers,” Warren said. “It is about treating our fishermen with respect. It is about treating our food workers with respect.”

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

MASSACHUSETTS: Sen. Warren returns to New Bedford, touting $3.9M for waterfront vaccines

April 1, 2021 — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren made her first visit to New Bedford in more than two years on Wednesday, touring a new federally funded vaccination center and expressing gratitude to essential workers in the food sector.

Warren joined Mayor Jon Mitchell to inspect a waterfront building that the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center is turning into a vaccination site designed to serve employees in the nearby fish processing plants. It will begin offering Johnson & Johnson doses on April 10.

“This center is about protecting our essential workers,” Warren said. “It is about treating our fishermen with respect. It is about treating our food workers with respect.”

The Community Health Center has received a $3.9 million grant under the newly enacted American Rescue Plan Act that will help cover the cost of the vaccination site. The building where the shots will be administered is on Hervey Tichon Avenue, and was recently given to the city by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which had been using it for the Superfund cleanup of New Bedford Harbor.

“This center is a way of saying thank you, and opening up vaccinations so they are here, for the people who have been here for the rest of America over the past year,” Warren said.

Read the full story at WPRI

Extended and New Slow Zones South of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard to Protect Right Whales

April 1, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces the extension of Slow Zones set to expire south of Nantucket and south of Martha’s Vineyard and establishes another Slow Zone south of Nantucket. On March 31, 2021 several aggregations of right whales were detected south of Nantucket, MA and south of Martha’s Vineyard, MA by the NOAA North Atlantic Right Whale Sighting Survey. These three right whale Slow Zones are in effect immediately through April 14, 2021.

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

Slow Zone Coordinates:

South of Nantucket, MA, March 30 – April 14, 2021 *NEW*

41 01 N
40 19  N
069 50 W
070 46 W

South of Nantucket, MA, February 26 – April 14, 2021 *Extended*

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

South of Martha’s Vineyard, MA, March 7 – April 14, 2021 *Extended*

41 21 N
40 41 N
070 15 W
071 06 W

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

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTS: Nearly 90 endangered right whales spotted off Cape Cod in single day in March; Boaters urged to slow down to avoid injuring endangered animal

March 31, 2021 — The federal government is urging boaters off the coast of Massachusetts to slow down to avoid injuring right whales, as dozens of the endangered mammals were spotted off Cape Cod in a single day earlier this month.

Eighty-nine North Atlantic right whales were sighted in Cape Cod Bay on March 21, the most documented in a single day in the 2021 season, according to the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), a nonprofit dedicated to preserving marine mammals and ecosystems. That sightings included three mother-calf pairs, the organization noted.

The nonprofit began its day surveying the south of the bay from the air and found a large group of right whales offshore of Sandy Neck. All three mothers were seen feeding near the surface, maintaining contact with their calves nearby, the organization said.

Further north, more groups of right whales were discovered, one of whom, named Marlin, “appeared to be having the time of his life, tail-slapping at the surface,” according to the CCS.

Read the full story at MassLive

CFRF March 2021 Newsletter

March 31, 2021 — The following was released by the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation:

Project Update: South Fork Wind Farm Fisheries Monitoring — Beam Trawl Survey

The South Fork Wind Farm beam trawl survey is well underway with six months of data collected on the benthic communities of the South Fork windfarm development area and two nearby reference areas. The beam trawl is designed to primarily target scallops and groundfish, however it is outfitted with a 2.4 cm knotless nylon liner to document all sizes of the benthic species present. The catch from each monthly survey has been relatively consistent with the eastern reference area dominated by crabs and skate and a handful of flatfish; the western reference area was rocky with many small invertebrates with high catches of scallop and skate with a few summer and winter flounder; and finally, the wind farm proposed area was predominantly little skate, scup, sea robins and a few scallops. In the colder months, with a few big storms moving though the area, we have seen a slight downturn in catch, particularly in finfish through the winter. Stay tuned to see what the warmer waters bring this spring as well as the beginning of our gillnet, ventless trap, and fish pot surveys each designed to target slightly different fisheries species in this area Visit the project webpage at www.cfrfoundation.org/sfwf-beam-trawl-survey to stay up to date with the catch information from this survey.

Project Results: River Herring Bycatch Avoidance Program

After over a decade of collaboration the River Herring Bycatch Avoidance Program has come to an end. The program, representing the work of CFRF, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, the commercial fishing industry, and contributions from several other organizations, fundamentally improved the understanding of river herring bycatch and how to reduce it in the Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel fisheries. It increased portside sampling of relevant vessels in Massachusetts and Rhode Island by over 100% at times. The data collected though portside sampling supported scientific publications, management decisions, and was the primary information source for near-real time communications of river herring bycatch. These communications positively influenced fishing habits and played a role in the approximate 60% decrease in total bycatch and 20% decrease in the bycatch rate prior to the establishment of river herring catch limits. Once river herring catch limits were established, the program helped the industry stay under these limits more often than what was expected by managers. Through the course of the project 26 vessels contributed data. This included 8 fishing companies and their 13 mid-water trawl vessels, representing the majority of Atlantic herring and mackerel catch in U.S., that were cornerstones of the program. The program was started with funding from the National Fisheries Wildlife Foundation, strengthened with funding from The Nature Conservancy, and then sustained by the Atlantic Herring Research-Set Aside Program. Cuts to the Atlantic herring quota made funding through the Research-Set Aside Program untenable and, along with the closure of near shore areas, reduced the need for the program. Thank you to all who supported and contributed to this program. More information can be found at www.umassd.edu/smast/bycatch/.

Read the full release here

RODA says it’s being ignored

March 31, 2021 — With America’s first industrial-scale offshore wind farm poised to receive final approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), fishermen continue to have reservations about potential impacts.

Vineyard Wind 1, an 84-turbine wind farm to be situated in the Atlantic 15 miles south of Aquinnah, is expected to get that final approval — a record of decision — from BOEM within a month.

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a coalition representing fishing interests, has taken issue with the project from the get-go, notably the transit corridors. These are the lanes between turbine towers vessels would navigate through. Vineyard Wind and other developers that have leased sections of New England ocean for wind development have agreed to 1-nautical-mile transit lanes. RODA has long demanded wider lanes, preferably four miles wide.

That stance hasn’t changed, RODA’s executive director, Annie Hawkins, told The Times. Hawkins said a recommendation for wider lanes could have emerged from the project’s environmental impact statement, but that didn’t happen. Hawkins said the safe passage of fishing vessels, especially those towing any sort of mobile gear, is in question with the current spacing layout. It’s unknown if insurers will allow fishing vessels to travel inside Vineyard Wind 1 or the farms that will follow, Hawkins said.

Read the full story at the MV Times

Biden administration aims for vast offshore wind expansion

March 30, 2021 — Top Biden administration officials on Monday outlined new goals for building 30,000 megawatts off offshore wind energy generation by 2030, including another wind energy area covering nearly 800,000 acres in the New York Bight.

The Bureau of Offshore Energy Management announced it will initiate its environmental impact statement process for the Ocean Wind project, Ørsted’s planned 1,100 MW array off New Jersey, as the agency recently started an EIS for the South Fork wind development south of Rhode Island and just weeks after finalizing its analysis for the 804 MW Vineyard Wind project in southern New England waters.

Environmental reviews could start for as many as 10 more projects this year, the agency said.

The waters between the New Jersey beaches and Long Island already include federal lease held by developers intending to build the Atlantic Shores turbine array off Atlantic City, and the Empire Wind project close to the New York Harbor approaches. BOEM has been gauging potential developer interest in areas farther offshore and said it will now begin an environmental assessment of those areas.

With 20 million inhabitants in the region, it’s “the largest population center in the United States” with an enormous energy market, said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who spoke of the opportunity for U.S. shipbuilders and other industries in a new energy sector.

Read the full story at National Fisherman