Saving Seafood

Much of America’s seafood comes through this city. Here’s how it controlled COVID-19.

February 9, 2021 — At the heart of Fishing Vessel William Lee is a miniscule area to share meals. Crew members pack around a table just a few inches from an electric stove, which is outfitted with metal guards to stop piping-hot cookware from sliding onto them as the boat rocks on the Atlantic Ocean. About seven people will spend anywhere from 10 to 12 days at a time sharing these close quarters as they search for scallops, a famously lucrative and sustainable New England fishery.

In New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the William Lee docks, scalloping season begins in April. But in 2020, that aligned tragically with something else arriving on U.S. shores: a deadly pandemic.

Roughly 390 million pounds of seafood a year come through this place. A third of that is fished locally, while the rest is processed here but comes from Canadian, Scandinavian, and other international waters. After New Bedford processes and packages this mega-haul, the seafood is distributed globally via Boston and New York City. Whether you’re dining on poached halibut in Milwaukee or pan-seared scallops in Copenhagen, New Bedford almost certainly set the “market value” on the menu.

But nearby transportation hubs became the nation’s earliest viral epicenters, bottlenecking the supply chain. Heavy hits to the restaurant industry soon followed, causing auction prices for seafood to plummet even as the cost of the fishing expeditions—fuel, groceries, salaries, and tons of ice—remained high.

Read the full story at National Geographic

NOAA FISHERIES: Now Accepting Entries for the 2021 Marine Endangered Species Art Contest

February 9, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Contest for Kids K-12: Entries Due Friday, April 23

Teachers: Celebrate Endangered Species Day (May 21) by having your classroom participate in the 2021 Marine Endangered Species Art Contest!

Endangered and threatened species need our help. Students’ artwork will showcase their knowledge and commitment to protecting these animals. We invite Massachusetts schools as well as schools from anywhere in the U.S. and beyond to submit entries.

Artwork should highlight one or more marine endangered or threatened species from the New England/Mid-Atlantic region. Text highlighting why the animals are important and what people can do to protect them may also be included. Younger students, in grades K-2, who may not understand the threats to endangered species (i.e., pollution, fishing, etc.) are encouraged to portray the animals in their natural habitat instead.

Get the details on entry requirements, entry submissions, prizes, and more.

Questions?

Contact Edith Carson-Supino, Regional Office, 978-282-8490

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center to Highlight Women’s Work

February 8, 2021 — Women have always played a big role in the world of commercial fishing, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts will help the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center highlight their work at sea and on shore.

Women’s Work: At Sea, On Shore, At Home, In the Community will use photography, film, music, poetry, and storytelling to highlight the often-untold stories of women in commercial fishing communities.

The $15,000 NEA grant, which requires a local match, is among 1,073 grants awarded to local arts projects across the country, representing nearly $25 million in federal funding.

From March through December 2021 in New Bedford, gallery exhibits and programs will explore the lives, skills, and experiences of women who work in the fishing industry, as well as the work of those who are connected through family.

Read the full story at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Baker irked by undersecretary’s climate remarks

February 8, 2021 — David Ismay, the Baker administration’s undersecretary for climate change, got into hot water with the governor on Friday after a video surfaced in which he appeared to say Massachusetts residents are going to be squeezed financially as the state tries to reduce emissions.

In a panel discussion with the Vermont Climate Council on January 25 that is available on YouTube, Ismay said the numbers facing the state are daunting. He said 60 percent of the state’s emissions come from residential heating and passenger vehicles. To meet the state’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050, Ismay said, 3 million homes need to transition to clean energy and 5 million vehicles need to be replaced with zero emission cars.

Ismay said Massachusetts doesn’t have many big sources of emissions left to target, and is left with changing the lifestyles of ordinary people. “There is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts, to point the finger at, turn the screws on, and break their will so they stop emitting,” he said. “That’s you. We have to break your will. I can’t even say that publicly.”

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

Vineyard Wind Back on Track Under Biden’s BOEM

February 5, 2021 — Vineyard Wind appears to have regained its place at the front of the offshore wind project permitting line and is back on track to becoming the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in the United States.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced Wednesday afternoon that it will resume its review of the 800-megawatt wind farm planned for 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and will “proceed with development of a Final Environmental Impact Statement,” one of the last steps before the project can truly get underway. The decision could help ensure Massachusetts starts getting clean power from the project by the end of 2023.

“We’re very pleased that BOEM has decided to move forward with the permitting process for our Vineyard Wind 1 project,” a Vineyard Wind spokesperson said. “We look forward to working with the agency as we launch an industry that will create thousands of good paying jobs while also taking meaningful steps to reduce the impact of climate change.”

Following a string of permitting delays imposed on the project by the Trump administration, Vineyard Wind on Dec. 1 announced that it was pulling its project out of the federal review pipeline in order to complete an internal study on whether the decision to use a certain type of turbine would warrant changes to construction and operations plan. The Trump administration declared the federal review of the project “terminated.”

Read the full story at WBSM

Foodservice giants reject AquaBounty’s genetically engineered salmon

February 5, 2021 — Foodservice supplier Aramark this week confirmed its boycott of AquaBounty’s genetically engineered AquAdvantage salmon.

Citing the company’s Sustainable Sourcing Policy, Aramark joins ranks with other foodservice leaders Compass Group and Sodexo, as well as a growing list of domestic retailers, seafood companies and restaurants.

“Reiterating our previously stated opposition to genetically engineered (GE) salmon, we will not purchase it should it come to market. Avoiding potential impacts to wild salmon populations and indigenous communities, whose livelihoods are deeply connected to and often dependent upon this vital resource, is core to our company’s commitment to making a positive impact on people and the planet,” Aramark’s policy states.

AquaBounty, a Massachusetts-based biotech firm, prepares to bring its gene-spliced salmon to market from its only U.S. farm in Albany, Ind., in a shifting domestic market that increasingly values origin, health and sustainability, and wild over farmed seafood.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Biden administration gives boost to offshore wind

February 5, 2021 — The Biden administration’s announcement this week of a plan to resume an environmental review of a wind farm off the Massachusetts coast and accelerate green-energy development was welcomed by developers and proponents of projects for Long Island.

Biden on Jan. 27 signed an executive order calling for the Interior Department to “identify steps to accelerate responsible development of renewable energy on public lands and waters,” a stark change from the Trump administration, which had slowed federal approvals. Trump himself was a vocal opponent of wind energy, saying it killed birds, was unreliable and even caused cancer.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Wednesday released a statement saying it would restart the environmental review and work to develop a final environmental impact statement needed to approve the project’s construction and operations plan. The project, called Vineyard Wind, a company based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, had withdrawn its application for the construction plan for the 800-megawatt project, one of the first expected to come online, to review the prospect of using larger turbines.

Read the full story at Newsday

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Receives NEA Grant

February 5, 2021 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center has been approved for a $15,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support Women’s Work: At Sea, On Shore, At Home, In the Community. This project will shine a light on the many roles women play in commercial fishing communities. New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center’s project is among 1,073 projects across America totaling nearly $25 million that were selected during this first round of fiscal year 2021 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects funding category.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this project from New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center,” said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. “New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is among the arts organizations across the country that have demonstrated creativity, excellence, and resilience during this very challenging year.”

“We are particularly excited to devote our gallery and much of this year’s programming to depictions of the full range of contributions that women make to the industry, thus dispelling the common misperception that the commercial fishing industry is exclusively a man’s world,” says Laura Orleans, Executive Director of New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.

Women’s Work will use the arts of photography, film, music, poetry, and storytelling to highlight the often-untold stories of women in commercial fishing communities. From March through December 2021, an exhibit and public programs will 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. The Center will partner with Our Sisters School, Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School, Global Learning Charter Public High School, and the YWCA to engage young people in this project.

This grant requires the Fishing Heritage Center to raise a match. We invite local businesses that may wish to sponsor this project to help us raise the match to contact info@fishingheritagecenter.org.

For more information on projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

Fate of boats owned by Carlos Rafael heading to court

February 3, 2021 — A legal dispute over the sale of fishing boats once owned by a disgraced former fishing magnate nicknamed “The Codfather” is headed to state court in Massachusetts this month.

It’s the latest development in a waterfront saga that has dragged on for years in one of busiest fishing ports in the country. Carlos Rafael, whose fishing operations were based out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was once the owner of one of the largest commercial fishing operations in the U.S.

Rafael was sentenced to nearly four years in prison in 2017 for dodging quotas and smuggling profits overseas. The result of the government’s case against Rafael included forced divestiture of his assets and a permanent ban from commercial fishing.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Star Tribune

MASSACHUSETTS: Community Foundation Announces Grants

February 1, 2021 — The Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation, formerly known as the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard, has announced two new grants to Island organizations.

The MV Fishermen’s Preservation Trust received $25,000 to re-establish a commercially viable wholesale fish market in Menemsha, and the Community Ambassador Partnership was awarded $13,367 to provide medical interpretation training to better serve the Portuguese-speaking community with medical needs or questions, particularly in light of the pandemic and upcoming vaccinations for Covid-19.

“This year has highlighted the need to be flexible and nimble in responding to emerging needs,” community foundation board chair Anne Williamson said in a statement. “If we want to maintain a robust fishing industry based out of our harbors, then it’s critical to support a wholesale outlet for their catch.”

Executive director Emily Bramhall said the foundation has supported the Community Ambassador Partnership since it was formed at the beginning of the pandemic.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette