June 17, 2020 — New Jersey wants to be known for more than just its shores and casinos.
Delaware River site chosen for New Jersey offshore wind port
June 17, 2020 — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says the state will develop a dedicated offshore wind energy port on the lower Delaware River, spending up to $400 million to support the state’s ambitious goal of developing 7,500 megawatts of wind power capacity by 2035.
Located adjacent to the Hope Creek nuclear power station in Lower Alloways Creek Township in rural Salem County, the site of 200-plus acres is close to the deep-draft ship channel from Philadelphia to Delaware Bay and the Atlantic – and downstream from highway bridges over the river. That eliminates the constraints of air draft at other East Coast ports like New York, where even bridge clearances of 200 feet will not be enough to accommodate the size of next-generation turbine components carried on barges and installation vessels.
“Offshore wind is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not only protect our environment but also greatly expand our state economy in a way that has immediate impacts and paves the way for long-term growth,” Murphy said Tuesday in announcing the site selection. “The New Jersey Wind Port will create thousands of high-quality jobs, bring millions of investment dollars to our state, and establish New Jersey as the national capital of offshore wind.”
Murphy’s announcement came at a pivotal moment for U.S. offshore wind, days after the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a supplemental draft environmental impact statement that looks at cumulative impacts of more than a dozen proposed turbine arrays off the East Coast.
Maryland’s wild oyster harvest doubles from last year
June 16, 2020 — Despite having fewer days to work, Maryland watermen harvested nearly twice as many wild oysters last season as they did the previous year, state officials report. Even so, a new study finds the state’s population of bivalves is in much better shape now than it was two years ago, with abundance up and overfishing down.
As a result, state fisheries managers say they’re weighing whether to maintain catch restrictions put in place last season or relax them for the next wild harvest season, which normally begins Oct. 1.
Data presented Monday night to the Department of Natural Resources’ Oyster Advisory Commission indicates that the overall abundance of adult, market-size oysters in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay has rebounded considerably since 2018 and is now at the fifth highest level since 1999.
Preliminary figures indicate the wild harvest last season topped 270,000 bushels, a nearly 90% jump from the 145,000 bushels landed in the 2018–19 season.
NORTH CAROLINA: Commercial Flounder Season Announced
June 16, 2020 — The open and close dates for 2020 commercial flounder seasons in North Carolina were announced Monday by Division of Marine Fisheries Director Steve Murphey.
The season for the Northern Management Area, which includes Albemarle, Roanoke, and Croatan sounds and their tributaries, will open Sept. 15 and close Oct. 6
The season for the Central Management Area, which includes Pamlico Sound, and the Tar, Pamlico, Neuse and Pungo rivers and their tributaries, will open Oct. 1 and close Oct. 19.
The season for the Southern Management Area, which includes Core Sound and all internal coastal waters south of Core Sound to the state line, will open Oct. 1 and close Nov. 2.
The minimum size limit will remain at 15 inches total length. For specific management area lines, coordinates, maps and gear restrictions, see Proclamation FF-25-2020.
Jersey’s Commercial Fishing Industry Struggles to Stay Afloat
June 16, 2020 — Sam Martin has never had to deal with a housing crisis. Now, thanks to the pandemic, he’s got a big one. Ordinarily, when the oysters he raises along the Delaware Bay shoreline outgrow their bags and cages, he ships them to market and starts over again. But with “virtually all our sales coming from restaurants,” and the restaurant industry on hold, Martin’s oysters have nowhere to go.
“It’s a big bottleneck,” he says.
Atlantic Cape Fisheries, of which Martin is chief operating officer, is a large commercial fishery as well as New Jersey’s largest producer of farmed oysters. Based in Port Norris, about 20 miles northwest of Cape May, its oyster operation has “doubled in size each of the last three years,” Martin says. “Last year we sold 2.5 million oysters, and we planned to sell 5 million this year, but sales so far are down about 80 percent compared to last year.”
Lodged in the water in their bags and cages, the oysters continue to grow. But once they exceed the ideal raw-bar size of about 3 1/2 inches, they lose as much as 60 percent of their value and wind up in the commodity breading-and-frying market. This month, the company will make a difficult decision. To free up bags and racks for future crops, it may have to dump its unsold, now-oversize oysters into the bay.
Three counties away, the Barnegat Oyster Collective is facing similar straits on the Atlantic coastline. Before the pandemic, “tens of thousands of people were eating our oysters in restaurants,” says CEO Scott Lennox. But since the collective was selling to distributors, “we didn’t know who they were. So we had to completely pivot and turn ourselves into an e-commerce company. We created the party pack. You get two dozen chilled oysters in a foam box with gel packs, a free oyster knife with instructions, and free shipping. And we do a Saturday Instagram shucking demo.”
Fishermen’s business remains in the doldrums even as restaurants reopen
June 16, 2020 — The reopening of Long Island restaurants for outdoor dining hasn’t translated into banner days for the region’s commercial fishermen and fish dealers, who say demand for wholesale fish, clams and oysters is inching up but nowhere near past levels.
While many local fishermen sell to local retailers, a steady local business even through the pandemic, the lion’s share of local fish go to companies that distribute to restaurants throughout the region and across the country. Three months of lockdowns over the coronavirus has backed up the market for the products, leaving warehouses for local frozen fish such as squid fully stocked, while drastically reducing demand for local clams and oysters. Market prices for most have fallen, though some, like fluke, are on the rebound.
Local fishermen have been catching and selling fluke, but with the New York quota at 100 pounds a day, the market isn’t lucrative. The market for porgies, also known as scup, has picked up as the plentiful fish come into season and more consumers learn to appreciate its value (and cook it whole).
Bill Zeller, owner of Captree Clam in West Babylon, said his business is down by around two-thirds from where it was a year ago, nearly all of the drop tied to restaurant closures. He delivers to distributors across the nation — Florida, Boston, the West Coast, where protests in recent weeks also led to some order cancellations just as some states were reopening.
NORTH CAROLINA: Input Sought on CARES Act Fisheries Plan
June 15, 2020 — The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is seeking input from the public on a draft spending plan for $5.4 million in federal coronavirus fisheries assistance.
The spending plan must be approved by National Marine Fisheries Service for the state to receive the funding provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act.
The draft spending plan proposes an approach for disbursement of the funding through direct payments to eligible commercial fishermen, charter businesses, seafood dealers and processors, and qualified aquaculture operations who can document a greater than 35% revenue loss compared to the previous five-year average due to COVID-19.
The draft spending plan and other information pertaining to the draft can be found online on the CARES Act Fishery Assistance Information page. Written comments on the plan may be submitted through an online form that can be accessed via the website or by mail to: Draft CARES Act Fisheries Assistance Spending Plan Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557.
Reminder: June Council Meeting Webinar
June 15, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will meet via webinar this week, June 16-18, 2020. The agenda, briefing materials, and other details are available on the June 2020 Council Meeting web page.
Participants are encouraged to review the June 2020 Webinar Guide for step-by-step instructions for joining the webinar, connecting your audio, commenting and voting procedures, and troubleshooting tips. Please note that we highly recommend that meeting participants use the Adobe Connect desktop application, which can be downloaded here. However, you may also join the webinar using your web browser.
To join the webinar: Click the following link or copy the URL into your browser or Adobe Connect desktop application: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/june2020/. On the log in screen, select “Guest,” type your first and last name, and click “Enter Room”. You will be connected to the Adobe Connect meeting.
Connecting your audio: Audio connection instructions will pop up automatically when the webinar opens. Please note that you must use your telephone if you are planning to participate in the meeting (Council members, presenters, and those wishing to make public comments). To connect your audio, select the “Receive a Call” option and enter your phone number to receive a call from the meeting. You may need to wait a minute or two. When you answer the phone, you will press 1 to enter the meeting room. Once your audio is connected, please mute yourself until it is your turn to speak. If you are not planning to participate or make public comments, join in “Listen Only” mode (or select the “Device Speaker” option if joining via browser). For telephone-only access, dial 800-832-0736 and enter room number 7833942# when prompted.
For general questions about the meeting, contact Mary Sabo (msabo@mafmc.org, 302-528-1143). If you are having technical difficulties connecting to the webinar, please contact the staff members listed on the June 2020 Meeting Page (staff contacts may be updated throughout the meeting).
STUDY: MATURE OYSTER REEFS COULD BOOST BLUE CRAB NUMBERS BY 80%
June 9, 2020 — Restoring oyster reefs is a priority on the Chesapeake Bay, as we know healthy oyster populations can buoy Bay-wide clean water efforts. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) wanted to know just how much restored reefs can help, and how that could translate to the Bay region’s economy.
So NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation used a high-tech model to predict long-term benefits of restored oyster reefs in the Choptank River system. Spoiler alert: the predicted benefits would be remarkable for both the ecology and the crab industry.
Together with six partner institutions, NOAA published a technical memorandum that looks at oyster reefs in Harris Creek, the Little Choptank River, and the Tred Avon River, all parts of the Choptank system that have been targeted with large-scale oyster restoration under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. These reefs are considered “young” today (Harris Creek’s oyster sanctuary was just completed in 2015, and the other two are still underway), but the research model also looked at what may happen when the reefs are “mature,” roughly 15 years after restoration.
Fishermen file lawsuit against herring at-sea monitoring rule
June 9, 2020 — The Cause of Action Institute has filed a motion for summary judgement on behalf of New Jersey, U.S.A., fisherman against a new set of regulations called the “Omnibus Amendment,” which requires some boats in the Atlantic herring fishery carry at-sea monitors at their own cost.
The new rule was designed by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), and was recently finalized by NOAA and the Department of Commerce. The New Jersey fishermen, according to a release from the Cause of Action Institute, object to the at-sea monitor requirements, as it is expected to cost fishermen “upwards of USD 700 [EUR 619] a day.”
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