Nantucket Archives - Page 17 of 21

Scallops: Framework 29 “Highest Yield, Lowest Impact” Alternative Advances Following NMFS Habitat Decision

January 5, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

On Wednesday, January 3, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), also known as NOAA Fisheries, informed the New England Fishery Management Council that it had “approved the majority” of the Council’s Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2). The approved provisions include two actions that have a direct impact on Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, which, among other measures, contains 2018 fishing year specifications and 2019 default specifications for the scallop fishery.

The Framework 29 preferred alternative that now will be advancing for NMFS review and implementation contains the following 2018 allocations for the fishing year that begins on April 1:

Full-time limited access scallop permit holders – 24 open-area days-at-sea and six 18,000-pound access area trips with:

Two trips in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area
Two trips in the newly available Nantucket Lightship West Access Area
One trip in the Nantucket Lightship South Area
One trip in the new Closed Area I Access Area with the northern portion, including the “sliver,” available

Part-time limited access scallop permit holders – 9.6 open area days-at-sea and three 14,400- pound access area trips with:

One trip in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area
One trip in the Nantucket Lightship West Area
One trip in the reconfigured Closed Area I Access Area

During its December meeting, not knowing whether NMFS would approve all of the proposed changes in the habitat amendment, the Council adopted four Framework 29 preferred alternatives for scallop allocations that covered the potential mix of access area possibilities – both with and without Closed Area I and Nantucket Lightship West. The breakdown of these alternatives is available at: http://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/NEFMC-Approves-Scallop-Framework-29-REVISED.pdf

Of the four scenarios, the one that now is moving forward for NMFS review and implementation provides the greatest benefits and is projected to result in close to 60.1 million pounds of landings in scallop meat weight over the next fishing year.

“By giving the fleet access to dense concentrations of scallops in the northern portion of Closed Area I and Nantucket Lightship West, scallopers will be able to catch their trip limits faster and reduce the amount of time dredges are on bottom,” said Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn. “This scenario has another benefit in that it lets us shift effort away from Closed Area II, which means flatfish bycatch will be lower and the scallops in that area will have a chance to grow larger.”

The Council also included a provision in Framework 29 to allocate the existing 1.64 million pounds of Closed Area I carryover that are still on the books. These pounds are from trips allocated to Closed Area I in 2012 and 2013 through a lottery system but never were taken due to poor fishing.

The resulting Framework 29 allocations for the Limited Access General Category (LAGC) Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) fishery include: (1) a 3,086,050-pound quota, equivalent to 5.5% of annual projected landings for the fishery as a whole; and (2) a total of 3,426 access area trips at a maximum of 600 pounds each into the following areas:

1,142 trips in the Mid-Atlantic Access Area
1,142 trips in the Nantucket Lightship West Access Area
571 trips in the Nantucket Lightship South Access Area
571 trips in the Closed Area I Access Area

Framework 29 also includes flatfish accountability measures and Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area catch limits and related provisions, which are described at the link above. The Council will provide a broader overview of the habitat amendment decision in a subsequent release.

To view the release from the NEFMC in its entirety click here.

Massachusetts: 4 Local Communities Receive State Habitat Improvement Grants

January 4, 2018 — BOSTON — Four local communities have been awarded funding from the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Habitat Management Grant program to protect natural resources.

Barnstable, Mashpee, Nantucket and Yarmouth will receive a total of almost $78,000 towards habitat improvement projects.

Barnstable ($10,000), Mashpee ($24,000) and Yarmouth ($25,000) were awarded funding for prescribed burns to improve pitch pine and oak woodland habitats. Nantucket will use the $18,997 in funds to manage heathlands on the Head of the Plains properties.

Read the full story at CapeCod

Fishing is a deadly business, but many fishermen won’t wear life preservers

December 27, 2017 — One rogue wave or false step, an ankle caught in a line, is all it takes to cast a fisherman overboard. But those risks have never been enough to convince Rick Beal that it’s worth wearing a life preserver.

Even though he has never learned how to swim.

Commercial fishing ranks among the most dangerous professions, but fishermen — fiercely independent and resistant to regulations — have long shunned life preservers, often dismissing the flotation devices as inconvenient and constraining.

Between 2000 and 2013, 665 US fishermen died at sea, nearly one-third of them after falling overboard. Not one of the latter group was wearing a life preserver, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Unlike many mariners, commercial fishermen aren’t required to wear them, although the government requires their boats to carry life preservers.

When a clam boat sank off Nantucket earlier this month, two fishermen who were apparently not wearing flotation devices died, while a pair of crew members who managed to put on life-saving gear survived.

The fatal capsizing of the Misty Blue has renewed calls for requiring fishermen to wear life preservers, just as bikers must wear helmets and drivers use seat belts. Those safety measures also faced considerable resistance before gaining acceptance.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

MAFMC Discontinues Development of Squid Buffer Framework

December 19, 2017 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted last week to discontinue development of a framework action that would have considered establishing a squid fishery buffer zone in waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. This decision will allow the effects of the recently-approved Squid Amendment to be realized prior to any additional action.

The Council included the Squid Buffer Framework in its list of possible actions for 2017 in response to public concern regarding longfin squid fishing effort during Trimester 2 (May-August) in an area south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Commenters raised concerns about a lack of juvenile squid in some areas, high amounts of bycatch of squid eggs and other species, and reported poor recreational finfish catches.

The Squid Amendment includes a 250-pound trip limit for all permits once the Trimester 2 quota has been reached — a 90% reduction from the current post-closure trip limit of 2,500 pounds. Once the amendment is implemented by NOAA Fisheries, fishing effort will be constrained after a closure during the summer months. This may address some of the concerns raised regarding squid fishing near Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Allowing time for that action to be fully implemented will enable the Council to evaluate the need for buffers or other management measures more effectively in the future.

Prior to last week’s meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, the Council received a substantial number of public comments both in support of and opposed to the framework. Comments immediately prior to the meeting were mostly against proceeding with the buffer action. Also, the directors of the state fisheries agencies for Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the two states most directly impacted, recommended not moving forward with the action at this time.

After extensive discussion and consideration of public comments, the Council voted to discontinue development of the framework. In December 2018 the Council will consider if a 2019 workshop including the various interested parties could serve to further inform possible future actions.

Learn more about the MAFMC by visiting their site here.

Nantucket Squid Restrictions Not Approved by Mid Atlantic Council

December 19, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted against a proposed squid buffer zone framework off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

According to The Independent, Narragansett Town Council members signed a letter requesting that the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council reject the buffer zone for the summer squid fishery off Nantucket. The council members wrote that “any exclusion zone or restrictions” could potentially result in “economic devastation,” not only for the fishing industry, but other businesses and the town in general.

“Squid is the economic foundation of Narragansett’s fishing industry and it is necessary that access to that valuable resource be preserved,” the letter reads. “We therefore respectfully request that the council protect the access of the squid fishery to these very important and historic fishing grounds.”

Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., told the Independent that: “A potential squid buffer zone off the south of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, it’s federal waters. So there are a handful of fishermen from Nantucket who do not want squid fishing in Nantucket south of the island. So the commercial squid fishery, it occurs in the summertime south of Nantucket. It has been occurring for decades, since at least the `970s. There have been squid vessels commercially fishing squid there since the ‘70s at least.”

Nantucket charter boat captains have been complaining about the squid fishery causing a decline in striped bass. The ban was proposed due to pressure from the recreational fishing industry, but is now will not take place in federal waters.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Massachusetts: Divers recover bodies of 2 missing men from sunken fishing boat

December 19, 2017 — Divers have recovered the bodies of the two missing crewmen of the Misty Blue, a fishing boat that sank 10 miles off the coast of Nantucket on Dec. 4, authorities said Monday.

The first body was recovered at 10:30 a.m. and the second at 4:20 p.m., State Police spokesman David Procopio said. Relatives of the two men expressed gratitude to those involved in the search. In a statement, the Saraiva family thanked “everyone involved in helping to find and bring their son Jonathan and Mr. Roberts home.”

Michael Flynn, a lawyer for Roberts’s widow, said their “thoughts and prayers go out to” Saraiva’s family.

“Mrs. Roberts looks forward to moving through the grieving process and trying to move forward,” he said.

Danny Cohen, president of Atlantic Capes Fisheries, the New Bedford-based seafood company affiliated with the Misty Blue, said the company was “thankful and saddened” that the men’s bodies had been recovered.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: State police divers search for Misty Blue fishermen

December 18, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — State police divers are searching the waters off Nantucket for two missing fishermen who were aboard the vessel Misty Blue when it sank Dec. 4, a spokesman said.

Lt. Tom Ryan, a Massachusetts State Police spokesman, confirmed today that divers are searching for the two missing fishermen. He did not have any other details.

Monday’s dive followed the postponement of at least five previous State Police dives because of weather conditions.

After hearing reports by the Coast Guard on the police scanner about the search on Monday morning, a Coast Guard spokeswoman referred The Standard-Times to State Police for information.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Massachusetts: Jack Spillane: In gratitude for fishermen

December 11, 2017 — “They that do down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;

These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.”

— Psalm 107

Misty Blue.

In the wake of its tragic destiny, even the name seems to betoken sadness.

Misty Blue, of course, could also bring to mind peace and beauty. And surely there was a time when the rugged guys who worked the surf clammer on a gentle Atlantic day thought about their boat that way.

In New Bedford, we’re well familiar with the ever-present danger of making a living on the sea. And yet, every time it happens, every time a boat goes down, it takes our breath away.

How? How? How?

Did they have time to get away? No. Could we have possibly done more for them? No.

The initial reports Monday night were that two fishermen had been rescued 10 miles southeast of Nantucket, but two remained missing.

The 69-foot Misty had put out a distress call at 6:10 p.m. and by 6:30 she was said to have rolled over and sunk. The public details of what happened are still sketchy.

Eric Arabian, 44, Michael Roberts, 44, Jonathan Saraiva, 32, and Colby McMullen, 22, were a crew and they should be listed together as a crew.

Arabian, the captain, and McMullen, were rescued by the fishing boat Enterprise and physically are said to be fine. Or as fine as they can ever be after such catastrophe.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Search called off for missing fishermen from the Misty Blue

December 9, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The Coast Guard has suspended the search for two missing fishermen near Nantucket, announcing tonight they searched a 1,605 square-nautical-mile area but could not find the men.

A state police dive team may have also discovered the sunken boat, the Misty Blue, department spokesman Dave Procopio said.

“Through the use of … sonar search teams located a large object underwater believed to be the vessel,” Procopio said in a statement.

“Weather and ocean conditions prevented troopers from diving onto the target. Conditions tomorrow are expected to be similar and will preclude diving. The current plan is for State Police divers to return to that area on Thursday and dive onto the target detected by sonar to confirm whether it is the vessel and assist further as needed,” he added.

Less than one month before the Misty Blue sank in the frigid waters of the Atlantic, a Fairhaven fisherman filed a $1.5 million lawsuit charging he was seriously injured in September as a result of the captain and crew’s negligence and the commercial vessel’s “unseaworthiness.”

Read the full story at Boston Herald

An emotional day for family, friends of lost Misty Blue crew

December 6, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Authorities believe they have located the Misty Blue underwater but not the two crew members who went missing after the 69-foot surf clam harvester overturned Monday night, according to Chad Brayton, the vessel manager for Atlantic Capes Fisheries Inc.

Details of what happened remained scarce Tuesday as the Coast Guard and four fishing vessels continued scouring the waters about 10 miles off Nantucket looking for the two Misty Blue crew members.

Misty Blue’s Captain Eric Arabian, 44, and a crew member, Colby McMullen 22, were rescued by the fishing vessel Enterprise on Monday night and are “fine,” Brayton said. Arabian and McMullen were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital Tuesday evening to be checked out after the Coast Guard brought them back to shore.

The search for Michael Roberts, 44, and Jonathan Saraiva, 32, continued throughout Tuesday as the Coast Guard kept assets in the water overnight. Coast Guard Petty Officer Andrew Barresi said at first light Tuesday, the Cape Cod air station launched an ocean sentry aircraft to aid in the search.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times