Saving Seafood

NOAA, Coast Guard: More regs needed in wake of Rafael ’s fraud

December 4, 2019 — Representatives from NOAA and the US Coast Guard are using Carlos Rafael’s case as evidence that more regulations and oversight are necessary in the groundfishing industry.

NOAA Special Agent Troy Audyatis explained to a crowd gathered at the New England Fishery Management Council Meeting on Tuesday how NOAA worked with other agencies to catch the so-called Codfather and said, “We need to prevent something like this from ever repeating itself down the road.”

Rafael was sentenced to 46-months in federal prison for falsifying fishing quota, cash smuggling, and tax evasion in a criminal case, and was ordered to pay a $3 million penalty to address the federal government’s civil claims against him which included counts of misreporting and underreporting his groundfish catch.

Audyatis said if there wasn’t an observer, who collects data from U.S. commercial fishing and processing vessels for NOAA, on Rafael’s vessels or a dock-side officer “thousands upon thousands of fish would simply disappear” without being reported.

One of the reasons Audyatis gave for Rafael being able to misreport and underreport was the vertical integration of Rafael’s business.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

‘We caught him using his own words’ NOAA: Rafael’s own fishery complaints opened door to his downfall

December 4, 2019 — It turns out that it was Carlos Rafael himself who opened the door to the civil and criminal investigations that resulted in his exile from the commercial fishing industry and his current residency at the FMC Devens federal prison.

In January 2015, angered by cuts to his portion of federal groundfish disaster relief, Rafael publicly railed against the process and said he planned to sell his more than 40 vessels and the approximately 60 federal fishing permits attached to them.

And with that, according to a NOAA Office of Law Enforcement presentation Tuesday to the New England Fishery Management Council on the criminal case against Rafael, five federal law enforcement agencies saw their opening.

They began widespread undercover investigations that ultimately led to Rafael’s indictment and conviction in November 2017 for fisheries reporting violations, tax evasion and bulk smuggling.

“We took this as an opportunity to reach out to Carlos Rafael as interested buyers,” said OLE Special Agent Troy Audyatis. “We caught him using his own words.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NMFS approves 20-mile herring trawl buffer zone off Cape Cod

December 3, 2019 — NMFS approved the New England Fishery Management Council’s plan for a 12-mile offshore boundary for New England herring trawlers a few days before Thanksgiving, with a bump out to 20 miles off Cape Cod.

The decision culminates a two-decade battle over midwater trawling in the Gulf of Maine, and complaints that it causes localized depletion of herring and other fish that disrupts ecosystems and fishermen’s access to cod, haddock and other species.

“The council recommended the midwater trawl restricted area to mitigate potential negative socioeconomic impacts on other user groups resulting from short duration, high volume herring removals by midwater trawl vessels,” NMFS Northeast regional administrator Michael Pentony wrote in a decision letter approving the New England council’s proposal.

“Because midwater trawl vessels are able to fish offshore, the council recommended prohibiting them from inshore waters to help ensure herring are available inshore for other users groups and predators of herring,” Pentony wrote.

The decision sets a 12-nautical mile exclusion zone for the trawlers from the Maine-Canada border south to territorial waters off Connecticut. The line jogs out 20 miles off Cape Cod.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Pivotal week for groundfish ahead

December 2, 2019 — The term groundfish has always struck us with the ring of the improbable. Fish? Living on the ground? How can this be? We picture fish with feet, running in formation along the ocean bottom like the Ohio State band. No wonder we can’t find any cod. They’ve all run away.

This will be a pivotal week for groundfishermen, and by extension we suppose, groundfish themselves. As you may have read last week in the pages of this newspaper, and online at gloucestertimes.com, the New England Fishery Management Council is expected on Wednesday to set catch quotas for the next three fishing seasons for 15 of the 20 groundfish stocks covered in the Northeast Multispecies groundfish management plan.

So, Wednesday will be an important day for the local fleet. The council is meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, from Tuesday through Thursday and we’ll get the news you can use as quickly as we’re able.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Coast Guard Report Finds Misreporting in Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fisheries

December 2, 2019 (Saving Seafood) — WASHINGTON — Tomorrow, at the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) December Meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, the United States Coast Guard will present a summary of an analysis it conducted from late 2014 through 2016 into potential misreporting in the Northeast Multispecies (NMS) fishery. The analysis identified over 350 trips from 2011-2015 where there is evidence of misreporting.

The Coast Guard analysis claims that several misreporting schemes were utilized from 2011 to 2015, and potentially up to 2.5 million pounds of regulated species were misreported by vessels from multiple sectors in the NMS fishery. The analysis also argues that the current regulation regime is vulnerable to stock area misreporting and limits the ability of enforcement to detect and document misreporting of stock areas.

Since February 2017, fishery managers have been developing Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) FMP, which would implement measures to improve reliability and accountability of catch reporting and ensure an accurate representation of catch (landings and discards). Amendment 23, which is currently in draft form, has been developed concurrently with the Coast Guard study, and is not a response to it. It has been developed by the NEFMC in consultation with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and the National Marine Fisheries Service. The draft amendment is available here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/190905_Draft_Groundfish_A23_alternatives.pdf.

The Coast Guard report was authored by the First District Enforcement Staff and is available here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/USCG-Groundfish-Misreporting-Investigation-and-Analysis.pdf.

The species of fish off the New England coast commonly referred to as “groundfish” are managed under the NMS Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and regulated under Title 50, Chapter VI, Part 648 of the Code of Federal Regulations (50 CFR 648). The latest updates on the development of NEFMC Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP are available here: https://www.nefmc.org/library/amendment-23.

NEFMC – Important Meeting Update – Time Changes for Tuesday, December 3 Agenda iIems

December 2, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

This is an important update from the New England Fishery Management Council about its December 3-5, 2019 meeting in Newport, RI.

WHAT’S GOING ON:  Due to the winter storm that is impacting the region, the Council will begin its meeting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 3 instead of 9 a.m. as originally scheduled in order to allow for additional travel time.
 
HAS THE AGENDA CHANGED:  The Council is not eliminating any agenda items.  However, timeslots have been adjusted to account for the delayed start, and the order of a few items has shifted.
  • Most notably, the open period for public comment and the update titled “Carlos Rafael Case/Misreporting Issues” both will take place following the lunch break under the revised agenda.
  • The item titled “Draft National Standard 1 Technical Guidance” now will be discussed prior to the lunch break.
WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE:  Visit the meeting webpage at NEFMC December 3-5, 2019 Newport, RI.
QUESTIONS:  Contact Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.

Coast Guard: Catch misreported on 350 fishing trips

December 2, 2019 — The Northeast multispecies groundfishery may have been victimized by several misreporting schemes through a five-year period and “potentially up to 2.5 million pounds of regulated species were misreported by vessels from multiple sectors” in the fishery, according to a Coast Guard investigation of misreporting.

The report chronicling the Coast Guard investigation from 2011 to 2015 will be presented to the New England Fishery Management Council on Tuesday during the first of its three days of meetings in Newport, Rhode Island.

The Coast Guard presentation is one of two scheduled agenda items dealing with catch misreporting that will be before the council on Tuesday.

The same day, NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Law Enforcement is scheduled to make a presentation to the council specifically on misreporting uncovered during the criminal case brought against now-incarcerated New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael.

In its 21-page report, the Coast Guard said the analysis by its Boston-based First District enforcement staff identified more than 350 vessel trips during the period of 2011 to 2015 in the Northeast multispecies groundfishery “where there appears to be evidence of misreporting.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Council to set quota for groundfish stocks

November 27, 2019 — The nadir for fishing for Gulf of Maine cod arrived in 2014, when NOAA Fisheries slashed quota by 77% and implemented emergency area closures that particularly singed the Gloucester small-boat, day fleet.

Nine days later, the New England Fishery Management Council cut cod quota by another 75 percent for the 2015 fishing season and the decline and fall of Gulf of Maine cod was on.

The closures and withering cuts added fuel to the debate over the precision of the science federal fishery regulators use to count fish and highlighted the cavernous divide between what National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries scientists say their science reflects and what fishermen say they see on the water.

In some ways, those battles still are being fought. Groundfishermen continue to say they see far more cod in their time on the water than is remotely represented in NOAA Fisheries’ science and modeling — both of which they still find suspect.

And, said longtime fisherman Joe Orlando, cod remains the most important linchpin stock in the groundfishery.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Fishermen look to DC delegation for aid

November 25, 2019 — Former fisherman Sam Parisi appeared before the city Fisheries Commission on Thursday night to tout his campaign for national legislation to help fishermen as the federal Farm Bill helps farmers.

“We need someone to draft a fish bill like the farm bill,” Parisi told the commission members at City Hall. “The only way we can survive is with federal legislation and assistance. Farmers get paid not to grow certain crops. Why can’t we get paid not to fish certain stocks?”

Parisi requested the commission write a letter to the city’s congressional delegation in support of drafting of a bill specifically to help fishermen and fishing communities. But commission members, while appreciative of Parisi’s sentiments, also expressed concerns that a campaign to write, pass and enact federal legislation is fraught with its own perils.

“The danger is saying we’ll back a bill that doesn’t exist,” said Chairman Mark Ring. “You don’t want to back something 100% without seeing it.”

While Parisi’s concept was short on specifics beyond federal reimbursement when catch quotas are cut, his proposal led to an active discussion on the next steps for a fishery that continues to find itself under the siege of still-dormant cod quota in the Gulf of Maine, questionable stock assessments and expanding regulation — and cost — of all manner of monitoring.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NEFMC December 3-5, 2019, Newport, RI, Listen Live, View Documents

November 25, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fisheries Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a three-day meeting from Tuesday, December 3 through Thursday, December 5, 2019.  The public is invited to listen-in via webinar or telephone.  Here are the details.

MEETING LOCATION:  Hotel Viking, 1 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI 02840; Hotel Viking.

START TIME:  The webinar will be activated at 8:00 a.m. each day.  However, please note that the meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 3 and 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, December 4 and 5.  The webinar will end at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST or shortly after the Council adjourns each day.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (631) 992-3221.  The access code is 525-617-944.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  The agenda and meeting materials are available on the Council’s website at NEFMC December 3-5, 2019 Newport, RI.  Additional documents will be posted as they become available.

THREE MEETING OUTLOOK:  A copy of the New England Council’s Three Meeting Outlook is available here.

COUNCIL MEETING QUESTIONS:  Anyone with questions prior to or during the Council meeting should contact Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.