Saving Seafood

Providence Journal: Balance of Interests Needed on Proposed Atlantic Monument

October 12, 2015 — There is no escaping the tension that exists between protecting our environment and using our natural resources for the benefit of humankind.

Sometimes, the right steps are obvious, such as when we protect endangered species, or designate a stretch of majestic mountains as national forest or parklands. At other times, there can be strong opinions and interests on both sides, with some favoring protections and others favoring a hands-off approach.

Always, it is important to strike a balance — one that protects and preserves our resources without overlooking the need for humans to use those resources and provide for themselves. Indeed, establishing wise protections can improve our quality of life while preserving the resources that provide so many benefits.

Read the full editorial at Providence Journal 

 

RON SMOLOWITZ: Marine Monument Plan Subverts Public Input

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — October 8, 2015 — The following letter from Ron Smolowitz, of the Coonamessett Farm Foundation, was published today in the Cape Cod Times.

Your recent editorial endorsing a new Atlantic marine national monument (“A fitting tribute,” Sept. 27) misses the main reason a large and growing number of fishermen, coastal residents and public officials are so opposed to the proposal: It undermines the democratic process and threatens the future of public input in the management of public resources.

For many fishermen, this is not primarily an economic issue. Parts of the areas under consideration, particularly Cashes Ledge in the Gulf of Maine, have been closed to most forms of fishing for over a decade, and will remain closed under Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, recently approved by the New England Fishery Management Council. Fishermen recognize the value of reasonable protections for these areas.

Rather, there is broad opposition to a marine monument because this proposal – and the precedent it sets – threatens the open and public process that has so far successfully preserved these areas. A national monument designation would mean that unilateral, one-time executive action will replace public input from a diverse variety of interests – including scientists, fishermen, regulators, and environmentalists – that has played an essential role in promoting conservation and successful management. This process works and needs to be respected.

Read the letter from Ron Smolowitz to the Cape Cod Times here 

Fishermen walk out of Fisheries Management Council meeting

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — October 6, 2015 — They called it a “fisheries policy action,” but in the Radisson Hotel Plymouth Harbor lobby, where they gathered, it was clearly a cry for help.

Dozens of local fisherman, from Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and even New Orleans – most wearing bright orange “Who Fishes Matters” shirts – joined voices to produce a wail of dismay over regional fishing policies that they believe are eradicating both the fish and community-based fishing. “Who Fishes Matters” is a slogan of the North Atlantic Marine Alliance.

Fishermen like Ed Barrett, skipper of the Plymouth-based fishing vessel (F/V) Phoenix, whose voice cracked as he spoke outside the conference room after a large group of fisherman had walked out of a meeting of the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC).

“A stock that was almost fully recovered in 2009 was a disaster in 2012. It took two years to turn 15 years of hard sacrifices to rebuild stocks to put them in the toilet,” Barrett said, stammering with emotion.

Barrett said that when he began fishing out of Plymouth, 36 years ago, the harbor was filled with fishing vessels, including many federally permitted ships. But today, after more than 15 years of management the harbor is very different.

Read the full story from Wicked Local Plymouth

SHAUN GEHAN: No ‘localized depletion’ of Atlantic herring

October 6, 2015 – This week, the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition – a trade group representing herring fishermen and processors – submitted comments in response to the New England Fisheries Management Council’s supplemental scoping process on the issue of “localized depletion in near shore waters.”  “Localized depletion” is a theory that intensive localized harvest, in this case of Atlantic herring, can cause adverse impacts on various other marine species.

No such impacts or impacted species were identified by the New England Council, yet it has made a goal of Amendment 8 to Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan to “address” localized depletion.  SFC stated that “it puts the cart before the horse” to develop management measures to address a problem that likely does not exist.  The group also called for basing any actions taken in the amendment on scientific evidence, noting that none of the scientists advising the Council had identified any such problems.

As SFC noted in its letter, the real issue involves conflicts between various users of inshore waters, particularly around Cape Cod and the islands—a view shared by several Council members when this goal was debated at its June meeting.  In its letter, SFC urged the Council to address any spatial conflicts among various users groups – including herring vessels, recreational anglers, whale watching companies, environmentalists, and other fishermen – directly in a separate action.

In response to public pressure, the New England Council had long made defining and measuring localized depletion a research priority.  Previously it approved a project to define and measure localized depletion, funded through the herring research set-aside program.  Working with industry vessels, Gulf of Maine Research Institute researchers undertook a project to define and assess whether or not localized depletion was occurring.  Funding constraints allowed only for development of a technique to assess the issue.  To date, however, no follow-up research has been funded.

Amendment 8 is designed to develop management reference points to address herring’s role in the ecosystem and will take several years to complete.  The Atlantic herring resource is in strong shape, with populations more than twice long-term targets.

Read the letter from the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition submitted to the NEFMC

 

NOAA to pay for at-sea monitors through November

October 1, 2015 — NOAA Fisheries will continue bearing the cost for at-sea monitoring of Northeast multispecies groundfish vessels at least through the end of November, three months past the target date the agency initially set for the expense to shift to permit holders.

This extension — the second in as many months — is based on the same rationale as the first: with fishermen producing fewer fishing days because of slashed quotas and area closures, the money the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration budgeted for at-sea monitoring for at least 24 percent of total fishing days is lasting longer than the agency expected.

NOAA initially said the money for at-sea monitoring — which runs to about $710 per vessel per day — would run out around Aug. 31 and then the responsibility for paying for the legally mandated at-sea monitoring would have to be borne by the fishermen.

In early August, NOAA said decreased effort by the fleet had reduced monitoring expenditures enough for the money to last through Oct. 31. Now that same reduction in fishing effort has given the fleet another month-long reprieve, but it has not solved the long-term dilemma of how to pay for the at-sea monitoring.

The issue certainly is not going away.

NOAA is adamant that it expects permit holders to ultimately assume the cost of monitoring, while fishermen flatly state that the additional expense — heaped upon already miniscule, if non-existent, profit margins — simply will sink the fleet.

In late July, NOAA flatly rejected the request of the New England Fishery Management Council to use its emergency powers to remove all at-sea monitors from groundfish boats for the remainder of the 2015 fishing season.

Instead, NOAA, as well as the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, advanced the idea that the cost of monitoring be covered by some portion of the $6.9 million remaining in the Bay State’s third phase, or Bin 3, of the federal fishing disaster assistance.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

Fisheries observer program spawns more questions

September 29, 2015 — PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The fisheries observer program that looms over the industry in the Northeast won’t go out for public comment until at least December, the New England Fisheries Management Council decided Tuesday.

Years in the making, the preliminary draft of the measure numbers about 500 pages, testimony to the complexity of the effort.

Then there is the cost, which the council staff researched and broke down. It detailed the costs of what the industry will have to pay, and what it will cost the government.

Monitoring estimates by at-sea monitors, who will record bycatch, or fish that are thrown back, stands at $710 per day from the boat and $530 in costs to the government.

But a distinction has crept into the discussion, the difference between the observer program and the monitoring program. Observers are better educated, do more, and will cost boats $818 a day and the government $479.

Read the full story at New Bedford Standard -Times

Webinar/Agenda Information for NEFMC Meeting, Plymouth, MA, September 29-October 1, 2015

September 28, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council: 

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold its fall meeting this Tues-Thurs, Sept 29-Oct 1, in Plymouth, MA. Please take a look at the details below if you would like to listen in.

Both the agenda and the Council’s schedule for the next three meetings are attached.   

Meeting: The public is invited to listen in to the September 29 – October 1, 2015 Council Meeting at the Radisson Hotel, Plymouth, MA.

Location: For further information about the venue, Radisson Plymouth, MA

Webinar Registration: See https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4706439000922282497 for online access to the meeting. The webinar will be activated beginning at 8:00 a.m. each day and end at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST .

Charges for Listening: There are no charges if you access the webinar via your computer. If dialing in, your normal phone charges will apply.

Dial in number: Toll: +1 (702) 489-0007

Access Code: 294-485-239

Meeting Materials: Please consult our website Sept 2015 Council Meeting to find copies of the materials to be considered.

Questions: If you have questions prior to the meeting, feel free to call me at the Council office at(978) 465-0492 ext. 106.

During the meeting, call my cell, 617 548 5786, or otherwise use email pfiorelli@nefmc.org.

View the meeting agenda here

View the schedule of upcoming NEFMC meetings here

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishermen planning to stage protest in Plymouth

September 25, 2015 — PLYMOUTH – Local fishermen angry over federal catch-limit policies are gearing up for a demonstration at Wednesday’s meeting of the New England Fisheries Management Council in Plymouth.

Fishermen said the regional fisheries council has stonewalled input from smaller, family-run fishing operations in favor of larger, corporately owned boats.

Stephen Welch, who lives in Hanover and fishes out of Scituate and Hyannis, plans to be at Wednesday’s demonstration.

Welch, who owns a 45-foot trawler called the Mystic, said federal regulations on fishing implemented five years ago have hurt fishermen like him and are not doing a good job of protecting certain fish stocks.

“I used to have two boats and eight employees. Now I have one boat and one employee,” said Welch, a member of Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, a fishermen-led organization.

Read the full story at The Patriot Ledger

Over 1,500 Coastal Residents Join Federal, State, and Congressional Leaders in Opposing Atlantic Marine Monument

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – September 25, 2015 – A letter delivered this week to the President and other top Federal officials has been signed by more than 1,500 fishermen and other residents from coastal communities opposing recent calls to create a marine national monument along America’s Atlantic Coast. The letter’s signers join a growing list of citizens, stakeholders, governors, Senators, Members of Congress, and local leaders speaking out publicly against the monument campaign. The letter’s signers call the measure an unnecessary use of Executive authority that undermines the public management of natural resources, which are being successfully managed through public processes.

READ THE LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT AND TOP FEDERAL OFFICIALS

Saving Seafood has published the letter online today, which was produced jointly by the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) and the Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC). In addition to President Obama, the letter was also delivered to Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, and NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eileen Sobeck.

According to the letter, a recent campaign to designate an Atlantic marine national monument, specifically in the Cashes Ledge area of the Gulf of Maine and around the New England Canyons and Seamounts, circumvents and diminishes the public management procedures that currently manage these areas. In the view of the signers, a process that is open and collaborative, and considers the input of scientific experts, fishermen, and other stakeholders, is best way to successfully manage marine resources.

The signers also contend that these proposals do not properly take into account the existing protections already in place in many of these areas. They note that Cashes Ledge has been closed to most forms of commercial fishing for over a decade, and that the New England Fishery Management Council recently took steps to extend these protections into the future with the approval of Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2. The Council is set to further examine additional habitat protections for the region when it considers the Deep Sea Coral Amendment later this year. To the signers of the letter, these are clear signs that the current management process is working.

The letter joins increasingly vocal opposition to a national monument designation. Maine Governor Paul LePage, as well as Maine Senator Susan Collins and Congressman Bruce Poliquin, have all written to the Obama Administration opposing any monument in the Gulf of Maine. Sefatia Romeo Theken, the Mayor of Gloucester, Massachusetts, home to the nation’s oldest fishing port and its historic groundfish fishery, has also written a letter in opposition. Jon Mitchell, the Mayor of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the nation’s most valuable port and home to the Atlantic scallop fishery, is one of the signers of this week’s letter. Legislatively, Congressmen Don Young and Walter Jones recently introduced the Marine Access and State Transparency Act, which would prevent the President from declaring offshore national monuments.

 

Catch Shares Take Toll Council Called To Task

September 4, 2015 — At the April New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Mystic, Conn., a dozen university students from New England, members of fishing families, other fishing organizations, and Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance community organizer Brett Tolley were in attendance. About a dozen people among this group wore orange “Who Fishes Matters” T-shirts.

Among the topics addressed, by these folks and several other groups, were the importance of Amendment 18 and its relationship to subjects such as fleet consolidation, reduced fleet diversity, the disappearance of the small boat fleet, and a report, paid for by the council, that said there was no evidence of consolidation.

The council chairman told Tolley there was no time for the group to comment during the public comment period. Tolley asked that the chair consider the long distances they had traveled to be at this public hearing. Again, the chair said no. He then publicly called Tolley a derogatory epithet. In the minds of critics of the council, that proved to be a statement that said much about how the council sees itself in relation to taxpaying citizens. (The council is overseen by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Members are selected by New England governors and appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.)

Read the full story from Fishermen’s Voice