Saving Seafood

Ocean study demands new approach to fishery regulation

February 11, 2016 — Complexity is the confounding principle in the process of fishery regulation. It has led to confusion, acrimony, litigation and fear among the myriad stakeholders in the Northeast Multi-Species Fishery.

A study released last week by NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole tackles complexity in a way that should empower regulators who are trying to balance conservation and economic goals, keeping the fishery profitable and preparing for an uncertain, changing ocean environment.

Regulators — the New England Fishery Management Council in the Northeast fishery — have been spinning their wheels until recently trying to respond to data about fish landings and species biomass without information that accurately depicts the changing environment.

Fish landings and biomass provide irreplaceable data for regulators to include in their decisions, but without scientific measurements on aspects of the broader environment — ocean temperatures, currents, salinity, acidity — it becomes less likely that prescriptions will be effective, and impossible to construct policies with any reach beyond a season or two of fishing. In other words, for fishing regulations to achieve intended goals, regulators cannot ignore the oceanic imbalance that has brought dramatic and rapid changes; their disruption of species’ behavior and biology is far beyond the limits of certainty, beyond the limits of traditional regulation.

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard Times

WHSTEP Meeting Topic Is Human Influence On Fisheries

February 5, 2016 — “Human Influence on Fisheries in New England: Then and Now” is the topic of the winter meeting of the Woods Hole Science and Technology Education Partnership (WHSTEP) on Wednesday, February 10, at 4 PM.

The meeting will be held at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium conference room and is free and open to the public.

Michael Fogarty of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center will present “At the Epicenter: Climate Change in the Western North Atlantic.” Robert Rocha of the New Bedford Whaling Museum will talk about “Whales: Yesterday, Today, and in the Classroom.”

Read the full story at The Enterprise

 

Massachusetts sector managers detail fishing costs

January 29, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD — Managers of area fishery sectors on Friday said many local groundfish boats could face daily charges of $125 or less-frequent charges of about $500, to pay for government-mandated monitoring of their catches.

Sector 9 manager Stephanie Rafael-DeMello and Sector 13 manager John Haran both said they negotiated with East West Technical Services, which has an office in Narragansett, R.I., for catch-monitoring services for which fishermen expect to begin paying around March 1.

Rafael-DeMello said the negotiated price was “just under $500 a day,” per boat. But because regulators randomly select boats for monitoring, she said, Sector 9 will spread the cost evenly, charging boats a flat rate of $125 per sea day in order to foot the overall costs of monitoring, which will apply only to about 20 percent of trips.

“We figured it will kind of ease the blow,” Rafael-DeMello said. “It will be a fair way for all of the vessels to share that cost.”

Sector 9 has about 21 groundfishing boats, nearly all of which operate out of New Bedford.

“We’re looking to see if we can afford to keep them all fishing, with the (quota) cuts and the costs that are coming next year,” Rafael-DeMello said. “It’s definitely going to be a struggle, to say the least.”

Read the full story at New Bedford Standard Times

 

MASSACHUSETTS: State meets fluke fishermen halfway after barring offload of entire catch

January 15, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — All but one of the seven fishing boats that were barred from offloading their catch of fluke, or summer flounder, earlier this week are back fishing, according to Dr. David Pierce, head of Massachusetts fisheries.

After fishing on North Carolina permits for the fluke, four boats from North Carolina and three from New Bedford (two owned by Carlos Rafael and one by Mark Bergeron) sought shelter in New Bedford during strong storms of the past week.

But Massachusetts’ fluke season doesn’t start until Feb. 1, and the regulations do not allow transfer of fluke quota from another port unless there is a crew injury or illness, or the boat has mechanical problems. The latter applied in the case of the one boat that had to double back to New Bedford with mechanical trouble.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times

New Bedford Standard Times: One more fault with fishing rules

January 15, 2016 — Fishing vessels tied up in New Bedford but not allowed to unload part of their catch this week suggest one more weakness in our fishing regulations that is ripe for remedy.

State environmental regulations allow a boat carrying fish to an out-of-state port to land fish in Massachusetts when injured crew or severe mechanical issues force the decision. Foul weather, apparently, is not part of the equation.

Unfortunately for seven vessels — three home-ported here and four from North Carolina — foul weather this week chased them to New Bedford, though they were all fishing on North Carolina permits. The state regulators have allowed the boats to land the portion of the catch classified as “incidental,” but the main target, fluke, as of Thursday afternoon, were still aboard at least two of the vessels because the fluke season doesn’t open in the local fishery until February.

The decision to allow the landing of the incidental catch is somewhat encouraging, as it suggests the Environmental Police tackling this interstate fish story can be flexible.

The fact that the fluke was still aboard yesterday, however, means there’s room for improvement among the rules concerned with quotas, sectors and neighboring regional Fishery Management Councils.

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Regulations bar three boats from unloading catch in New Bedford

January 13, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Three New Bedford-based fishing boats were barred from unloading their catch in the city Wednesday because the fish were caught on North Carolina quota that cannot be transferred to New Bedford.

Two boats owned by Carlos Rafael and one owned by Mark Bergeron of Bergie’s Seafood Inc. of New Bedford idled at the dock while they tried to budge state environmental police, who are following the regulations that say only a vessel breakdown or crew injury qualify a boat to go to an alternative harbor and unload.

At press time, Major Patrick Moran of the Environmental Police said the “incidental catch” (all the fish except fluke) for the local boats can be unloaded. Fluke by regulation cannot be landed in Massachusetts until February.

“We are trying to work together on this for a solution that is satisfactory to everyone,” Moran said. “This is a good start.”

Rafael and Bergeron had feared that they would have had to allow an entire catch to rot and be thrown overboard because of the strictness of the rules.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Coast Guard tows fishing boat over violations

January 8, 2016 — A New Bedford fishing vessel’s voyage was cut short Thursday after the Coast Guard found multiple safety violations, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.

The 83-foot Amber Nicole did not have a life raft, had improperly marked survival suits, and no record of performing mandatory monthly drills, all serious safety deficiencies, according to the Coast Guard statement. The boat was operating about 44 nautical miles off Nantucket with a crew of seven.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Coast Guard helps tow stranded New Bedford fishing vessel

January 4, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass.  — The Coast Guard helped tow a 95-foot New Bedford fishing vessel Monday after it became disabled Sunday morning about 100 nautical miles east of Nantucket, according to a news release.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England’s command center were notified at about 7 a.m. Sunday from the Megan Marie’s captain who said the boat was disabled due to a lost rudder. There were six people on board, he said.

The Good Samaritan fishing vessel Jason and Danielle, the disabled vessel’s sister ship, responded Sunday at about 2:30 p.m. and took Megan Marie into tow. But when winds increased to 20-30 knots and the waves reached 10 feet, the tow line parted and Megan Marie’s owner asked the Coast Guard for help, the release said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

The first venture capitalists: Fin-tech

January 2, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Few industries involve as much drama and risk as whaling did. The last voyage of the Essex, which inspired Herman Melville’s classic, “Moby Dick”, and is the subject of a new film, “In the Heart of The Sea”, gives a sense of the horrors involved. The ship left Nantucket in 1819 and sailed for over a year before being destroyed by a whale it was hunting. The 20 crew members survived the sinking, but found themselves adrift in the Pacific in three longboats, with little food and no water. Three opted to stay on a desert island, from which they were rescued three months later, on the verge of starvation. The others sailed on, hoping to reach South America but dying one by one. At first the survivors buried the dead at sea; then they resorted to eating the corpses of their crewmates. When they ran out of bodies, they drew lots to decide whom to shoot and eat. Only five of the 17 were eventually rescued. By then, they were so delirious that they did not understand what was happening.

The only reason that anyone could be induced to take part in such a dangerous business was the fabulous profit that could be made. Gideon Allen & Sons, a whaling syndicate based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, made returns of 60% a year during much of the 19th century by financing whaling voyages—perhaps the best performance of any firm in American history. It was the most successful of a very successful bunch. Overall returns in the whaling business in New Bedford between 1817 and 1892 averaged 14% a year—an impressive record by any standard.

New Bedford was not the only whaling port in America; nor was America the only whaling nation. Yet according to a study published in 1859, of the 900-odd active whaling ships around the world in 1850, 700 were American, and 70% of those came from New Bedford. The town’s whalers came to dominate the industry, and reap immense profits, thanks to a novel technology that remains relevant to this day. They did not invent a new type of ship, or a new means of tracking whales; instead, they developed a new business model that was extremely effective at marshalling capital and skilled workers despite the immense risks involved for both. Whaling all but disappeared as an industry after mineral oil supplanted whale oil as a fuel. But the business structures pioneered in New Bedford remain as relevant as they ever were. Without them, the tech booms of the 1990s and today would not have been possible.

Read the full story at The Economist

First U.S. Clam Fishery Embarks on Sustainable Fishing Assessment

December 22, 2015 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC):

The Atlantic Surfclam and Ocean Quahog fishery has become the first clam fishery in the U.S. to step forward for assessment to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) global standard for sustainable fishing. Working with scientists, the fishing industry and conservation groups, MSC has developed the world’s most credible and recognized standard for environmentally sustainable wild-caught seafood.

Iconic surfclams and ocean quahogs are important commercial species in the U.S, found in products such as breaded clam strips, minced clams, stuffed clams, chowders and bisques. In 2014, the surfclams and quahogs harvest was valued at approximately $30 million and $22 million, respectively.

If certified, these clams will be eligible to carry the internationally recognized blue MSC ecolabel, which provides consumers an easy way to choose seafood that can be traced back to a certified sustainable source.
 
Mike Kraft, Vice President of Sustainability, Bumble Bee Seafoods, one of the processors supporting this assessment said: “Our customers and consumers care about sustainability and want to contribute to healthy ocean ecosystems by enjoying sustainably harvested surfclams and quahogs now, and in the future. We are confident that the MSC process will validate the sustainability of these well-managed and healthy fisheries.”

Brian Perkins, MSC regional director – Americas, said: “The MSC’s vision is for oceans to be teeming with life for future generations. We welcome the U.S. Atlantic Surfclam and Ocean Quahog fishery’s decision to enter MSC assessment. This is an important milestone for the MSC and for fishing in the U.S.”

Landing ports for U.S. Atlantic Surfclam and Ocean Quahog are New Bedford, Gloucester, and Fairhaven, Massachusetts; Warren and Bristol, Rhode Island; Point Pleasant, Atlantic City, Cape May, and Port Norris, New Jersey; and on occasion, Ocean City, Maryland. The processors supporting this assessment include: Bumble Bee Seafoods; Sea Watch International Ltd; Lamonica Fine Foods; Atlantic Capes Fisheries Inc.; and Surfside Foods LLC.

The independent assessment will be conducted by SCS Global Services, an accredited third-party conformity assessment body. SCS Global Services will assemble a team of fishery science and policy experts to evaluate the fishery according to the three principles of the MSC Fisheries Standard: the health of the stock of surfclam and ocean quahog; the impact of fishing on the marine environment; and the management of the fishery. The process takes around 18 months and is open to stakeholders. All results are peer reviewed and no decision is made about a fishery’s sustainability until after the assessment is