Saving Seafood

The collapse of fishing giant Blue Harvest exposes the weakness of catch share policies

December 2, 2023 — In October 2023, wrecking crews finished scrapping the last of a dozen fishing boats that had once owned by the notorious New England fishing magnate nicknamed “The Codfather.” Carlos Rafael, who started out as a fish gutter in New Bedford, Massachusetts, aggressively worked — and sometimes cheated — his way up the ladder, eventually coming to dominate New England’s groundfish fishery (which includes cod, hake, flounder and other white fish) before a 2017 court decision sent him to prison for nearly four years and forced him to sell off his fleet. The sale, completed during his prison sentence, would earn him another $100 million. It was a profitable end for a fishing empire built on seafood fraud, tax evasion and consolidation.

So when the private equity-backed Blue Harvest Fisheries announced in 2020 that it was buying most of Rafael’s fleet and putting the boats back to work, some welcomed it as good news for the port of New Bedford, the hub of Cape Cod’s fishing industry. But others were alarmed that Blue Harvest’s majority equity holder was the Dutch-owned firm Bregal Partners — and that most of the money would ultimately move through a Swiss holding company and into the hands of a family of European billionaires, with only a tiny fraction going to the local fishing community. Now, only three years after assuming control and becoming the dominant player in the New England groundfish fishery, Blue Harvest has suspended its operations and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, leaving many fishermen unemployed once again.

In filing for Chapter 7, Blue Harvest may be leaving as much as $100 million in outstanding debts — many of them to local vendors who performed maintenance and upgrades on its fleet. An investigation by the New Bedford Light has found that the bankruptcy is likely an avenue for Bregal to avoid paying those debts and maximize the cash it could extract.

The following was released by salon

From concrete gray to ‘tutu’ green, Mass. shows off the many colors of coastal resilience

November 18, 2023 — Hurricane Carol devastated the port of New Bedford in 1954, leaving millions of dollars of damage in its wake. The fishing community couldn’t risk another blow, so business leaders decided to construct a massive barrier at the mouth of the port.

The hurricane barrier is made of 900,000 tons of stone, 20 feet high and stretches 3.5 miles across New Bedford’s port. It can protect New Bedford, Fairhaven and Acushnet from a Category 3 hurricane.

When a storm comes and the water level stops rising behind the barrier, it is “such a feeling of security,” John Bullard, the former mayor of New Bedford and president of the board of the New Bedford Ocean Cluster, told Boston Public Radio on Thursday. Bullard was 15 when the barrier was built.

Yet there are only two hurricane barriers on the East Coast — the other is in Providence. And coastal cities are facing growing threats from sea level rise and storm surge connected to climate change.

In 30 years, sea levels may be as much as 1.5 feet higher than they were in 2000. And by 2070, they may be as much as 3 feet higher, according to predictions from NOAA and Climate Ready Boston.

Read the full article at GBH

MASSACHUSETTS: Deadly fentanyl raises stakes for addicted fishermen

November 16, 2023 — As the crew of the clam vessel Lori Ann prepared to set out from Fairhaven, the fleet manager was told that something wasn’t right with a fisherman below deck.

The manager climbed down into the cabin. There, he recalled, he found Thomas Post, a 48-year-old deckhand and father of two. The manager had worked with Post for years, and described him as an eccentric mentor to the young crew.

But on Oct. 8, 2021, Post was sitting upright at the galley table. He was naked. His eyes were wide open. His skin was cold. He had no pulse. Post, who often slept on the boat the night before fishing trips, had died that morning due to the combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine.

Post was just one of at least 70 New Bedford fishermen who died of drug overdoses in the five years between 2018 and 2022, according to state death records analyzed by The Light.

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for commercial fishermen in Massachusetts, records show. The vast majority of those deaths involve fentanyl. Since 2015, the powerful synthetic opioid has killed fishermen more than anything else. More than car crashes. More than work-related accidents. More than heart disease or cancer.

“This fentanyl is just everywhere,” said the manager who found Post dead in 2021. “I haven’t seen anything like it.” Earlier that same year, he recalled, a 24-year-old deckhand didn’t show up the morning of a fishing trip. When the fisherman’s mother came to pick up his last check, she told the manager that her son had died of a fentanyl overdose the morning of the trip.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

C&P Trawlers to buy Blue Harvest vessels, permits for $12 million

November 9, 2023 — A judge Wednesday approved a new venture’s $12 million offer to buy eight vessels and 48 federal and state fishing permits from bankrupt Blue Harvest Fisheries.

C&P Trawlers, a Massachusetts limited liability corporation by Cassie Canastra of New Bedford, Mass. and Charles “Butch” Payne of Montauk, N.Y., won approval of the deal from federal District Court Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein who is overseeing Blue Harvests’ Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware, according to a statement from C&P Trawlers.

Canastra, now manager of C&P Trawlers, has been director of operations at the Whaling City auction Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE) which her family has operated for 29 years. Payne owns vessels based in Montauk that fish for New England species including squid and whiting.

Blue Harvest’s sudden declaration of bankruptcy shook the groundfish industry and New Bedford, where Blue Harvest had acquired many local vessels and promised a revitalization of the groundfish business. Local business and political leaders have long feared a loss of vessels and permits from the port.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Canastras buy vessels, permits from Blue Harvest bankruptcy

November 8, 2023 — The Canastra family, owners of New Bedford’s seafood auction, closed a deal to buy out groundfish giant Blue Harvest Fisheries from bankruptcy, a move finalized Wednesday with the approval of a federal judge.

After a short bidding war, Cassie Canastra submitted the highest bid of $12 million on Monday, beating out the second-highest bid from O’Hara Corporation, which is a part owner of New Bedford-based Eastern Fisheries, by $750,000.

The sale includes “all the vessels, all the permits” that once belonged to Blue Harvest Fisheries. It includes eight vessels and 48 state and federal fishing permits, representing about 13% of all Northeast groundfish permits or about 250 million pounds of quota for the current fishing year.

The sale marks the final chapter in the saga of Blue Harvest Fisheries, which was founded in 2015 by the Dutch billionaire Brenninkmeijer family, through their Manhattan-based private equity firm. The company quickly expanded to become the single-largest groundfish company on the East Coast before declaring bankruptcy in September and liquidating its assets.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

C&P Trawlers submits highest bid for Blue Harvest’s fishing vessels

November 8, 2023 — New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based C&P Trawlers has won the bankruptcy auction for Blue Harvest’s fishing vessels, officially bringing Blue Harvest’s bid to be a dominating force in the region’s groundfish industry to a close.

According to a court transcript, C&P Trawlers, represented by Cassie Canastra – who according to LinkedIn also serves as the director of operations for New Bedford’s Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE) auction house – submitted the winning bid of USD 12 million (EUR 11.2 million) for the vessels. C&P Trawlers, a company incorporated on 26 October 2023, beat out multiple other bidders for the property, with the O’Hara Corporation submitting the second-place bid of USD 11.25 million (EUR 10.5 million).

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Two left injured from scallop fleet dock collapse

October 12, 2023 — Two workers were injured after a dock collapsed in New Bedford on Wednesday afternoon. Fire chief Scott Kruger told WPRI 12 News that firefighters rushed to Hervey Tichon Avenue following reports of the dock giving way. The dock’s bulkhead was under construction when it split from the rest of the pier and sank. It is still unclear whether that played a role in the fracture, as the structure was supported by standard wooden piles capped with concrete.

“Engineers are going to be taking a look at that,” Kruger explained.

Four workers were on the dock at the time of the collapse, and all fell into the water, with one needing rescue. Kruger said that two of the workers were transported to the hospital with injuries that didn’t appear to be life-threatening. The cleanup is described as a “long-term operation” as divers are in the process of removing equipment and material from the water.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: MAYOR MITCHELL SUBMITS CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

October 10, 2023 — The following was released by the City of New Bedford:

Mayor Jon Mitchell was invited by the U.S. House of Representatives to submit written testimony to the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in conjunction with a recent Congressional hearing entitled “Examining Barriers to Access in Federal Waters: A Closer Look at the Marine Sanctuary and Monument System.”

In his written submission (see attached), the Mayor explained why the federal government’s approach to fisheries management within the recently designated marine monuments matters to New Bedford’s commercial fishing fleet–the top-grossing fleet in the nation:  “The management of marine fisheries in federal waters within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a matter of vital importance to the Port of New Bedford, Massachusetts – America’s top-valued commercial fishing port.”

The Mayor encouraged Subcommittee members to take into account the unique role that New Bedford plays nationally in commercial fishing, saying “Our harbor serves not only the needs of the vessels that call New Bedford their home port, but also the needs of numerous East Coast vessels from North Carolina to Maine which land their catch in our port at different times during each fishing season.  The proper management of our nation’s marine fisheries is therefore crucial to the vitality of our port and our local and regional economy, but also to the nation, as we service the needs of an industry whose vessels operate up and down nearly the entirety of the East Coast.”

Mitchell noted that the Port and the City of New Bedford’s position has been consistent since 2016 when the proposal for a Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument originated. In the years following 2016, Mayor Mitchell has continued to argue for a more deliberate process to establish marine monuments, including providing in-person testimony before the U.S. House Natural Resources on Water, Power, and Oceans. (Copies of Mayor Mitchell’s previous 2016 testimony are available upon request.)

The Port and City maintain that marine fisheries in federal waters everywhere, including in national monuments, should be managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery and Conservation Management Act (MSA), the 169-page long legal instrument governing marine fisheries management in U.S. federal waters.  The MSA, originally enacted in 1976, has been amended and improved by several Congresses in its nearly 50-year history and is considered by many worldwide to be the ‘gold standard’ for fisheries management.

The Mayor explained how the current commercial fishing ban imposed under the authority of the Antiquities Act contrasts with the science-based, inclusive regulatory processes established by Magnuson-Stevens.  The Mayor described how the current ban in marine monument waters creates multiple difficulties for affected fisheries, including:

  • In years when highly migratory species, such as swordfish and tuna, are traversing the monument region, our longline fishermen are likely to be unable to harvest their internationally negotiated quotes.
  • Harvesters targeting quid, butterfish, and other fisheries are forced to travel for hours across the monument unable to fish until they exit the far side of the monument passing schools of these species so that they can easily see in the monument waters. This wastes time and fuel, and unnecessarily increases their carbon footprint.
  • Although the Atlantic scallop industry (the most valuable federally managed wild-caught fishery in the nation) does not operate in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the commercial fishing ban is moving the offshore lobster industry from the region and leaving them nowhere to go except onto scallop grounds, creating a potential for conflict between fisheries.
  • The Atlantic red crab industry, which is sustainable and has brought an underutilized species to market, relieving pressure on over-exploited species can no longer be harvested in areas where they have been successfully harvested for decades.

Mayor Mitchell summarized his view for the Subcommittee members, saying “For all of these reasons, I remain convinced that fisheries management under existing Magnuson-Stevens authority, is the most sensible approach to managing fishing activity within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.”

Creditors, investors likely to be wiped out by Blue Harvest’s bankruptcy

October 2, 2023 — Creditors of Blue Harvest Fisheries are not expected to recoup much, if any, of the money owed to them by the New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Blue Harvest Fisheries, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on 8 September.

The company, which filed 40 separate Chapter 7 applications for its various subsidies, cumulatively listed more than 2,200 parties as creditors. The list includes fishermen who had worked for Blue Harvest, municipalities from Georgia to Maine, seafood companies such as Eastern Fisheries and Atlantic Capes, and hundreds of small- and medium-sized support businesses, including the companies supply stores, shipyards, and mechanics.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: Fuel, diesel oil spills and bilge leaks continue to plague New Bedford Harbor

September 21, 2023 — They are called “mystery” spills, and they can be caused by a fuel line dislodging, a bilge leak or a diesel spill like the one that occurred near the State Pier on New Year’s Eve.

Andrew Jones, an environmental analyst in the Department of Environmental Protection’s Lakeville office, has been an emergency responder with the emergency response section for the last 24 years.  He said it’s called a “mystery” spill when there is no way of knowing its source or who caused it. He said it could have been an accident, a boat sinking, a land source or an elicit bilge discharge or another cause.

“I have been working with my supervisor, Dan Crafton, and my supervisor that preceded him, on efforts to figure out how to address a persistent and complex mystery sheen-oil spill problem that has been occurring in New Bedford Harbor for what amounts to decades essentially,” he said.

Read the full article at the Standard-Times