Saving Seafood

Report: Gloucester, Mass. landings down, but worth more

November 2, 2015 — The volume and value of U.S. seafood landings remained flat in 2014, while the declines locally in volume and value have leveled off from the ear-popping decline experienced the previous year, according to NOAA’s Fisheries of the U.S. report.

According to the annual report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Gloucester held serve at No. 22 among U.S. ports in volume of landings, but declined to 26th (from 25th last year) in the value of its landings.

New Bedford, riding the lucrative success of its scallop fishery, was ranked as the nation’s top revenue-producing port for the 15th consecutive year. It generated $329 million from the 140 million pounds of fish landed in 2014, but that was down 13.2 percent from the $379 million in value from 2013.

Dutch Harbor, Alaska, reported a catch of 762 million pounds, and came in second for value, at $191 million.

Nationally, U.S. ports landed 9.5 billion pounds of fish in 2013 worth $5.4 billion. That represents a 4 percent decline in landings and less than 1 percent decline in value.

“The overall trends from landings and value for U.S. wild-caught fish is positive even though landings and value are down slightly from last year,” said NOAA Chief Scientist Richard Merrick, who said the declines all fall within the range of statistical error.

Local data

For Gloucester, the report’s data produced a mixed bag, with a slight decrease in landings offset by a slightly higher value from those landings that NOAA primarily attributed to a strong pricing year for lobsters.

A year after losing about 25 percent of both the volume and the value of its landed catch, Gloucester in 2014 landed 61 million pounds of fish, down slightly from the 62 million pounds landed in 2013 and drastically below the 83 million pounds landed here in 2012, before the current slide commenced.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

 

New Bedford once again nation’s No. 1 dollar value fishing port

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — October 29, 2015 — New Bedford remained the No. 1 port in the country for the dollar value of the catch, NOAA Fisheries reported Thursday.

It was far ahead of the second place finisher, Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

In terms of weight, New Bedford improved from 130 million pounds in 2013 to 140 million pounds in 2014, good for ninth place.

The report put the value of New Bedford’s catch at $329 million, thanks largely to scallops. Dutch Harbor reported a catch of 762 million pounds, and came in second for value, at $191 million.

Read the full story from the New Bedford Standard-Times

Fishing industry artists to present gallery talk; Exhibit at New Bedford public library extended through November

October 29, 2015 — Inside Out: The New Bedford Fishing Industry Through Industry Eyes, is a multi-media exhibit featuring the work of six artists who are all employed in or retired from the local fishing industry. The exhibit which is on display at the main branch of the New Bedford Public Library (613 Pleasant Street) has been extended through November 30th. The public is invited to a gallery talk on November 12th (AHA night) from 7:00-8:00 pm. The exhibit, which features photographs of Alan Cass, Serina Gundersen, and Phil Mello, illustrations of Bob Bowers, knot work of Manny Vinagre, and boat models of Manuel Silva, is a project of the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.

At the gallery talk on November 12th, each of the artists will talk about the relationship between their work and their art. While many past exhibits have explored aspects of the working port and the fishing industry through the eyes of artists and photojournalists, this exhibit features the work of those on the inside. From this vantage point, these artists have access to what is often a closed world. Their often intimate work provides viewers a unique opportunity to see the fishing industry from the “inside out”.

Read the full story at New Bedford Guide

NEW BEDFORD STANDARD-TIMES: Fishery science will make all the difference

October 29, 2015 — The message coming to New Bedford fishermen from federal regulators isn’t all bad.

On Tuesday, the top administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, visited New Bedford to meet with local members of the fishing community and spoke in a way that suggests the regulators understand the industry’s perspective.

“We are committed to working with the best science and trying to find the right way forward to sustain the health of the fisheries and the fishing community,” she said following a closed-door meeting, a harbor tour and a discussion at the School for Marine Science and Technology in the South End.

There are short-term crises for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery as well as long-term crises. A brief postponement of industry-funded observers takes some pressure off the fishermen and allows more work to find a compromise that satisfies the requirement of the law without driving boats out of business. In the meantime, while the right folks work out that short-term crisis, there is a necessity to keep working on the long-term issues.

The industry can hardly focus beyond the looming requirement that they pay for the implementation of at-sea monitors on groundfish boats and the immediate economic effect it will have on marginally profitable permit holders.

For too long, the message from the courts, some environmental groups and older NOAA enforcement actions had been concerned with only the resource, not the impacts of trying to sustainably harvest that resource. Administrator Sullivan’s statement of NOAA’s commitment to keeping both strong — and underpinning that work with science — opens great opportunities for collaboration and success.

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: NOAA head visits New Bedford, tours harbor

October 28, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The commercial fishing community had an opportunity to meet and discuss regulations on Tuesday with Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the first in person meeting between the NOAA administrator and local fishing community since 1993.

The closed-door meeting included a boat tour of the New Bedford Harbor and a discussion at the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth with fishermen, city leaders, and other officials.

Sullivan’s visit comes as the ground fishing industry prepares to take another hit with the cost of at-sea monitors shifting to the fishing boats. Estimates are it will cost fishing boats $710 or more each day to employ a person to count the fish that a boat takes in.

The meeting was meant to spark a conversation between the regulators and the commercial fishing community in New Bedford, which is considered the United States’ top fishing port with annual landings valued at $379 million.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Lecture Series: Whales in the Heart of the Sea

October 27, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The following free lectures exploring our evolving relationship with whales will take place at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. 

6:00 p.m. Reception  |  6:30 p.m. Lecture

Tuesday, Nov 3

Whales: An Economic, Cultural, and Environmental Icon

Dr. Michael Moore (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute), Scott Landry (Center for Coastal Studies), Robert Rocha (New Bedford Whaling Museum), and Regina Asmutis-Silvia (Whale & Dolphin Conservation) discuss the complex and evolving relationship between people and whales.

Tuesday, Nov. 10 

The Culture of Sperm Whales 

Dr. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University Professor of Biology and author of Sperm Whales: Social Evolution in the Ocean, illuminates the underwater lives and rich culture of these these misunderstood “monsters of the deep.”

Tuesday, Nov. 17 

Survivors: Life Before & After the Essex 

Michael Harrison, Chief Curator from the Nantucket Historical Society, discusses the real life tragedy that inspired Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick and upcoming Warner Bros. film In The Heart of the Sea (based on the novel by Nathaniel Philbrick).

Save your seat by calling 508-997-0046 x 100 or register online.

These events will also be broadcast live online.  

This lecture series is supported by a grant from the NOAA Preserve America Initiative.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-9175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.

 

 

NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan to Visit New Bedford, Mass.

October 26, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The following was released by Center for Sustainable Fisheries: 

Mayor Jon Mitchell will host a visit by NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan tomorrow, Tuesday, October 27, 2015. 

Administrator Sullivan and Mayor Mitchell, accompanied by other officials, will meet with local fishing industry leaders as well as tour New Bedford harbor and the SMAST campus (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology).

Following a lunch at SMAST, participants will be available to answers questions from the press at 12:45 P.M. (706 South Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford)

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is the federal agency charged with managing the nation’s fisheries; NMFS is an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Department of Commerce.

New Bedford is the America’s top fishing port for fourteen consecutive years with annual landings valued at $379 million.

MASSACHUSETTS: Coast Guard, Samaritan tow in fishing boat disabled off Monomoy

October 16, 2015 — The Coast Guard and a commercial fishing boat towed another fishing boat in from off Monomoy Island where it had become disabled after engine trouble Thursday, according to the Coast Guard.

Late Thursday afternoon watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England notified their command center that the 41-foot Angel Fish, with its three-man crew, was disabled because of a main diesel engine failure 10 miles south of the island, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.

Read the full story from the Cape Cod Times

Massachusetts: Gov. Charlie Baker approves $30 million for SMAST expansion in New Bedford

October 15, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Gov. Charlie Baker approved $30 million in state funding Thursday for the long-planned SMAST expansion at the UMass Dartmouth campus in the South End, clearing the way for a groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 23 and spurring excitement from politicians and UMass administrators.

“I’m ecstatic about this,” said state Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford. “This project is one that, in the past few weeks, I thought we were going to lose.”

Baker’s administration has been scrutinizing proposed bond projects across the state since he took office in January. The administration put a hold about two months ago, Montigny said, on SMAST expansion funding that had been ostensibly secured through a prior agreement with former Gov. Deval Patrick.

Montigny and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell both said Thursday that they had been pushing hard for several weeks to secure the funding under the Baker administration.

“I’m thrilled that this project is at last going forward,” Mitchell said. “SMAST will continue to be a major counterpoint to federal government-sponsored fisheries research. And in that way, SMAST will continue to help level the playing field for our fishing fleet.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

New Bedford, Mass. waterfront development sparks optimism — and skepticism

October 7, 2015 — Could the former NStar site be home to the East Coast’s first flume tank for fisheries, a New Bedford Harbor Hotel or a state-of-the-art center and tech museum? What if State Pier had retail shops mixed in with a busy farmers and fish market to draw in tourists?

These ideas were among those floated at a public meeting Wednesday night on the future of New Bedford’s waterfront as part of a master planning process that is designed to help residents envision where growth should happen.

While there were some positive ideas, planners also were met with skepticism as some residents said they doubted progress would be made.

The planning process began last fall and will culminate at the end of this year with draft plans followed by several public meetings and approvals at the city level.

“This whole process is about the whole waterfront from Coggeshall Street to Cove Street. It is a plan that is about the future vision of the waterfront,” said Ed Anthes-Washburn, acting port director for the Harbor Development Commission.

The public meeting was the second of two meetings following a year’s worth of planning and public interviews along the waterfront by a waterfront steering committee and representatives of Boston consulting firm Sasaki Associates.

While residents and community members filled the conference room at the Fairfield Inn & Suites’ Waypoint Event Center to weigh in on the future of the waterfront, there was clearly skepticism. Many people said they already considered the prospects of development unlikely, questioned where money would come from and others speculated that the entire process was a Nov. 3 election stunt.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times