Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Gordon Carr named New Bedford Port Authority executive director

August 29, 2022 — Gordon Carr will be the next executive director of the New Bedford Port Authority, coming on as the Massachusetts South Shore port undertakes extensive modernization to expand its fishing, processing, offshore wind energy and other maritime industries.

Currently deputy director of real estate strategy and policy at the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) in Boston, Carr has more than 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors in the areas of public policy, economic development, and enterprise strategy.

His career has already included New Bedford projects.

“As an independent consultant in 2014-15, Carr conducted a comprehensive assessment of both the New Bedford Economic Development Council and the city’s Harbor Development Commission, which has guided the strategy of both organizations in the years since,” according to a statement from Mayor Jon Mitchell’s office.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: Gordon Carr selected as the New Bedford Port Authority’s new executive director

August 26, 2022 — Gordon Carr, current deputy director of Real Estate Strategy and Policy at the Massachusetts Port Authority, has been selected as the next executive director of the New Bedford Port Authority.

Carr has more than 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors in the areas of public policy, economic development, and enterprise strategy, including on projects related to the city, according to a press release. As an independent consultant in 2014-15, Carr conducted a comprehensive assessment of both the New Bedford Economic Development Council and the City’s Harbor Development Commission, which has guided the strategy of both organizations in the years since.

At Massport, Carr has worked in a variety of capacities and leadership roles, each of which closely involved and supported the diverse operations of the Port of Boston. Importantly, he served as the primary lead on a range of topics advocating for the working port, maritime industrial/seafood interests, and freight networks, including leading an in-depth study and analysis of the future of the seafood cluster in Boston.

Read the full article at South Coast Today

MASSACHUSSETTS: New Bedford city councilors look for solution to shellfish bed pollution

August 11, 2022 — The New Bedford City Council Committee on Fisheries voted Tuesday to submit a motion to Mayor Jon Mitchell, requesting he petition the state’s fisheries agency to consider the relocation of shellfish to clean waters.

Since late 2019 to early 2020, shellfishing areas in Clarks Cove and the outer harbor have been closed due to contamination concerns, which has affected people who catch quahogs recreationally and commercially.

Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) staff say the areas have remained closed because releases of sewage from the city’s old sewer system through combined sewer overflows (CSOs) were unmanageable and unpredictable.

Read the full article at New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS : Shellfish areas remain closed in New Bedford as city works to fix old sewage system

August 9, 2022 — When there is heavy rainfall — and sometimes when it’s dry — openings along New Bedford’s shoreline function as relief valves for the city’s old and overloaded sewer system, spewing into nearby waters a mixture of stormwater and untreated sewage from homes and businesses.

Some of these receiving waters contain beds where people recreationally or commercially harvest little necks, cherry stones and chowders — all types of quahogs.  But when the openings release enough effluent, those areas must temporarily close due to possible contamination.

The state department overseeing fisheries determined in 2020 that New Bedford’s closures due to releases into Clarks Cove and the outer harbor were no longer predictable or manageable, with some overflows going unreported by the city.

As a result, “conditionally approved” areas for shellfishing in those waters have been continuously closed since late 2019 to 2020. More than two years later, a staff member with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) has expressed concern that these shellfishing areas in waters shared by New Bedford, Fairhaven and Dartmouth will be permanently closed due to the sewage releases.

“I am concerned that due to these issues FDA will require both areas be downgraded and reclassified to Prohibited,” wrote the state’s shellfish program manager Jeff Kennedy in a May memo to DMF Director Daniel McKiernan.

The city is engaged in a multi-year improvement plan, under a decree from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and laid out a plan to spend more than $260 million through at least 2036 to upgrade the system. As this work moves along, the city is still grappling with remediating problems created by old, costly-to-fix systems.

According to the EPA, sewage discharges are a “major problem” in the country and cause some bodies of water to remain unsafe for swimming and fishing, with the problem being “especially acute” in New England, where more than 100 communities are affected.

These openings, called combined sewer overflows (CSOs), have decreased in number since the 1990s, and consequently, the city through sewer separation efforts has reduced the amount of sewage outfall from an estimated 3.1 billion gallons in 1990 to about 183 million gallons in 2016, according to a city report.

It was further reduced to 181.9 million gallons from July 2020 through June 2021, according to a city spokesperson.

While the city’s work to improve the system has resulted in thousands of acres of previously closed shellfish areas opening, the affected areas currently closed are about 4,000 acres.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MASSAHCUSETTS: Head of NOAA Fisheries visits New Bedford, impact of offshore wind development on fishing a concern

August 5, 2022 — The Biden administration fast-tracked the permitting process for offshore wind, with Vineyard Wind slated to become the first large-scale project in regional waters. The joint venture secured all necessary permitting in 2021 and aims to complete construction by 2024.

Details of the meeting are vague, as it was not made open to the public. But Hansen said that Coit was receptive to the concerns. “She understood the reasoning behind it and thought it was a good idea,” he said.

Briefly discussed was the controversial, industry-backed scallop leasing proposal, said three in attendance. The proposal has split local fishermen and owners of scallop vessels. Many fishermen have voiced opposition in a series of public hearings held through the summer, fearing that it will lead to further consolidation and outsized influence of Wall Street over the port and their livelihoods. Some of the largest commercial fishing companies have stated their support, saying it will improve efficiency and allow companies to trim operational costs.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: New England Fishery Management Council seeks fisherfolk to serve on advisory councils

July 26, 2022 — NEW BEDFORD — The New England Fishery Management Council announced Monday that it is looking for fishermen to serve three-year terms on multiple advisory councils.

The Council said in a press release that it is looking for a wide range of fishermen — from groundfish, monkfish, recreational, and other fisheries — to fill seats on nine advisory councils.

Read the full article at South Coast Today

MASSACHUSETTS: Biden visits Somerset, pledges $2.3 billion to combat climate change

July 21, 2022 — Amid a heat wave scorching Massachusetts and breaking records in much of Europe, President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced forthcoming executive actions and a $2.3 billion infrastructure investment to tackle climate change, stating it’s “code red for humanity.”

Biden said shuttered fossil fuel plants are becoming the sites for clean energy construction and technologies, adding Brayton Point is on the frontier of clean energy.

The symbolism of the Somerset site as a shift toward renewable energy has been used by other elected officials, like U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, who, standing before the Port of New Bedford last year, said the city would reclaim the title of being the city that lit the world — this time with renewable wind energy instead of whale oil.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees and regulates this development, has also discussed streamlining the process after the first projects, such as Vineyard Wind, got final approval.

As the process speeds up following a slow down during the Trump administration, fishermen and fishing industry representatives have expressed concern that not enough is being done to look into the potential negative impacts the wind farms might have on the fishing industry.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

 

Public reaction to New Bedford fishing industry investigation: ‘This is a disgrace’

July 18, 2022 — New Bedford Light reporter Will Sennott’s deep investigation into how foreign private equity is taking over New Bedford’s lucrative waterfront sparked passionate and often angry responses from ordinary citizens.

The article, written in partnership with ProPublica, uncovers a business model that undercuts fishermen and shifts control of the waterfront out of New Bedford.

Following is a collection of email and social media reaction:

“I always learn so much reading The New Bedford Light. The title really lives up to the name, as it truly sheds a light on issues of importance to our community.

Will Sennott’s article on the fishing industry’s rapid takeover by private equity firms was most informative. This is a development that should concern all of us.

New Bedford’s hard-working, devoted fishermen have been the backbone of our economy for generations. What hurts them and their families, hurts me.

Folks are complaining now about the high price of fish and scallops, but it will only get worse. And, personally, I think putting the squeeze on the very people who do the backbreaking work is unconscionable.

Corporate greed at its best.

The question is, ‘Who has the power to stop this practice, and can it realistically be stopped?’”

— Dawn Blake Souza, retired educator and New Bedford Public Schools principal, via email

“This @willsennott and @NewBedfordLight piece on how private equity firms and foreign investors like the Brenninkmeijer family, living in moated castles in Germany, have taken over much of New England’s fishing industry for @propublica, is something else #fishing.”

— Aleksander @aleksanderrr_, via Twitter

“Private equity owns everything with very little regulatory oversight and extremely generous tax treatment. #TaxWealth.”

— JO @JO_loves_coffee, via Twitter

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

 

Justin Mello: First, ground fishing takeover — next is the scallop industry

July 8, 2022 — I’ve spoken at every scallop leasing meeting and webinar against consolidation, leasing, stacking. Whatever name they throw on it, it’s bad.

We can clearly see the negative impacts on crew and community in other fisheries, for example, ground fish. Many companies, including my father’s, suffered after changes were made in the ground fish industry. I myself witnessed the quick transition when I first started unloading boats. We would unload many draggers when I first started. And about three years later we didn’t have one left. And we transitioned mostly to scallops.

The big companies push for this every so many years. They come up with different angles every time. Flexibility, safety, efficiency. But it only comes down to greed. And the sad part is, every year there are less and less voices to speak up. Especially in a year like this. Many single boat owners are selling. And there are less voices to communicate the point we are trying to make.

The bigger the company, the more bills they have, the more they take from their money makers: the boats. Even when they say they don’t take from the crew, they just take off the top. So it comes off the crew one way or another. So who’s to say they won’t pass off leasing costs? No one. All they do is add a little section on your settlement and call it “miscellaneous expense” and take whatever they want or need.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Light