Saving Seafood

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

MASSACHUSETTS: How foreign private equity hooked New England’s fishing industry

July 6, 2022 — Before dawn, Jerry Leeman churned through inky black waters, clutching the wheel of the fishing vessel Harmony.

The 85-foot trawler, deep green and speckled with rust, was returning from a grueling fishing trip deep into the Atlantic swells. Leeman and his crew of four had worked 10 consecutive days, 20 hours a day, to haul in more than 50,000 pounds of fish: pollock, haddock and ocean perch, a trio known as groundfish in the industry and as whitefish in the freezer aisle.

As sunrise broke over New Bedford harbor, the fish were offloaded in plastic crates onto the asphalt dock of Blue Harvest Fisheries, one of the largest fishing companies on the East Coast. About 390 million pounds of seafood move each year through New Bedford’s waterfront, the top-earning commercial fishing port in the nation.

Leeman and his crew are barely sharing in the bounty. On deck, Leeman held a one-page “settlement sheet,” the fishing industry’s version of a pay stub. Blue Harvest charges Leeman and his crew for fuel, gear, leasing of fishing rights, and maintenance on the company-owned vessel. Across six trips in the past 14 months, Leeman netted about 14 cents a pound, and the crew, about 7 cents each — a small fraction of the $2.28 per pound that a species like haddock typically fetches at auction.

“It’s a nickel-and-dime game,” said the 40-year-old Leeman, who wore a flannel shirt beneath foul weather gear and a necklace strung with a compass, a cross, and three pieces of jade — one piece for each of his three children. “Tell me how I can catch 50,000 pounds of fish yet I don’t know what my kids are going to have for dinner.”

Leeman’s lament is a familiar one in New Bedford, an industrial city tucked below Cape Cod on the south coast of Massachusetts. In recent years, the port of New Bedford has thrived, generating $11.1 billion in business revenue, jobs, taxes and personal income in 2018, according to one study. But a quiet shift is remaking the city and the industry that sustains it, realizing local fishermen’s deepest fears of losing control over their livelihood.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Light

Port of New Bedford Applauds Appointment of Eric Hansen to New England Fishery Management Council

June 28, 2022 — The following was released yesterday by the Port of New Bedford:

The Port of New Bedford applauds today’s appointment of Eric Hansen, a New Bedford scalloper and president of the Fisheries Survival Fund, to a seat on the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC). Hansen’s appointment will help ensure the concerns of New Bedford’s vital fishing community are represented at the Council level. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, chairman of the New Bedford Port Authority, recommended Hansen for the seat in a February letter to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.

The Port thanks Gov. Baker, who nominated Hansen to the Council, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who made the appointment. The Port also thanks NOAA Assistant Administrator Janet Coit and NOAA Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator Michael Pentony.

For the past 21 years, New Bedford has been the most valuable fishing port in the country, with $451 million worth of seafood landed in 2020. In addition to species like surf clams and ocean quahog, a major share of the Port’s success is due to the value of New England’s scallop fishery, one of the most valuable fisheries in the country.

Prior to Hansen’s appointment, there was no representative from New Bedford on the NEFMC. Having a voice on the Council who understands the needs of our fishermen and our fishing community is critical to preserving the economic and cultural future of the Port.

“As the most valuable commercial fishing port in the nation, New Bedford deserves a seat at the table where management decisions are made, and we appreciate Secretary Raimondo’s recognition of that fact,” Mayor Mitchell said. “Eric’s extensive knowledge and experience, and his solid reputation in the industry, will enable him to serve with distinction.”

Hansen brings years of fisheries management experience to his new role on the NEFMC. He has previously served on the Council’s Scallop and Monkfish Advisory panels. In his role as president of the Fisheries Survival Fund, he has effectively advocated for the scallop fishery as it has become one of the most sustainable and effectively managed species in the country.

MASSACHUSETTS: Mayor Mitchell: Adopting scallop leasing proposal like opening Pandora’s Box. ‘Let’s not go there’

May 26, 2022 — A majority of scallopers, fishing industry stakeholders and elected officials again expressed vehement opposition to a leasing proposal on Wednesday, with New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell warning “don’t open Pandora’s box.”

More than 80 people attended the meeting before a regional fishery management council, about half the turnout of the first meeting. But more supporters provided public comment during the second meeting than did during the first, including Ronald Enoksen and Roy Enoksen of Eastern Fisheries, the world’s largest scallop company according to its website.

At certain points, the supporters’ comments drew booing or interjections from those against it, prompting a representative of the New England Fishery Management Council to remind them to remain respectful.

“I got nothing against anybody and apparently they have something against me. I’ve worked hard all my life. I’m not asking for handouts,” said Tony Alvernaz, who owns five vessels and supports leasing. As he started speaking, another vessel owner asked how much private equity is invested in his vessels.

Ronald Enoksen of Eastern Fisheries prefaced his comments by stating he is very much involved in the business and puts in 12- to 15-hour days, despite working for a corporation.

“We have problems right now. Things are going good, but we don’t know how much longer,” he said. “The water temperature, the pH is changing… the recruitment is not the same as historically it has been… we’re going to lose more bottom to the wind farms,” he said. “We need more, better operational flexibility.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Light

America’s biggest scallopers want changes to regulations preventing consolidation

May 26, 2022 — Local scallopers have crowded a series of public meetings this spring to fight a regulatory change under consideration they say could fuel further corporate consolidation in their industry, hurting not only fishing crews and their captains, but the legions of shoreside businesses that service their boats.

The proposed change, in the earliest stages of consideration by the New England Fishery Management Council, would allow boat owners to lease their government-granted access to scallop grounds out to other vessels, potentially opening the door for large commercial fishing operations to circumvent existing ownership caps and increase their already substantial share of the scallop market.

“The bottom line is this proposal is about global control, from the switch to the fish to the dish,” said Alan Cass, a former New Bedford scalloper who began his career as a deckhand and retired as a boat owner. “The resource will be at the mercy of a consolidated effort by these corporations to control ocean-to-table and economically injure the small entities in this industry.”

For nearly 30 years, scallopers like Cass and his son, who followed him into the industry, have gone to sea under a set of regulations that limit both the amount of scallops that can be harvested each year and the share of that harvest that belongs to the industry’s biggest players.

The arrangement, though complex to navigate, has kept a large class of independent fishermen competitive in a global industry alongside corporations with larger fleets and in-house processing and distribution services.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

Mayor Mitchell warns of ‘potentially consequential’ impacts if leasing is approved

May 25, 2022 — Mayor Jon Mitchell is “deeply concerned” about the “potentially consequential” impacts leasing could have in the scallop fishery, according to a letter he submitted to a fishery council ahead of its second and final public meeting in New Bedford Wednesday.

“There is no denying that there will be costs and impacts associated with the leasing program,” Mitchell wrote. “The playing field will be tilted on day one, perhaps irrevocably so, and the transformation of the scallop fishery from a ‘community fishery’ to a ‘corporate fishery’ may become all but inevitable.”

He went on to write, “as the most valuable fishing port in the nation, New Bedford has, without a doubt, more at stake in this matter than any community in the nation.”

At the close of his nearly four-page letter, he echoed local state representatives in requesting the council decline to proceed with drafting an amendment for leasing.

“I am hopeful that the Council will decline to proceed with the proposal before it, based on the vigorous opposition presented by New Bedford stakeholders.”

Included in his letter is an 11-page review, commissioned by the New Bedford Port Authority, on the potential impacts leasing could have.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Light

The information age is starting to transform fishing worldwide

May 19, 2022 — People in the world’s developed nations live in a post-industrial era, working mainly in service or knowledge industries. Manufacturers increasingly rely on sensors, robots, artificial intelligence and machine learning to replace human labor or make it more efficient. Farmers can monitor crop health via satellite and apply pesticides and fertilizers with drones.

Commercial fishing, one of the oldest industries in the world, is a stark exception. Industrial fishing, with factory ships and deep-sea trawlers that land thousands of tons of fish at a time, are still the dominant hunting mode in much of the world.

This approach has led to overfishing, stock depletions, habitat destruction, the senseless killing of unwanted by-catch and wastage of as much as 30 percent to 40 percent of landed fish. Industrial fishing has devastated artisanal pre-industrial fleets in Asia, Africa and the the Pacific.

Read the full story at Greenbiz.com

 

Scallopers in New Bedford tell fishery managers they don’t want leasing

May 12, 2022 — Scallop fishermen and captains told fishery management staff in no uncertain terms that they do not want to change current regulations to allow permit-holders to lease their fishing allocations.

More than 110 attendees — a mix of fishermen, shoreside business owners, marine scientists, attorneys and vessel owners — filled a meeting room at the Whaling Museum on Wednesday for the first of two public meetings in New Bedford on the leasing proposal. Those who spoke in opposition drew loud applause, while those who spoke in support drew little or none.

“There was a time in this industry when a father owned a boat and he taught his son, and his son was able to rise up … buy and operate his own boat, and you know, those days are gone,” said Tyler Miranda, a New Bedford captain of two scallopers. “I think that if [leasing] does move forward and is developed, it will take even further away from the family and community dynamic that fishing is and always was — and will make it more corporate.”

New Bedford for two decades has been the nation’s highest-value fishing port, in large part due to its scallop landings.

Current regulations in the limited access scallop fishery allow one permit per vessel, which entitles a boat to a certain number of days at sea and access area trips to harvest scallops. A leasing program could enable a permit-holder to lease trips and days at sea from another permit-holder, or lease to themselves and fish two allocations with a single boat, for example.

While a lobbying effort is advocating for specific ideas for leasing, the New England Fishery Management Council is taking a broader view and seeking comment on not only whether such a program is needed, but also what it should look like.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Light