Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Markey touts $15 million he steered to New Bedford’s North Terminal

July 20, 2020 — Senator Ed Markey brought his senatorial campaign to New Bedford Friday afternoon, touting his efforts to secure waterfront infrastructure and fisheries disaster assistance funding for the city.

Markey made the stop in the Whaling City as part of the launch of his statewide bus tour, the “Leads and Delivers Tour,” designed to spotlight the accomplishments the senator says he has made for the state on Capitol Hill. The focus of the stop at City Pier 3 was highlighting the $15.4 million in Department of Transportation funding to improve the New Bedford port’s infrastructure and the $28 million in fisheries disaster assistance from the CARES Act that Markey says he advocated for.

“In the last few months, COVID-19 has transformed our cities and towns across Massachusetts as many of our small businesses have been forced to close or turn to online sales. Usually bustling Main Streets are quiet as our residents choose to safely practice social distancing. Beaches and parks have emptied, and many cities and towns are unrecognizable,” said Markey, who described how the economic impact of COVID-19 has squeezed New Bedford’s fishing industry.

“With restaurants shut down, the fishing community has lost a major consumer. Despite this lack of income, these fishermen must still put food on the table at the end of the day, find a way to cover their boat costs and search for ways to make ends meet,” he said “These brave men and women need to feel like their government has their back, and that’s why I fought so hard in the CARES Act to include a historic $20 million U.S. Department of Agriculture procurement of Atlantic Seafood.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

NPR: New Bedford’s COVID safety measures could become best practices

July 16, 2020 — When the meatpacking industry in the U.S. started seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases, local officials in New Bedford, Mass., worried that their city was next. But the city took action, issuing emergency orders that safety experts say should be a model for workplaces across the U.S., if those orders can be properly enforced.

Jon Mitchell, the city’s mayor, issued two COVID-19 orders on May 6 in a city where nearly 15% of the population works in manufacturing and 20% is Latino.

The first measure requires companies to report workers who have, or may have, the coronavirus to the local health department. The second requires industrial facilities such as fish houses to provide personal protective equipment, disinfect work areas and abide by social distancing rules. Every facility is mandated to have a health and safety officer who takes workers’ temperatures at the start of every shift.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

MARCUS FERRO: Kennedy Has and Will Deliver for the SouthCoast

July 13, 2020 — On Friday at New Bedford’s Pier 3 – located off of JFK Boulevard – with a backdrop of the harbor and fishing boats that are the foundation of our local economy, Congressman Joe Kennedy III delivered his vision for a stronger New Bedford and SouthCoast region.

Gathered in attendance were community residents, city officials, and some of our elected leaders, virtually all of whom have endorsed Kennedy’s run for Senate. Among them is Hugh Dunn, New Bedford City Councilor and lead on the visionary Blue Economy project in Southeastern Massachusetts. 

“Congressman Kennedy has been a strong advocate for Southeastern Massachusetts for years,” Dunn said. “His work on the Blue Economy demonstrates that he understands the power of convening government, academia, and industry to make our region more globally competitive. He supports us, and I’m glad to support him.”

Kennedy, whose congressional district includes a large chunk of the SouthCoast, remarked that before the Blue Economy, each subregion of Southeastern New England was working separately, and thus inefficiently, on blue economic development. The goal was to bring the region together for a cohesive shoreline economy that maximizes its enormous resources and natural assets.

Read the full story at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTS: Joe Kennedy: NOAA Fisheries Should Move to New Bedford From Woods Hole

July 13, 2020 — Massachusetts congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Joseph P. Kennedy III said Friday that government scientists working for NOAA Fisheries should be headquartered in New Bedford instead of in Woods Hole, the scenic community on Cape Cod that hosts a half-dozen leading scientific institutions.

“We have the most important fishing port in the country here. And we have the scientists that have enormous influence about that port decide to be over there instead. Why would you do that?” Kennedy said during a campaign visit to New Bedford’s working waterfront.

The Democrat, who is challenging incumbent U.S. Senator Ed Markey in the Sept. 1 primary, said the concept would move 200 jobs to the city, provide an important investment in an anchor institution, and say to commercial fishermen “that we want your opinion, we need your opinion, and we want to get this right.”

The now-obsolete Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole was completed in 1961, and plans have been afoot to replace it. “It’s going to get rebuilt. The question is where,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell.

Read the full story at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTS: Kennedy throws support behind moving NOAA from Woods Hole to New Bedford

July 13, 2020 — A proposal to move the region’s NOAA Fisheries headquarters to New Bedford now has the backing of U.S. Senate candidate Joe Kennedy III.

Kennedy, currently a Democratic congressman, made the announcement in the city Friday while visiting Pier 3 alongside Mayor Jon Mitchell. He spoke with local fishermen about his new COVID-19 economic recovery plan, which calls for large-scale public works and federal hiring programs.

“Listening to local communities, recognizing those bottlenecks and then saying, ‘Hey, with you at a seat at the table, let’s actually design a policy to do that,’” Kennedy said. “The risk that we have in the midst of a shock like this is that small guys essentially get eaten up and closed.”

Fisherman Steven Palmer said he appreciated his conversation with Kennedy, during which he expressed frustration about scallop prices during the pandemic.

“Earlier this year it dropped down to $4 a pound in some spots, so it’s been tough,” Palmer said.

Read the full story at WPRI

MASSACHUSETTS: Kennedy endorses moving NOAA science center to New Bedford

July 13, 2020 — Congressman Joe Kennedy III brought his senatorial campaign to the Whaling City Friday afternoon, touting a plan at the center of his campaign for post-COVID-19 economic recovery. The focus of the stop: The Blue Economy, and more specifically, bringing NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center from Woods Hole to New Bedford.

Speaking alongside Mayor Jon Mitchell at City Pier 3, Kennedy expressed his support for the move of the science center from it’s current location on Cape Cod. The first federal officeholder to endorse moving the center, Kennedy said when it comes to the interaction between NOAA and the fishing industry, “you put them in the same place.”

“That could be 200 more federal jobs here in New Bedford. That not only provides important investment in a federal agency, that’s an anchor institution, but it says to the fishermen, ‘we want your opinion, we need your opinion, and we want to get this right.’”

Kennedy’s vision for the Science Center and the SouthCoast’s Blue Economy come as part of the much larger Kennedy Jobs and Justice Initiative (JJI), the center of his senatorial campaign, which proposes to guide economic recovery efforts by “building a better, stronger, more resilient post-COVID America.” The congressman announced the plan outside of IBEW Local 103 headquarters in Dorchester on Wednesday.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: NB Fishing Heritage Center to Reopen July 9

July 6, 2020 — Phase 3 of Governor Baker’s reopening plan begins on Monday, July 6. Museums and galleries are among those attractions planning to reopen this week. Among them is the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center at 38 Bethel Street in the Historic District.

Hannah Mooney, the Center’s Exhibits, Programs and Engagement Specialist, spoke with Townsquare Sunday host Jim Phillips about the July 9 reopening, the protocols now in place, and what live and virtual programs are planned for this summer.

Hannah also shared details about future fundraising events and the Center’s work with DATMA that helped bring about the “Vessels” exhibit in Downtown New Bedford. The interview is available here:

Read the full story at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTS: Atlantic Capes Fisheries donates 10,000 lbs of seafood to SouthCoast food banks

July 6, 2020 — Atlantic Capes Fisheries, with operations in New Bedford and Fall River, has donated 10,000 pounds of restaurant-quality fish to the food banks run in both cities by Citizens for Citizens in Fall River, and PACE (People Acting in Community Endeavors) in New Bedford, according to a company press release.

The donation of yellowtail flounder, caught by Atlantic Capes boats, will help ensure that those in need in the South Coast area will have access to healthy, fresh food during the current crisis, the release said.

PACE’s Executive Director Pam Kuechler has seen a significant increase in the use of their Food Bank, including families who have never reached out to a Food Bank before the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are grateful for this generous donation,” Kuechler stated in the release. “We have seen our numbers skyrocket in the past few weeks. In addition to our Main Food Bank at 166 William Street, we now have a mobile food pantry to serve our most vulnerable neighborhoods.”

Kuechler added that these types of donations help the food bank expand its offerings to a growing numbers of participants, and provides families with healthy options in their weekly grocery bags, “something that is critical in the middle of this health crisis,” she added.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Atlantic Capes Fisheries Donates 10,000 Pounds of Fresh Seafood to South Coast Food Banks

July 2, 2020 — Atlantic Capes Fisheries has partnered with local food banks in Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts, to donate 10,000 pounds of fresh seafood.

“It’s important for us, as part of the South Coast community, to support members of our community who are in need,” said Jeff Bolton, CEO of Atlantic Capes Fisheries. “We hope that this donation of fresh seafood will provide some relief to those experiencing food insecurity during this difficult time.”

Read the full story at Seafood News