Saving Seafood

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

Carlos Rafael gets early release from prison amid COVID-19 concerns

June 30, 2020 — While many of advanced age across the United States have taken to largely sheltering in their homes and avoiding human interaction under self-imposed quarantines due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s a strong chance that Carlos Rafael is now or soon will be living a similar existence.

The so-called “Codfather” of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who was earlier convicted of overseeing a massive, organized fish fraud operation in New England in which more than 782,000 pounds of fish were mislabeled over a four-year period (2012-2015), has been moved from the Federal Medical Center, a prison in Devens, Massachusetts, to the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Residential Reentry Management Office, confirms Scott Taylor, a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesperson.

That means Rafael is either in home confinement or a residential reentry center, also known as a “halfway house”, Taylor said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

MASSACHUSETTS: Safety experts say New Bedford orders on fish houses and other industrial facilities could set national standard on COVID-19

June 30, 2020 — The emergency orders have been in place for over a month, but local health officials are already seeing positive changes.

The most notable change is the health department is seeing a decline in COVID-19 workplace complaints. Since the orders went into effect on May 11, there have been seven complaints made to the department compared to nearly 40 complaints received in April and early-May.

“In my work I feel that everything is being done with the correct hygiene,” Camila, a fish plant worker at North Coast Seafoods said. (The worker’s name was changed for this story to protect her identity.)

Early in the crisis, she was scared of infecting her child and elderly parents and hoped the facility would close. But, Camila said, she feels more secure in her job now. Workers receive appropriate PPE equipment, temperatures are taken daily, and the facility, including cafeteria tables, are disinfected constantly.

Additionally, employers, and temp agencies that place many fish plant workers in jobs, are now obligated to take the lead in preventing outbreaks. That means workers are no longer responsible for things like bringing their own masks or taking their temperature before coming to work.

Damōn Chaplin, health director of the New Bedford Health Department, said the shift in responsibility has helped provide a layer of protection for facility workers.

“We had several different industries, doing different levels of cleaning and levels of workplace practices,” Chaplin said. “And we wanted to make sure we had a standard level of performance across the board.”

The emergency orders combined with a greater availability of PPE and access to testing is what has reduced the number of complaints, Chaplin said.

“For me, it’s safe,” Camila said.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

MASSACHUSETTS: NB Fishing Heritage Center highlights Portuguese immigration and culture

June 9, 2020 — This June, New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center will present a series of digital programs related to Portuguese immigration and culture on New Bedford’s working waterfront. These programs are part of a series based on the Center’s latest exhibit, We Came to Fish, We Came to Work: Stories of Immigration.

The Port of New Bedford has long drawn immigrants from around the world. Despite differences in language and culture, a highly-valued fishing industry developed, drawing on the strengths of immigrants from all over the world including Norway, Cape Verde, Guatemala, Nova Scotia, Vietnam, and Portugal. “We Came to Fish, We Came to Work: Stories of Immigration” explores stories of immigration and cultural heritage on New Bedford’s working waterfront. Over the next 8 months, the center will look at cultural heritage through a variety of programs including film screenings, cooking and craft demos, performances and talks, which will be offered virtually until the center re-opens to the public.

Thursday, June 11 at 7 p.m. ”Portuguese Immigration and the Fishing Experience: A Virtual Illustrated Talk,” featuring sociologist Gloria deSa, photojournalist Peter Pereira, and photographer Ron Fortier will be presented. Learn about fishing in Portugal as well as about Portuguese immigration and the Portuguese community in New Bedford today. This event will be live streamed to the center’s Facebook page,facebook.com/NBFishingHeritageCenter.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Bishop Statement on Re-opening the Northeast Canyons, Marine National Monument to Commercial Fishing

June 5, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT):

Today, Ranking Republican Rob Bishop (R-Utah) released the following statement regarding President Trump’s announcement to re-open the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing:

“Today’s announcement by the President is yet another major shift in administrative policy to support America’s seafood industry and local economies. In June 2016, I spent the day in New Bedford, Massachusetts, meeting with dozens of industry representatives that focused on the economic impact that the then-pending marine monument designation would have on the local economy. Our conversation with industry lead to a compromise proposal that would both protect the environment and American jobs. Unfortunately, this compromise fell on deaf ears. I am grateful that President Trump has righted this injustice done to hard working Americans by the previous administration.”

Northern Wind, Legit Fish announce partnership

May 28, 2020 — New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Northern Wind announced 27 May the company has formed a new partnership with Legit Fish, a Boston, Massachusetts-based tech company focusing on seafood traceability.

According to a release from the company, the partnership has been in the works for more than a year, with Northern Wind Chairman Ken Melanson and CEO George Kouri working to “fine-tune the traceability and scalability” of the technology. The new technology will allow Northern Wind to have full traceability of scallops the company sells, including origin, landing date, harvest area, and sustainability profiles.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: The future of fish is frozen: How the seafood industry is adapting to COVID-19

May 18, 2020 — Jared Auerbach first saw the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in early January, when seafood orders from Boston’s Chinatown — and Chinatowns across the country — slowly stopped coming in.

At first, the founder of Red’s Best, a Boston-based seafood distributor, wasn’t too worried.

“The second week of March, we were down about 20 percent,” he said. “Things were starting to get a little weird. We got through the weekend and I lost some sleep over the weekend, but I felt good.”

On March 17, restaurants in Mass. were ordered to shutdown, and Auerbach, who founded Red’s Best in 2008, saw his business fall out from under him as he made the difficult decision to furlough the vast majority of his staff. For someone who spent years intently focused on balancing the supply of the sea with the demand of the public — many of them restaurant chefs — he now wondered: “What’s our contingency plan?”

Read the full story at Boston.com