January 8, 2019 — The partial government shutdown has begun to affect the timeline for Vineyard Wind, though not necessarily enough to delay construction.
Two federal meetings have been postponed indefinitely: one in New Bedford on Jan. 8 and one in Narragansett, Rhode Island, on Jan. 9.
Others in Hyannis, Nantucket and Vineyard Haven will be postponed if the shutdown is still ongoing on Jan. 14.
January 7, 2019 — When it comes to fishery management controversy never seems to be too far away. Last month you may have read about the dubious nature of a decision by the New England Fishery Management Council to close a large area of Nantucket Shoals to fishermen who harvest surf clams there, ostensibly to protect fish habitat. Questionable actions such as these undermine industry confidence in fishery regulators and serve only to alienate, and embitter, fishermen and the many others on the waterfront whose livelihoods are threatened by such draconian measures. With respect to protecting fish habitat allow me to quote from NOAA Fisheries’ own web site (fishwatch.gov) which bills itself as ‘U.S. Seafood Facts.’ The salient quote, with respect to the Atlantic surfclam, spissula solidissima, is this: “Fishing gear used to harvest surfclams has minimal impacts on habitat.” In spite of this fact these traditional grounds have now been designated as essential fish habitat and clamming is banned there indefinitely. NOAA also tells us that surfclams support a valuable fishery. Well, come April 9 it will not be nearly as valuable for those who participate in the harvest and that includes fishermen and shore workers in New Bedford, Gloucester and Bristol, Rhode Island where Galilean Seafood employs around 120 people in this fishery.
“There were five areas out there where we harvested our clams and the two areas with the most historical tows are the ones they closed,” Alan Rencurrel told me. Alan knows surf calms. He owns Nantucket Sound Seafood in New Bedford where the clams he catches are hand shucked. “If you steam ’em open they get chewy,” he said. He’s been fishing on the Shoals since 1992. “And there were boats out there before me.”
He also played me some high-resolution video, taken from a dredge-mounted camera, showing the sea bed in the area known as the Rose and Crown, the largest of the areas to be closed. There were no fish, rocks or cobble to be seen, just a solitary skate, on a sandy bottom littered with old mussel shells. “We can’t tow over rocky bottom like a scallop dredge,” he told me. It’s too hard on the gear and anyway clams prefer sand bottom, he said. Conversely, groundfish such as cod and haddock are found on hard bottom.
January 4, 2019 — Whatever the future for large scale off-shore wind farms in New England, New Bedford and its first in the nation fishing industry will feel the effects. Renewable energy from sources which include off-shore wind, are an undeniable part of our future. It’s a fair question though whether commercial fishing as it now exists in southern New England, will survive the installation of the largest and most extensive array of ocean based wind turbines in the world. The offshore wind lease areas in federal waters overlay some important fishing grounds and navigation transit areas for the commercial fishing fleet which sails from our coast.
The project furthest along in the leasing process is being pursued by Vineyard Wind, which hopes to have all its approvals by the summer of 2019 and begin construction later in the year. Critical decisions are about to made at the state and federal levels regarding the design, spacing and layout of the initial turbines which are planned for the waters near Martha’s Vineyard. This process involves the filing of reports which are public and provide opportunities for comment and reactions. The Draft Environmental Impact Report before the lead federal agency involved, BOEM, is open for public comment through Jan. 21, 2019 and there are parallel state agency filings as well. The public has a responsibility to participate in shaping the decisions that are going to be made and monitor the filings as they are announced.
It’s a lot to expect that the fishing industry alone can handle the needed public oversight. Off the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coast alone there are seven different lease areas under review totaling about 1 million acres; their ultimate design configuration will be the first test of how seriously marine resource, safety and navigation issues involving the wind towers will be handled by the government agencies involved. The first maps and plans to be approved are especially important because how those turbines are set up and reviewed by the government will likely set a precedent for how the process is run for the additional lease areas sought by other developers. In other words, there’s a lot at stake not only for the developers, but importantly, the public interest in preserving ocean habitat and the existing ocean-going economy of New England.
December 31, 2018 — It’s pretty well known around these parts that homegrown research proved the ocean held more Atlantic sea scallops than federal regulators thought.
And a lot of folks know that the value of those succulent bivalves has made New Bedford the highest-grossing fishing port in America for 18 years running.
Starting in the late 1990s, Professor Kevin Stokesbury of the School for Marine Science and Technology at UMass Dartmouth, working with SMAST founding dean Brian Rothschild, developed a video technique to count scallops on the seafloor without harvesting or killing them.
Along the way, he pioneered a partnership with local fishermen.
Some fishermen say the research saved the New Bedford scallop industry. (Other observers point out that federal regulations protected the species at critical times.)
December 27, 2018 — Attorney General Maura Healey Thursday joined a multistate lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to put an end to a plan that allows harmful seismic testing for offshore oil and gas resources in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to a news release from Healey’s office, the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, joins a challenge by environmental groups last week against Incidental Harassment Authorizations (IHAs) recently issued by NMFS that permit five private companies to harm marine wildlife in connection with seismic testing for offshore oil and gas exploration in the Mid- and South-Atlantic Ocean. Healey’s office said the action reflects her longstanding opposition to the Trump Administration’s plan to open up nearly all currently restricted ocean areas — including federal waters off the Massachusetts coast — to oil and gas drilling.
Healey announced the multistate lawsuit at the New England Aquarium alongside aquarium officials, fishing industry representatives, business community leaders, and environmental advocates.
“Approving these blasting tests paves the way for the Trump Administration to open up the Atlantic coast to drilling and poses a severe threat to our coastal communities, our fishing industry, and the health of the ocean,” said Healey, in the release. “Today we are suing to stop this reckless plan that allows the oil and gas industry to destroy fishing families, local businesses, and marine life.”
December 20, 2018 — Mass Humanities awarded grants totaling $134,649 in support of humanities projects in communities across the state, including New Bedford.
The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center received $6,960 to explore how changes in technology have affected the city’s fishing community over time. The grant will go toward archival research and ethnographic interviews with members of the fishing community, exhibits, discussions, and curricula for elementary and secondary school children.
“We were impressed by the range of relevant, dynamic projects in this round of applications,” said Brian Boyles, Mass Humanities executive director, in a statement. “Organizations around Massachusetts are responding to their communities through new approaches to the humanities. They’re asking big questions, reaching new audiences, and shedding new light on our shared history and culture.”
December 17, 2018 — A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has highlighted the enormous impact of the fishing industry on the Massachusetts economy, with New Bedford topping the list of highest-value ports in the entire United States with a whopping $389 million worth of seafood landed in 2017. The report also highlights that fishing supports 87,000 jobs in the commonwealth, second nationally only to California, a much more populous state.
This data could not come at a more critical time for New England’s fishermen, who are raising concerns about how new wind farms will impact marine life in the area. While reducing the state’s carbon footprint is a noble goal, the heavily taxpayer-subsidized wind projects have yet to prove themselves reliable and effective in the marketplace and come with a host of unanswered questions about the costs and long-term environmental outcome.
December 17, 2018 — Last week, the New England Fishery Management Council voted to kick Massachusetts surf clam fishermen off of 80 percent of our historic Nantucket Shoals fishing grounds. Our fishery in these treacherous local waters grosses $10 million per year to the dozen or so boats and their crews, and multiples more to the South Coast fishing economy. Our catch is hand-shucked for a higher value. New Bedford, Fall River, Gloucester, and Bristol, R.I. families stand to lose hundreds of jobs.
While the council’s decision was based on habitat considerations, it rejected an option that would have allowed us to fish on about 80 percent of the available surf clam resource while allowing access to less than 20 percent of the overall habitat zone. Half of that access was, moreover, only seasonal, to protect cod spawning. The council had left the final details of “Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2” open for just this type of solution. To be able to continue our fishery, we had ourselves offered electronic monitoring at about 10 times the rate of other regional federal fisheries and volunteered to invest in years of habitat research.
Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times
December 14, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Death, taxes and New Bedford ranked as the most valuable fishing port in the country remain certainties in life.
NOAA announced its annual fish landings data on Thursday for 2017, and for the 18th consecutive year the Port of New Bedford topped all others in terms of value. The port landed $389 million in 2017, more than $200 million more than Dutch Harbor, Alaska, which landed $173 million.
“New Bedford has been a seaport for a long time and our bread-and-butter industry is the commercial fishing industry,” Mayor Jon Mitchell said. “What we’re seeing now is not only are we maintaining our status as the top fishing port in the country, we’re gaining market share.”
The total increased by $62 million from last year when the port’s landings valued $327 million.
The gap between New Bedford and the second most valuable port increased over the year from $129 million to $216 million.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times
December 12, 2018 — I would like to publicly thank Mayor Jon Mitchell for attending Tuesday’s New England Fishery Management Council’s meeting to advocate on behalf of the clam industry and the 500 local families that depend upon it. Mayor Mitchell spoke fervently in favor of Alternative 2, citing the $10 million economic value of the industry to New Bedford’s working waterfront.
Mayor Mitchell has great respect for the commercial fishermen, processors, and other related supply chain businesses that generate incredible economic value throughout New Bedford and the greater northeast coast. He understands that all industry members are not only small business owners that provide jobs and wages to Greater New Bedford residents but are also stewards of the ocean with a belief in the long-term sustainability of its resources.
Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times