Saving Seafood

Massachusetts governor urges authorities to reconsider future wind farm locations

November 7, 2018 — Charlie Baker, governor of Massachusetts, US, has urged the federal government to avoid high-priority fishing areas when assigning leases for future wind farms, according to an article originally reported in the New Bedford Standard-Times and sent to Undercurrent News by NGO Saving Seafood.

According to the article, governor Baker wrote to Ryan Zinke, secretary of the interior on Nov. 1, requesting that areas such as the New York Bight, south of Long Island, be exempted from future wind farm leases on the grounds that development could disrupt a multi-million dollar fishery.

“Some of the areas under consideration for leasing represent very productive and high-value grounds for fishermen from Massachusetts and other states,” Baker wrote in the letter.

The areas being evaluated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for a future wind farm are believed to have generated $344 million for the region’s fishing sector from 2012 to 2016, according to statistics from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

According to the article, fishermen and officials from New Bedford, MA, met with BOEM in September, when they expressed their concerns at the new developments. According to one, 40-50% of the scalloping grounds fished by local scallopers would be within the proposed developmental areas.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

MASSACHUSETTS: Story of shoreside New Bedford business finally told locally and in Library of Congress

November 7, 2018 — No place on earth understands the fishing industry like New Bedford. So it’s no surprise the Library of Congress is using the voice of the city to share the history of fishing and its importance in the United States.

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center used a fellowship from the Library of Congress to relay specifically the stories of shoreside businesses through the voices and images of those in the industry.

The final product sits on display in the museum. It first opened on Oct. 11. Faces of the fishing industry hang on the walls. An iPad provides a genuine interactive experience where visitors can hear the voices of those whose pictures fill the exhibit. Users can select which individual they want to hear.

The exhibit ends Feb. 4 but will live forever in the Library of Congress as part of its permanent collection.

“They were really excited,” New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Executive Director Laura Orleans said. “They were really pleased with what we sent to them. I think they’re very excited we already have an exhibit up.”

The exhibit on display consists of 58 interviews conducted over a year and completed last July. Phil Melo, a manager a Bergie’s Seafood, snapped photos for the portraits for the exhibit while also participating as one of the interviewees.

“It’s just not the fishermen. I know people drive through the city. They just see the boats and that’s all they think about,” Melo said. “They don’t realize how many tractor trailers come through the city with fuel for the fishing industry. The groceries that are delivered to the boats, the bookkeeping that’s done. The welding shops. There’s a ton.”

The exhibit features occupations across the waterfront from processors to electric engineers to welders to benefit providers.

In capturing the faces of the interviewees, Melo also tried to capture a portrait that provided a look not only at the industry but the personalities behind it.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Young’s win in Alaska caps long US election night for seafood industry

November 7, 2018 — It wasn’t expected to be so close.

Until roughly a month ago, most pundits expected Alaska Republican Don Young — the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, a colorful, 85-year-old personality who has an office decorated with wild game trophies, has been known to wield a walrus penis bone in order to make a point, and is also one of the commercial seafood industry’s biggest champions — to handily defeat his Democratic opponent and retain his seat, as usual, on Nov. 6.

Then, a few days before the election, it wasn’t such a given, as polls showed Young’s 53-year-old Democratic challenger, Alyse Galvin, winning by a percentage point.

In the end, Young kept his job, apparently winning a 45th term with roughly 54% of the vote, though more votes remain to be counted.

“We got more votes this time than we got before, and everybody had me down,” he reportedly told the Associated Press in the early morning hours, after Galvin gave her concession speech.

“I feel real good about our campaign, and we were able to prove that Alaskans appreciate what I’ve been able to do. I’m going to have a good two years ahead of us,” he added.

Follow the examples set by Frank and Kennedy

Young wasn’t the only congressional race of consequence to the commercial fishing industry in the 2018 election.

Representative Bill Keating, the Massachusetts Democrat whose 9th district includes New Bedford, home of the US’ most valuable commercial fishing port, is the projected winner over GOP challenger Peter Tedeschi, having secured 61.3% of the vote with 43% of the precincts reporting.

Keating, who outraised Tedeschi by about $1.2 million to $800,000 in his campaign, is one of the Democrats that Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, hopes will continue to represent commercial seafood harvesters in the new Congress.

“Many of our coastal communities are represented by Democrats and they have been in the minority,” said Vanasse, whose group represents pro-commercial fishing interests. “We are hopeful that they will follow the examples of such members of Congress as Barney Frank and Ted Kennedy who demonstrated unequivocally that one can be a strong Democrat and a strong liberal and also stand up for the working families in their fishing communities.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Former captain in Bristol sheriff’s department gets one year probation in Codfather smuggling case

November 6, 2018 — He got caught in the net, but he avoided prison.

A former captain with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office was sentenced Monday to a year of probation for helping the infamous New Bedford fishing magnate dubbed the Codfather smuggle profits from his overfishing scheme to Portugal, prosecutors said.

The convict and former captain, Jamie Melo, 46, of North Dartmouth, learned his fate during a sentencing hearing in US District Court in Boston, according to US Attoney Andrew E. Lelling’s office.

A jury in that courthouse convicted Melo in June of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States and structuring the export of monetary instruments, Lelling’s office said in a statement.

Melo was acquitted of bulk cash smuggling, the release said. He’ll be confined to his home during the first eight months of his yearlong probation, according to Lelling’s office.

“During the trial, evidence showed that while at Logan International Airport Melo asked his friends and travel companions to carry envelopes of cash for [Codfather Carlos] Rafael on a flight to the Azores in Portugal,” the release said. “At the time, Melo was an Administrative Captain with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office and was traveling to the Azores with Rafael for a charity event sponsored by the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office. Prior to the flight, Melo asked three of his travel companions to follow him into the men’s bathroom at Logan Airport before going through the TSA Security Checkpoint.”

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Baker urges Interior: Keep NY turbines out of prime fishing grounds

November 5, 2018 — Gov. Charlie Baker wrote to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on Thursday to ask him to consider eliminating the highest-priority fishing areas from future leases for offshore wind, particularly in the New York Bight, a heavily fished area south of Long Island.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has begun evaluating potential locations in the New York Bight for wind.

“Some of the areas under consideration for leasing represent very productive and high-value grounds for fishermen from Massachusetts and other states,” Baker said in the letter.

He cited an assessment of fish landings earlier this year by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils that calculated the value of fishing within the proposed areas at more than $344 million from 2012 to 2016.

“Views of the fishing industry must be valued, which has been fundamental to the successful process in Massachusetts,” he said.

New Bedford fishermen and city officials expressed serious concerns about the New York locations in a meeting with BOEM in September. At the time, vessel owner Eric Hansen said 40 to 50 percent of the scalloping grounds fished by New Bedford scallopers are within that area.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Fish council to review catch share regulations

November 1, 2018 — In May 2010, the world of the Northeast groundfishermen experienced a seismic transformation, as federal fishery managers ditched days-at-sea as its primary management tool and implemented a sector system centered on an expanded catch share program.

Now, nearly nine years later, the New England Fishery Management Council said it will conduct its first comprehensive evaluation of the groundfish catch share program to determine whether it is meeting its goals and objectives to improve the management of the fishery.

The review, according to council Executive Director Tom Nies, is not connected to any specific event or issue within the fishery, such as the widescale cheating, sector manipulation and ultimate conviction of New Bedford fishing kingpin Carlos A. Rafael.

“It’s not a response to Carlos, but it may help us identify areas related to his activities that we can address,” Nies said Wednesday.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s own catch share policy actually mandate that the councils periodically produce “a formal and detailed review … no less frequently than once every seven years” on catch share programs.

“This is the first review, really, since catch shares originally were implemented in 2004, and more importantly, expanded in 2010,” Nies said. “It’s been on our radar for a couple of years. The next step is to assemble a staff and get the report written.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

UK delegates offer advice to New Bedford on offshore wind

October 31, 2018 — Visitors from the United Kingdom had clear lessons about offshore wind to share with the SouthCoast on Tuesday during an all-day symposium in New Bedford.

In the early days of the UK industry, communities in the Humber region were trying to figure out what kind of jobs they would get, said Mark O’Reilly, chairman and CEO of Team Humber Marine Alliance, a nonprofit business group based in East Yorkshire. Would it be welders? Fabricators?

The region got a blade factory that created 1,000 jobs, “which is great for jobs, not necessarily fantastic for supply chain. But you can’t have it all,” he said.

Because the UK is geographically close to established suppliers in Denmark and Germany, some of the hoped-for supply business did not materialize. New Bedford, in contrast, has the opportunity to position itself as the heart of the U.S. supply chain, one UK visitor said from the audience.

“Don’t squander it,” he said.

The symposium at the New Bedford Whaling Museum was hosted by the British Consulate-General in Boston, Bristol Community College, the city of New Bedford, and the New Bedford Wind Energy Center.

Harriet Cross, British consul general to New England, gave welcoming remarks. Speakers participated from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as from Massachusetts.

In a panel discussion on fishing, UK fisherman Davey Hill said he once led the charge against wind farms. “But I came quickly to realize that government policy doesn’t listen to fishermen,” he said.

With less space for turbines than the United States, the UK chose locations based on winds and water depth. Fishermen had no say, he said. But they decided to look for opportunities.

Today, some vessels serve as work boats for offshore wind, and also go out fishing. The process has benefited the fishing community because they have modernized their vessels and improved safety, Hill said.

Eric Hansen, a New Bedford scallop boat owner whose family has fished for generations, said unequivocally that vessels the size of those in the New Bedford fleet would not fish between turbines spaced 1.5 or even three miles apart. Showing the audience a radar image of a field of turbines, he said “Now, you show that picture to a fisherman, and he’d basically throw up. There’s no way they’re going to fish in that.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Dock-U-Mentaries Series Presents Life By Lobster

October 30, 2018 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

The Dock-U-Mentaries Film Series continues on Friday, November 16th at 7:00 PM with Life by Lobster, a 55-minute documentary that takes you inside the lives of five young lobster fishermen determined to pursue this proud traditional vocation against steadily mounting obstacles.

Contrasting the stark beauty of the Downeast Maine seacoast with the stark reality of earning a living there, Life by Lobster, a documentary by independent filmmaker Iain McCray Martin takes you inside the lives of five young lobster fishermen determined to pursue this proud traditional vocation against steadily mounting obstacles.

Co-produced by LA television director J. Miller Tobin (Gossip Girl, Num3ers, CSI) and Maine-based Opera House Arts, LBL was selected as part of the Maine International Film Festival’s “Best of 2009” collection and is partially funded by the Perfect Storm Foundation, among others.

“I began work on this film when I was 19, in the summer between my freshman and sophomore years at Emory University.  During that first year away from the small island off the coast of Maine where I had grown up, I realized, like never before, the uniqueness of my home and the people who define it.

While I left our island to go off to college and pursue new found opportunities, many of my classmates in our close-knit, 26-member graduating class of 2005 opted to go directly to work on the water, taking on the life and lifestyle of commercial lobstermen.

Facing a myriad of economic and regulatory hurdles, not to mention trying to overcome youthful inexperience in a tough, competitive industry, these young men could be, I feared, a dying breed.  Their story needed to be told.

Initially armed with little more than a camcorder and a newly found commitment to a career in film, I began my attempt at making something that personified the characterizations, motivations, and lifestyle associated with pursuing lobstering as a vocation.

Three years later, after a continual progression in my own abilities as a filmmaker, stacks of grant requests, upgrades in equipment, incredible honesty and patience from my subjects, over 20 hours of raw footage, and endless support from friends, family, and mentors came the story I had hoped to tell – an authentic portrayal of lobster fishing as an industry, a community, and a way of life.”
– Iain McCray Martin 

Dock-U-Mentaries is a co-production of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.  Films about the working waterfront are screened on the third Friday of each month beginning at 7:00 PM in the theater of the Corson Maritime Learning Center, located at 33 William Street in downtown New Bedford. All programs are open to the public and presented free of charge.

MASSACHUSETTS: The Country’s Most Valuable Fishing Port Gears Up For Wind Energy

October 29, 2018 — The city of New Bedford first prospered as a whaling capital. Now, a thriving scallop industry makes this the country’s most valuable fishing port.

“Last year we landed over $300 million worth of fish and that’s only a small portion of what’s processed here,” said New Bedford Port Director Ed Anthes-Washburn. “We’re now at a point where more vessels unload from North Carolina in New Bedford than unload in North Carolina.”

On board a port authority boat, Anthes-Washburn points to the infrastructure that has made New Bedford a fishing destination: fuel barges, ice houses and the warehouses where fishermen drop their catch daily for auction.

Massive fishing vessels painted in bright orange, red and blue line the port, but these days not all the boats are for fishing.

Anthes-Washburn pointed to a pair of research vessels outfitted to explore the depths of ocean. New Bedford — a community with expertise in catching fish — is gearing up to capture wind. The city is poised to be the launching point for the country’s first full-scale off shore wind farm.

The centerpiece of this effort is the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, a 29-acre tract of land along the port. It will serve as a staging area for construction of the off-shore wind turbines. More than one hundred are planned in federal waters 14 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Think windmills in the ocean, but far bigger than the type used on land, each one the size of a sky-scraper.

“It’s a $2 billion construction project,” said Anthes-Washburn. “It’s my job to make sure to see that as much of that happens in New Bedford as it can.”

Construction of the off-shore wind farm is expected to bring thousands of jobs to New Bedford. Long term, the city is positioning itself to serve as an offshore wind operations and maintenance center.

Read the full story at WGBH

The great US scallop ride of 2018 comes to an end

October 26, 2018 — When the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer coined the phrase in the 14th century that all good things must come to an end, surely he wasn’t talking about the buying of US sea scallops in 2018.

Or was he?

After staying below or just above $9 all spring and summer, the average price of 10/20s – the most common size of Atlantic sea scallops in the US — has rocketed up to $10.89 per pound this month and the deluxe size U-10s that were plentiful earlier in the season have virtually disappeared, reveals a review by Undercurrent News of landings at the seafood auction in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Add $1.50 to $2.00/lb. to cover both the auction’s offload charges (20 cents per lb) and the dealers’ margins to get a true sense of what scallops are selling for at wholesale, sources suggest.

The recent changes have scallop wholesalers reminiscing already about the spring and summer that were, when foodservice businesses began to put scallops back on the menu, and simultaneously wondering how they’re going to meet the challenge of scallop-hungry customers between now and April 1, 2019, the likely beginning of the next season.

“It was a great ride, one of the best rides in some time,” said Bob Mankita, a seafood buyer for JJ McDonnell, an Elkridge, Maryland-based wholesaler, of the spring and summer of 2018 scallop market. “Prices were low. There were a lot of U-10s. We got back a lot of lost customers. Now we just have to figure out how to handle the next five months.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News