Saving Seafood

Fishermen Workshops to Focus on Fisheries Science, Management

January 29, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A unique educational experience designed for fishermen, by fishermen is coming to Southeastern Massachusetts next month.

The Marine Resource Education Program offers fishermen, and other fisheries stakeholders, an opportunity to learn the basics of fisheries science and how the fishery management process works.

The program demystifies the acronyms and vocabulary, along with equipping fishermen with the tools to engage in shaping regulatory action and participating in collaborative science.

A workshop organized and moderated by members of the local fishing community will be held in New Bedford February 26-28.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

 

Massachusetts: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

January 29, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to present a performance of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by the WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company on Thursday, February 15th at 7:00 p.m. Rime is the story of the misfortune the ancient mariner experiences on his last voyage when he does something terrible for unknown reasons and for which others pay the price.

First published in 1798, Rime was included in the book, Lyrical Ballads, a collection which launched the movement known as British Romanticism. In the poem, Taylor Coleridge explores the ideas of sin, suffering, and salvation.  The popular phrases “albatross around the neck” and “water, water everywhere/nor any drop to drink” originate from this poem.

WatermelonAlligator’s cast for this production includes Jess Wilson of Onset, Korey Pimental of New Bedford, Veronique Sylvia of Fairhaven, Sue Salvesen of Marion and Tony Ferreira of Swansea.  The WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company is a consortium of theatre professionals and dedicated amateurs who are committed to producing quality theatre in a local setting. They also provide theatrical education and training to interested individuals at all levels of experience and ability, with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in their educational and performance opportunities.

The performance will be accompanied by a slideshow of Gustav Doré’s etchings photographed from an original 1876 edition of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner donated to the Center by Virginia Vatelle. The original volume will be housed in the New Bedford Free Public Library’s archive.

Admission is $8/members and $10/non members. Doors open at 6:30.  Free parking is available in the Center lot.  This program is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Dartmouth Local Cultural Council, the Mattapoisett Local Cultural Council, the New Bedford Cultural Council, Fairhaven Local Cultural Council, and the New Bedford Free Public Library.

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is dedicated to preserving and presenting the story of the commercial fishing industry past, present, and future through archives, exhibits, and programs.

 

Massachusetts: ‘Cod is Dead’ uses New Bedford to highlight hurdles affecting fishermen

January 25, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — One of the first scenes in “Rotten: Cod is Dead” opens at night in the Port of New Bedford. Spotlights atop the fishing vessels light the area.

A few belong to Carlos Rafael, noted by their green color and “CR” logo.

A recording of Rafael from 2012 then plays. “I consider myself the biggest player right now on this industry…” he said. “I’m not going down. I’ll be the last one fallen, you can rest assured.”

The case of Rafael first attracted investigative reporters from the documentary to New Bedford in 2016. The episode “Cod is Dead” premiered Jan. 5 on Netflix.

Through two years of reporting, interviewing and filming, director David Mettler discovered more within the fishing industry than the man known as “The Codfather,” who now is serving a 46-month prison sentence.

“It’s so much more than just a way to pay the mortgage,” Mettler said. “There’s a very deeply felt connection to this way of life, and it’s very emotional and very powerful for a lot of people.”

The hour-long show looks beyond Rafael and focuses on catch shares within the New England fishery.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Scallops poised to jump back on US casual restaurant menus

January 28, 2018 — MIAMI — Previously deemed to be saddled with prices too volatile to offer at casual restaurants in the US, look for scallops to come back on menus in 2018, predicts Sean Moriarty, vice president of sales for Blue Harvest Fisheries.

Good luck finding Atlantic sea scallops at the types of sit-down dining establishments Americans most often frequent, like Olive Garden, Applebee’s or Outback Steakhouse.

The price of the shellfish have proven too lofty and volatile for such major chains to take the risk. But that could change soon as the global supply of scallops promises to reach an epic high in 2018, pushing prices to a more affordable range.

“I think the domestic consumption should continue to increase,” said Moriarty Wednesday during a panel on bivalves at the National Fisheries Institute’s (NFI) Global Seafood Market Conference, in Miami, Florida. “I think, especially in 2018, you’ll see a push to get back on the menu, not just in appetizers but in the center of the plate.”

Moriarty’s vertically integrated New Bedford, Massachusetts-based employer — one of the US’ top five producers of Atlantic sea scallops with 15 vessels operating in New England — will be among those rooting for more restaurants to join the scallop party.

Along with few abrupt changes in recent times – including a sudden drop that followed a glut of landings in May 2017 — scallop prices have grown overall since 2011, according to Urner Barry figures shared by Moriarty at the event.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

John Sackton: Claims of 300 Job Losses Due to Sector IX shutdown Are Overblown

January 19, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Frequent claims that the NOAA action against Sector IX for failure to comply with its operational permits have cost New Bedford 300 jobs are simply not true.  The figure being bandied about is based on an economic model, and it inflates the impact of this short term action.

Economist Dan Georgianna created the 300 lost jobs number by looking at the volume and value of what sector IX vessels delivered to the Whaling City Display Auction during the one month from Nov. 20th to Dec 20th 2016, and assumed that if the sector was still operating, they would land the same amount this year.

Georgianna first assumes that the four vessels seized by the court had quotas that would be immediately transferred to other operating sector IX vessels. This is a unlikely assumption, as NMFS has the power to approve or disapprove such transfers, and they have emphatically said they will not permit sector IX to continue business as usual without restitution for fishing violations. In the real world, no one would count on such vessels continuing to provide an economic return.

But the 300 jobs figure also seems aimed at pressuring NOAA to take a more lenient position regarding the operational permit of sector IX.

Here too, the math is dubious. For example, Georgianna says the sales impact of the shutdown is approximately $5.6 million, which is thought to represent about 49 jobs involving harvesters, processors and wholesalers in New Bedford, with the majority of these jobs being harvester jobs

This is a good estimate. But then, Georgianna relies on a Michigan state visitor spending survey for restaurant multipliers, and also includes his own estimates of retail multipliers, and using these models says that the loss of restaurant and retail jobs is much greater. He claims that the number of restaurant waiter, chef and supermarket jobs lost due to the Sector IX shutdown is around 250 jobs.

No restaurant worker got laid off because the owner couldn’t get fish from sector IX. Same thing with Retail. In both cases, the restaurants and retailers simply replaced the product they could not get from Sector IX with other product, including seafood not from New England.

So this loss of 250 jobs is largely fictitious, and certainly is not something that could possibly have happened just in New Bedford, or just in New England.

The actual fair disposition of permits following Sector IX’s failure to monitor illegal fishing remains a complex issue for NOAA, but it certainly is not helped by a public campaign by New Bedford officials claiming 300 job losses in their city, when in fact the real number is around 50, most of whom are harvesters working on the vessels that are shut down because of violations by their Sector.

For those who want to judge the numbers for themselves, here is a link to the report.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

EPA: New Bedford Harbor among top opportunities in New England

January 18, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — New Bedford Harbor has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection agency as one of two Superfund sites in New England with the greatest potential for redevelopment and commercial use.

No funding comes with the designation, but additional staff time and attention could be devoted to the sites, EPA spokeswoman Kelsey Dumville said in an interview.

No. 1 on the Port of New Bedford’s priority list is extending North Terminal by 800 feet, Port Director Edward Anthes-Washburn said. The space would add more room to dock commercial fishing boats, and it could serve other purposes in the future, he said. Boats are rafted three and four deep on the docks in the central waterfront.

“We definitely have a small supply and high demand for dockage,” he said.

The city could also use the space for cargo or offshore wind-related operations, he said.

The New Bedford Harbor Development Commission has applied for a $15 million federal grant for the North Terminal bulkhead and dredging.

Mayor Jon Mitchell’s office has said the project would not only finalize cleanup of the harbor and create more dockage, but also create at least 900 new jobs and spur millions of dollars in private investment.

“The purpose of this project is to promote growth in the Port of New Bedford across multiple industries: fishing, offshore wind, cargo, and island freight,” Mitchell said in a press release in October.

The New England regional EPA office in Boston made recommendations about sites to be named among the 31 nationally with the most redevelopment potential, EPA spokeswoman Emily Bender said. The other New England site is Raymark Industries Inc., a former manufacturer of automobile brakes, clutches and other parts in Stratford, Conn.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

‘The government is what created Carlos Rafael’

January 18, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Bill Straus saw the writing on the wall years ago.

In 2009 — eight years before Carlos Rafael went to prison — the representative of Bristol’s 10th District spoke out during the establishment of the current catch-share system in the Northeast fishery. And even with Rafael behind bars, Straus says the threat of another Codfather emerging is ever present.

“The risk is still there,” Straus said. “And that’s why what comes out of the different remedies is so important.”

NOAA defines catch shares as a portion of catch for a species that is allocated to individual fishermen or groups. Each holder of a catch share must stop fishing when his/her specific share of the quota is reached. It’s often also looked at as quota. Fishermen and organizations can buy and sell quota.

Like any industry, the largest organization buys the smaller entities, whether it’s Disney purchasing Fox, AT&T attempting to acquire Time Warner or Rafael acquiring more quota.

“Catch shares are complicated things; there’s pluses and minuses,” SMAST Professor Dan Georgianna said. “Almost every study of catch shares shows decline in employment.”

Straus echoed that in a letter to the editor published in 2009 and in a conversation with The Standard-Times on Wednesday.

“The system encourages one owner or permit holder to gobble up the permits, and that it really works to that effect in a stressed fishery like New England groundfish,” Straus said. “What Rafael was able to do was approach people who had tiny bits of shares, and say, ‘I’ll just take it off your hands because you can’t afford to be sending your boat off to get that tiny amount.’”

In buying permits from across the Northeast, Rafael became one of the biggest organizations on the East Coast, not only catching the fish but also using Carlos Seafood Inc. as the landing’s dealer, which masked the act of misreporting.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Study: 300 jobs lost in first month of NOAA groundfishing ban

January 17, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Nearly two months have passed since NOAA imposed a groundfishing ban on Carlos Rafael’s fleet. Those within the Port of New Bedford estimate it’s put upward of 80 fishermen out of work.

That number only scratches the surface according to a study done by SMAST professor Dan Georgianna.

Within the first 30 days of the ban, Georgianna estimates that across the Northeast 300 jobs were lost, with an income loss of about $5.7 million. When including the retail loss, the number surges to $12 million.

“They’re estimates, but I think they’re pretty good estimates,” Georgianna said.

The numbers include all those linked to Rafael’s vessels: fishermen, those working at the port handling Rafael’s landings, like lumpers or cutters, restaurants that once served Rafael’s fish and even the grocery stores that supplied his vessels with food for trips.

Georgianna performed the study at the request of Mayor Jon Mitchell, after NOAA banned groundfishing for Sector IX in November. Sector IX is comprised of Rafael fishing vessels. The ban represented NOAA’s penalties lobbied against Rafael.

Georgiana said he was not compensated for the study.

He used a model developed by NOAA to estimate the economic effects on harvesting grounfish, including supplying and maintaining the vessels, processing and wholesaling. He also used a model developed by Michigan State University to estimate the retail effects.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Rafael Faces New Allegations For Violations In Scallop Fishery

January 16, 2018 — A New Bedford fishing mogul known as “The Codfather” is facing new federal allegations for misreporting the amount of fish harvested by his fleet, this time in the scallop fishery.

“The Codfather,” or Carlos Rafael, is currently serving a 46-month prison sentence for falsifying groundfish quota, and for other offenses including tax evasion and bulk cash smuggling.

Now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is alleging Rafael lied about how many scallops four of his vessels caught during fishing trips in 2013. NOAA is looking to revoke permits issued to those vessels and charge Rafael a penalty of  $843,528.

Peter Shelley, senior counsel at the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group, said these new allegations are critical.

“I think (these allegations) will be a strong enough deterrent that will really discourage people who might want to break the law from doing that, and it certainly will support the many fishermen in the fishery who obeyed the law that they’re not doing it for vain, that the agency will back them up,” Shelley said.

Read the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

 

Massachusetts: New Bedford, Carlos Rafael pop up on Netflix show

January 16, 2018 — The Netflix show “Rotten” is a six-part docuseries that focuses on where food comes from, including cod.

In the series, which debuted Jan. 5, each episode focuses on a different food: honey, peanuts, garlic, chicken, milk and cod.

“As the global fish supply dwindles, the industry faces crises on all sides — including crooked moguls, dubious imports and divisive regulations,” according to the description of Episode 6 “Cod Is Dead.”

Read the full story and watch the series trailer at the New Bedford Standard-Times