Saving Seafood

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

 

New Charges Against Carlos Rafael Include Count Against Sector IX, 12 Counts Misreporting Scallops

January 15, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The charging document released by NOAA revoking Carlos Rafael’s and Associated entities fishing permits contained a number of new allegations that were not part of the criminal trial.

One count was against sector IX, which applied to the entire sector, including Rafael’s vessels, was filing a false report of the volume of yellowtail flounder landed in the sector in 2011.  Through a special agreement, the statute of limitations on this alleged misreporting was waived by Rafael.

NOAA is seeking a $140,000 fine from all members of sector IX for this offense.

The other new charges all involve scallops during the 2013 fishing year.  12 of the counts are of falsely reporting the volume of scallops landed.

For example, on January 15, the vessel F/V Ilha Brava submitted a ‘broken trip’ report to NOAA, claiming the vessel only harvested 7,886 lbs of scallops on its trip.  In fact, the vessel landed 17,200 lbs.

The other eleven counts are similar.  Some include broken trip reports that were false.  Others include lying about the volume of scallops taken from a limited access area.

For example, September 13-18, the vessel F/V Acores reported it only caught 1851 lbs of scallops in a limited access area trip, when in fact it had caught 12,700 lbs.

Two counts involved vessels failing to transmit the position via the vessel monitoring system as required.

NOAA says that under Magnuson:

(1) In any case in which (A) a vessel has been used in the commission of an act prohibited under section 1857 of this title, (B) the owner or operator of a vessel or any other person who has been issued or has applied for a permit under this chapter has acted in violation of section 1857 of this title… the Secretary may—

(i) revoke any permit issued with respect to such vessel or person, with or without prejudice to the issuance of subsequent permits…[or]

(iii) deny such permit.

This is the authority they are using to revoke 38 permits, including two scallop permits which were not part of the original criminal complaint.

The full charging document can be read here.

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

 

Pentony steps into NOAA’s top Atlantic post with much underway

January 15, 2018 — Michael Pentony, John Bullard’s successor as administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Greater Atlantic region, is a “straight shooter,” who works toward “yes,” and has a lot of experience on fisheries management issues, sources tell Undercurrent News.

NOAA ended months of speculation on Thursday when it announced that Pentony, a long-time NOAA staffer and also a one-time member of the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) staff, was its pick to lead all fishery policy making in the 100,000 square mile long region that stretches from the state of Maine to Cape Hatteras, in North Carolina, and the Great Lakes.

“Michael’s deep experience in every aspect of sustainable fisheries management, both commercial and recreational, positions him perfectly for this job. He is going to hit the ground running,” assured Chris Oliver, director of NOAA Fisheries, in a statement announcing the decision.

Bullard announced his retirement back in July, ending a nearly six-year rein in the region’s top spot, which comes with an office in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and beginning the agency’s search for a replacement. He said at the time that he had a long list of chores to complete before he could finish, most of which he took on during a recent flurry of activity at the agency.

However, Bullard left quite a few big matters for Pentony to finish up.

Pentony, who is set to assume his new role on January 22, enters his new job at the end of an eventful period, including the prosecution and sentencing of the owner of New England’s largest fishing operation, Carlos Rafael.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News