Saving Seafood

Dutch Harbor and New Bedford named top fishing ports

May 7, 2024 — Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the top two commercial fishing ports in 2022. By volume, Dutch Harbor, Alaska, was the biggest, but by value, New Bedford, Mass was top.

According to the Kodiak Daily Mirror, a staggering 613.5 million pounds of seafood across various species was landed in Dutch Harbor in 2022. This diverse range of landings paints a vivid picture of the richness and variety of the seafood industry. Over the past 20 years, Dutch Harbor has consistently recorded the most landings by volume, a fact that speaks volumes about its importance. Empire-Venice, Louisiana, was listed as the second biggest port by volume, coming in at 489.8 million pounds of seafood.

New Bedford had landed $443.2 million worth of seafood, which has been at the top of NOAA’s revenue list for the past 20 years. The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported that 84% of the value comprised scallop landings. Naknek, AK, came in second with $298.2 million in 2022. The Mirror also shared that Kodiak has dropped out of the top five fishing ports in the U.S. in 2022 for the first time in the past 37 years.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: Offshore wind expansion will rely on ports, including New Bedford

April 30, 2024 — The federal government’s announcement last week of up to 12 more lease sales on both coasts by 2028 means more demand (and potential work opportunities) for vessels and ports, including the Port of New Bedford.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland made the announcement at a wind industry conference in New Orleans, where she and other federal officials also shared the news of millions in funding for offshore wind research, and the streamlining of rules governing how the government holds auctions and reviews projects.

“This is so exciting because it means that developers and communities can expect predictability and transparency as they plan for future projects,” Haaland said. “It also means that all stakeholders from tribes to states to fisheries to academia have more time to weigh in on the process.”

The closest lease sales to Massachusetts will be the Gulf of Maine this year, and the New York Bight, in 2027 (the last one was in 2022 with six areas going to bid). There were no announced lease sales for the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Mayor seeks access to new scallop territory

April 18, 2024 — New Bedford’s mayor testified in front of the New England Fisheries Management Council on Wednesday with the hope of re-opening one of the richest fishing grounds in the world.

New Bedford is already home to the largest commercial fishing port in the country, and Mayor Jon Mitchell said he is now working to give the city’s fishermen more resources to gather scallops, which he described as the prime drivers of economic activity.

“The basic policy that people have to understand is that the scallop industry is regulated by the federal government in a rotational method,” Mitchell said. “Kind of like what farmers do.”

“There are areas that are growing well with lots of scallops that are open up for fishermen,” Mitchell continued. “And places that are already fished with not many scallops to be caught are closed for a period of time.”

Mitchell testified before the council about reopening one specific area for scallops.

Read the full story at WLNE

 

New Bedford Mayor, Port Authority, Successfully Advocate Opening Northern Edge Scallop Grounds to Boost Fishing Opportunities

April 18, 2024 — New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell delivered compelling testimony before the New England Fishery Management Council on Tuesday, urging the Council to open the Northern Edge scallop grounds to New Bedford commercial fishermen. Mayor Mitchell emphasized the potential benefits of this move, highlighting its significance as a new source of scallops while other locations recover, and scallop recruitment progresses.

Mayor Mitchell, who also serves as chairman of the New Bedford Port Authority, had previously written to Council Chair Eric Reid, noting that the work of the Habitat and Scallop Plan Development Teams has been careful and thoughtful, and has led to the cautious and prudent recommendation to pursue the opening of Concept Areas #2 and #4. Despite being the smallest of the Concept Areas evaluated, Mayor Mitchell stressed their importance in providing much-needed scallop fishing opportunities.

Concept Area #4 was highlighted for potentially harboring the highest concentration of scallops in recent surveys. Mayor Mitchell underscored that scallops have been spawning in the entire Closed Area for years, suggesting that a significant portion of the overall biomass would remain intact even after opening these areas to fishing. Additionally, the identified areas exhibit the lowest amount of complex bottom conditions, reducing the likelihood of adverse habitat impacts from scallop fishing.

Citing a long-term study conducted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Mayor Mitchell emphasized that most habitats recover from scallop fishing impacts in less than 10 months, with even more complex habitats fully recovering within six years. This scientific evidence supports the feasibility and sustainability of opening the identified areas to scallop fishing.

It is anticipated that opening these areas wouldn’t necessitate new habitat closures elsewhere, easing the burden on other fishing interests.

National Marine Fisheries Service Regional Administrator Mike Pentony echoed support for moving forward with opening the two concept areas, noting that it was too early to abandon the concept areas over enforcement concerns, and that more can be done to improve enforceability if there are concerns.

Following Mayor Mitchell’s testimony, the Council took votes advancing Areas #2 and #4 towards a final action, possibly slated for September. This aligns with the Mayor’s request, both in his letter to Chair Eric Reid and in his in-person testimony.

The Port of New Bedford is the most valuable commercial fishing port in the U.S., maintaining its leadership position for more than two decades. With more than 7,000 jobs and 400 fishing vessels, the Port serves as a cornerstone of the regional economy, driving shoreside businesses and attracting significant public and private investments.

While New Bedford’s fishing vessels harvest multiple species, scallops remain the prime drivers of economic activity within the Port. Mayor Mitchell highlighted the fishermen’s commitment to maintaining the resource and their recognition of the strategic long-term importance of managing the scallop biomass.

The mayor’s letter to the NEFMC is available here.

 

Fishery council considering Mitchell’s plea to open Northern Edge to scallopers

April 18, 2024 — Mayor Jon Mitchell and New Bedford fishing representatives are urging the regional regulatory council to open up the Northern Edge — a lucrative scallop ground that has long been closed to commercial fishing. The council, which shot the motion down five years ago, has agreed to consider the request.

On Tuesday, Mitchell delivered testimony to the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC). He cited challenging years ahead for the scallop industry, which is being strained by a slump in prices and fewer days at sea for fishermen; and he stressed the importance of the scallop fishery as a foundational part of the port’s economy.

“The scallop fishery is facing some challenging years upcoming, after a few years of low recruitment,” Mitchell wrote in a letter to the council. “The industry would benefit greatly by adding these areas to its available fishing grounds.”

The region under consideration is the northernmost portion of the broad and productive fishing grounds called Georges Bank. In 1994, the Northern Edge was closed to commercial fishing to protect habitat for spawning cod and other bottom dwelling fisheries. Thirty years later, scallop representatives told the council, groundfish populations like cod have continued to decline while the area has remained locked up to scallopers.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: MAYOR MITCHELL ADVOCATES FOR SCALLOP INDUSTRY

April 17, 2024 — Mayor Jon Mitchell testified before the New England Fishery Management Council Tuesday in Mystic, Conn., urging the board to open the Northern Edge scallop grounds to New Bedford commercial fishermen.

Prior to his public comments on Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Mitchell submitted a letter to Chairman Eric Reid and the other members of the Council calling for the opening of the “key new source of scallops.”

“While there are multiple species that are harvested by New Bedford fishing vessels, scallops are the prime drivers of economic activity within the Port of New Bedford,” Mayor Mitchell wrote. “The fishermen of New Bedford know this, and they take great care in maintaining the resource and recognize the strategic long-term importance of managing the biomass.”

Read the full release at the City of New Bedford

MASSACHUSETTS: An ocean of ambition

April 10, 2024 — Last November, a group of New Bedford seafood companies crowded into a Zoom conference room hosted by Delaware’s bankruptcy court.

One by one, a trustee listed the assets up for sale: eight commercial fishing vessels and 48 federal fishing permits. It was a fire-sale liquidation for bankrupt Blue Harvest Fisheries — one of New England’s largest seafood companies — and the largest bundle of groundfish permits in recent history to come available on the market.

Bids, the trustee announced, would start at $10 million.

Cassie Canastra was first to act: “$11 million,” she said, without skipping a beat.

There was a brief pause, as a team representing O’Hara Corporation, part owner of New Bedford-based scallop giant Eastern Fisheries, huddled to discuss their options. They raised the bid to $11.25 million.

“$12 million,” Canastra responded, showing no sign of relenting.

For Blue Harvest, the bankruptcy auction marked the final chapter in its aggressive, eight-year expansion. For the New Bedford waterfront, it marked a changing of the guards — ushering in a new captain at the helm of the city’s fabled but struggling groundfish industry.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

Offshore wind proposals help New Bedford focus its workforce development

April 5, 2024 — All news about offshore wind inevitably leads many in New Bedford back to the same question: So, will this bring more jobs?

That was true once again last week when three major wind developers submitted project bids that include significant investment into New Bedford’s port.

Projects from Vineyard Offshore and Avangrid, two of the developers, proposed New Bedford as the maintenance hub for wind farms that could eventually power hundreds of thousands of homes. Avangrid’s proposal would also bring a crane manufacturing facility to New Bedford, operated by the Danish company Liftra. It would be the first of its kind in the United States.

Though bids are still subject to negotiation and approval, New Bedford’s waterfront celebrated the announcements and signaled optimism for future employment.

“I think it’s incredibly good news for the port of New Bedford,” said Gordon Carr, executive director of the New Bedford Port Authority. “We’re very pleased with the investment into long-underutilized and brownfield properties.”

Carr said long-lasting jobs in manufacturing and in wind-farm operations and maintenance would make the offshore wind industry a sustainable employer in New Bedford. “The supply chain businesses that you see in more mature ports in Europe will start showing up in New Bedford,” he said. He added that new investment and development is going toward currently “underutilized” properties, meaning that “there’s no displacement of commercial fishing or processing along the waterfront.”

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford State Pier redevelopment proposals to be subject of May public meeting

April 2, 2024 — A public meeting to review proposals for the State Pier’s redevelopment is being planned for May.

MassDevelopment, the state’s development finance agency and land bank, manages the eight-acre pier property, which is owned by the state.

MassDevelopment President and CEO Dan Rivera stated in a communication to New Bedford legislators, “We are planning a public meeting in New Bedford at which all respondents will have an equal opportunity to make a public presentation explaining their respective proposals.”

He said they were trying to finalize a date in May.

Read the full article at the Standard-Times