New Bedford Archives - Page 90 of 114

Associated Fisheries of Maine Says Rafael’s Permits Must Go Back into Quota Pool

May 2, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — In a statement today, Maggie Raymond, Executive Director of the Associated Fisheries of Maine, said that NMFS only legal option with Carlos Rafael’s permits is to cancel the permits and return them to the quota share pool.

Raymond says “Carlos Rafael’s environmental crime spree, spanning two decades, will finally come to an end. Rafael pled guilty to federal charges of falsifying fish catch reports, conspiracy and tax evasion. He will serve at least four years in jail and will forfeit millions of dollars in fishing assets. For law-abiding fishermen, this day is long overdue.”

“While other fishermen were complying with steep reductions in fishing quotas, Rafael decided those rules didn’t apply to him. Rafael’s violations set back groundfish rebuilding requirement and forced others to compete with his illegal activity on the fishing grounds and in the market. Rafael has harmed the entire groundfish industry, and fishermen from Maine to New York deserve to be compensated.”

“Rafael’s history is so egregious that the National Marine Fisheries Service is obliged to cancel all his groundfish permits and fishing privileges. Existing regulations describe a process for re-distributing the fishing privileges from cancelled permits to all other permit holders in the fishery – and this is precisely the process that should be followed in this case.”

The current New England groundfish management plan that established industry sectors and allocated quota based on fishing histories from 1996 to 2006 provides that if a permit is canceled, NMFS must recalculate the quota shares of all remaining fishing permits within that category, as the allocations were made based on a certain level of eligible fishing history.

The Associated Fisheries of Maine is saying that this system should be followed in Rafael’s case, meaning the catch share confiscated from Rafael due to illegal activity would be then redistributed among all remaining valid permit holders.

This is the option that concerns New Bedford because it would mean a re-distribution of some groundfish quota rights to other ports. However, Raymond argues that all New England fishermen who did abide bycatch limit rules were adversely affected by Rafael’s illegal fishing and that they deserve to be compensated.

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

MASSACHUSETTTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park to Offer Free Summer Camp Program

May 1, 2017 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, and the Whaling History Alliance are teaming up to offer two one-week summer camp programs for New Bedford children entering grade 4 in the fall of 2017. Something Fishy Summer Camp is designed to give kids an introduction to the history and culture of the working port from whaling days to present day commercial fishing. Camp activities will include hands-on marine science, arts and crafts, daily field trips, a fishing vessel tour, and more.

The camp will run from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. during the weeks of July 10^th and July 17^th. It will be based out of the National Park’s Corson Maritime Learning Center on William Street. The camp will be offered free of charge to all campers.

Interested families must complete and submit an application form by May 23, 2017. Campers will be selected through a lottery process and will be notified by June 5, 2017. If you are interested in obtaining an application, please visit the Center’s website at http://fishingheritagecenter.org/programs/something-fishy-camp/.

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. For more information, please email programs@fishingheritagecenter.org or call the Center at (508) 993-8894.

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park was established by Congress in 1996 to help preserve and interpret America’s nineteenth century whaling industry. The park, which encompasses a 13-block National Historic Landmark District, is the only National Park Service area addressing the history of the whaling industry and its influence on the economic, social, and environmental history of the United States. The National Park visitor center is located at 33 William Street in downtown New Bedford. It is open from 9 AM-5 PM, and offers information, exhibits, and a free orientation movie every hour on the hour from 10 AM-4 PM. The visitor center is wheelchair-accessible, and is free of charge. For more information, call the visitor center at 508-996-4095, or go to www.nps.gov/nebe. Everyone finds their park in a different way. Discover yours at FindYourPark.com

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford among crowd staking claim to Carlos Rafael’s permits

May 1, 2017 — Before Carlos Rafael uttered the word “guilty” last month, the judge made the New Bedford fishing mogul aware of the possibility of forfeiting his assets, which means permits, too.

About two months remain before Rafael’s sentencing date, but cities and states have started to acknowledge that possibility as well.

Rebeiro, along with Council President Joseph Lopes and Ward 5 Councilor Kerry Winterson introduced a written motion Thursday night “requesting that the Committee on Internal Affairs meet with Attorney General Maura Healey and NOAA to discuss how current owners and mariners operating in New Bedford have the first right of refusal to acquire licenses to be auctioned as result of the plea agreement in the case of The United States vs. Carlos Rafael …”

The case cited has yet to be completed despite Rafael’s plea agreement. Sentencing is scheduled for June 27.

On March 30 in U.S. District Court in Boston, Rafael pleaded guilty to 28 counts including falsifying fishing quotas, false labeling, conspiracy and tax evasion.

If Rafael had been convicted of false labeling, he could have been subjected to the forfeiture of all vessels and other equipment used in the offenses, the indictment said, which listed 13 boats.

However, during the Rafael’s plea agreement hearing, his lawyer William Kettlewell said, “We have reserved the right … to challenge the proportionality of the assets” that could potentially be seized.

Kettlewell didn’t return multiple requests for comment on Rafael’s permits.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Did catch shares enable the Codfather’s fishing fraud?

May 1, 2017 — Carlos Rafael’s guilty plea late last month of falsifying fish quotas, conspiracy and tax evasion has prompted renewed criticism of one of the most contentious parts of the New England groundfish fishery’s management system: catch shares.

Rafael, who dubbed himself “The Codfather,” owned one of the largest commercial fishing fleets in the United States, and for some community fishermen in New England, his case represents consolidation run amok. Consolidating fishing permits, they say, also centralizes power, making fraud more likely.

But for environmentalists who support catch shares as a way to reduce overfishing, consolidation isn’t inevitable. They say Rafael’s case highlights the need for better monitoring and fraud protections to prevent the sort of cheating that can plague any fishery management system.

Catch share schemes, in which fishermen are allocated rights to catch a certain amount of fish, operate on the principle that privatizing a resource and giving people a greater stake in its health will lead them to conserve it.

But in New England, catch shares led to fewer fishermen controlling more of the resource, according to Niaz Dorry, the coordinating director of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, a community fishing group. Catch shares boot out smaller fishermen and block new fishermen from the fishery as a wealthy minority amass quota and drive up the price.

“What they really do is create a system that allows a few entities — who are not necessarily people who actually fish — to control almost the entire system,” Dorry told SeafoodSource.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Loss of Rafael’s permits could hurt New Bedford

April 24, 2017 — By late morning just before Easter weekend, three fishing vessels lined up at the docks to unload their catch, and they all belonged to one man — the local mogul known as the “Codfather,” Carlos Rafael.

“It’s a good haul,” a passing auction worker at the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction said under her breath, as crew members, some still in their orange waterproof bibs, unloaded the ice-packed fish.

For decades, Rafael’s fleet of some 40 vessels has been a staple of this city’s fishing industry, a sight as common as the seal that patrols the docks.

But now, Rafael’s recent conviction on federal charges that he cheated fishing regulations to boost his profits is putting his many vessels and permits up for grabs — potentially distributing them to ports along the New England coast. That would deliver an economic blow to New Bedford and the people who depend on the business created by Rafael’s fleet.

Rafael, 65, whose nickname given by locals derives from his brash business style, is expected to be sentenced in June to about four years in prison. Local officials are urging the federal government to keep the permits in New Bedford, home to the country’s most valuable fishing port and one of the last true ports on the East Coast.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Steamship Authority begins exploration of New Bedford freight options

April 19, 2017 — The Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority is working with a maritime consultant to determine if any existing facilities in New Bedford could handle freight ferries to Martha’s Vineyard and possibly relieve some truck traffic to the Woods Hole ferry terminal.

The ferry line has hired Craig Johnson, a partner in the Florida-based maritime executive search firm Flagship Management who was involved the time the Steamship offered freight service from New Bedford more than a decade ago, said Wayne Lamson, the Steamship Authority’s general manager. Lamson updated the boat line’s board on the matter at its Tuesday meeting at the Hyannis ferry terminal.

“He’s in the discovery phase and going around and seeing what facilities might be available before (we) approach certain potential private carriers to see if it would be something they would be interested in and if it would be something that is feasible in the long term,” Lamson said.

The Steamship Authority will pay $19,500 for the work, which will include the review of New Bedford shipping facilities, interviewing potential customers of the freight service and identifying private operators that might provide the service under a license agreement, Lamson said. Johnson is expected to report his findings to the Steamship Authority in three or four months.

The first step in a report issued last year outlining recommendations for a potential New Bedford freight line is to explore private operators to provide the service. If no operator can be found, the next steps would include pursuing funding to improve either the New Bedford State Pier or New Bedford Marine Commercial Terminal to allow for freight service.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

From Port to Plate: A journey of New Bedford’s most profitable product

April 17, 2017 — Who knew that a silver dollar-sized scallop could provide such bang for a buck? As the most profitable item turned over in the most profitable port in the country, this milk-colored mollusk has almost been solely responsible for the re-birth of New Bedford’s working waterfront since the turn of the century.

While other New England ports have shrunk or been gentrified from a working waterfront to high rise condos and upscale restaurants, New Bedford has thrived.

In 2015, the port of New Bedford hauled in more than $321 million according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — $104 million more than Dutch Harbor, Alaska which had the second-most profitable port that year.

Three years earlier, in 2012, the municipality formerly known as the Whaling City set the national record for highest-valued catch at $411 million with scallops accounting for nearly 80 percent of that number. Alliteration aside, the Scallop City just doesn’t have the same ring to it, although a case could certainly be made for a name change.

Ed Anthes-Washburn, Port Director of the city’s Harbor Development Commission, said the port accounted for more than 36,000 jobs and held a value of $9.8 billion in economic value in 2015 — nearly double Boston’s $4.6 billion value in 2012 — according to the commissions state-funded study by Martin Associates in October.

“It’s really huge,” Anthes-Washburn said of the port’s impact on the city and the state. “We’re growing at a time where a lot of ports are shrinking.”

Fishing industry-lifers believe the scallop business will continue to boom thanks to the rotational management system that allows vessels to enter certain areas once they are deemed to be replenished by NOAA officials. Given a certain amount of trips each year, vessels can fish in those closed access areas until a designated date at which point two other areas open up. Creating a level of sustainability, the previously fished areas are then closed so that the scallops can be replenished.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: How Did ‘The Codfather’ Rise? Some Say Fishing Rules Pull Up Big Fishermen

April 12, 2017 — While Carlos Rafael waits to hear his fate, some wonder whether there could be another “Codfather.”

Critics say fishing industry regulations pave the way for bigger and more corrupt fishing enterprises.

But, some, like Janice Plante of the New England Fisheries Managment Council, disagree with those who blame the regulatory system, insisting the rules don’t “make somebody a criminal.”

Joining Morning Edition is Niaz Dorry, of the Gloucester-based Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance. She explains why she believes Rafael’s success is connected to fishing industry rules.

Read the full story and listen to the radio piece at WBUR

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Worries About What Happens To ‘The Codfather’s’ Fishing Permits

April 11, 2017 — Down on the docks of the Whaling City, everyone knows him as “Carlos.”

“I’ve been working for Carlos for 12 years now,” says Richard Mauzerolle of Weston. “Sometimes he should watch out who he’s talking to,” he adds with a laugh, referencing the IRS sting that landed Carlos Rafael guilty on 28 counts in late March. “But he’s a good guy.”

The fall of New Bedford fishing boss Carlos Rafael could be a big blow for the city’s port. And if his fishing permits are forfeited and end up in another state, it could hurt Massachusetts as a whole.

What happens to Rafael’s boats — and the permits attached to them — will be decided by a federal judge. And people in New Bedford want them to stay in the city.

‘He’s One Of My Main Livelihoods’

Mauzerolle is in the spray foam business — he insulates holds on fishing boats owned by Rafael. He’s one of hundreds of people who work with the man known as “the Codfather,” who gives Mauzerolle about a third of his business.

“He’s one of my main livelihoods right down in the area, so it’d be a shame to have him lose anything,” says Mauzerolle, standing in front of his box truck with a massive Donald Trump sign stuck to the side. Rafael, he says, has “brought this fishing industry back to where it’s supposed to be down here.”

In 2004, Rafael spoke to an archivist at the Working Waterfront Festival in New Bedford about how he amassed so many boats, highlighting the importance of diversifying between scallops and groundfish.

Read the full story and listen to the radio report at WBUR

MASSACHUSETTS: Poached fish served up by Gloucester food pantry

April 11, 2017 — About a half-dozen times a year, the folks at The Open Door in Gloucester receive a phone call — or even a knock on their Emerson Avenue door — to see if they’re interested in some donations of fresh seafood.

The offers don’t arrive from entrepreneurial fishermen or someone looking to unload a bunch of seafood off the books.

The offers come from the Environmental Police. And the answer is almost uniformly yes.

“Generally, they call, but sometimes they just show up,” said Julie LaFontaine, The Open Door’s executive director. “Our mission is to alleviate the impact of hunger in our community, so when we have the opportunity of receiving free food — especially something as healthy and beneficial as locally caught, fresh seafood, we take it and then we distribute it through our food pantry.”

The Environmental Police have made a practice of donating seized seafood — or seafood unable to be returned to the water — to social service agencies, such as food pantries, shelters, veterans organizations and the like.

“It something that we’ve been doing since before I even came on the force and something that we do all the time, distributing this fresh seafood in communities up and down the coast,” said Environmental Police Maj. Patrick Moran, who is in his 33rd year on the force. “Mostly, it’s donations of fresh fin fish.”

But not always.

In late March, the Environmental Police donated dozens of lobsters to the Veterans Transition House in New Bedford, which serves homeless and at-risk veterans and their families in the southeastern region of the state.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times