Saving Seafood

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center unearths unusual catches

February 4, 2017 — Fishermen have been telling stories of the strange and unusual things they find in their nets for years.

On Saturday at the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center fishermen from around the area had the opportunity to share their deep-sea findings and figure out, with the help of several maritime archaeologists, what their findings were and when they were made.

“Over the years I’ve heard about all the crazy stuff people have pulled up from torpedoes to human body parts to airplane wings to fossils,” New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center’s executive director Laura Orleans said.

“Everything. Even including a kitchen sink,” she said.

At the first annual Unusual Catch Day, fishermen were welcomed to bring in their deep-sea treasures and put them on display for the public and have them examined by maritime archaeologists.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Hosts Scanning Day

February 2, 2017 — The following was released by The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center will host Scanning Day on February 11, 2017 from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Scanning Day is an opportunity for the public to share and preserve a digital image of their fishing industry photographs, documents and other records for future generations.

The Center invites the public to bring their fishing industry related photographs, both historic and contemporary, as well as documents such as settlement sheets, union books, or news clippings to be scanned. Staff will scan the materials and record any information the owner shares about each piece.  The owner will leave with their originals along with a digital copy  of the scans on a flash drive. The Center is working to create a digital archive of these materials which will be made available to researchers and the public. These documents will help us to tell the story of the fishing industry.  Scanning Day will take place the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to noon. This event is free and open to the public.

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 contact the Fishing Heritage Center at: info@fishingheritagecenter.org or call (508) 993-8894.

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center presents The Working Waterfront Photography of Peter Pereira

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

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the opening of The Working Waterfront Photography of Peter Pereira.  An opening reception will take place on Thursday, February 9th at 6:00 p.m. during AHA. The exhibit will run until April 2, 2017.

Like New Bedford, Peter Pereira’s life has been tied to the ocean.  Many in his family have served on ships, sailing the seas as officers and deckhands.  At the age of five, he crossed the equator twice with his family as a passenger on one of his father’s ships.  Peter says, “The seeds had been planted for my perpetual fascination and respect for those who leave everything behind to be surrounded by the solitary embrace of the ocean.”

An award-winning photojournalist, Peter has spent years documenting the New Bedford fishing community.  This exhibit provides a look at those who work on the waterfront, both on shore and at sea.  From preparing their vessel for a fishing trip to the off loading of the catch upon their return, his photographs capture the work of those who make their living from the ocean.

Peter’s images have graced the pages of Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, The Standard Times and various other national and international media outlets. In 2016, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Infante D. Henrique by the President of Portugal, Anibal Cavaco Silva. Peter has won the New England Newspaper & Press Association – Photographer of the Year award eight times. His photographs can be seen daily in The Standard Times.

This event is free and open to the public. The Center is located at 38 Bethel Street in New Bedford’s historic downtown and is handicap accessible through the parking lot entrance. Free off-street parking available.

For more information, please contact the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center at: info@fishingheritagecenter.org or call (508) 993-8894.

UMass Dartmouth cod survey takes a technical leap with high-def video

January 27, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Scientists at the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology are reporting a major advance in a new technology to use video to survey the fish stocks in the fishing grounds of the North Atlantic.

Dr. Kevin Stokesbury’s team surveyed the entire Stellwagen Bank, a fishing ground in the Gulf of Maine about 15 miles south of Gloucester and 6 miles north of Provincetown. They found large numbers of cod, whose stock assessments have been sharply reduced in recent years because of surveys done by NOAA fisheries. The reduction has caused a chain reaction in the fishing industry as abundant species cannot be caught if too much cod is hauled in as bycatch.

Four years in the making, Stokesbury’s video apparatus has now been equipped with high-resolution video that enables the identification of every fish that passes through the open-ended trawl net used to count fish without harming them.

“The seven-day cruise was very successful,” Stokesbury said in a news release. “Atlantic cod were observed over much of the bank, and the largest tow collection was of 345 cod in a half hour, with individuals measuring up to 83 centimeters. The idea is to increase the amount of sea floor sampled per sea day without killing more fish.”

Chief scientist and graduate student Travis Lowery told The Standard-Times that the big improvement over past versions of the video apparatus is the addition of a GoPro camera that enables the identification of every fish in high definition. Prior versions relied entirely on a tethered black and white video camera.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center presents Unusual Catches Day

January 25, 2017 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford, MA – The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center will host Unusual Catches Day on Saturday, February 4, 2017 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Every fisherman has experienced catching a strange object in their net or dredge.  Alan Cass, a retired fisherman and Center volunteer, says he has caught everything including a kitchen sink. Many fishermen have a collection of these items found while sorting the catch on deck. From fossils to old tools to pieces of wooden ships to strange objects, these items come back to shore and are keepsakes for the finder.

Active and retired fishermen are invited to bring their treasures from the deep to Unusual Catches Day.   Maritime archeologists will be at the Center to examine the treasures and provide more information about each piece. This event will provide an opportunity for the fishermen and the public to learn more about these artifacts.

This event is free and open to the public. The Center is located at 38 Bethel Street in New Bedford’s historic downtown and is handicap accessible through the parking lot entrance. Free off-street parking available.

Carlos Rafael Trial Delayed

January 24, 2017 — The federal trial of New Bedford fishing kingpin Carlos Rafael has been pushed back more than a month to March amid indications that Rafael is looking for a deal from federal prosecutors.

U.S. District Court Judge William Young, sitting in Boston, approved the defense’s request to reschedule the start of the trial to March 20 to accommodate a scheduling conflict for one of Rafael’s attorneys. It is the second time the original Feb. 6 trial date has been extended.

The motion for a continuance filed by Rafael’s attorney William H. Kettlewell also indicated that Rafael is speaking with prosecutors about resolving the charges in the 27-count indictment before the matter goes to trial.

“The short continuance requested in this motion will allow counsel time to complete (another) trial and complete discussions with the U.S. Attorney’s Office regarding resolving the matter short of trial,” Kettlewell wrote in his motion.

Kettlewell did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment on the rescheduling or the possibility of a pre-trial deal.

Rafael, known widely as the “Codfather” to reflect his expansive fishing fleet of at least 36 commercial fishing vessels and significant waterfront holdings, is accused of 25 counts of lying to federal fishing regulators about the value and species of his seafood landings and selling portions of those landings off the books.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: NOAA Fisheries to move into historic renovated New Bedford Custom House

January 23, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The historic Custom House building looks a little like a construction site right now with a tarp covering one side, but come March it will have new tenants and a new stairway on the William Street side, federal officials said.

Patrick Sclafani, a spokesman for the General Services Administration, said in an email to The Standard-Times that NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) will be locating there in March and the interior renovations are being done in advance of their arrival.

NOAA’s Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region Stakeholder Engagement Division and NOAA seafood inspectors will be moving into the building then. Currently, the U.S. Custom and Border Protection agencies are there.

The marble floor tiles are being refurbished and a new subfloor is being installed to the building’s first floor main corridor, he said. The building, which was built in 1836, has two floors.

The contractor is also installing new granite exterior stairs on the William Street side of the building that were removed many years ago, he said.

The new stairs will be “architecturally and historically accurate to their original state,” and should be done by approximately March, he said. The reconstructed stairs will be for the exclusive use of NOAA.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: A day in the life of a scallop boat captain

January 23, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — “We’re really pleased to see such a great turnout,” Fishing Heritage Center Director Laura Orleans told the standing-room-only crowd filling the center on Jan. 11. The capacity audience was there to hear Fairhaven scallop boat captain Chris Wright talk about “A Day in the Life” of the master of not one but two local 200-foot scallopers.

Pleased, but not surprised at the big turnout. “It’s no surprise because Chris Wright is one of my favorite captains,” Orleans said. By the end of the interesting lecture on his life at sea, and a spirited question-and-answer session, Wright was the favorite scallop boat captain of everyone in the room. 

“Don’t be in awe of us” braving fierce winds and mountainous waves far offshore, Wright suggested modestly at one point in the question-and-answer period. “It’s just what we do.”

What Wright does is skipper the Huntress out of Fairhaven, and the Nordic Pride, based in New Bedford. A shared captain is not uncommon these days, with each scallop boat limited by fishing regulations to a maximum of 75 days at sea, he noted.

“I’m getting ready for my 29th year as a captain,” Wright said, looking back on a life at sea that started with summer and vacation work on his father’s fishing boat as a youth, and through college. He graduated from a maritime academy in 1983, and spent a year working on commercial vessels, traveling far and wide over the oceans.

“But it was too much time away from home,” he suggested. “After a while, I went back home and started fishing.” 

He said he is lucky to have found two good boat owners to work for, and build long-term relationships with over the decades. He alternates trips on the two vessels, helming each for 10 or more trips per year with the same crew.

A captain spends much of his time on shore preparing for the next trip, with each fishing voyage lasting from 10 to 14 days. If the maximum catch allowed for that trip is 17,000 pounds of scallops, the boats generally stay out as long as is needed to get close to the allowed harvest.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Carlos ‘Codfather’ Rafael to talk with prosecutors about resolving criminal case

January 23, 2017 — Indicted New Bedford scallops magnate Carlos “Codfather” Rafael has asked the court to postpone his upcoming trial in part to pursue talks with prosecutors about “resolving” the matter, court documents show.

One of Rafael’s attorneys, William Kettlewell, asked the Massachusetts federal court of judge William G. Young to postpone Rafael’s Feb. 13 trial to at least March 20. Young granted the order.

The delay, the second in recent months, is required as Kettlewell is expected to represent a different client in a two-week trial beginning on Jan. 30, the lawyer wrote. But, that time can also be used for negotiations with prosecutors about a possible settlement.

“The short continuance requested in this motion will allow counsel time to complete that trial and complete discussions with the US Attorney’s Office regarding resolving this matter short of trial,” Kettlewell wrote in the motion.

He did not respond to requests from Undercurrent News for comment.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

MASSACHUSETTS: Scalloper is guest speaker at Fishing Heritage Center

January 11, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is hosting scalloper Chris Wright Jan. 11 for a talk on the way of life as a scallop fisherman in the 21st century.

Wright is part of four generations of fishermen, with his father, grandfather, two brothers and two sons all making a living from the sea.

The talk, starting at 7 p.m., is part of the “A Day in the Life” speaker series at the heritage center.

Wright dates his fishing career back to the age of 12, when he missed a week’s worth of Little League to work on his first fishing trip.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times