Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing Heritage Center Launches Exhibit Series

November 14, 2016 — The following was released by the Fishing Heritage Center:

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the opening of New England Fishermen: The Photography of Markham Starr, the first in a series of changing exhibits.  An opening reception will take place on Friday, November 18th at 8 p.m. The Center is wheelchair accessible and located at 38 Bethel Street in New Bedford. Parking is available in the lot adjacent to the Center.  This first exhibit will be on display through January 17th.

The commercial fishing industry in New England has long been an economic mainstay of the region, but has struggled for its very survival over the past two decades. Fearing the loss of yet another traditional working culture, Markham Starr began going to sea to photograph commercial fishermen from ports such as Point Judith, Rhode Island, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Corea, Maine. His black and white images attempt to place today’s fishermen within the context of the long history of commercial fishing in New England, and preserve something of this important working culture for future generations.

Starr’s work has been translated into a dozen books and has been featured in magazines such as LensWork, The Sun, Vermont Magazine, and Rhode Island Monthly, and won a 2013 national magazine award for the best photographic essay for Yankee Magazine. The photographs from his major projects have been selected for inclusion in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress.

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

Safety training set in New Bedford for commercial fishermen

November 10th, 2016 — Fishing Partnership Support Services is once again bringing safety training for commercial fishermen to New Bedford.

The partnership will hold safety and survival training on Thursday, Nov. 17, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the School for Marine Science and Technology at UMass Dartmouth, 706 S. Rodney French Boulevard.

The next day, Friday, Nov. 18, the partnership will offer drill conductor training at the same location from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A team of certified marine safety instructors will lead both programs, which are being offered to fishermen at no cost. The Coast Guard and the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership are supporting both events.

Topics to be covered during the first training include: on-board firefighting, man-overboard procedures, flooding and pump operations, flares and emergency positioning devices, survival suits, life raft equipment, helicopter hoist-and-rescue procedures and emergency aid.

Lunch will be provided to all participants, courtesy of Ocean Marine Insurance Agency. Cape VNA will offer free vaccines and health screenings during the lunch break.

The drill conductor training prepares and certifies fishermen to conduct emergency drills at sea, as federal regulations require monthly drills on commercial fishing boats operating farther than three nautical miles from shore. Emergency situations addressed in this training include: man overboard, fire, damage control and abandon ship.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Standard-Times 

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford fish catch most valuable in U.S.

November 4, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Citing 2015 landings worth $322 million, for the 16th year in a row the city held the top-value title nationwide for its fishing catch, according to NOAA Fisheries. The top ranking was thanks largely to scallops, SouthCoastToday.com reported Oct. 28.

New Bedford’s catch was 124 million pounds, good for 11th in the country.

“We’re reaping the benefits of good, cooperative science, and solid relationships between the regulators, the fishermen and the scientists,” said Ed Anthes-Washburn, port director for the city’s Harbor Development Commission.

The annual catch reports, released by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, showed New Bedford’s catch dipped by about 11 percent last year, falling to 124 million pounds in 2015 from 140 million in 2014. The 2013 catch totaled 130 million pounds.

Read the full story at the Providence Business News 

MASSACHUSETTS: Salted, Pickled & Smoked: an exhibit of fishing community artifacts to open on Thursday, November 10th

November 1, 2016 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford, MA – The Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the opening of Salted, Pickled & Smoked: Preserving the Cultural Heritage of new Bedford’s Fishing Community, an exhibit of fishing community artifacts.

Co-curated by FHC Executive Director Laura Orleans and New Bedford Free Public Library Art Curator Janice Hodson, the exhibit will be on display on the 3rd floor of the New Bedford Free Public Library (613 Pleasant Street) from November 10, 2016 through January 7, 2017.  An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, November 10th from 6-8 p.m.  Maritime Anthropologist Madeleine Hall-Arber will present a short talk about the project at 7 p.m. that evening.

The Fishing Heritage Center has been busy digitizing photographs and artifacts from the local fishing community as part of a year-long project.   Salted, Pickled, & Smoked: Preserving the Cultural Heritage of New Bedford’s Fishing Community is an exhibit highlighting some of the most interesting photographs, documents, objects, and stories that have been shared.

The project is a collaboration involving the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, University Archives and Special Collections at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Clair T. Carney Library at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MIT Sea Grant, the New Bedford Free Public Library, and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. The project is funded by a Common Heritage grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

New Bedford again tops nation for dollar value of fishing catch

October 31st, 2016 — The city’s port has again topped the country for dollar value of its fishing catch, NOAA Fisheries reported this week, citing 2015 landings worth $322 million.

That marks 16 years in a row that New Bedford has held the top-value title, which is thanks largely to scallops. Dutch Harbor, Alaska, again was tops for total volume of catch, landing 787 million pounds last year.

New Bedford’s catch was much smaller: 124 million pounds, good for only 11th in the country and far behind Dutch Harbor. But Dutch Harbor’s catch had a value of $218 million — second-highest in the country — reflecting the strong commercial value of New Bedford’s scallop industry.

“The scallop industry has put New Bedford at the top of the food chain, as it were, of fishing ports for the last 16 years — that’s a very impressive streak,” said Ed Anthes-Washburn, port director for the city’s Harbor Development Commission. “It really shows the impact of scallops but also the impact of cooperative research.”

In the 1990s, SMAST scientists Brian Rothschild and Kevin Stokesbury pioneered innovations in counting scallops, with cameras tested and used on local scallopers. The resulting data affected stock assessments by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), ultimately leading to larger catch quotas and helping secure steady catches for waterfront businesses.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times 

Fisheries science center gets new director

October 28th, 2016 — Some might think it fitting that Jonathan Hare will take the reins as the new science and research director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Research Center in Woods Hole on Halloween. After all, he faces the daunting task of overseeing the research and data at the heart of the rebuilding of fish stocks in a region with the largest numbers of overfished species, in an ocean experiencing one of the fastest warming trends in the world, with fishermen who remain skeptical of the science used to manage fisheries.

“It’s a challenging time,” Hare said. The science center in Woods Hole that Hare will oversee provides scientific research and data on fish stocks from Canada to Cape Hatteras, N.C.

The $1 billion commercial fishery in the Northeast is home to the country’s No. 1 port, New Bedford, in terms of the value of species landed, but also has the highest number of overfished fish stocks in U.S. waters by far, including the region’s iconic species like cod and several species of flounder. The South Atlantic region is a distant second with only four overfished species, compared with the Northeast’s 14 species.

The demands placed on fishery managers to rebuild those stocks, some of which have not recovered despite decades of drastic cuts to fishing, are high. Plus, a new management system relies on accurate and timely estimates of fish populations, something increasingly difficult to accomplish given changing environmental conditions and tight federal budgets.

Read the full story at The Cape Cod Times

New Bedford fishermen net sea scallops—and the richest catch in the country

October 28th, 2016 — Who knew a such a tiny mollusk could turn such a hefty sum?

According to a federal report Wednesday, the city of New Bedford retained its pole position as the nation’s most-valued port in 2015, pulling in a total catch worth $322 million.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual fisheries report, New Bedford’s total haul weighed 124 million pounds.

While that amount wasn’t even enough to land New Bedford in the top 10 ports for total quantity (Dutch Harbor, Alaska topped that list with 787 million pounds of mostly pollock and cod), it yet again made the Massachusetts port the richest—by more than $100 million. They were first by even a wider margin in 2014.

Why? Sea scallops.

According to the Associated Press, the pricey seafood delicacy (the larger counterpart to the bay scallop) accounted for more than three-quarters of New Bedford’s catch. More than 60 percent of the 35.7 million pounds of sea scallops were caught in Massachusetts, according to the NOAA.

The NOAA put the price of sea scallops at $12.26 per pound in 2015, slightly down from $12.55 per pound in 2014. But that’s still more than double the market price during the mid-2000s.

As The Boston Globe reported in 2013, the New Bedford scallop industry has buoyed the lives of fishermen in an otherwise struggling city.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe 

MASSACHUSETTS: Learn first hand about the fishing industry

October 25th, 2016 — The following was released by the Fishing Heritage Center: 

The Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the launch of “A Day in the Life” a speaker series about all aspects of the fishing industry. The first program will take place on Wednesday, November 2nd at 7:00 p.m.  Programs are presented free of charge for members and volunteers, there is a $5 fee for the general public. The Center is wheelchair accessible and located at 38 Bethel Street in New Bedford’s historic downtown.  Free off street parking is available. 

At 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2, veteran fisherman Rodney Avila will talk about the groundfishing industry.  Rodney has spent over 50 years working in the fishing industry. He began fishing at the age of nine. He was the fourth generation in his family to fish out of New Bedford.  He fished offshore for swordfish, tuna, and groundfish for 47 years before taking work on shore as the director of the Fishermen’s Family Assistance Center. He now works as a marine safety instructor, teaching other fishermen the skills they need to be safe at sea. In 2007 he received the National Fisherman Highliner award. Today, Rodney’s son and five of his grandsons continue to earn their living as commercial fishermen.  Rodney will talk about the fishery, the gear, and daily life at sea, providing a rare firsthand look at the work and life of a fisherman.  

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

Fairhaven man dies of apparent drug overdose on New Bedford fishing boat

October 21, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — State and local police are investigating the apparent fatal overdose of a man, who was found unresponsive on a fishing boat docked at Pier 3 in New Bedford.

The 49-year-old Fairhaven man was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital Thursday night after being found on the fishing vessel Saint Jude.

The death appears to be an overdose, police said, but the state’s medical examiner was investigating.

Signs of drug use were found. A co-worker on the boat attempted CPR before police, fire and EMS arrived at about 8:38 p.m. The victim was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:05 p.m.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Toxic algae outbreak halts shellfishing in Buzzards Bay, Mount Hope Bay

October 11, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The state’s Division of Marine Fisheries has banned shellfishing in the west side of Buzzards Bay and in Mount Hope Bay because of a breakout of toxic algae late last week.

The ban affects all SouthCoast towns and cities. “As a result of the closure, digging, harvesting, collecting and/or attempting to dig, harvest or collect shellfish, and the possession of shellfish, is prohibited in Bourne, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Falmouth, Gosnold, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, Swansea and Westport,” the state said in a press release.

The trouble concerns a toxic kind of phytoplankton termed Pseudo-Nitzschia.

This algae can produce domoic acid, a biotoxin that concentrates in filter-feeding shellfish.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times