Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center to host Seafood Throwdown

August 29, 2016 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, in collaboration with the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, Mass in Motion New Bedford/New Bedford Farmer’s Market, is pleased to present a Seafood Throwdown on AHA Night, Thursday, September 8th. The free event will take place beginning at 5:00 pm in Custom House Square located in downtown New Bedford.

Chefs Henry Bousquet (Culinary Arts Instructor at NB Voc-Tech) and Chris Cronin (Executive Chef at Farm & Coast Market, Padanaram) will compete to create a winning dish using a surprise locally caught seafood ingredient (usually an abundant, underappreciated, and underutilized species of seafood) and local produce. Judging their creations will be Heather Atwood, author of In Cod We Trust, Maria Lawton, author of Azorean Cooking: From My Family’s Table to Yours, and Andy Tomolonis, author of Organic Hobby Farming: A Practical Guide to Earth-Friendly Farming in Any Space.

Seafood Throwdowns are a collaboration between the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and fishing communities. They provide a unique opportunity to learn more about our local seafood, local fishing fleet and fisheries related issues affecting our ocean, fishing economies and coastal food systems. Chefs Bousquet and Cronin will educate and entertain you with their skills as they demonstrate how to work with whole, fresh, and very local seafood. The chefs can bring three of their favorite ingredients and once they discover the secret seafood they will be using, they are given $25 and 15 minutes to shop the Custom House Square Farmers’ Market for ingredients. After their shopping spree, they have one hour to cook and present their entry for the judge’s consideration.

Following the Throwdown, the public is invited to the Fishing Heritage Center (38 Bethel Street) to view the exhibit From Boat to Table and meet the judges (Atwood, Lawton, and Tomolonis) who will sign copies of their books from 7:30-8:30.

New Bedford Standard-Times: Stakeholders deserve open process in monument designation

August 26, 2016 — Today, the Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass., the highest grossing seaport in the country, dedicated its opinion section to the issue of marine monuments designated by executive authority under the Antiquities Act. This was done in conjunction with today’s announcement that President Obama will quadruple the size of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii.

In its editorial, the Standard-Times noted that a monument designation off the coast of New England “lacks checks and balances that would deliver a better policy” and that environmental groups have pushed for a monument in secret “in order to gain an advantage over industry and other stakeholders.” 

Together with today’s editorial, the Standard-Times published letters to the White House by two coastal mayors, Jon Mitchell from New Bedford and Clyde Roberson from Monterey, Calif., questioning the efficacy of offshore monument designations and asking for a more transparent process. The following is excerpted from the Standard-Times’ editorial:

The National Park Service was established 100 years ago when President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act.

The 84 million acres under the NPS is a treasure that belongs to all of us, and we applaud efforts to expand the protection of our natural resources, but we also recognize some such efforts go too far, including in the push to establish a national monument off the New England coast.

The Canyons and Seamounts are indeed precious resources, but the scope and the current process being advanced by environmental organizations lack checks and balances that would deliver a better policy.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell last week sent a letter to the acting director of the Council for Environmental Quality, a White House agency that advises the president on such issues, noting the push for the seamounts monument has kept stakeholders from participating in the process.

Indeed, we have previously reported on efforts by environmentalists to keep their advocacy for the monument designation a secret in order to gain an advantage over industry and other stakeholders.

The president did not go along with the environmentalists last fall, and it is our fervent hope that if he isn’t advised by CEQ to pursue the more open process, the duty to represent and hear all stakeholders will prevail.

See today’s opinion page in the New Bedford Standard-Times

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Read Mayor Jon Mitchell’s full letter here

Read Mayor Clyde Roberson’s full letter here

Fishing industry fears Obama’s power over coastal waters

August 25, 2016 — The prospect that President Barack Obama could designate as marine monuments areas off the Massachusetts and California coasts is being met with resistance from various fishing groups and port-town mayors. If Obama uses his authority under the Antiquities Act to name as federal monuments the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts, and many of the seamounts, ridges and banks off California’s coast, commercial fishing would be significantly restricted and the viability of two of the country’s most important fishing ports would be threatened — Monterey, Calif., and New Bedford, Mass., (the nation’s highest-grossing fishing port), the mayors of those ports argued in letters to the White House on Wednesday.

The mayors — Jon Mitchell of New Bedford and Clyde Roberson of Monterey — and industry groups, like the National Coalition for Fishing Communities, also argue such actions would sidestep the fishery management system overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which makes decisions based on scientific analysis and public input to ensure the sustainability of seafood stocks.

Read the full story at POLITICO

East & West Coast Mayors Write White House on New Marine Monument Declarations

August 25, 2016 — New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell recently sent a letter to the White House Council on Environmental Quality expressing concern about the possibility of President Barack Obama issuing an Executive Order that would declare certain offshore areas marine monuments.

Bob Vanasse, the Executive Director of Saving Seafood, told WBSM News that one of the biggest complaints from members of the fishing industry is that, although they met with federal officials, they weren’t presented with any specific proposal.

“There was no actual proposal from the administration to be discussed,” said Vanasse “they were having this listening session but the listening session was something of a peculiar one way street, in that they listened to concerns, but they never responded.”

Vanasse says that if the administration issued the order, through the Antiquities Act, it could have a huge impact on the local fishing industry.

“The best estimate suggests that 20 to 25 percent of the fishing areas in these regions could be affected,” said Vanasse “the most affected fisheries are the red crab industry, lobster, and tuna but there are other industries.”

While stating that the fishing industry would be opposed to such a move Vanessee says including at least one concession would make it more tolerable for many fishing families.

Read the full story at WBSM

Coastal mayors join to oppose Obama administration’s ‘marine monuments’ plan

August 24, 2016 — The Obama administration is running afoul of transparency and openness as it prepares to create offshore marine monuments off California and New England, two mayors including Jon Mitchell are telling the administration.

Mitchell was joined by Monterey, California Mayor Clyde Roberson in sending the Obama White House letters expressing “serious concerns” about the potential economic harm to their ports from the use of executive action by the administration to create new federal marine monuments off the coasts.

A chorus of opposition has been rising from fishermen and fishing communities across the country opposing the creation of marine monuments outside of the existing ocean management processes.

New Bedford is the highest-grossing fishing port in the nation; Monterey is one of the most valuable fishing ports in California.

Writing to Council on Environmental Quality Acting Director Christy Goldfuss, Mitchell praised the successes of the current fishing management process, overseen by NOAA, a process that includes the voices of all ocean stakeholders in its deliberations, according to a release from the The National Coalition for Fishing Communities. “The process is far from perfect, but it affords ample opportunity for stakeholders and the public alike to review and comment on policy decisions and for the peer reviewing of the scientific bases of those decisions,” Mitchell wrote.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Mayors of Major East and West Coast Ports Express Concern About Possible Economic Harm from Marine Monument Designations

August 24, 2016 — The following was released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

WASHINGTON (NCFC) – In letters sent on Friday to the President and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), New Bedford, Massachusetts Mayor Jon Mitchell and Monterey, California Mayor Clyde Roberson expressed “serious concerns” about the potential economic harm to their ports from the use of executive action by the Obama Administration to create new federal marine monuments off the coasts of New England and California. The mayors also emphasized the need for “transparency” and “robust stakeholder input.”

The letters reflect a growing movement from fishermen and fishing communities across the country opposing the creation of marine monuments outside of the existing ocean management processes. New Bedford is the highest-grossing fishing port in the nation, and Monterey is one of the most valuable fishing ports in California.

In his letter to CEQ Acting Director Christy Goldfuss, New Bedford Mayor Mitchell praised the successes of the current fishing-management process, overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – a process that emphasizes including the voices of all ocean stakeholders in its deliberations.

“The process is far from perfect, but it affords ample opportunity for stakeholders and the public alike to review and comment on policy decisions and for the peer reviewing of the scientific bases of those decisions,” he wrote.

The Mayor went on to contrast this with the much more opaque process that has governed the marine monument debate.

“The use of a parallel process, however well-meaning, which has none of the checks and balances employed in the NOAA process, could leave ocean management decisions vulnerable to political considerations in the long run,” he wrote.

 On the other side of the country, Monterey Mayor Roberson’s letter to President Obama was similarly critical of efforts to declare new monuments by executive fiat. Mayor Roberson emphasized the value of the California seamounts to commercial fishermen and the need to strike a balance between environmental protections and fishing concerns. According to Mayor Roberson, reaching this balance requires basing decisions on science, rather than politics.

“[Monterey] supports publically transparent, science-based processes in making ocean management decisions – such as the mandate embodied in the federal Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act,” he wrote. “This proposal was developed without public knowledge or participation, much less scientific or economic review and analysis. Certainly there was no transparency. “

Both Mayors also expressed serious reservations about the potential impact monument declarations would have on their regions’ commercial fishing industries. In New England, a monument declaration would devastate the red crab, swordfish, and tuna fisheries, as well as the processors and shore side businesses that depend on them. In California, the albacore tuna fishery would be deeply impacted, as would that of the rockfish, spiny lobster, sea urchins, and white sea bass.

Mayor Mitchell also noted that while the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has provided “coordinates of a line seaward of the canyons that is acceptable to the industry” the Administration has not provided a concrete proposal. He noted, “if a proposal actually exists, it has not been shared with any of the stakeholders.”

Fishing groups on the East and West Coasts, including many NCFC affiliates, whose members collectively produce the majority of the edible finfish and shellfish harvested from U.S. waters, have expressed opposition to the creation of a new monument via executive order. These organizations include:

  • Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers
  • Alaska Scallop Association
  • American Albacore Fisheries Association
  • American Bluefin Tuna Association (ABTA)
  • American Scallop Association
  • At-Sea Processors Association
  • Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association
  • Blue Water Fishermen’s Association
  • California Fisheries and Seafood Institute
  • California Lobster & Trap Fishermen’s Association
  • California Sea Urchin Commission
  • California Wetfish Producers Association
  • Coalition of Coastal Fisheries
  • Coos Bay Trawlers
  • Directed Sustainable Fisheries
  • Fisheries Survival Fund
  • Garden State Seafood Association
  • Golden King Crab Coalition
  • Groundfish Forum
  • Long Island Commercial Fishing Association
  • Midwater Trawlers Cooperative
  • National Fisheries Institute
  • New England Red Crab Harvester’s Association
  • North Carolina Fisheries Association
  • Oregon Trawl Commission
  • Organized Fishermen of Florida
  • Pacific Seafood Processors Association
  • Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative
  • Southeastern Fisheries Association
  • United Catcher Boats
  • Ventura County Commercial Fishermen’s Association
  • Washington Trollers Association
  • West Coast Seafood Processors Association
  • Western Fishboat Owners Association

Read Mayor Mitchell’s letter here

Read Mayor Roberson’s letter here

MASSACHUSETTS: John Linehan, synonymous with the fishing industry, dies at 94

August 24, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD — If any one person would be the face of the fishing industry during the last half century or more, it could well be John F. Linehan, who died Aug. 14 at the age of 94.

Not a fisherman himself, the Lewiston, Maine native arrived in New Bedford in 1951 after serving in the military and graduating from Bates College, class of 1953.

Linehan wore many hats in his long career, first as general manager of the New Bedford Seafood Producers Association, a fisheries adviser in Korea, and the first director of the Harbor Development Commission.

He was later operations manager at Frionor Corp., vice president and general manager of Maritime Terminal, Inc., and 12 years as the industry liaison officer for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

His friends, who visited him regularly until the end of his life, say they admired Linehan for being not only intelligent but funny, always ready with a wisecrack.

Linehan was twice the president of the New Bedford Port Society. Member Philip Beauregard, an attorney and Port Society board member, said of Linehan, “He was was chock full of integrity. He was the classic deep-throated Maine Yankee, perfect for his New England surroundings, and he brought a dignity, I thought, to the waterfront.”

“New Bedford was very fortunate to have him as one of its own,” Beauregard said.

Roy Enoksen, a former scalloper who today own Eastern Fisheries, was a close friend of Linehan. “He was a great guy, always the same. John never had highs or lows. He was the same guy all the time.” His life experiences made him the way he was, Enoksen said. He was thoughtful, just very professional at the same time.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Offshore wind quietly reaches a milestone with arrival of survey ship in New Bedford

August 16, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — With no fanfare whatsoever, the offshore wind energy industry in New Bedford reached a significant milestone last weekend with the arrival of the Denmark-based Research Vessel Ocean Researcher at the Maritime Terminal in the South End. The ship represents the first offshore wind-related activity to take place at the $113 million, state-funded terminal, specifically designed to support the industry.

The arrival capped a week of good news for the offshore wind energy industry in Massachusetts, with the highlight being Gov. Charlie Baker’s signing of a law that mandates the production of at least 16 megawatts of offshore wind power in the next decade, the first law of its kind in the nation. The mandate greatly improves New Bedford’s positioning as a harbor for servicing the towers and shipping their components.

The 22-year-old RV Ocean Researcher, all 226 feet and 1,936 tons of her, tied up at the Maritime Terminal, which otherwise is vacant, the sole exception being a new scrap metal operation.

The ship had just completed a 17-day trip from Hull, England, where she is registered, said Lauren Burm, spokesman for the Danish company DONG, or Danish Oil and Natural Gas, known in the United States as Bay State Wind, Inc. She was speaking at an informal event near the ship’s temporary home at the terminal.

A statement issued by Burm quoted Mass. Clean Energy Center interim CEO Steve Pike as saying, “We welcome DONG Energy as the first — but not the last — offshore wind customer to use the terminal. As this industry emerges, it will bring economic activity like this to the City of New Bedford, the South Coast and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center seeks volunteers

August 15, 2016 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – The Fishing Heritage Center is looking for volunteers to help with day to day operations and will launch an extensive training for those volunteers beginning in September. The Center, which opened to the public on June 25th, is dedicated to telling the story of the fishing industry past, present and future through exhibits, programs, and archives.

Beginning in September, volunteers will be invited to participate in a series of “insider” fieldtrips to learn first-hand about the fishing industry. Fieldtrips will include visits to the seafood auction, a processing plant, a gear shop, a shipyard, dockside vessel tours, and more. The training will also include lectures by fishermen, fisheries scientists, maritime authors, and other industry experts.

Volunteer opportunities include: welcoming visitors, staffing the reception area and gift shop, engaging visitors with the exhibits, assisting with educational programs, conducting research, and helping with special events.

For those with a fishing industry connection, we hope you will share your industry skills and knowledge with visitors by leading walking tours, demonstrating skills such as net mending, knot tying, or model boat making, or talking with school groups or the public about your work and life.

Volunteers are needed during Center operating hours (Thursday-Sunday 10-4) and for occasional evening programs and special events. Volunteer hours are flexible and can be scheduled according individual availability and particular areas of interest. The Center is located at 38 Bethel Street, in the heart of the National Park. The Center is wheelchair accessible and free off-street parking is provided to volunteers.

MASSACHUSETTS: OffshoreMW enlists Jim Kendall as fishing industry rep

August 15, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD — An offshore wind developer hired a longtime local fisherman as its fisheries representative Friday, and another developer’s survey boat could arrive at the Marine Commerce Terminal on Saturday, as the offshore wind industry continues to ramp up on SouthCoast after Monday’s signing of landmark energy legislation in Boston.

Erich Stephens, executive vice president of New Jersey-based wind power developer OffshoreMW, said longtime local fisherman and industry advocate Jim Kendall will be OffshoreMW’s fisheries representative. Kendall, now executive director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting, is a former scalloper with more than 50 years of experience in the industry.

“His job is to make sure we’re hearing from the fishing industry,” Stephens said.

Stephens said OffshoreMW previously hired Kendall several years ago, to provide guidance as the company looked at potential lease areas for turbine development in federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard. OffshoreMW now is one of three companies with leases in that region of ocean waters.

Kendall said the new, contract agreement was finalized Friday.

“My main concern is trying to minimize any impacts on the fishing industry, and anything that’s going to either disrupt their work or endanger them,” Kendall said.

Stephens said the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is requiring offshore wind developers to have both a fisheries representative, who speaks for the fishing industry, and a fisheries liaison, who speaks for the wind power company. Stephens said OffshoreMW’s liaison role will be filled in the short-term by Rachel Pachter, the company’s senior permitting adviser.

Monday on a State House lawn, after Gov. Charlie Baker signed a law requiring utilities to purchase contracts for at least 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power between 2017 and 2027, Stephens said OffshoreMW would begin survey work Sept. 1.

He expanded on that Friday, saying a geophysical survey could take three to four weeks, and potentially be followed by a two- to three-week geotechnical survey. The surveys will be conducted by a boat that works out of New Bedford, Stephens said.

A survey boat for Denmark-based DONG Energy, known locally as Bay State Wind, is expected to arrive even sooner — Saturday, potentially, at the Marine Commerce Terminal in the city’s South End.

That boat, the RV Ocean Researcher, will be the first offshore wind-related vessel to arrive at the $113 million, state-funded terminal, designed to be a staging area for the offshore wind industry that now is becoming a reality.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times