Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Sandy Hook Bay Sanctuary sparks strong opposition

LAKEWOOD, N.J. (March 25, 2016) —  Anglers are up in arms about the proposal by the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association to seek a Sandy Hook Bay National Marine Sanctuary designation that would encompass not only that Bay but also the rivers flowing into it plus a portion of Raritan Bay.

There was overwhelming opposition to that proposal at last week’s meeting in the Red Bank Library, which wasn’t large enough to hold the crowd that arrived. Rik Van Hammen seemed to be sincere as he spoke about his vision, but never presented any problem that would justify turning over control of the area to the federal government.

On the other hand, anglers in Florida and California can testify why this is the last thing we would want to do. The April issue of Salt Water Sportsman states that proposals there would eliminate fishing in up to 30 percent of the reefs covered, and may be followed up by making the entire southeast Florida reef track a National Marine Sanctuary. The magazine notes that “While anglers have supported a number of spawning-season area closures throughout the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, most consider MPAs a last resort only imperative for the survival or restoration of a fishery. The Coastal Conservation Association calls the proposed creation of a marine sanctuary an unnecessary delegation o a federal agency of a state’s authority over its waters. Florida has an excellent record of managing its fisheries.”

Read the full story at NJ.com

NEW JERSEY: Fishermen’s Energy Ocean Wind Project Tries Again for Governor’s Approval

March 24, 2016 — Fishermen’s Energy, a consortium of South Jersey commercial fisheries that formed a wind power company in order to influence where such farms on the ocean can locate – away from important fishing and ocean scalloping grounds – has sought for six years to set up a demonstration wind farm 2.8 nautical miles off Atlantic City. Its plan for six wind turbines, producing 24 megawatts of electricity, has the backing of the New Jersey Legislature, environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the federal Department of Energy, and it obtained permits from state and local entities.

The only roadblock has been the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The BPU must issue a wind renewable energy certificate, a funding mechanism for the proposed project, before the small wind farm can move forward. The BPU has said in the past that the project would be too costly for ratepayers to support. Fishermen’s Energy has always denied that claim, stating the BPU had come to a faulty conclusion through faulty mathematics.

After a 2015 bill that would have given Fishermen’s Energy Wind Project an expedited pass through the BPU was pocket-vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie, the Legislature recently passed a revised bill that now awaits the governor’s signature.

The revised Senate bill, S-988, passed the Senate, 23-11, in February. The concurrent bill A-3093 was passed by the Assembly on March 14.

The Senate bill was sponsored by Sen. Jim Whelan, with the concurrent bill sponsored by Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, both of Atlantic County. The revised bill eliminated language that directed the BPU to grant the required permit, and it deleted some language in the previous Assembly bill that would have eliminated a cost-benefit analysis. The cost-benefit analysis has been the bone of contention between the BPU and Fishermen’s Energy for the past two years.

Paul Gallagher, Fishermen’s Energy’s chief operating officer and general counsel, said he has no fears of such an analysis by the BPU now that certain qualifications have changed.

A company from China was originally going to supply the turbines, but now Fishermen’s Energy has decided to purchase turbines from Siemens, the world’s leader in wind turbine technology, with ocean turbines built in Germany and Denmark. On Tuesday, Gallagher said, “In December, Congress passed a five-year extension of the tax benefit project that makes it easier to attract investors. So we have a newly configured project, using Siemens turbines made in Germany and Denmark, traditional Western financing, plus tax incentives to make it even a more cost-effective project then what was rejected before” by the BPU.

“The bill is a relatively benign bill. It tells the BPU to let us come in and submit again. It’s on the governor’s desk, and we hope he signs it.”

Read the full story at The Sand Paper

Rep. Tom MacArthur: Stop Spending Money on Designating Marine Monuments

March 22, 2016 — (Saving Seafood) —Rep. Tom MacArthur (NJ-03) is calling on Congress to prohibit the use of any funds to be used for designating national marine monuments, in a letter sent today to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science.

Rep. MacArthur writes that the current process of declaring national marine monuments relies on a century-old law, the 1906 Antiquities Act, that gives the Executive the authority to declare monuments by fiat, without any consultation. According to the letter, this process is undemocratic, and ignores the valid economic concerns of fishing communities, many of whom have already taken steps of their own initiative to maintain the ecological conditions of the areas in which they make their living.

“The diversity of interests encompassed at the shore necessitates a balanced democratic and scientific approach to our conservation and management that involves all of the relevant stakeholders,” writes Rep. MacArthur

Rep. MacArthur also states in his letter that the Antiquities Act provides no incentive for government officials to consult with state and local officials who know these resources best, which he contends is essential for sound resource management.

“To achieve management balance and buy-in from affected stakeholders and to adequately protect those areas that are most unique, we must not ignore the technical expertise of the fishing community and local and state wildlife officials and their willingness to apply sound conservation ethics to the resources they are privileged to access and proud to bring to the consumer,” he writes.

See Rep. MacArthur’s full letter here.

125 square miles off New York coast dedicated for wind power

March 17, 2016 — NEW YORK — Federal officials on Wednesday dedicated more than 125 square miles in the waters off the coast of Long Island for the development of commercial wind energy, pushing forward a renewable energy proposal initially created by New York utilities.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the state has “tremendous” offshore wind potential.

“Today’s milestone marks another important step in the president’s strategy to tap clean, renewable energy from the nation’s vast wind and solar resources,” she said in a statement.

The Long Island Power Authority, New York Power Authority and Con Edison initially went to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in 2011 with the proposal to build the farm in the Atlantic Ocean that would include up to 200 turbines generating about 700 megawatts of energy capable of powering about 245,000 homes. The price tag was estimated at between $2 billion and $4 billion.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

 

NEW JERSEY: Coastal Advocates Laud Obama Decision Not To Allow Drilling Offshore

March 16, 2016 — In a victory for coastal advocates, the Obama administration yesterday decided not to open up portions of the Atlantic seaboard to offshore oil and gas drilling.

The announcement reverses a draft proposal to open up millions of acres in the mid-Atlantic and south Atlantic by auctioning off tracts for drilling, a plan environmentalists and state lawmakers here feared would threaten New Jersey’s billion dollar tourism economy.

No drilling would have occurred off the Jersey coast or the outer continental shelf, but opponents worried that a spill off Virginia where leases were to be offered for sale could adversely effect New Jersey’s coastal environment and economy, already hard hit and not fully recovered from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

“It’s a great day for the Atlantic Ocean and the thousands of citizens who fought to protect the coast,’’ said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action. “The sea is spared from oil drilling and the horrific consequences that Big Oil brings — pollution, spills, and industrialization.’’

In releasing a five-year program for oil and gas leasing offshore, Sally Jewell, secretary of the Department of the Interior, said the proposal allowing sales to occur in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska shelved a proposed sale in the mid-Atlantic and south Atlantic.

Read the full story at NJ Spotlight

NEW JERSEY: New size limits for summer flounder and sea bass passed

March 4, 2016 — Delaware Bay anglers will be able to fish for a 17-inch summer flounder this summer, according to a statement by the Jersey Coast Anglers Association.

The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council met yesterday in Galloway Township and approved the 2016 regulations for summer flounder and sea bass, two very popular fish to the recreational fishing industry.

According to the state released by JCAA board member, the council approved the following measures:

Summer flounder anglers will be allowed five fish at 18 inches with a season beginning on May 21 and ending on Sept. 25, except for Delaware Bay where there will be a four fish limit at 17 inches and at Island Beach State Park where there will be a two fish limit at 16 inches.

Read the full story at Asbury Park Press

NEW JERSEY: Council to set fluke & sea bass regulations at Thursday meeting

March 2, 2016 — Paul Haertel of the JCAA reports the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council will be meeting at 4PM on Thursday, March 3rd at the Galloway Township Public Library, 306 E Jimmie Leeds Rd, Galloway, NJ 08205. The regulations for fluke and sea bass are expected to be set at this meeting. Though public comment will be accepted, it appears that there will only be one regulatory option offered for each species. The NJ Bureau of Marine Fisheries worked hard to develop various options. They were tweaked a little at the Advisers meeting and the end result was that a clear majority of advisers supported the following options.

Read the full story at NJ.com

Jersey Shore Fishing: Ray Bogan Appointed an ICCAT Commissioner

February 25, 2016 — Ray Bogan, who chose the law as his profession, rather than joining the famed family party boat business in Brielle, has been appointed as the U.S. recreational fishing commissioner to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

Ray Bogan, whose law office is in Point Pleasant Beach and is also a captain, has been involved for many years in all aspects of fisheries conservation. He’s well-qualified to handle the new position as he’s been monitoring ICCAT activities for decades. In some cases, the overfishing of tunas in Europe and Africa may also impact local abundance. Though the title implies that ICCAT only manages tunas, they also develop conservation plans for other highly migratory fisheries. Since most of the rest of the world is only concerned with commercial fishing, ICCAT had to be dragged into protecting species with lesser commercial value. After being appointed to the first Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, I became that council’s representative to the Southeast Council in establishing tuna regulations within our then new 200-mile limit before the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) later took over highly migratory species management. At one meeting, an U.S. marine biologist said ICCAT wouldn’t do anything to conserve blue marlin until there were only two left – and both were males!

It’s not quite that bad now, but recreational fishing still takes a back seat at ICCAT. The bluefin tuna “conservation” regulations result in such minimal quotas for school bluefins that the cost of pursuing that recreational fishery can hardly be justified, while spawning giants are targeted with high commercial daily boat limits in order to fill quotas.

Read the full story at NJ.com

On Long Island Sound, Discord Over Push for Fishing Rights

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — February 26, 2016 — The proposal: to open part of Long Island Sound, the sliver of ocean separating New York’s Long Island from Connecticut and Rhode Island, to striped bass fishing by shifting it from federal to state control.

The problem: The New York congressman who’s pushing the idea didn’t check first with Rhode Island or Connecticut, where lawmakers say the proposal is pointless at best and environmentally dangerous at worst.

Striped bass fishing is allowed in state waters but banned in the federal area, and Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York says he wants to restore local control and common sense to fishery management. He introduced a bill to change the boundary for 150 square miles.

Though Rhode Island would get control over a slice, U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, said the notion of removing federal jurisdiction just doesn’t make sense here.

“I’m not sure the rationale for it,” Cicilline said.

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, another Rhode Island Democrat, called the bill “an odd little thing.” He said his office contacted Rhode Island fishermen and regulators and “nobody’s very interested in it.”

Recreational anglers who catch striped bass legally in state waters sometimes stray into, or travel through, the federal exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, between areas south of Montauk, New York, and south of Point Judith, Rhode Island.

According to Zeldin’s office, some have been fined for having striped bass on board because they couldn’t prove the bass were caught legally in state waters. Zeldin, whose district encompasses eastern Long Island, is responding to concerns from local fishermen, his office said.

Zeldin is a vulnerable freshman lawmaker who has been targeted by Democrats in a swing district that President Barack Obama narrowly won twice. Passage of the legislation could help him in his re-election bid.

Joe McBride, of the Montauk Boatmen & Captains Association, publicly thanked Zeldin for his leadership on the issue. Sport fishing is important to the Long Island economy, especially in Montauk, McBride said.

Connecticut’s entire congressional delegation signed a letter opposing the “misguided bill,” citing the potential for “major economic losses” to the Connecticut fishing industry and a “major blow” to efforts to rebuild the striped bass stock.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

Coast Guard Vessel Capsizes on Way to Rescue Fishing Boat

February 25, 2016 — Five Coast Guard officers sent to rescue the crew of a fishing boat faced their own emergency early Thursday when their vessel capsized in treacherous conditions off the Rockaways, officials said.

The tables were turned on the Guardsmen as they tried to save a 76-foot scallop trawler from Virginia that was being hammered by 10-to-12-foot waves and taking on water near the East Rockaway Inlet, according to officials.

The commercial fishing vessel — dubbed the Carolina Queen III — had been searching for sea scallops in the mid-Atlantic region just south of Long Island, which would have been on the plates of New Yorkers if it wasn’t for the bad weather.

Fighting gale-force winds and heavy rain, the Coast Guard’s 25-foot, twin-engine response boat was dispatched from Station Jones Beach to rescue the seven man crew after receiving an urgent distress call at about 2 a.m. saying they were having mechanical issues and had lost power.

But as the Coast Guard members tried to save the fishing vessel, which eventually ran aground, the powerful surf proved to be too much for them — and their boat overturned at about 4:45 a.m. near the Silver Point Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, officials said.

Read the full story at the New York Post