Saving Seafood

NOAA Takes Ownership of the James J. Howard Laboratory in New Jersey

July 23, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries held a transfer of ownership ceremony on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 in front of the James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory building within the Gateway National Recreation Area in Highlands, New Jersey. Guests included NOAA officials, as well as U.S. Rep Frank Pallone, Zach McCue of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s staff, Highlands, New Jersey Mayor Carolyn Broullon and Middletown, New Jersey Mayor Anthony Perry.

“It’s a victory for NOAA and the State of New Jersey, but really it’s a victory for the American public,” emphasized NOAA Deputy Under Secretary Ben Friedman. “I’m happy to be here to make this a permanent part of the NOAA family.”

In 1993, this building replaced the original laboratory—a building that became a marine science laboratory in 1961 though it was originally constructed as a military hospital in the late 1800s. The State of New Jersey owned the new building, and NOAA leased space there. The official transfer of ownership was years in the making. Current and retired laboratory staff, NOAA employees from other locations, and local partners gathered for the celebration.

Northeast Fisheries Science Center Director Jon Hare said, “This is a purpose-built seawater laboratory that has the capability to do world-class research. Now that NOAA owns it, we can put it to its full use.”

Fisheries Ecology Branch Chief Beth Phelan emphasized the laboratory’s value to NOAA.

“NOAA is America’s environmental intelligence agency, and our lab here in New Jersey adapts and directs its research to important topics to help produce the best available science,” Phelan said.

She has been a scientist and leader at the laboratory for nearly four decades.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey may revoke half of Covid-19 relief funds distributed to commercial fishermen

July 23, 2023 — The U.S. state of New Jersey is considering taking back millions of dollars in Covid-19 relief from commercial fishermen after an audit found multiple issues.

In May 2020, the federal government announced USD 300 million (EUR 270 million) in fisheries assistance funding as part of the CARES Act. New Jersey was awarded USD 11.2 million (EUR 10 million) of that funding and established the Marine Fisheries Assistance Grant Program to distribute the money to fisheries-related businesses that had suffered at least a 35 percent loss in revenue from Covid-19.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NEW JERSEY: Dolphin found in Barnegat Bay is 40th death this year in N.J.

July 20, 2023 — A boat captain on the Barnegat Bay on Monday morning found a dead dolphin floating near Tice’s Shoal off Island Beach State Park.

Korey Tomei was providing a boating lesson at about 9:30 a.m. when he spotted what the Marine Mammal Stranding Center confirmed to be an adult male bottlenose dolphin.

From a distance, Tomei said thought he had spotted garbage and only realized what he saw was a dolphin after moving in for a closer look as he had planned to retrieve the trash.

Read the full article at NJ.com

Supreme Court urged to blunt power of federal regulators

July 19, 2023 — The Supreme Court is being asked to overturn a decades-old law giving federal regulators wide-ranging powers as it weighs a legal challenge by New Jersey commercial fishermen over new monitoring rules.

The high court is considering a lawsuit filed in 2020 by plaintiff Loper Bright Enterprises of New Jersey, challenging a rule requiring the industry to fund monitors to go out on commercial fishing vessels to collect data to craft new regulations. The fishermen argue the rules will force them to pay more than $700 per day to contractors, or about 20% of their pay.

But plaintiffs in the case say the dispute over federal monitors also provides an opportunity for the high court to blunt the powers of federal agencies by overturning the so-called Chevron deference.

“It’s a classic David versus Goliath story,” said Ryan Mulvey, an attorney with Cause of Action Institute representing commercial fishermen. “Chevron deference tips the scales of justice towards powerful federal agencies and away from citizens like the fishermen who are seeing their livelihoods threatened by a bureaucracy run amok.”

Read the full article at The Center Square

NEW JERSEY: Protesters Link Hands on Beach to Denounce Offshore Wind Farms

July 17, 2023 — Max Maher had no intention of going to an offshore wind farm protest in Ocean City on Saturday. But when the Johnstown, Pa., teenager read a pamphlet handed to her on the Boardwalk warning about what could happen if a wind farm is built off the South Jersey coast, she felt she had to go.

“I came for the weekend to see my friends. I’m not a huge beachgoer, but when I read that the wind farm could destroy the marine life and the environment, I was angry,” the 16-year-old said. “I wanted to do my part.”

Opponents of a proposed wind energy farm off the South Jersey coast joined hands and formed a human chain symbolizing their fight against a project they believe will cause harm to the shore’s economy and the environment. Dubbed “Hands Across The Beaches,” the protest, organized by Protect Our Coast NJ, a grassroots organization, brought out people of all ages to take a stand.

They stood together to send a message to the Danish energy company Orsted that they do not want the project, which would entail 98 towering turbines in the waters 15 miles off the coast from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor.

Read the full article at OCNJDaily

Lawsuits could delay the start of New Jersey’s first offshore wind power project

July 13, 2023 — A tangle of litigation could delay the start of New Jersey’s first offshore wind energy project, as developer Orsted is suing governments to stop delaying necessary permits, and citizens groups try to halt the project altogether.

The latest in a fast-growing thicket of litigation came July 3 when Danish wind power developer Orsted sued Cape May County, alleging the government is dragging its feet in issuing a road permit needed to do test work along the route a power cable would run.

The company is also suing the city of Ocean City over similar delays to the project, which the federal government has endorsed as a significant piece in the White House’s efforts to “jump-start the offshore wind industry across the country,” in order to tackle the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

NEW JERSEY: LBI Towns Voice Offshore Wind Opposition

July 14, 2023 — The municipalities of Long Beach Island are voicing their opposition of offshore wind development and are preparing to take legal action if need be, according to a letter filed with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).

In a joint statement with law firm Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, which filed the letter on behalf of all of LBI’s municipalities regarding the proposed Atlantic Shores application calling for a federal consistency certification that the offshore wind project is consistent with New Jersey’s coastal policies.

Frank Huttle, representing the municipalities along with Pashman Stein Chair and Managing Partner Michael S. Stein, said that the project does not comply with NJDEP’s coastal zone management regulations. The applicant should instead “seek approval of a project in a designated lease area further offshore that would have far fewer impacts on the state’s coastal resources and economy,” Huttle said.

Read the full article at the Patch

NEW JERSEY: Murphy faces blowback over wind power ‘giveaway’ to Danish firm

July 13, 2023 — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is being criticized for doling out generous tax breaks to a Danish-based energy firm seeking to develop offshore wind.

Murphy signed an agreement last Thursday with Ørsted Wind, a Danish firm, granting the company a tax break on one of two energy projects it is developing off the New Jersey coast.

Under the plan, Orsted will be allowed to keep federal tax credits that were supposed to be passed to New Jersey utility ratepayers to offset the potential for higher electricity rates.

Democrats who approved the legislation last week argued the tax relief was needed to help the company deal with inflation and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full article at The Center Square

NEW JERSEY: Wind power company sues Cape May County over permitting delay

July 12, 2023 — The company building a controversial wind farm off New Jersey’s coast is suing Cape May County officials for not fulfilling permitting requests and following regulator orders it argues has delayed the project.

Ocean Wind 1, owned by Danish-based energy company Ørsted, contends the county, its clerk and its engineer are prolonging the paperwork needed for easements required by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

The officials also are not yet granting road opening permits for work in Ocean City, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed July 3, in the same week the Biden administration approved the wind farm’s construction about 13 nautical miles southeast of Atlantic City.

The wind farm’s builder names the county’s clerk and engineer, Rita Rothberg and Robert Church, respectively. It also names Kevin Lare, the clerk for the Cape May County Board of Commissioners.

Read the full article at The Press of Atlantic City

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey fishermen on hook for $7 million in pandemic relief

July 10, 2023 — New Jersey fishermen could be on the hook for $7 million in COVID-19 funds that may have been improperly distributed, according to a report.

An audit conducted by Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh’s office found that more than half of the $14.4 million New Jersey distributed in federal funds to commercial fishermen through the pandemic-related program may need to be returned because the recipients might not have been eligible to receive the money.

The comptroller’s office determined that about 41% of the payments, or $5.9 million, are subject to possible recoupment because the applicants were made “more than whole” by the money or were ineligible for relief payments under the program guidelines.

Read the full article at The Center Square