Saving Seafood

Atlantic City charter boat captain reappointed to fisheries council

June 29, 2018 — Atlantic City charter boat Captain Adam Nowalsky has been reappointed for his second, three-year term on the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council.

Nowalsky has more than 20 years of saltwater fishing experience and is captain of the Karen Ann II, a 35-foot charter fishing vessel.

The Mid-Atlantic council is one of eight regional councils that work with the National Ocean Atmospheric Administration to manage ocean fish stocks, determining both fishing limits, and how allowable harvests are split between recreational and commercial fishermen and between states. Appointments are made by the U.S. Commerce Department.

The Mid-Atlantic council includes members from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Delaware Bay ferry sunk for artificial reef

June 20, 2018 –The 320’x68’ ferry Twin Capes, former flagship of the Delaware River and Bay Authority’s fleet linking New Jersey and Delaware, is now a destination for fishermen and divers after it went to the bottom of the ocean Friday.

The double-ender vehicle and passenger ferry was emplaced on the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Reef site, in 120 feet of water 26 miles southeast of Cape May, N.J., where the former Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa was likewise put to rest in May 2017. Contractor Colleen Marine, Norfolk, Va., handled the Tamaroa project and did a repeat performance with the Twin Capes, towing the old ferry away in August 2017 to clean and prepare it for the reef deployment.

Built in 1974 at Todd Shipyards, Houston, the Twin Capes was the biggest vessel on the 17-mile run between Cape May, N.J., and Cape Henlopen, Del., with capacity for 895 passengers. But over the years its higher operational costs compared to the authority’s three other vessels became a handicap.

Read the full story at Work Boat

Public hearings scheduled on proposed bluefish management changes

June 18, 2018 — Fisheries agencies are considering changes to the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan and will hold public hearings this month to hear from recreational and commercial fishing interests.

The amendments are being considered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

They would change commercial and recreational allotments, fishery management plan goals and objectives, commercial allocations among states and the commercial quota transfer process.

Public hearings in New Jersey will be held 6 to 8 p.m. June 27 at the Ocean City Library, 1735 Simpson Ave., Ocean City; and 6 to 8 p.m. June 28 at the Ocean County Administration Building, 101 Hopper Ave., Toms River.

Currently, the allocation is 83 percent for recreational and 17 percent for commercial fisheries, but transfers from the recreational to commercial sector have happened every year since 2001, the agencies said.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Murphy gets state, fishing industry more time for wind energy plan

June 1, 2018 — New Jersey under Gov. Phil Murphy is fully committed to offshore wind, working toward generating 3.5 gigawatts of its clean energy by 2030. The Board of Public Utilities has been ordered to prepare to seek bids on more than 1,000 megawatts of wind power, and a Danish company with a lease for an ocean wind farm has opened an office in Atlantic City.

So when the governor asked early last month for another 180 days to comment on the next round of vast ocean wind leases — this time in the much used and fought over New York Bight between the city’s harbor, Long Island and South Jersey — his request was very credible.

If even an ardent supporter of green energy wants more time to consider the impacts of massive wind farms on other users, he must be speaking for all New Jersey businesses and people with a stake in these very valuable waters.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

 

Massachusetts: Largest U.S. contract to date makes SouthCoast a hub for offshore wind

May 29, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Now we have an industry, not just a plan.

That’s the feeling among would-be suppliers and others after Massachusetts and Rhode Island awarded offshore wind contracts on Wednesday to two developers for a combined 1,200 megawatts of power.

Though subject to negotiation and permitting, the Massachusetts award of 800 megawatts essentially green-lights the largest U.S. offshore wind farm to date. Together, the two projects could power about 620,000 homes, according to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

Even Bay State Wind, whose bid was not successful, is looking forward to a bright future in the region.

“This is the first of what we think will be many more to come,” said Lauren Burm, a spokeswoman for Ørsted, one of the partners behind Bay State Wind. She said solicitations on the Eastern seaboard are expected to exceed 7,000 megawatts in the next 10 years.

And Ørsted is moving on.

On May 17, the Danish company opened an office in Atlantic City for a prospective wind farm off New Jersey, where it holds another lease in federal waters.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a renewable energy law on May 23, the same day Massachusetts and Rhode Island made their awards. In it, he codified in law his previously stated goal of buying 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030. The state has not issued a request for proposals.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

First Squid Fishery in the World Certified as Sustainable

May 24, 2018 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council, Lund’s Fisheries, The Town Dock, and SCS Global Services:   

The U.S. Northeastern Longfin Inshore Squid fishery in the Northwest Atlantic is the first squid fishery in the world to achieve MSC certification as a sustainable and well-managed fishery. The certification was awarded on May 22 by independent certifier SCS Global Services following an 11-month long detailed assessment.

The Longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis (Amerigo) pealeii), also referred to as Loligo squid, has a lifespan of less than one year. They spawn year-round as they migrate long-distances between inshore and offshore waters. They generally remain inshore during spring and offshore during late fall. As with most squid species, environmental factors such as temperature play a significant role in the timing of migrations, distribution, growth, and spawning. Due to changing water temperatures, squid have been migrating further North up the coast than in past years. It is one species that may benefit from climate change, rather than be negatively impacted by it, according to studies.

“We are thrilled to congratulate the fishery for becoming the first squid fishery in the world to attain MSC certification,” said Brian Perkins, MSC’s Regional Director for the Americas. “This achievement is an acknowledgement and testimony to the great work that the fishers are doing to ensure that they fish responsibly, and will have the resource available for generations to come.”

The fishery takes place on the U.S. continental shelf from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Squid are harvested by small mesh bottom trawls by fishery client group Lund’s Fisheries Inc. of Cape May, New Jersey, and The Town Dock of Narragansett, Rhode Island along with independent fishermen throughout the region using the same fishing method. The bottom trawl fishery for longfin squid follows the species’ seasonal inshore/offshore migration patterns.

“We are excited to build additional trust with our customers through MSC’s certification of our longfin squid fishery,” said Wayne Reichle, President of Lund’s Fisheries. “This certification demonstrates that our domestic fisheries management system is working to sustainably manage our major squid fishery to the benefit of the resource, fishing communities, and calamari lovers everywhere.”

“All of us at The Town Dock are excited to be part of such a historic initiative,” said Ryan Clark, CEO of The Town Dock. “Our goal has always been to provide customers with a healthy and sustainable product. By certifying longfin squid, we hope to take the promise of sustainability a step further by protecting the fishery to ensure consumers have access to squid now and for many years to come.”

The two companies are also immediately pursuing a scope extension via an expedited assessment of the Northern shortfin squid small mesh bottom trawl fishery under MSC principles. Northern shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus), also known as illex, is a commercially important species with a broad range that extends between the Sea of Labrador and the Florida Straits.

Development of the U.S. domestic longfin squid bottom trawl fishery began in the early 1980s as the U.S. industry developed the appropriate technology to catch and process squid in large quantities, and became solely domestic in 1987.

The fishery is certified until 2023 and will undergo annual audits within that timeframe to ensure the MSC standard continues to be met.

 

New Jersey: Orsted celebrates A.C. office, gets first federal permit for offshore wind farm

May 18, 2018 — ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The Danish offshore wind firm Orsted, which holds a federal lease to develop an offshore wind farm 10 miles off the resort, officially opened its New Jersey headquarters here Thursday and announced it has received its first federal permit.

It has also hired former Atlantic County Utilities Authority communications manager Monica Coffey, of Margate, as its manager of community relations and communications.

“The state of New Jersey and Atlantic City in particular will have bragging rights to say it’s one of a handful of American cities to have an offshore wind farm,” Orsted North America President Thomas Brostrom said of the company’s Ocean Wind project.

“We are hopeful to see a wind farm going up in the early 2020s,” said Brostrom. “I know it’s still a long time, but it takes a couple more years to get all through the permitting. We can build a wind farm in one to two years … that’s not the problem. It’s getting through to that part where you can start actual construction.”

Brostrom said the company was notified Thursday morning that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had approved its site assessment plan, giving it the permit to deploy equipment offshore to measure wind speeds and wave height to help with final siting of windmills.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

 

Your dinner might be swimming North thanks to climate change, Rutgers study says

May 18, 2018 — Climate change is making oceans warmer and the fish are taking flight.

And that could have a big impact on New Jersey’s $7.9 billion fishing industry according to a new Rutgers-led study published Wednesday.

Aquatic life has a narrow tolerance for temperature range, so as the water heats up species populations are shifting northward to find suitable habitat according to Malin Pinksy, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor in Rutgers’ Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources.

By 2100, the Atlantic’s temperature off the Jersey Shore could rise to levels currently seen in Virginia. That could lead to species like black sea bass and summer flounder, both staples of New Jersey’s fishing industry, leaving the area and being replaced by more southern species like Atlantic Croaker.

Pinsky said the most dramatic example of a shifting fishery is the Atlantic Cod. The species could lose 90 percent of its habitat in U.S. waters by 2100 in a worst case scenario.

Read the full story at NJ

 

Washington must come to grips with offshore wind conflicts

May 17, 2018 — Offshore wind energy developers have momentum building for them in East Coast waters. But other maritime industries want to ease up on the throttle.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management recently held another round of public meetings in New Jersey and New York, gathering information for what could be a future round of lease offerings in the New York Bight. Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke has promised to help fast track future permitting.

Already Statoil has plan for its Empire Wind turbine array, tucked into a 79,350-acre federal lease near the apex of ship traffic separation lanes near the entrance to New York Harbor. That could mean a lot of new maritime jobs, along with a new kind of navigational risk.

The Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey supports renewable energy, said Edward Kelly, the association’s executive director, at a May 9 meeting BOEM hosted in Newark, N.J.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Asks for More Time to Analyze Offshore Wind Impacts on Commercial Fishermen

May 10, 2018 — WASHINGTON — New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is asking the federal government for more time to analyze the potential impacts of offshore wind development, specifically on the state’s important commercial fishing industry.

In a letter last week to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Gov. Murphy wrote that the 45 days allotted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for comments on wind development in the New York Bight “is simply not enough time” for New Jersey to conduct the extensive outreach to fishermen it needs. Citing the year of stakeholder outreach conducted by New York, Gov. Murphy requested a 180-day extension of the public comment period.

“New Jersey and its fishing industry need ample time to collect and provide to BOEM more detailed information to enable BOEM to do a responsible job during the next stage of its wind energy leasing process,” Gov. Murphy wrote.

Gov. Murphy called input from New Jersey fishermen “particularly critical” because the state’s main fishing grounds are in areas that New York has submitted to BOEM for potential wind energy development, including two vital areas that are closest to New Jersey’s coast.

“While New Jersey believes that wind energy and the fishing industry can coexist productively, it is critical that potential conflicts from these multiple uses be identified and planned for early in the process,” Gov. Murphy wrote.

According to the letter, New Jersey is “only now beginning [its] review and stakeholder process,” in contrast to New York, which has had four years to conduct studies of offshore wind areas. It pointed out that New York did not effectively engage with New Jersey fishermen or other stakeholders as part of this process.

Gov. Murphy was also critical of BOEM’s own lack of engagement with New Jersey’s fishing industry, stating that they have “not yet been meaningfully involved in the process.” He pointed to two letters from New Jersey to BOEM late last year, which highlighted the lack of stakeholder outreach and requested meetings between fishermen and BOEM before moving forward with a public comment period.

However, BOEM scheduled just one fisheries-based meeting on the New York Bight in one location after its call for comments.

“This minimal level of outreach and limited time frame for response from New Jersey’s stakeholders are simply not adequate or equitable,” Gov. Murphy wrote.

Gov. Murphy’s letter is the latest effort to ensure that the concerns of fishing communities are properly considered in the development of offshore energy projects. In April, members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities wrote to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, expressing their concerns over several proposed offshore projects and calling for more robust stakeholder engagement.