Saving Seafood

New Yorkers rally against offshore drilling plan

February 16, 2018 — ALBANY, N.Y. — Wearing fish-shaped caps and armed with a megaphone, New York state’s leading environmental advocates protested President Donald Trump’s plan to open offshore areas to oil and gas drilling on Thursday as federal energy officials held an open house on the proposal near the state Capitol.

The group, wearing caps shaped like sturgeon, salmon and other vulnerable ocean species, included Aaron Mair, past president of the Sierra Club, and Judith Enck, the regional Environmental Protection Agency administrator under former President Barack Obama. They said Trump’s plan could devastate the environment while leaving potential renewable energy sources untouched. They called on Congress to pass a law blocking the proposal.

“We all remember the BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe,” Enck said into a megaphone, referring to the 2010 rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that triggered the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. “We cannot afford that reckless activity in the Atlantic.”

Inside, federal energy officials handed out information packets and briefed members of the public on the president’s decision last month to open most of the nation’s coast to oil and gas drilling as a way of making the U.S. less dependent on foreign energy sources. Several dozen people had trickled through at the midpoint of the four-hour open house. Members of the public were encouraged to submit written comments.

William Brown, chief environmental officer at the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said he welcomed comments from opponents to the plan.

Read the full story from Associated Press at the Seattle Times

 

Dock to Dish Prepares New Seafood-Tracking System

February 8, 2018 — It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your shipments of iced-down, black sea bass are? Or perhaps you want to check on the status of the longline boat that is catching your carton of golden tilefish from the 500-foot depths of the Hudson Canyon, located about 80 miles south of Montauk? For those who demand the freshest, most sustainable seafood, and partake in the increasingly popular and expanding Montauk-headquartered Dock to Dish community-supported fishery program, keeping an eye on your seafood order is a simple mouse click away.

“More and more people want to know where, when, and how their fish are caught,” explained Sean Barrett, a fisherman and restaurateur who founded the cooperative fishery program in 2012. “Our motto is ‘know your fisherman’ and that has not changed. Members of Dock to Dish can check in real time the status of their catch from the beginning of the fishing trip all the way until it is delivered by hand right to their doorstep. It’s just one of the many enhancements we have made since we started.”

This year Mr. Barrett hopes to improve the fishery marketplace by having the world’s first live tracking dashboard so that end consumers on land can monitor hauls of wild seafood from individual fishermen at sea in near-real time. Named Dock to Dish 2.0, the new technology bundle was created in partnership with several fish tracking companies, including Pelagic Data Systems, Local Catch, and Fish Trax. Once completed, the bundle will be open-sourced, meaning it can be replicated and used by all independent small and medium-scale fisheries operations around the world.

“Dock to Dish 2.0 is the first public-facing system to ever combine vessel and vehicle tracking with geospatial monitoring technologies on an interactive digital dashboard,” Mr. Barrett explained last month as he unloaded a catch of tilefish just outside the kitchen door of Nick and Toni’s, one of the first members of Dock to Dish’s restaurant-supported fisheries program. Fishing boats will be outfitted with solar-powered automatic data-collection monitors and application-specific wireless sensors.

Read the full story at the East Hampton Star

 

Robert Bryce: Cuomo’s latest green-power fiasco

February 5, 2018 — Since 2015, Gov. Cuomo has been hyping his scheme to remake the state’s electric grid so that by 2030 half of the state’s electricity will come from renewable sources.

But Cuomo’s ambition — to prove his renewable-energy bona fides and thus position himself as a viable Democratic candidate for the White House in two years — is colliding headlong with reality.

Indeed, two events Monday, one in Albany and the other in the upstate town of Somerset, showed just how difficult and expensive his plan has become and how New York ratepayers will be stuck with the bill.

In Albany, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority released its “offshore-wind master plan.” The agency said it was “charting a course to 2,400 megawatts” of offshore capacity to be installed by 2030. That much capacity (roughly twice as much as now exists in all of Denmark) will require installing hundreds of platforms over more than 300 square miles of ocean in some of the most navigated, and heavily fished, waters on the Eastern Seaboard.

It will also be enormously expensive. According to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration, by 2022 producing a megawatt hour of electricity from offshore wind will cost a whopping $145.90.

Offshore wind promoters claim costs are declining. Maybe so. But according to the New York Independent System Operator, the average cost of wholesale electricity in the state last year was $36.56. Thus, Cuomo’s presidential ambitions will require New York consumers to pay roughly four times as much for offshore electricity as they currently pay for juice from conventional generators.

Why is the governor pushing so hard for offshore wind? The answer’s simple: The rural backlash against Big Wind is growing daily.

Just a few hours after NYSERDA released its plan, the Somerset town board unanimously banned industrial wind turbines. The town (population: 2,700) is actively opposing the proposed 200-megawatt Lighthouse Wind project, which, if built, would be one of the largest onshore-wind facilities in the Northeast.

Wednesday, Dan Engert, the supervisor in Somerset, told me his “citizens are overwhelmingly opposed” to having wind projects built near their homes and that Somerset will protect “the health, safety and rural character of our town.”

Numerous other small communities are fighting the encroachment of Big Wind. In the Thousand Islands region, towns like Cape Vincent and Clayton have been fending off wind projects for years. Last May, the town of Clayton approved an amendment to its zoning ordinance that bans all commercial wind projects.

Read the full story at the New York Post

 

Attorneys general urge offshore drilling plan’s cancellation

February 2, 2018 — The top lawyers for a dozen coastal states want the U.S. Interior Department to cancel the Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore drilling, warning it threatens their maritime economies and natural resources.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and her fellow attorneys general, all Democrats, wrote Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday about his agency’s proposed five-year oil and gas leasing plan that opens new ocean waters.

“Not only does this irresponsible and careless plan put our state’s jobs and environment at risk, but it shows utter disregard for the will and voices of thousands of local businesses and fishing families,” said Healey in a prepared statement. “My colleagues and I will continue to fight this plan.”

Healey first announced her opposition to the plan in an August 2017 letter to Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The Northeast Seafood Coalition and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association agreed with her that the Interior Department’s plan to expand offshore drilling threatens Massachusetts’ $7.3 billion commercial fishing industry — the third largest in the country — and more than 240,000 jobs in the state.

The plan also could devastate the state’s robust recreation and tourism industries, according to Healey, as well harm the state’s coastal environment and protected endangered species, including the Northern Right Whale, which feeds in the waters off of Cape Cod and Nantucket, according to the comment letter. There are only about 460 critically endangered Northern Right Whales remaining worldwide.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Massachusetts: Fishing Heritage Center Opens New Exhibit

January 31, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the opening of Frozen Asset: Ice Making & the New Bedford Fishing Industry on Thursday, February 8th at 6:00 p.m. during AHA.  This exhibit explores the historic and contemporary ice industry as well as how ice contributed to the success of the commercial fishing industry. A special showing of Harvesting Ice in New England 1926- 1957 will take place at 7:00 p.m.

Ice has been used to preserve food for centuries.  From the early 1800s to the 1960s, ice was harvested from fresh water ponds and stored in ice houses throughout New England.  With the advent of refrigeration in the mid 20th century, the ice industry modernized the process of making ice through the use of refrigerant, allowing ice to be made year round.

Changes in how ice was harvested in the mid-19th century allowed ice to be cut uniformly, minimizing melting in storage and during use.  Fishermen began to carry ice to preserve their bait and their catch.  Having ice allowed crews to venture farther off shore and expand the variety of species landed fresh. Ice was used by railroads to transport the catch far from fishing ports, increasing the market for fresh fish.  With the advent of refrigeration, New Bedford fishermen could land their catch here rather than at Fulton’s Fish Market in New York City and transport fish to markets across the country by truck.

Today, ice is still used to preserve the catch and land fresh product for market. Vessels ice up before heading out to sea, taking on 15 to 40 tons depending upon the target species, trip length, and time of year.

The Center is grateful to Joseh E. Swift, Crystal Ice Company, Inc., and Woods Hole Historical Museum for the support with a special thanks to guest curators Stephanie Trott and Robert Demanche. This exhibit is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Dartmouth Local Cultural Council, the Fairhaven Local Cultural Council, the Mattapoisett Local Cultural Council, and the New Bedford Cultural Council.

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is dedicated to preserving and presenting the story of the commercial fishing industry past, present, and future through archives, exhibits, and programs.

 

Report detailing enforcement abuses barred from fisherman’s trial

January 29, 2018 — The first criminal trial of a Long Island fisherman charged in connection with a federal probe of a controversial fish-auction program is set to begin, but a report detailing fisheries enforcement abuses by the government has been barred from the trial.

Lawyers for Northport fisherman Thomas Kokell, charged in a multi-count indictment with overharvesting fluke, argued in pretrial motions that a 2010 federal inspector general’s report detailing abuses and “overzealousness” by the National Marine Fisheries Service was vital to the defense.

The Environmental Crimes unit of the U.S. Department of Justice has reached plea agreements with seven Long Island and New York City fishermen and fish dealers in connection with the six-year probe.

Most have been charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and false reporting crimes. Five received prison time or home detention, including a 74-year-old Mattituck fisherman charged with taking $78,000 in illegal fish. Fines and restitution have ranged from $150,000 to $932,000 and most lost their fishing or dealer permits.

In November 2016, Kokell was charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and falsification of federal records in connection with the illegal harvest of more than $400,000 worth of fluke. He is the first to fight the charges in court. The trial is set to begin next month.

His lawyers have argued that Kokell’s case should be handled as a civil, not criminal, case, citing findings from the inspector general’s report and the federal Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs the fisheries.

Kokell, who was fined $120,000 in a 2006 case involving overfishing, had been a vocal critic of the marine fisheries agency‘s enforcement and legal practices.

He and his wife appeared with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at a Port Washington dock to demand action against the fisheries agency, a unit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at Newsday

 

Officials ask fishing vessels to slow down for right whales

January 29, 2018 — Federal officials are asking large commercial fishing vessels to slow down after nearly two dozen North Atlantic right whales were spotted in the waters off Nantucket.

The Boston Globe reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a statement Friday saying a voluntary speed restriction zone has been established 30 nautical miles south of Nantucket. It says 22 right whales have been seen in that area.

Mariners are asked to go around the area or to pass through it at 10 knots or less. The request remains in effect through Feb. 5.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WITF

 

$300K Tuna Sold at Final Tsukiji Fish Market Heads to NYC Sushi Chain

January 19, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The 890 lb. bluefin tuna sold for $323,195 at the final New Year’s auction at Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji fish market has made its way to New York City.

The fish was bought by the Onodera Group, which has 11 restaurants in seven cities around the world, including London, Paris, Shanghai and Los Angeles. Sushi Ginza Onodera, located on 5th Avenue in New York City, is the lucky restaurant to score the fish for its diners. This week they’re serving sushi made from the massive bluefin tuna – and at no extra charge. However, there is a catch. The restaurant only offers its sushi in an “omakase setting,” which means that the course selection is in the hands of the chef. And it can get pricey. While the restaurant does not list prices online, guests on yelp say that lunch can range from $100 to $150 per person, while dinner can reach $400 per person.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

States seek exemptions from Trump’s offshore drilling plan, citing economic value of fisheries

January 18, 2018 — Newly released plans for an expansion of domestic offshore drilling from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could come at a significant cost to the country’s seafood industry, according to  environmental advocates and public officials.

As the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a public comment meeting in an Annapolis, Maryland hotel on Tuesday, 16 January, those opposed to the plan met at the same hotel.

William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, reiterated his opposition to leasing drilling rights in Maryland waters and elsewhere. The bay is a critical nurturing ground for blue crabs.

“One oil spill at the wrong time at the wrong place could wipe out an entire year’s class of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, several hundred million dollars worth, and all the jobs that associate with it,” Baker said at the rally, according to the Capital Gazette.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke unveiled the administration’s proposal, which would open nearly all the country’s coastal waters for oil and gas drilling over a five-year period. Proponents of offshore drilling say it would create new jobs and reduce the country’s reliance on foreign oil supplies.

The first public meetings to receive input into the plan were held Tuesday, 16 January in Annapolis and Jackson, Mississippi. According to the Associated Press, the Mississippi meeting drew a small crowd due to snowy conditions.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

New York’s Gov. Cuomo to Trump: Oil drilling off NY coast would kill economy, wildlife

January 17, 2018 — Oil slicks off Coney Island. Disruptions at the largest container port on the East Coast. Empty nets for New York’s fishing industry.

With these scenarios in mind, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a formal request on Monday for New York to be exempted from the Trump administration’s proposed plan to expand offshore oil drilling to every coastal state.

Cuomo said New York state’s coastal economy generates tens of billions of dollars in economic activity and provides hundreds of thousands of jobs, all of which would be threatened by toxic chemicals released during drilling and from oil spills. There are currently no oil wells off the Atlantic coastline.

Cuomo’s letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke comes a week after Zinke said the Trump administration would allow the state of Florida to be exempted from the controversial plan, called the OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

According to the Associated Press, after a short meeting between Zinke and Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott at a local airport, Zinke said oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico would be “off the table” because of Florida’s reliance on tourism. Other coastal states immediately clamored to be exempt as well.

In his letter to Zinke issued on Monday, Cuomo wrote in part, “Your decision to remove Florida from consideration of any new oil and gas platforms before your department has even concluded its public fact-finding process appears arbitrary. Nevertheless, to the extent that states are exempted from consideration, New York should also be exempted.”

Cuomo said that an oil spill offshore New York’s Atlantic coast “would cripple the state’s ocean tourism economy and devastate coastal ecosystems, and toxic chemical releases associated with day-to-day drilling operations and pipeline leaks would negatively impact marine and other wildlife.” He added that just this week two of the world’s 450 remaining North Atlantic Right whales were observed off Montauk.

Read the full story at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle