Saving Seafood

NEW YORK: It’s Now Safe to Eat (Some) Fish From This Famously Polluted Brooklyn Canal

January 18, 2017 — Attention, New York City tourists: There’s a new water attraction in town.

That is, if you’re brave enough to risk the historically polluted waterway of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal. A new public health assessment from the New York State Department of Health suggests that the famously inhospitable canal—which runs for 1.8 miles through parts of the hip tree-lined neighborhoods of Park Slope, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens—is now safe for leisure activities like kayaking and even a spot of recreational fishing.

“Because of many years of discharges, storm water runoff, sewer outflows and industrial pollutants, the Gowanus Canal is one of the nation’s most extensively contaminated water bodies,” the report admits, referencing its history as a channel for barges starting in 1853 and an outlet for sewage and industrial wastes.

That said, things seem to be cautiously looking up for the Canal. While the report noted the presence of hazards like fecal coliform bacteria and chemicals like benzopyrene, which is related to increased cancer risks, ultimately the Department of Health concluded that “recreational boating” and “catch and release fishing” shouldn’t be harmful to people’s health. They still don’t recommend taking a full-body dip or dunking your head any time soon, though.

Further, if you do plan to consume the local marine species that inhabit the waterway, there are some definitive guidelines: stay away from the eels and white perch, and only feast on needlefish, bass, and perch once a month, max. (And women under the age of 50 should stay away from the seafood altogether.)

But come hot city summers, it’s likely residents and visitors will start taking advantage of the canal, thanks to this report’s (admittedly tepid) assurances of improving health and a plan to invest up to $500 million in its restoration in future.

Read the full story at Travel & Leisure

Skate Update: NEFMC Reschedules Montauk, Cape May Scoping Hearings

January 17, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has RESCHEDULED its Montauk, NY and Cape May, NJ scoping hearings on Amendment 5 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan.  The new dates are as follows:

  • Cape May — Tuesday, Feb. 21, Grand Hotel of Cape May
  • Montauk — Wednesday, Feb. 22, Montauk Playhouse Community Center Foundation

Both hearings were initially scheduled to take place the previous week.  However, in order to avoid potential conflicts for stakeholders who are planning to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Feb. 14-16 meeting in Kitty Hawk, NC, the New England Council has decided to hold its Mid-Atlantic region skate scoping hearings the following week.

See the full release at the NEFMC

New York governor calls for approving 90-MW offshore wind farm

January 13, 2017 — New York’s Long Island Power Authority should approve the 90-megawatt South Fork Wind Farm energy project as an early step toward developing up to 2.4 gigawatts of offshore power for the state by 2030, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his annual address to state lawmakers.

It would be the single biggest commitment by a coastal state, and the South Forks project 30 miles off Long Island’s East End proposed by Deepwater Wind LLC faces stiff opposition from commercial fishermen and other critics. But contract negotiations that dragged out last summer are now close to final the LIPA board could vote on it this month.

Cuomo said the authority can “ensure it is developed responsibly and cost-effectively for all stakeholders.”

“New York’s unparalleled commitment to offshore wind power will create new, high-paying jobs, reduce our carbon footprint, establish a new, reliable source of energy for millions of New Yorkers, and solidify New York’s status as a national clean energy leader,” Cuomo said. The state’s Offshore Wind Master Plan will be ready in 2017, and pave the way for the 2.4 billion-GW target, or enough electricity to power 1.25 million homes.

In that same time frame, the Cuomo administration has an ambitious target to a full 50% of New York state’s energy from renewable sources by 2030. Meanwhile, the potential closing of the aging Indian Point nuclear plant on the Hudson River in the early 2020s means the state’s biggest metro center will need power from other sources.

Read the full story at Work Boat

New York’s Best Smoked Fish Secretly All Comes From One Place

January 6, 2017 — “This looks like jewelry,” said Bloomberg Pursuits’ food editor, Kate Krader. “Like beautiful, luscious jewelry.”

The “this” in question was a small pile of smoked salmon from Barney Greengrass, and Krader, who’d spent the last five hours trudging across Manhattan and Brooklyn in an exhaustive attempt to sample some of the best smoked fish in New York, had hit a wall. “For what it’s worth,” she said with a faraway look in her eyes, “it tastes like it’s floating in the air.” (Krader was subsequently given a piece of a bagel and a glass of water and offered the opportunity to take a break. She persevered.)

Our restaurant expert is used to mouthwatering food binges, but Wednesday’s trip to Barney Greengrass, Zabar’s, Russ & Daughters, and Shelsky’s was a little different. Each of those delis, famed for their glistening stacks of smoked fish, uses one supplier, Brooklyn’s Acme Smoked Fish, for at least some of their stock. Each location, however, prices that same smoked salmon differently (from $39.96 to $45 a pound), and each location has its own dedicated following.

Krader was on a quest to see if the differences between each location’s Acme fish boiled down to mere marketing, or if there was something more sophisticated at play.

By the end of the day, stark distinctions between each store’s Acme fish had become apparent. “Our suppliers do special stuff for us,” said Joshua Russ Tupper, whose family founded Russ & Daughters in 1914 and who spoke to Krader as he was slicing fish behind the store’s Lower East Side counter. “They know our tastes.”

It was a claim made by virtually every location: Each store had specific criteria, and a special relationship with Acme, that made their fish “the best.”

“We have different types of salmon: wild fish, farmed fish—and then we have different sides of the fish,” said Ellen Lee-Allen, the senior marketing director at Acme Smoked Fish. “These are all variables that affect the finished product.”

What does not differ, she said, is the process in which the salmon in question is made—all of it cured with salt and then “cold smoked” in an oven at approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Lee-Allen confirmed that each store has its own particular methodology for choosing its salmon—based on preferences in flavors or textures.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

REVISED: States Seek Input on 2017 Recreational Summer Flounder Fishery Management

December 27, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board announces the availability of Draft Addendum XXVIII for public comment. The document, which was approved by the Board in early December, presents a suite of management approaches, including regional options, to achieve the 2017 recreational harvest limit (RHL). The Atlantic coastal states of Massachusetts through North Carolina have scheduled public hearings to gather public comment.  The details of those scheduled hearings follow:

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

January 11, 2017 at 6 PM

Bourne Community Center, Room # 1

239 Main Street

Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts

Contact: Nichola Meserve at 617.626.1531

Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife

January 12, 2017; 6:00 PM
University of Rhode Island Bay Campus

Corliss Auditorium South Ferry Road

Narragansett, Rhode Island
Contact: Robert Ballou at 401.222.4700 ext. 4420

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

January 10, 2017 at 7 PM

CT DEEP Boating Education Center

333 Ferry Road

Old Lyme, Connecticut

Contact: David Simpson at 860.434.6043

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

January 9, 2017 at 6:30 PM

Bureau of Marine Resources

205 North Belle Mead Road, Suite 1

East Setauket, New York

Contact: Steve Heins at 631.444.0435

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife

January 5, 2017 at 6:30 PM

Galloway Township Branch Library

306 East Jimmie Leeds Rd

Galloway, New Jersey

Contact: Tom Baum at 609.748.2020

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

January 17, 2017 at 6 PM

DNREC Auditorium

89 Kings Highway

Dover, Delaware

Contact: John Clark at 302.739.9914

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

January 3, 2017 at 6 PM

Ocean Pines Library

11107 Cathell Road

Berlin, Maryland

Contact: Steve Doctor at 410.213.1531

Virginia Marine Resources Commission

January 12, 2017 at 6 PM
2600 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor

Newport News, Virginia
Contact:  Robert O’Reilly at 757.247.2247

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

January, 9, 2017 at 6 PM
NC Marine Fisheries, Central District Office

5285 US Highway 70 West

Morehead City, North Carolina
Contact: Chris Batsavage at 252 808-8009

 

Draft Addendum XXVIII was initiated to consider alternative management approaches for the 2017 recreational summer flounder fisheries, while also seeking to address needed reductions due to a decrease in the coastwide RHL in 2017. In August, the Board and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved a 30% reduction in the 2017 coastwide RHL relative to 2016. This action was taken in response to the 2016 Stock Assessment Update which found fishing mortality was higher in recent years and population estimates were lower than previously projected.

Changes in summer flounder distribution, abundance and availability have created problems under the static state-by-state allocations, with overages often occurring. In response, states would implement regulations to reduce harvest, resulting in differing regulations between neighboring states. In 2014, the Board shifted away from traditional state-by-state allocations to a regional approach for managing summer flounder recreational fisheries.  A benefit of the regional approach is it provides the states the flexibility to share allocations. The intent is to set regulations that account for shifting distribution, abundance and availability while providing stability and greater regulatory consistency among neighboring states, and enabling the states to meet but not exceed the coastwide RHL.

Anglers and interested stakeholders are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum XXVIII either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum can be obtained here or via the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM (EST) on January 19, 2017 and should be forwarded to Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org (Subject line: Summer Flounder Draft Addendum XXVIII).

The Board will review submitted public comment and consider final action on the Draft Addendum at the Commission’s Winter Meeting in February 2017.  For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

See the full Draft Addendum at the ASMFC 

Energy companies bet long on offshore wind

December 23, 2016 — On Dec. 15 Norway-based Statoil put in a winning $42 million provisional bid for a nearly 80,000 acre lease off New York — by far the biggest offshore wind deal brokered by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which up to then had brought in $16 million for a combined 1 million acres in wind leases.

The sale still faces a federal court challenge from commercial fishermen, who say BOEM did not listen to their concerns about impacts on scallop and squid fisheries. But it was the most competitive wind lease with six rounds of bidding, showing the potential developers see for selling into the power-hungry New York metro region.

“The U.S. is a key emerging market for offshore wind — both bottom-fixed and floating — with significant potential along both the east and west coasts,” said Irene Rummelhof, Statoil’s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions. Statoil is investing in floating turbines for deeper-water sites with its Hywind project.

“Statoil is well positioned to take part in what could be a significant build out of offshore wind in New York and other states over the next decade,” Rummelhof said. “This effort is in line with the company’s strategy to gradually complement our oil and gas portfolio with viable renewable energy and other low-carbon solutions.”

The Trump camp has sent signals of hostility toward wind energy. One advisor has called for tighter environmental reviews, and the president-elect himself fought an offshore turbine plan within view of his golf resort in Scotland.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Fishing advocates seek delay in new limits on fluke fishing

December 23, 2016 — Fishing advocates seeking to head off what they described as “devastating” reductions in the New York quota for fluke next year are calling on federal regulators to forestall planned 2017 cuts until a more current assessment of the fish population is completed.

Led by frequent fishing advocate Sen. Chuck Schumer, a group of 50 recreational and commercial fishing boat captains and advocates gathered at the Captree Boat Basin in Babylon Thursday to say a planned 30 percent reduction would threaten hundreds of businesses.

“The feds have once again dropped the ball,” Schumer said by using a benchmark study from 2013 and “ideological” assessments to set quotas for next year. “We were having enough trouble with the old limits.”

While the new limits won’t be finalized until the spring, state regulators have discussed sharp cuts to the number of fluke that fishers could take, from a current five per day to two, while increasing the minimum size limit to 19 inches from the current 18 inches, said Steve Witthuhn, a Montauk charterboat captain who sits on the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Marine Resources Advisory Council.

Worse, said Witthuhn and other sport-fishing boat captains, the tentative 2017 cuts would reduce the season to 80 days from the current 128, starting in June rather than May. The tentative season would end 15 days earlier in September. “It’ll be devastating if they open in June,” Witthuhn said.

Neil Delanoy, captain of the Laura Lee partyboat out of Captree, said the industry could live with lower catch limits and a larger average fish as long as the season opens in May. An 80-day season, opening in June, Delanoy said, “would be an economic disaster.”

Schumer said he plans to reach out to the U.S. Department of Commerce and its newly nominated secretary, Wilbur Ross, to address his concerns, including requesting an expedited fluke population assessment and a suspension of the new cuts until improved data is available.

Read the full story at Newsday

Expert: More Whale Sightings May Mean Less Pollution In NY Waterways

December 19, 2016 — RYE, N.Y. — It’s a majestic sight — a living creature, larger than a city bus,  breaching, frolicking in the the water close to shore.

Whale sightings are on the rise in the New York area, with sightings along the Long Island Sound, the ocean beyond the narrows and occasionally along the Hudson River.

In November, a wayward humpback whale dazzled spectators with binoculars as it swam up the Hudson near the George Washington Bridge, WCBS 880’s Sean Adams reported.

In October, several whales were spotted swimming off the shores of Rockaway Beach in Southern Queens, and back in August, a mother and daughter had a close encounter with a 24-foot whale off the Jersey Shore.

Whales have also been returning to the Long Island sound.

The whales are following their stomachs — searching for fish that thrive in local waters.

Read the full story at CBS New York

NOAA approves Mid-Atlantic deep-sea coral canyons for protection

December 16, 2016 — Vulnerable deep-sea corals off Virginia and along the Mid-Atlantic just got final approval for federal environmental protection by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The move will protect a 38,000-square-mile swath of sea bottom from New York to the North Carolina border, or an area roughly the size of the state of Virginia. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council initiated the action for the deep-sea coral zone in 2015.

 Many of these corals grow in underwater canyons, including Norfolk Canyon — a steep gouge in the side of the Continental Slope about 70 miles off Virginia Beach.

John Bullard, administrator for NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, said the action represents the efforts of a wide variety of stakeholders.

“This is a great story of regional collaboration among the fishing industry, the Mid-Atlantic Council, the research community and environmental organizations to protect what we all agree is a valuable ecological resource,” Bullard said in a statement.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional bodies empowered by Congress in the 1970s to manage fisheries off the U.S. coast. It moved in June 2015 to adopt the Deep Sea Corals Amendment.

Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, a D.C.-based group that represents the commercial fishing industry, also praised the final designation Thursday as an example “of the right way to protect these resources.”

“This is a situation where the industry came together with the council, with NOAA and with environmentalists and came up with a plan that created a compromise that everyone could live with,” Vanasse said in a phone interview. “It’s a bright, shining example of how to do it right.”

Read the full story at The Daily Press

To protect coral, bottom fishing gear banned near Delaware’s coast

December 16th, 2016 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency is banning commercial fishing gear that could drag along the seafloor in part of the Atlantic Ocean – including a portion 66 miles off the Delaware coast.

Deep-sea coral can live for hundreds to thousands of years, but once they are damaged, they can take decades or even centuries to re-grow.

To ensure these corals can live undisturbed, a section of the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Virginia – about the size of Virginia – has been designated as “protected”. The protected area is about 66 miles from Delaware’s shore and covers a portion of the Baltimore Canyon. Joseph Gordon, Pew Charitable Trust’s manager of U.S. northeast oceans, said that means fishing gear that reaches down to the depths that deep-sea coral inhabit would not be allowed to operate there.

“They’ve lived a long time but they live in an environment that is cold, with huge pressure, without light,” Gordon said, about the coral. “And so fishing technology could damage them in a way that could take centuries to recover from.”

Some bottom-fishing technologies include rockhoppers and canyon-busters. They are designed to roll over boulders and canyons, and according to Oceana, they can weigh at least several hundred pounds. NOAA authorizes the gear that fishermen can use for commercial fishing, and documented almost 1,000 bottom-fishing technologies in use in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2016. That is up from 630 documented in 2013.

Read the full story at Delaware Public Media