Saving Seafood

Interior Department to Auction Over 79,000 Acres Offshore New York for Wind Energy Development

November 1, 2016 — Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announces that 79,350 acres offshore New York will be offered in a December 15 commercial wind lease sale.

“This announcement not only marks another milestone for the U.S. offshore wind energy program, but also demonstrates how our collaborative efforts with state, local and private sector partners can advance a clean energy future in the United States,” said Secretary Jewell. “Industry interest remains strong with more than a dozen qualified bidders as we take another step closer to harnessing the enormous potential of offshore wind energy for Atlantic coastal communities.”

The New York Wind Energy Area starts approximately 11.5 nautical miles (nm) from Jones Beach, NY. From its western edge, the area extends approximately 24 nm southeast at its longest portion. The lease area consists of five full Outer Continental Shelf blocks and 143 sub-blocks. A map of the lease area can be found here.

“New York is a critical component in building a robust U.S. offshore wind industry,” said BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper. “The process to develop and refine the New York lease area, as well as the online auction, reflects the deep commitment BOEM has to listening and responding to stakeholders and ensuring that all voices are heard as we forge a path to a clean energy future.”

To date, BOEM has awarded eleven commercial wind leases, including nine through the competitive lease sale process. These lease sales have generated more than $16 million in winning bids for more than a million acres in federal waters.

After reviewing comments received on the Environmental Assessment, BOEM removed about 1,780 acres from the lease area due to environmental concerns regarding a seafloor feature known as the Cholera Bank. In a comment letter, the National Marine Fisheries Service identified the Cholera Bank feature as a sensitive habitat to be avoided for the placement of structures. As a result of this removal, the revised lease area will be approximately two percent smaller than the lease area considered in the Proposed Sale Notice.

Read the full story at Ocean News & Technology

U.S. plans to lease New Jersey seafloor for wind farm

October 28th, 2016 — The federal government will hold an auction in December to lease nearly 80,000 acres of the Atlantic Ocean seafloor for a developer to build a large wind farm about 18 miles southeast of Sandy Hook.

The triangular area, about 12.5 miles south of Long Beach, on Long Island, is slightly smaller than originally intended, to exclude an environmentally sensitive section of seafloor known as the Cholera Bank, which has an irregular bottom that attracts an abundance of sea life. As a result, it has long been a favorite spot for fishermen to gather year round to bottom fish for blues, cod, blackfish and bonito.

The auction, set for Dec. 15, will come just a year after the Obama administration awarded leases to two companies to build wind farms off the southern coast of New Jersey.

“New York is a critical component in building a robust U.S. offshore wind industry,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, director of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees commercial offshore wind leases.

The agency conducted a study to determine the visual impact of a hypothetical wind farm in the area to be leased. The simulation shows how a wind farm would look from Fire Island and Jones Beach on the Long Island coast, as well as from Sandy Hook and Asbury Park along the New Jersey coast.

Read the full story at Asbury Park Press 

Plans for wind project off New York slightly scaled back

October 27, 2016 — Federal officials have slightly scaled back the site of a proposed wind energy project in the Atlantic Ocean south of New York’s Jones Beach.

The Interior Department and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced Thursday in Washington that it would conduct a lease sale on Dec. 15. The sale will be for a 79,350-acre site.

BOEM says about 1,780 acres have been removed because of environmental concerns in an area known as the Cholera Banks. It is considered a lucrative fishing area.

BOEM also says it will work to improve communication with the fishing industry.

Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney representing the Fisheries Survival Fund, said the changes are inadequate and his group will continue to oppose the proposed project.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Seattle P-I

Northeast Ocean Plan emerges as development tool

October 19, 2016 — When, as expected, the Northeast Ocean Plan is approved later this year, New England will lead the nation in developing guidelines and an online database to provide framework for all future development and decision-making regarding the sea.

Originating from a 2010 presidential executive order, the national ocean policy instructs nine regions bordering the ocean or Great Lakes to form regional planning bodies consisting of representatives appointed from federal, state and regional entities and tribes to hold several hearings with a variety of stakeholders. (In New England, the New England Fishery Management Council and two ex-officio members from New York and Canada were also included.) The input is used to develop guidelines for how to proceed, for instance, in the case of a proposed offshore wind farm.

“For any project that comes up now, the ocean plan will guide the consideration of that project and in very specific ways,” said Priscilla Brooks, vice president and director of ocean conservation at the Conservation Law Foundation, who participated in stakeholder meetings. “It will guide [the project] in terms of agencies using this new Northeast Ocean Data portal – which is a tremendous compilation of data of the ocean and how we use it – for the first time. There are guidelines on how to engage stakeholders early in the process.”

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Business Review

NOAA proposes rule to protect deep sea coral off U.S. Atlantic coast

October 4th, 2016 — The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a new proposed rule last week that would create a new protected area in the Mid-Atlantic region in order to conserve deep-sea coral.

The proposed rule, if finalized, would create the first protected area at the national level under the new deep sea coral provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law governing marine fisheries management in U.S. federal waters, first passed in 1976. When the law was reauthorized by Congress in 2006, it was amended to allow for the designation of zones to protect deep-sea corals from damage caused by bottom-tending commercial fishing gear.

The area proposed for protection by NOAA stretches along the continental shelf off the Mid-Atlantic coastline between New York and North Carolina and encompasses all of the area out to the boundary of the U.S.’s Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (about 230 miles) out to sea. The proposed rule includes an exemption for American lobster and deep-sea red crab pots and traps from the gear prohibition.

John Bullard, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region, said in a statement that 15 deep-sea canyons with a total area of about 24 million acres, which is about the size of Virginia or 20 times the size of Grand Canyon National Park, would be protected by the rule.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which worked with NOAA on the proposed rule, recommended the new protected area be called the “Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-sea Coral Protection Area” in honor of the late U.S. Senator’s contributions to the development and implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act’s coral protection provision.

The public comment period for the proposed rule lasts until November 1, 2016. Members of the American public can comment online or by mail.

Read the full story at Mongabay 

FDA finds Listeria in facility; fish company recalls salmon

September 27th, 2016 — A New York company is recalling an undisclosed amount of smoked salmon from retailers and restaurants because federal inspectors found Listeria monocytogenes at the company’s production facility.

Mt. Kisco Smokehouse of Mt. Kisco, NY, recalled two lots of whole Atlantic smoked salmon and four lots of sliced Atlantic salmon Monday, according to a notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration.

The company distributed the implicated fish to retailers and restaurants in two states, New York and Connecticut, between Sept. 6 and 16.

No illnesses had been reported in relation to the recalled fish as of Monday.

“The potential for contamination was noted after routine testing by the FDA inspection revealed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in floor drains and cracks in the floor,” according to the recall notice.

“The production of the product has been suspended while FDA and the company continue to investigate the source of the problem.”

Read the full story at Food Safety News

GSSA Executive Director Greg DiDomenico to Talk Sustainable Fishing at New York Times Food Conference

September 27, 2016 – The following was released by the Garden State Seafood Association:

TRENTON, N.J. (Garden State Seafood Association) — September 27, 2016 – Today, Garden State Seafood Association (GSSA) Executive Director Greg DiDomenico will discuss sustainable fishing issues at the New York Times’“Food for Tomorrow” conference. The conference, which seeks to “uncover and assess the most important issues and trends affecting the nourishment of our nation and the world,” is hosting a panel on marine issues and fisheries management, titled “Tricky Waters,” addressing “the demand for fish without depleting our oceans.” Joining Mr. DiDomenico on the panel will be Sean T. Barrett, Co-Founder of Dock to Dish and Bren Smith, Owner of Thimble Island Ocean Farm and Executive Director of GreenWave.

The GSSA has been at the forefront of promoting sustainable fisheries, while also advocating on behalf of New Jersey fishermen. In 2015, it worked with other fishing groups, environmentalists, and fishery managers at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council to pass the Deep Sea Coral Amendment. This open, transparent, and inclusive effort resulted in new protections nearly 40,000 square miles of Mid-Atlantic corals, and has been praised by both fishermen and conservationists alike.

“The GSSA has always been a force for conservation in the Mid-Atlantic, and an example of how we can balance the real and serious concerns of the commercial fishing industry, with ensuring the future health of our oceans,” said Mr. DiDomenico.

In his remarks, Mr. DiDomenico plans to address the misconceptions surrounding current fishing practices, and to highlight the sustainable nature of U.S. fisheries management and domestically caught seafood. Mr. DiDomenico will also discuss the value of fish as a low-cost protein alternative that will be instrumental in feeding a hungry world.

GSSA leaders have been awarded for their past work on sustainability issues. In 2015, the New York Aquarium recognized Mr. DiDomenico as a Conservation Leader. Ernie Panacek, the President of the GSSA, was also honored in 2015, receiving the Urban Coast Institute’s Regional Ocean Champion Award.

“Food for Tomorrow” will take place from September 26-28 at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York. The event will be streamed live on The New York Times’ website, beginning at 4:35 PM on September 27. Other notable speakers include US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on the Obama Administration’s food policy record, television star Martha Stewart on the future of food, and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney on a recent Philadelphia initiative to tax soda consumption.

Feds propose new limits on cobia to avoid closing fishery

September 21, 2016 — Regulators have agreed to recommend changes to cobia limits in federal waters for next year that may prevent another near-debacle like this past summer in management of the popular fish.

If approved by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the new regulations from the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council developed at their meeting last week in Myrtle Beach would be implemented in 2017 in waters beyond three miles from shore from Georgia to New York.

According to a news release from SAFMC, the changes are designed to help extend the season for recreational and commercial fishermen and help ensure stable fishing opportunities for the migratory stock.

Advocates for anglers and charter captains expressed satisfaction with the compromise but cautioned that there may be other restrictions adopted by individual states.

“The regulations for cobia in federal waters that were passed 7-to-6 last week at the SAFMC meeting were a direct result of the fishing community’s engagement in fisheries management,” said Southern Shores resident Billy Gorham, who owns Bowed Up Lures.

The SAFMC recommended that the recreational bag limit be cut to one fish per person, per day, with a vessel limit of six, and the recreational minimum size limit increased to 36 inches measured from the tip of the mouth to where the tail begins to split, known as the fork length.

A commercial trip limit of two fish per person per day, with no more than six fish per vessel per day, whichever is more restrictive, would also be established.

Read the full story at The Outer Banks Voice

MAINE: The ‘lobster capital of the world’ faces a crucial question

STONINGTON, Maine — When Deer Isle lobsterman Jeff Eaton peers into one of his traps, he sees a lot more than snappers and selects, hard-shells and shedders.

The part-time boat builder and avid lobster boat racer sees the heart of a $126 million regional economy that supports an even larger network of trap makers, bait dealers, marine supply shopkeepers and boat builders like himself.

That trickle-down shadow economy has transformed the island, which used to be known best for the granite quarries that built New York and Washington, D.C.’s most iconic buildings, into a thriving lobster economy, now best known as the home to a 300-boat lobster fleet and the town of Stonington, the self-proclaimed lobster capital of the world.

“Up here, the lobster business trickles down a lot further than just us fishermen,” Eaton said. “It feeds the whole economy.”

Although postcard-beautiful, with its neat, century-old houses looking out over its blink-and-you’ve-missed-it downtown, Stonington is a fishing village first and a stomping ground for summer people second. It’s the leader of a regional economy that traps more than a third of all lobsters landed in Maine, and an equal percentage of all the dollars earned from their sale. Last year the value of the state’s catch reached nearly $500 million. This stretch of coastline, and the lobstering islands of Vinalhaven, Isle au Haut and North Haven, landed more lobsters than any other managed zone, and has done so for the last four years.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

NEW YORK: Cuomo signs the Ex-Lax fish bill

September 12, 2016 — Seriously, you read that headline correctly.

Among the bills signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday is legislation that would ban the sale of escolar — a fish that causes some cases, uhhh, distressing gastrointestinal effects for diners — by any other name.

Because only Casey Seiler can do such a Tale of Actual Legislation justice, from his report earlier in the year:

Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee and Sen. Tony Avella are the most recent lawmakers to address the problem of the misbranding of escolar — aka walu or the snake mackerel — a fish that while reputed to be rich and delicious can have a rather, well, unpleasant impact on a certain subset of diners.

The justification memo on their bill points to multiple investigations — including a 2011 Boston Globe report that while comprehensive and worthwhile will almost certainly never be made into an Oscar-winning movie — that “revealed significant levels of fraud and species misidentification” on menus.

Read the full story from the Albany Times Union