Saving Seafood

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand proposes new invasive species law

July 19, 2016 — WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has introduced legislation meant to prevent the importation of species that pose at as a threat to New York’s natural resources.

It’s called the Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act, and it would give federal wildlife officials the ability the block potentially harmful species from being imported into the country and across state lines.

“The Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act would give federal wildlife officials new tools to keep out invasive species that pose an imminent threat to Western New York,” said Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “In recent years, we’ve seen many cases of invasive species from other countries – dangerous animals that aren’t meant to live in our ecosystems here – being introduced into bodies of water around our state and around Western New York. We need to do more to prevent harmful species from coming here from overseas and harming our ecosystems, and this bill would finally let us begin to address this problem.”

Read the full story at WKBW

Rep. Zeldin Secures House Passage of Proposal to Protect LI Fishermen

July 15, 2016 — Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1) announced today that an amendment he introduced in the House of Representatives to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2017 (H.R. 5538) passed the House with a vote of 225 to 202. The Zeldin amendment bars funding for the designation of any National Marine Monuments by the President in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Marine Monuments are massive areas of ocean where fishing would be banned without consulting the local community, fishermen, or regional fisheries managers. You can watch the Congressman discuss his amendment on the House floor, by clicking here.

Congressman Zeldin said, “The Antiquities Act has been an effective tool in the past to preserve historic sites like the Statue of Liberty, but the overly broad interpretation of this law held by the current Administration is threatening to shutdown thousands of square miles of ocean from fishing through a Presidential Proclamation. My amendment ensures that this President, or the next President, does not abuse the Antiquities Act to lock out thousands of fishermen on Long Island and nationwide from portions of federal waters that contain essential fisheries. We must protect our oceans and the solution is clear—any efforts to create a marine protected area must be done through the transparent process laid out by the Magnuson-Stevens fishery conservation law, not through executive fiat that threatens to put thousands of hardworking men and women out of business. Recent Marine Monument designations proclaimed by the Obama Administration have been the largest in U.S. history, locking out fishing in perpetuity—a severe departure from the original intent of the Antiquities Act to preserve historical sites and archeological treasures. Protecting the seafood economy, coastal communities, and the hardworking men and women of the seafood industry who provide for their families through fishing is a top priority for my constituents on the east end of Long Island. I will keep fighting to get this proposal signed into law on behalf of fishermen on Long Island and throughout the nation.”

Read and watch the full story at Long Island Exchange

New York utility poised to approve ambitious offshore wind project

July 15, 2016 — UNIONDALE, N.Y. – A New York utility plans to approve a wind farm off eastern Long Island that it says would be the nation’s largest offshore wind energy project built to date.

The project would be the first phase of a more ambitious effort to construct hundreds of electricity-producing turbines in the Atlantic Ocean in the coming years.

The announcement that the Long Island Power Authority plans to approve a proposed 90-megawatt, 15-turbine wind farm in U.S. waters east of Montauk at a meeting next week was greeted enthusiastically by energy experts, elected officials and environmentalists.

“This is obviously an important development,” said Jeffrey Firestone, a professor at the University of Delaware and an expert on offshore wind. “Hopefully, this will be something toward facilitating a more regional approach to the need for offshore wind energy.”

The U.S. lags behind Europe and others in development of offshore wind energy because of regulatory hurdles and opposition from fossil fuel and fishing interests, among other challenges. Many wind farms in Europe are already producing hundreds of megawatts of power.

Read the full story from the Associated Press in the Portland Press Herald

New York Wind Farm Part of Larger Offshore Energy Ambitions

July 14, 2016 — UNIONDALE, N.Y. — A New York utility plans to approve a wind farm off eastern Long Island that it says would be the nation’s largest offshore wind energy project built to date.

The project would be the first phase of a more ambitious effort to construct hundreds of electricity-producing turbines in the Atlantic Ocean in the coming years.

The announcement that the Long Island Power Authority plans to approve a proposed 90-megawatt, 15-turbine wind farm in U.S. waters east of Montauk at a meeting next week was greeted enthusiastically by energy experts, elected officials and environmentalists.

“This is obviously an important development,” said Jeffrey Firestone, a professor at the University of Delaware and an expert on offshore wind. “Hopefully, this will be something toward facilitating a more regional approach to the need for offshore wind energy.”

The U.S. lags behind Europe and others in development of offshore wind energy because of regulatory hurdles and opposition from fossil fuel and fishing interests, among other challenges. Many wind farms in Europe are already producing hundreds of megawatts of power.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued several leases for wind projects along the Atlantic coast, but none have come to fruition yet. LIPA said its project would be the next one built after one opens near Block Island, Rhode Island, later this year.

A scallop industry trade organization, the Fisheries Survival Fund, has raised concerns about some wind farm proposals, but not this one. Important scallop areas were removed from the possible lease areas for this wind farm, said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney for the fund. He cautioned that other commercial fishermen could raise objections.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Now Available: BOEM Provides New Resource for Atlantic Fishing Industry

July 14, 2016 — The following was released by the Bureau of Ocean Managment:

BOEM is pleased to announce that we have recently added a new webpage for the commercial fishing industry to serve as a single point of entry for updates on Atlantic offshore renewable energy planning and leasing efforts.

http://www.boem.gov/Atlantic-Fishing/

The webpage will provide users with status updates, charts and maps, and project-specific developer contact information for fisheries liaisons and fishery representatives.

Please bookmark this link to find the latest information. We encourage and welcome feedback on how we can further enhance this resource. Please send your comments to the email address below.

Public invited to Open Houses on Draft Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan

July 5, 2016 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean:

WHAT: The Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body (RPB) invites ocean stakeholders and the interested public to attend a series of Open Houses to be held across the region on the Draft Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan. The Draft Plan outlines a series of actions on how federal and state agencies, tribes and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council may better collaborate to ensure healthy, productive, and resilient marine ecosystems and sustainable ocean uses in the Mid-Atlantic, including state and federal waters off Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. An opportunity to provide public comment on the Draft Plan will be provided.

Prior to the Open Houses, the draft Plan will be available at:

http://www.boem.gov/Ocean-Action-Plan/

WHO: The Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body (MidA RPB) is made up of representatives from Federal, State, and Tribal entities and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. It was established in 2013 to implement and advance ocean planning through improved inter- governmental coordination and stronger engagement of stakeholders, the general public, and scientific, business and technical experts to identify and address issues of importance to the region. The Open Houses will be hosted by MARCO1 on behalf of the MidA RPB.

LEARN MORE: www.MidAtlanticOcean.org/YourOceanPlan\

WHEN and WHERE:

Virginia Open House

Tuesday, July 12, 2016. 6-8pm

Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center
717 General Booth Blvd, Virginia Beach, VA 23451

New Jersey Open House

Thursday, July 14, 2016. 6-8pm

See the full advisory here

China Fishery, Pacific Andes file bankruptcy in US

July 1, 2016 — Pacific Andes International Holding (PAIH) and its subsidiary China Fishery Group have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported.

The Hong Kong and Singapore-listed companies submitted the filing June 30, in the southern district of New York, along with more than 15 affiliates.

The Journal said four affiliates including Pacific Andes Resources Development (PARD), the Hong Kong-based parent company of China Fishery, have filed for chapter 15, a part of the bankruptcy code which covers international insolvencies.

The newspaper adds the filing will allow the company to benefit from US bankruptcy law, including protections that prevent creditors from seizing assets.

Citing court papers, the Journal writes that China Fishery officials said they filed for bankruptcy to protect the company’s business from the possibility of “hostile and aggressive action” from certain creditors.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News 

Predators coming closer to Brooklyn beaches, experts say

June 28, 2016 — The sharks are circling!

A bumper crop of bunker fish churning along the coast is drawing the ocean’s greatest predator closer than ever to Brooklyn’s beaches, anglers and naturalists say.

“That population (bunker) is very high along our shore, and that is bringing sharks and whales much closer to shore, bringing the predators much closer to the beach,” said captain John Calamia of Whatta Catch.

Read the full story at Brooklyn Daily

Eat fish, lower your risk of deadly heart attack

June 28, 2016 — NEW YORK — Fish used to be called “brain food”, but it may be heart food instead.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, when obtained through foods in the diet, appear to reduce the risk of fatal heart attack, death due to coronary artery disease (CAD), and sudden cardiac death by about 10 percent, according to new research.

The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, looked at the three forms of these fatty acids: α-linolenic acid (ALA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which have all shown beneficial effects on things like blood pressure and oxygen demand by heart muscle cells.

Some may reduce the likelihood of the dangerous heart rhythms during a period of reduced blood flow to heart muscle cells (what happens during heart attacks).

Researchers at Stanford and Tufts University studied data on 45,637 patients from more than 15 countries who had not had previous coronary artery disease.

Read the full story at WTOP

Long Island Sound Fishing Entangled In Conflicting Multi-State Regulations

June 22, 2016 — WESTBROOK, Conn. — There’s a joke among Connecticut anglers that the first thing you really need for a Long Island Sound fishing trip is a lawyer: Catching the wrong fish at the wrong time in the wrong waters could land you in a tangle of legal trouble.

Let’s say you were fishing in the Sound in early June, believing you were in Connecticut waters where the black bass season began on May 1. If you hooked a good one but had drifted over the mid-Sound state line into New York’s jurisdiction, you’d have been in violation. New York’s black bass season doesn’t start until June 27.

“You move 100 feet this way, and you could be over the line,” Jack Conway Jr., a longtime Connecticut fisherman who has frequently served on state and regional fishing regulatory panels, explained last week.

Conway and his 81-year-old father, Jack Conway Sr., had just returned from a successful black sea bass fishing trip into the Sound with Bill Kokis, owner of Westbrook’s Marshview Marina.

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant