Saving Seafood

Rhode Island commercial fishers join anti-Vineyard Wind lawsuit

December 23, 2021 — Lawyers for a Texas-based libertarian think tank, joined by members of the Rhode Island commercial fishing industry, have filed a federal lawsuit that seeks to stop the Vineyard Wind project from moving forward.

An 85-page complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia claims that federal regulators improperly permitted Vineyard Wind I, the offshore wind project that would place 62 turbines 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard while powering 400,000 Massachusetts homes.

Some commercial fishing interests in the Northeast have been trying to stop the project. In the latest round, a handful of plaintiffs across three states are represented by lawyers with the Texas Public Policy Foundation and its Center for the American Future. The foundation bills itself as a non-profit with a mission “to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation.”

The Rhode Island plaintiffs include Seafreeze Shoreside Inc. — a Port Judith fish dealer and portside service provider — and two small fishing companies owned by Thomas E. Williams of Westerly. The Northeast Fisheries Sector XIII — a Massachusetts-based coalition of fisheries permit holders — and New York’s Long Island Commercial Fishing Association area also parties to the lawsuit.

Read the full story at the Boston Business Journal

NH fisherman takes $700-a-day mandate to have federal agent aboard to Supreme Court

July 31, 2017 — HAMPTON, N.H. — A commercial fisherman who is suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration over its at-sea monitoring program is hopeful the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his case on its merits.

David Goethel, of Hampton, who filed his original suit against the federal government in 2015, has been joined in his efforts by the Northeast Fisheries Sector 13. They represent fishermen from Massachusetts to North Carolina.

Cause of Action Institute, a nonprofit oversight group advocating for economic freedom and individual opportunity in Washington, D.C., is funding the lawsuit. Goethel said their support is evening the playing field for small commercial fishermen who are being forced to pay about $700 per day for at-sea monitors under current regulations.

“We simply just don’t have the money to play in these arenas,” Goethel said Friday.

Lawyers submitted their petition to the Supreme Court earlier this month. It calls for the court to reverse rulings about a 30-day statute of limitations for challenges, but at its heart, Goethel is asking for the case to be heard on its merits.

Goethel said he believes it is illegal for NOAA to require commercial fishermen to pay for at-sea monitors, when NOAA mandates them. NOAA has paid for the monitors on and off in the past, when they can find the money, Goethel said.

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Union Leader