Saving Seafood

Appeals court blocks another US gov’t effort to overcome Mexico gillnet import ban

November 30, 2018 — The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday shot down an effort by the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and other federal agencies to end a four-month-old ban on the import of Mexican shrimp and other seafood caught in the country with the use of gillnets.

The decision to reject a “stay of the order” request backs a US Court of International Trade (CIT) ruling, issued in July, that was sought by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Center for Biological Diversity and Animal Welfare Institute as part of an effort to protect the endangered vaquita porpoise in the northern Gulf of California from being driven into extinction by pressuring the Mexican government.

Widely decimated by the use of gillnets in pursuit of the totoaba — another endangered fish sought for its swim bladder due to black market demand in China — there are believed to be a little more than a dozen vaquita remaining.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell set to testify to Congress about impact of marine monument

March 15, 2017 — Weather permitting, Mayor Jon Mitchell on Wednesday will be in Washington giving testimony to Congress about an underwater marine monument which former President Obama created with a stroke of the pen in 2016 over the protests of the fishing community.

The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument spans nearly 5,000 square miles 150 miles off Cape Cod, and it was hailed by environmentalists for preserving enormous underwater mountains and vast, deep canyons only now being explored.

Three years earlier, an underwater remotely-operated vehicle sent back pictures of incredible life forms and geological features.

“These images, shared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, demonstrated to the world that this bit of the Atlantic was an ecological hot spot, a veritable underwater Serengeti,” said the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The NRDC was among the leaders of many organizations that jumped at the opportunity to preserve the monument against human activity, fishing in particular.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

CHRISTIAN PUTNAM: Transparency lacking in harmful fishing restrictions

December 7, 2015 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Obama Administration are working closely with several environmental groups to “protect” vast areas of ocean off New England’s coast from the dreaded commercial and recreational fishermen.

After NOAA’s utter failure to work with the stakeholders that make up the fishing community through the National Marine Fisheries Service, rebranded NOAA Fisheries after the name became synonymous with disastrous over-regulation, it appears an even less transparent process is now underway to regulate our natural resources.

Plans have been hatched by several environmental groups that include the Conservation Law Foundation, Pew Charitable Trust, and the National Resources Defense Council to create at least one Marine National Monument in New England Waters. Potential areas include Georges Bank, east of Cape Cod, and Cashes Ledge, about 80 miles east of Gloucester.

It has been reported that direct conversations have occurred between these organizations, the administration and NOAA. The plan is to use the Antiquities Act of 1906 to allow for unilateral action by President Barack Obama to designate certain areas as national monuments from public lands to preserve their significant cultural, scientific or natural features.

Read the full opinion piece at the Scituate Mariner