Saving Seafood

PA Receives $3.3 million in CARES Act Funding for Fisheries Support

May 20, 2020 — Pennsylvania is one of the beneficiaries of the Commerce Department’s allocation of $300 million in CARES Act funding to support marine fisheries and states that have “direct and indirect” commerce with that industry.

Receiving approximately $3.3 million, Pennsylvania will be directed to use the funding for support of businesses within fishery industry, including “Tribes, commercial fishing businesses, charter/for-hire fishing businesses, qualified aquaculture operations, processors, and other” fishery businesses. Not included are “vessel repair businesses, restaurants, or seafood retailers.” New Jersey receives $11.3 million.

Read the full story at WLVT

Coronavirus hinders Bay cleanup efforts, seafood industry

March 27, 2020 — Watermen have no restaurants that can buy their catches. Help for farmers who want to install runoff controls has been sharply curtailed. Streams throughout the region are missing their annual spring cleaning. And many students are losing their chance to experience the Chesapeake Bay firsthand.

The impact of the novel coronavirus, barely on the radar only a few months ago, is rippling through the Chesapeake Bay region, with impacts felt from Pennsylvania farm fields to Eastern Shore oyster grounds. While some impacts are minor, such as the postponement of meetings and cleanup events, others could become significant if the COVID-19 crisis lingers, potentially creating another setback for Bay pollution control initiatives.

While some point to slivers of positive news — air pollution is down — the near-shutdown of business activity is likely to slam state budgets in coming months, and possibly years, at a time when they had hoped to significantly increase spending on the Bay cleanup.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

PENNSYLVANIA: Fishadelphia and Philly high schoolers are making local seafood more accessible

February 19, 2020 — For some home cooks, fish can be intimidating, expensive, easy to overcook, and polarizing. That might explain why the average American consumed just 16 pounds of seafood in 2017, compared to 92 pounds of chicken and 57 pounds of beef.

But former South Philly science teacher and Princeton post-doc fellow Talia Young sees fish differently. While she has devoted much of her academic career to studying fish, fisheries, and food supply chains, she’s also a lifelong consumer of seafood; as a Chinese American kid growing up in New York City, she routinely ate jellyfish, whole fish, shrimp, and crab.

“In my experience in working-class communities,” she says, “it’s a thing that people eat even if they’re really cash-strapped.”

So Young was surprised at a 2016 fisheries conference when a fisherman stood up and said to the crowd, “‘Americans only know how to eat cod and salmon fillets, and we need to teach them how to eat other kinds of fish.’”

Read the full story at The Philadelphia Inquirer

36 years after first Chesapeake Bay Agreement, its restoration is still a pipe dream

January 17, 2020 — December 9 marked the 36th anniversary of the signing of the first Bay Agreement at George Mason University in Virginia.

As a state senator serving on the Chesapeake Bay Commission, I joined 700 Bay enthusiasts as witnesses. The one-page Chesapeake Bay Agreement was signed by Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania’s governors, DC’s mayor, and the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, all of whom solemnly pledged to restore the Bay. I was also a member of a workgroup that recommended legislative actions for each signer that would aid the Bay’s restoration, including a phosphate detergent ban that I sponsored and was enacted in 1985.

All of the attendees — elected federal and state politicians, scientists, administrators and environmental leaders — were optimistic that the herculean task ahead would lead to the Chesapeake’s restoration. The optimism was fueled by the display of bipartisanship that led to President Ronald Reagan declaring in his 1984 State of the Union address, “Though this is a time of budget constraints, I have requested for EPA one of the largest percentage budget increases of any agency. We will begin the long, necessary effort to clean up a productive recreational area and a special national resource — the Chesapeake Bay.” The formal Bay Program under the EPA was established with $10 million in funding.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

Report says 4 of 6 Chesapeake Bay states cut funding, staff for top agencies handling pollution

December 6, 2019 — Four of 6 states in the Chesapeake Bay region cut funding or staff to their main pollution control agency over the last 10 years, says a report released today by the Environmental Integrity Project.

Environmental agencies in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York each saw budget reductions, even after adjustments for inflation, between 2008 and 2018, according to the report, The Thin Green Line: Cuts in State Pollution Control Agencies Threaten Public Health. Those states, as well as Maryland, also reduced their environmental workforce during the same time period.

The report was especially critical of Pennsylvania legislators and governors for cutting funding by 16% and staffing by 15%, even as state spending overall grew by 18%.

Among the 48 states studied, 30 cut funding to the operating budgets of agencies that protect public health and the environment.

Both Delaware and New York were in the top 10 states with the largest cuts. Delaware cut funding to its Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control by 33% and staffing by 21% over the decade. New York cut the Department of Environmental Conservation by 31% and staffing by 29%.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

Gov. Hogan calls on Pennsylvania to step up Chesapeake cleanup; Pa. would ‘gladly accept’ Md. funds to do that

August 30, 2019 — Ahead of a September meeting of the Chesapeake Bay states, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan again called on Pennsylvania to step up efforts to clean up the estuary and urged the EPA to hold the commonwealth accountable. From Pennsylvania, he got a quick response.

A Pennsylvania official told The Baltimore Sun the state has made “great strides” at reducing water pollution but would “gladly accept” money from “any entity in Maryland” to do more.

“Unlike Maryland, Pennsylvania doesn’t generate millions of dollars from tourism on the Chesapeake Bay and can’t use those resources, at the moment, to improve water quality,” said J.J. Abbott, a spokesman for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat. “Pennsylvania is committed to having projects and practices in place by 2025 to attain our goals and meet our requirements in full.”

Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun

Report: Pennsylvania must do more to help Chesapeake Bay

May 29, 2019 — A nonprofit that tracks pollution in the Chesapeake Bay lambasted Pennsylvania on Tuesday, saying that the state is failing to protect the nation’s largest estuary from farm manure and dirty stormwater.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation released a report saying Pennsylvania’s plan to reduce pollution from farms and cities is “woefully inadequate” and underfunded by about $250 million a year.

The foundation also warned that the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to keep Pennsylvania on track. It’s one of six states, along with the District of Columbia, federally required to significantly reduce bay pollution by 2025.

“If EPA does not hold Pennsylvania accountable, CBF and others must consider legal action,” foundation President William C. Baker warned in a news release.

Pennsylvania officials said the foundation’s assessment is inaccurate and failed to account for all of the state’s efforts. The EPA said in its own statement that Pennsylvania has made “significant” progress.

The foundation’s report is the latest note of caution about the Chesapeake Bay’s health, which appears to be improving after decades of unbridled pollution.

In recent years, the story of the 200-mile-long (325-kilometer-long) bay has mostly been about signs of recovery. Underwater grasses are spreading. Oxygen dead zones are shrinking. The latest survey of blue crabs showed the highest estimates in seven years.

But environmentalists say more work is needed and threats like climate change still loom. Last year, a punishing cycle of downpours led to increased pollution in the bay, according to a recent report from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Maryland requires owner of Conowingo Dam to keep more pollution out of Chesapeake

April 30, 2018 — Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration is requiring the owner of Conowingo Dam to find a way to trap pollution that flows down the Susquehanna River and into the Chesapeake, threatening progress in cleaning up the bay.

For decades, pollution has built up behind the Conowingo. But the dam is now at its capacity and no longer traps sediment and nutrient runoff from across Pennsylvania.

Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles said a set of “stringent environmental conditions” imposed Friday is part of a broader strategy to speed bay cleanup “and hold our partners accountable for doing their part to create a healthier watershed.”

Dam owner Exelon Corp. needs a water quality permit from Maryland to get a federal license to continue operating. The state issued the new permit with a requirement that Exelon develop a plan to continue trapping the same amount of pollution the Conowingo always has — millions of pounds of nitrogen and hundreds of thousands of pounds of phosphorus every year.

Sediment and nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus degrade the Chesapeake ecosystem by clouding waters and blocking sunlight, and by fertilizing algae blooms that strip the water of oyxgen.

The permit also requires Exelon to more frequently collect floating trash and debris that builds up at the dam’s edge, potentially through a solar-powered trash wheel like one that has helped clean up Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in recent years.

Read the full story at the Baltimore Sun

 

Report Assesses Mid-Atlantic Coast’s Economic Vulnerability to Climate Change

April 17, 2018 — ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean: 

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) today released a first-of-its-kind report at the Mid-Atlantic scale that examines the vulnerabilities of several critical economic sectors to climate change. The report quantifies the potential impacts of threats like sea level rise, rising ocean temperatures and changes in the ocean’s chemistry to communities and businesses in 63 counties and independent cities along the coast from New York to Virginia.

The challenges are especially pronounced in the Mid-Atlantic, the most densely populated stretch of coastline in the country. The region’s waterfront is home to America’s largest city, New York; two of its busiest ports in New York/New Jersey and Hampton Roads, Virginia; and iconic beach destinations that have entertained summer tourists for generations.

The analysis considered the ramifications of both temporary flooding events and the permanent inundation of some areas that would occur if sea levels were to rise by 3 or 6 feet by the year 2100 – two scenarios that are commonly assumed by planners throughout the region. Among the findings:

  • Approximately 14.6 million people live in Census tracts adjacent to the ocean, Chesapeake or Delaware bays. In the 3-foot scenario, the resulting flooded area could affect 1.7 million people and in the 6-foot scenario, 2.1 million people.
  • Today, 912,000 housing units would be vulnerable to flooding in the 3-foot scenario and 1.1 million in the 6-foot scenario. These include 212,000 seasonal units in the 3-foot scenario and 248,000 in the 6-foot scenario.
  • Approximately 557,000 jobs would be vulnerable in the 3-foot scenario and 974,000 in the 6-foot scenario.

In the 3-foot scenario, Delaware has the highest average vulnerability, followed by the counties/cities of Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. At six feet, New York has highest average vulnerability, followed by Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. The region’s major urban centers’ vulnerability to severe disruption increases significantly if sea level rises more than 3 feet.

“No community or business in the Mid-Atlantic will be spared from the impacts of climate change,” said lead author Charles Colgan of the Center for the Blue Economy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. “This is not simply a threat to waterfront areas. With everything from jobs to the housing market being tightly bound to ocean-dependent industries, every coastal community, whether beachfront or further inland, has some vulnerability.”

Significant and perhaps rapid shifts in habitat brought about by climate change will challenge commercial fishing and government agencies to move quickly to adapt fishing practices and management policies. From Maine to North Carolina, a 25 percent loss of catch is possible for species affected by climate change, which would translate to a 20 percent decline in annual value.

The report offers guidance on some strategies that are effectively being employed throughout the Mid-Atlantic to adapt to climate change. For example, the report suggests governments at all levels can follow the model provided by the region’s ports, which are considering climate change in their designs as they rehabilitate or replace infrastructure. Natural defenses such as the restoration of wetlands and marsh grasses were identified as cost-effective means for addressing the threats of retreating shorelines and encroachments from coastal development.

“Natural infrastructure reduced coastal property damages by $650 million during Superstorm Sandy,” Colgan said. “In many cases, even local governments and NGOs can begin taking on these nature-based projects without the need for major grant support or government intervention.”

The report, “Climate Change Vulnerabilities in the Coastal Mid-Atlantic Region,” was prepared as part of the MARCO-led “Planning for a Changing Ocean” project, which aimed to better understand how a changing climate impacts our ocean and the Mid-Atlantic’s diverse marine ecosystems, coastal communities and economies. The project examined the implications for resilience of current trends, including increased acidification of coastal and ocean waters, the availability of offshore sand resources and shifting marine life habitats. The effort was a collaboration of MARCO and the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute, made possible by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Learn more at: www.midatlanticocean.org

 

Pennsylvania: Fishadelphia Is Philly’s New Sustainable Seafood CSA

February 6, 2018 — Well the CSA model works in a lot of different ways. There are cow-share programs where a group of people all get together and buy shares of a side of beef. And now, in South Philly, there’s Fishadelphia, which is a Community Supported Fisheries program designed to bring fresh seafood from New Jersey fisheries straight to consumers in the city.

Fishadelphia was developed by Talia Young, a post-doc researcher at Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Here’s how it will work:

Fishadelphia customers can sign up to receive eight biweekly seafood deliveries through May 17 at the Mastery Charter Thomas Campus in South Philadelphia. The day-to-day business operations of Fishadelphia are run by middle- and high-school students at Mastery Thomas. Each delivery will contain one kind of fish or shellfish – such as porgy, flounder, mackerel, dogfish, skate, clams, squid or crabs – from fisheries or shellfish farms in Cape May, Barnegat Light and Galloway, New Jersey…Fishadelphia’s goals are to promote affordable access to high-quality food in urban communities, while also supporting local fisheries at a time when the United States imports nearly 80 percent of its seafood.

And that’s pretty awesome. It brings the community together, helps local fishermen and, most importantly, puts fresh fish in the hands of people who might not otherwise have access. Plus, as part of the program, Young is organizing a field trip down to the docks in New Jersey so that customers can see where their fish is coming from (hint: the water), and a season’s end party where the fishermen and harvesters can have a chance to meet the people who’ve been eating their catch.

Read the full story at Philadelphia Magazine