Saving Seafood

Join us for a NOAA Town Hall on September 15 in Providence, Rhode Island

September 3, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA invites you to participate in a Town Hall meeting to discuss possible permanent protections for three deep sea canyons—Oceanographer, Gilbert, and Lydonia Canyons—and four seamounts off of New England’s coast. Deep sea canyons, which plunge to depths greater than 7000 feet, and sea mounts, which rise thousands of feet above the sea floor, create unique habitats supporting tremendous biodiversity and fragile ecosystems that are home to corals, fish, marine mammals, turtles, and more.

To ensure that we protect these unique places for future generations while recognizing the importance of sustainable ocean-based economies, we are seeking input from all interested parties in the region.

The Town Hall discussion will be held on September 15, at the Providence Marriott Downtown, 1 Orms Street, Providence, Rhode Island. The meeting will be in the Sessions/College/Canal Room from 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

If you are unable to attend the Town Hall in person, please send comments by September 15, 2015 toatlanticconservation@noaa.gov.

Read the full release from NOAA

Proposal to create ‘marine national monument’ off New England coast up for discussion in Providence

September 13, 2015 — Federal officials on Tuesday will present a proposal to permanently protect three deep-sea canyons and nearby underwater mountains off New England in a move that would create the first “marine national monument” on the eastern seaboard.

Although environmental groups and marine scientists have been pushing for the special designation for the area that starts about 100 miles southeast of Cape Cod at the edge of the Outer Continental Shelf, they say the current proposal under consideration by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration doesn’t go far enough.

At the upcoming Town Hall meeting in Providence, the groups’ focus won’t be so much on Oceanographer, Gilbert and Lydonia canyons and the seamounts that lie south of them but on other areas in the region that haven’t been included for protection in the plan.

At the top of the list for the Conservation Law Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Pew Charitable Trusts and others is Cashes Ledge, a swath of waters in the Gulf of Maine that they describe as a one-of-a-kind fish nursery and feeding ground for important species that range from cod to tuna to endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Read the full story from the Providence Journal

Conservation groups eye protection for Cashes Ledge

August 31, 2015 — National groups this week plan to call for sprawling areas in off Cape Ann, Cape Cod and Rhode Island to be declared the first “marine national monument” on the Eastern Seaboard.

A January 2009 presidential proclamation established three Pacific Marine National Monuments — the Marianas Trench, Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll, which is on the Samoan archipelago 2,500 miles south of Hawaii and is the southernmost point belonging to the United States.

Now the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and partners such as the National Geographic Society, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Natural Resources Defense Council are seeking protections for the Cashes Ledge Closed Area, about 80 miles due east of Gloucester in the Gulf of Maine, and the New England Canyons and Seamounts off Cape Cod — areas CLF describes as “deep sea treasures.”

A CLF official told the News Service on Monday that the Cashes Ledge area covers 530 square nautical miles in the Gulf of Maine, and the New England Canyons and Seamounts encompasses 4,117 square nautical miles, for a total of 4,647 square nautical miles of protected areas.

The designation, according to CLF press secretary Josh Block, “ensures that this area remains permanently protected from harmful commercial extraction, such as oil and gas drilling, commercial fishing and other resource exploration activities.”

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

RHODE ISLAND: RIFA WEEKLY UPDATE: 7/12/2015

July 12, 2015 — The following was released by the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance:

Our thoughts and prayers are with the fishermen who lost their livelihoods this week in a senseless act of vandalism.

On Friday, July 10, 2015 three fishing vessels were destroyed in a senseless act of vandalism. Two of the vessel owners will have great difficulty recouping from this tragic loss and may be on the brink of losing their businesses. Both men have been in the Rhode Island commercial fishing community for a very long time and have worked very hard for others in order to start their own dream of their own business.

 The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance has started a Go Fund Me campaign. Maybe together we can help these two men keep their dreams alive and get back fishing. It doesn’t matter if its $1 or $100, every dollar counts.

Thank you in advance for your kindness.

http://www.gofundme.com/z452as

Read the full weekly update at the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance

 

Taunton, Mass. dive team recovers commercial eel fisherman’s boat after river mishap

July 7, 2015 — Shifting tides and floating logs stranded a Rhode Island pair and their slippery sushi harvest along the Taunton River on Sunday.

An eel fisherman and his grandson had to jump from their boat as it took on water near a railroad trestle.

Police responded around 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, according to Taunton Police Dive Team leader Sgt. Matt McCaffrey.

Police said commercial fisherman Brad Higson, 59, of Brayton Road, Tiverton, was out on the river Sunday with his 8-year-old grandson.

The eel-fishing duo had been recovering the bounty from 60 eel pots left hanging from orange buoys along the waterway.

Read the full story at the Taunton Daily Gazette