Saving Seafood

Fishermen look to DC delegation for aid

November 25, 2019 — Former fisherman Sam Parisi appeared before the city Fisheries Commission on Thursday night to tout his campaign for national legislation to help fishermen as the federal Farm Bill helps farmers.

“We need someone to draft a fish bill like the farm bill,” Parisi told the commission members at City Hall. “The only way we can survive is with federal legislation and assistance. Farmers get paid not to grow certain crops. Why can’t we get paid not to fish certain stocks?”

Parisi requested the commission write a letter to the city’s congressional delegation in support of drafting of a bill specifically to help fishermen and fishing communities. But commission members, while appreciative of Parisi’s sentiments, also expressed concerns that a campaign to write, pass and enact federal legislation is fraught with its own perils.

“The danger is saying we’ll back a bill that doesn’t exist,” said Chairman Mark Ring. “You don’t want to back something 100% without seeing it.”

While Parisi’s concept was short on specifics beyond federal reimbursement when catch quotas are cut, his proposal led to an active discussion on the next steps for a fishery that continues to find itself under the siege of still-dormant cod quota in the Gulf of Maine, questionable stock assessments and expanding regulation — and cost — of all manner of monitoring.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Maine lobsterer group calls Rep. Seth Moulton to task

September 18, 2019 — The head of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association countered comments Monday by U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, saying Moulton mischaracterized the organization’s motives and actions when it withdrew its support for the federal plan for increased protections to the North Atlantic right whales.

“Contrary to the congressman’s characterization, the MLA remains engaged in the (take reduction team) process and will continue to work with the agency and our members to identify measures to the risk that the Maine lobster industry poses to right whales,” Patrice McCarron wrote in an email to the Gloucester Daily Times. “However, the MLA cannot support the Northeast lobster fishery being singled out as the sole source of entanglement risk.”

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association on Aug. 30 withdrew its support for the most current plan devised by the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team because of what it described as questionable data from NOAA scientists and an unfair portrayal of the industry’s culpability as a primary cause of injury or death to the right whales. It also criticized the rule-making process as rushed.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Moulton praises local lobsterers for staying at whale rule table

September 17, 2019 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton on Monday called the Maine Lobstermen’s Association shortsighted for stepping away from the federal plan to increase protections for North Atlantic right whales, saying the defection will dull its membership’s ability to influence the plan ultimately adopted by NOAA Fisheries.

“It limits their involvement in the solution going forward,” Moulton said on a teleconference organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “We really want to get everyone on board here and we want to make sure that it’s a solution that works for all the stakeholders. I don’t think you’re going to find any lobstermen that who say they want the right whale to go away.”

Moulton, a primary author of a House bill to help save the endangered right whales, said he believes the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association’s decision to remain at the table as the Atlantic right whale take reduction team thrashes out the final plan for the approval of NOAA Fisheries is the proper one.

“I think part of the reason the Massachusetts lobstermen are at the table to be a part of this process and its agreement moving forward is because they recognize that if this gets even more dire, they may literally be regulated out of business,” Moulton said. “I think the lobstermen in Massachusetts are being really smart. I think right now the lobstermen in Maine are being shortsighted. But we hope to bring them back on board, because ultimately they’re going to be better off having a seat at the table than not.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Looking at the lobster double-squeeze

August 7, 2019 — The forklifts didn’t stop for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton on Tuesday afternoon when the congressman visited a Gloucester lobster wholesaler to talk about the challenges facing the Massachusetts lobster industry. But that didn’t seem to deter the congressman.

As Moulton toured the tank room and docks at the Cape Ann Lobstermen co-op in East Gloucester with co-owner Tessa Browne, the blur of activity continued, the constant beep-beep of forklifts serving as the soundtrack to the discussion on the double-squeeze facing the industry — expanded Chinese and European tariffs internationally and new protections for the North Atlantic right whales here at home.

Moulton asked Browne, who owns and operates the business with her husband Ryan, how much drag the tariffs have created for the lobster dealer. She quickly offered him a palpable example. Moving to the larger of the two lobster tanks, she explained how the bugs were stored by size.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Cape Cod lawmakers push for right whale protection

July 30, 2019 — Advocates and legislators gathered Monday to discuss the threats facing North Atlantic right whales and to call for more conservation efforts.

Rep. Dylan Fernandes and Sen. Julian Cyr hosted a briefing on efforts to protect the right whale with “Calvin,” a life-size 42-foot long inflatable right whale. Right whales are one of the most endangered whale species, with only an estimated 411 whales remaining, according to the New England Aquarium, and most right whale deaths are caused by fishing gear entanglements and vessel strikes.

Advocates called on Congress to pass H.R. 1568, the Scientific Assistance for the Very Endangered Right Whales Act, which was introduced by Congressman Seth Moulton. The bill would authorize funding to develop technology to reduce entanglement and vessel strike deaths. The bill was introduced March 6, and the House Natural Resources Committee voted it out favorably on May 1.

Read the full story at the Daily Hampshire Gazette

Moulton, Ferrante: Trade war hurting lobstermen

July 1, 2019 — The U.S. trade war with China has turned into a war of another kind, as representatives at the state and federal levels are taking aim at tariffs that have rocked several sectors of the New England seafood industry.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democratic candidate for president, filed legislation to expand disaster relief to fisheries — such as the New England lobster industry — harmed by retaliatory tariffs that have choked off lucrative trade with China.

The bill calls for amending the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act “to require NOAA to evaluate the impacts of duties imposed on American seafood” and to ultimately allow the federal Department of Commerce to consider the impact of trade wars on the fishing industry as a means of providing disaster relief.

A similar measure was filed in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden, the senior senator from Oregon.

“The president’s lack of strategy and the uncertainty in our local economy is the perfect storm for local fishermen who are already doing more with less,” Moulton said in a statement. “Until the president ends his misguided trade war, Congress should step up and provide some relief.”

In Boston, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester pushed for a hearing in Gloucester by a joint committee of the Massachusetts Legislature on the Trump administration’s trade policies with China “and its effects on the Massachusetts lobster industry and corresponding ports.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

US congressmen propose expanding fishermen disaster relief to include tariffs

July 1, 2019 — A pair of Democratic lawmakers announced on Wednesday, 26 June, that they have filed legislation to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act to enable the federal government to expand the scope of fishery disasters to include trade wars.

In a joint release, Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and Massachusetts U.S. Representative Seth Moulton said their bills would require the Department of Commerce to consider the economic impact the Trump Administration’s embargoes, and the retaliatory ones implemented by nations like China.

According to NOAA Fisheries website, there have been 87 fishery disasters either approved or awaiting approval since 1985.

Moulton said the ongoing trade war is taking money away from hard working fishermen and making families’ grocery bills more expensive.

“The president’s lack of strategy and the uncertainty in our local economy is the perfect storm for local fishermen who are already doing more with less,” he said. “Until the president ends his misguided trade war, Congress should step up and provide some relief.”

A number of industries have been affected by the tariffs, Wyden said, including American fisheries.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sen. Wyden introduces bill to expand disaster relief to fisheries harmed by tariffs

June 27, 2019 — U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, (D-Ore.), and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, (D-Mass.), recently introduced legislation to expand disaster relief to fisheries harmed by tariffs.

Currently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) guidelines used to identify the causes of fishery disasters does not explicitly include tariffs. Wyden’s bill would amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Act to require NOAA to evaluate the impacts of duties imposed on American seafood, ensuring the Department of Commerce receives a complete overview of factors affecting a fishery in all fishery disaster declaration designations.

“American businesses are being hit hard by retaliatory tariffs from Trump’s ill-conceived trade agenda,” Wyden said. “Fisheries unfortunately are no exception. West Coast seafood is sought after internationally, and Oregonians earning a living in fisheries should be able to command top dollar on the global market, rather than be ensnared in the cross-fire of Trump’s escalating trade war.”

In March of this year, Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley, (D-Ore.), secured $2.1 million in federal disaster recovery aid for coastal fisheries in Oregon. Multiple years of drought in California, parasites within the Klamath River Basin and poor ocean conditions led to low returns of the Oregon Klamath River Fall Chinook Salmon Fishery in 2016 and 2017.

Read the full story at The News Guard

Rep. Moulton seeking money for right whale research

June 21, 2019 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton is trying to secure additional funding for North Atlantic right whale research through an amendment to the federal government funding bill for fiscal year 2020.

Moulton, D-Salem, successfully amended the House of Representatives’ funding bill to include an additional $1.5 million for cooperative research by federal fishery regulators, commercial fishermen and conservation groups.

The amended funding bill now contains $2.5 million for right whale research.

To secure the funding however, the amended legislation first must first pass the House next week and survive negotiations between the House and the Senate on a final spending bill. Ultimately, it would have to have to be signed by President Donald J. Trump.

Moulton, a Democratic presidential candidate, said the fight to save the remaining North Atlantic right whales — whose population now is estimated at 411 — “is also a fight to protect thousands of jobs in commercial fishing and tourism in Massachusetts.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Moulton’s right whale bill sailing toward House

May 3, 2019 — Last week, a federal panel drafted a slew of conservation recommendations to help the imperiled and declining North Atlantic right whale population. Now Congress may enter the fray.

A House bill to create a decade-long, $50 million grant program to help protect the North Atlantic right whales was approved Wednesday by the National Resource Committee and is heading to a vote by the full House membership.

The bill, with U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton — now announced as a presidential candidate — as the primary sponsor, would require the Commerce secretary to provide $5 million annually for 10 years to fund competitive grants for projects related to the conservation of the whales, whose declining population is estimated to hover under 450.

“The health of the right whales is directly tied to the health of our region’s economy and identity,” Moulton said in a statement. “The whales play a key role in an ecosystem that supports thousands of jobs in commercial fishing and tourism, and it’s up to us to do everything we can to save this species.”

The bill is supported by the New England Aquarium in Boston and the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.

A similar bill, with Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey as a co-sponsor, has been filed in the Senate.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times