Saving Seafood

NCFC Members Urge BOEM to Include Commercial Fishermen in Windmill Siting Decisions in the New York Bight

August 17, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Late last month, members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC) submitted two letters asking Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to consider the economic importance of the commercial fishing industry before deciding where to site windmills in the New York Bight.

367 individuals signed a national letter calling on Secretary Zinke not to rush offshore energy development and to ensure projects are “sited, constructed, and operated using the best scientific information available.”

“The Interior Department should provide for intelligent and deliberate offshore renewable energy development, rather than fall prey to the gold rush mentality promoted by BOEM and financially-interested wind developers, most of which are foreign-owned,” the NCFC members wrote.

The signers also invoked President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to support working class Americans.

“When President Trump campaigned and was elected, he promised to look after America’s working middle class, of which we are all a part,” the letter stated. “You will not be honoring the President’s commitment if you allow BOEM to lease ocean areas first, and ask and answer the necessary questions later.”

Another 103 individuals and 32 vessels and businesses from Massachusetts signed a separate letter asking BOEM to reconsider its plan to develop four offshore wind farms in the New York Bight. They specifically cited the damage such development would cause to important Northeast fisheries such as the scallop fishery.

“This is an ill-conceived idea that will cause irreparable economic harm within the fishing communities along the entire East Coast,” the signers wrote. “The harm to Massachusetts will be especially significant, given that it is the center of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery and contains major surf clam and ocean quahog operations.”

The letter pointed out that, on average, nearly $54 million is generated by scallop landings annually from the areas under consideration in the New York Bight, according to data from the National Marine Fisheries Service. An additional $8 million is generated by surf clam and ocean quahog.

 

Coast Guard continues to investigate Misty Blue’s sinking

April 4, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The Coast Guard continues to investigate and has not determined the cause of the sinking of the Misty Blue, a New Bedford-based fishing vessel that sank in December, a spokeswoman said.

Two fishermen — Michael Roberts, 49, and Jonathan Saraiva, 32 — died when the 69-foot surf clam harvester sank Dec. 4 about 10 miles southeast of Nantucket. Capt. Eric Arabian, 44, and Colby McMullen, 22, were rescued by a nearby fishing Enterprise.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicole J. Groll said Sector Southeastern New England Marine Causality Division is handling the investigation. She did not say when the probe will be completed, but said these investigations can take as long as a year, depending on the nature of the case.

“The investigators are doing their best to be thorough. After it is finalized, it will need to be reviewed through the Coast Guard investigation chain of command that culminates at Coast Guard headquarters before publication,” she said in an email to The Standard-Times.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times   

 

Carlos Rafael’s Trial Puts One-Fifth of New Bedford’s Fishing Fleet, $80 Million in Permits at Stake

June 27, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Indicted fishing magnate Carlos Rafael controls nearly one-fifth of the harbor’s commercial fleet and had permits worth about $80 million last year, according to public records and local interviews.

He also has a fondness for Greek mythology.

Commercial fishing boats named Zeus, Hera, Hera II, Apollo, Athena, Poseidon, Hercules and Titan all are part of Rafael’s fleet. Many of his boats are painted with distinctive green-and-white coloring that makes them easily recognizable on local docks, such as Leonard’s Wharf, where the Sasha Lee – named after one of his daughters – and other of his vessels often float, behind the Waterfront Grille.

Boat names also honor Rafael’s native Portugal, and Cape Verde to the south. Those vessels include the Ilha Brava, after Brava Island in Cape Verde; Açores, for the Azores archipelago; Perola do Corvo, or “Pearl of Corvo,” after the smallest island in the Azores; Ilha do Corvo, for that island itself; and others.

The size and scope of Rafael’s fishing business indicate a significant chunk of New Bedford’s waterfront economy could be at stake should Rafael stand trial in January 2017. He faces federal charges tied to an alleged, multi-year scheme involving illegally caught fish, bags of cash from a wholesale buyer in New York City and a smuggling operation to Portugal, via Logan International Airport in Boston.

An initial survey of Rafael’s fishing permits, vessels and the corporations behind them, along with local data and interviews, provides a glimpse into an operation that has become a flashpoint for broader debates about industry regulation and oversight.

According to 2016 vessel permit data from NOAA Fisheries, for its Greater Atlantic Region, Rafael and his wife, Conceicao Rafael, control at least 36 local vessels with commercial fishing permits this year. Those vessels include a handful of skiffs or smaller boats, but all have permits for at least 10 species of fish, ranging from American lobster to Atlantic deep sea red crab, surf clam, monkfish and more.

Twelve of the Rafaels’ local vessels have high-value, limited-access scallop permits, according to the data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The values of those permits amount to tens of millions of dollars, making their future a vital question for the waterfront.

Rafael, a 64-year-old Dartmouth resident, faces 27 counts on federal charges including conspiracy, false entries and bulk cash smuggling, according to his indictment, filed last month.

Nothing about his trial next year is certain, including outcomes or penalties. Whether the waterfront could face the loss or seizure of any of Rafael’s boats, permits or properties is an open question, and will remain so until the case is resolved. Even whether the case actually goes to trial is uncertain, to a degree.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Judge bars boat from dredging for clams

November 19, 2015 — PROVINCETOWN — A judge has temporarily barred a Gloucester fishing vessel from dredging for clams off Herring Cove while a dispute about who governs such dredging in that area makes its way through court.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Raymond Veary issued a temporary restraining order Nov. 3, after the Provincetown harbormaster’s staff followed the 70-foot Tom Slaughter as it dredged for surf clams the previous two days, Harbormaster Rex McKinsey said.

The Slaughter is one of three clam draggers whose owners are in court in separate actions fighting cease-and-desist orders issued by the Provincetown Conservation Commission to keep them from dredging up to 40 feet offshore without a permit.

Veary’s temporary order was to last until Friday, but according to Monte Rome, owner of the Tom Slaughter, it has been extended to Jan. 5 at his request.

Provincetown officials want to stop hydraulic dredging, a process that involves shooting water at 50 to 100 pounds of pressure into the sand to release the clams, because it disturbs the ocean floor and damages the habitat for fish, clams and other marine life, McKinsey said.

In 2007, the Conservation Commission passed a regulation banning hydraulic dredging in that area without a permit.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Massachusetts boat captains face charges for alleged clam harvesting violations

July 28, 2015 — PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — Reports to the state environmental police about illegal dredging for surf clams off Herring Cove Beach has resulted in criminal charges pending against two boat captains.

Matthews Collins, 29, of New Bedford will be arraigned Wednesday in Orleans District Court on a charge of violating state law for allegedly harvesting surf clams on the F/V Aimee Marie on March 24 shoreward of what is called the 12-foot depth contour line, according to the report of Massachusetts Environmental Police Lt. Robert Akin. The police seized 36 bushels of surf clams, with an estimated value of $666.

Under state law, dredging for surf clams is prohibited from Nov. 1 to April 30 within an area shoreward of the 12-foot depth contour, as measured at mean low water, south of Point Allerton in Hull to the Rhode Island border including Cape Cod and the Islands.

Collins is also charged with failing to properly display the boat’s identification number. The 1974 commercial fishing vessel is owned by Patricio Palacios, according to Akin’s report. The vessel typically works out of Provincetown, Provincetown Harbormaster Rex McKinsey said.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times