Saving Seafood

New Jersey to create two new reefs off coast

April 27, 2017 — The state will create two new reefs aimed at helping recreational anglers off South Jersey.

One reef will be built 1.7 nautical miles southeast of Manasquan Inlet, just north of Ocean County’s Point Pleasant Beach. The second reef will be built 9.2 nautical miles southwest of the mouth of Cumberland County’s Maurice River and will occupy a little more than a square mile of bay floor, at depths ranging from 23 feet to 35 feet.

The state secured the necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits for both reefs, state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said Thursday.

Recreational fishing generates $1.5 billion in economic benefits in New Jersey each year, and directly employs about 20,000 people, according to a news release from the DEP.

“We are very excited to move forward with this expansion of the state’s network of artificial reefs, which create important habitat for many types of marine life,” Martin said. “By enhancing recreational fishing and diving opportunities, these reefs help boost the state’s tourism economy. We are particularly pleased with the opportunity to develop Delaware Bay’s first reef site, which will help bolster tourism in that region.”

The artificial reefs are typically built from rocks, concrete, steel, old ships and barges.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

HAWAII: There’s A Big Mess At The Papahanaumokuakea Monument

October 7, 2016 — Kure Atoll, a speck of land in a federally protected marine area nearly 1,400 miles northwest of Honolulu, provides a safe haven for seabirds, rare fish, endangered seals and coral reefs.

And now, at least until a salvage operation can occur, it’s also home to an 8,000-pound excavator, which is leaking fuel, a roll of chain-link fencing, hunks of metal and broken glass that fell into the water when the boat carrying it capsized a quarter-mile offshore.

Two of the nine people aboard the 33-foot landing craft were injured in the Sept. 2 incident, which remains under investigation. They were treated and released by a doctor at nearby Midway Atoll.

The accident offers a rare look at some of the work being done inside Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument — a nearly 600,000-square-mile area around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that’s off-limits to anyone without a special permit for conservation, education, research or cultural purposes.

President Barack Obama quadrupled the monument’s size in late August, making it the world’s largest protected marine area. The day before the vessel capsized he flew to nearby Midway Atoll to highlight the monument’s importance in protecting natural resources, fighting climate change and preserving heritage sites, which include sunken ships at Kure.

Employees of Element Environmental, a Hawaii environmental and engineering firm contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were working on a nearly $1.5 million project at Kure Atoll that involved digging up 400 to 600 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated soil from an old U.S. Coast Guard dump site near the shoreline and reburying it in a more secure spot near the center of Green Island, the atoll’s largest land mass at six miles wide.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Fish Farming In Gulf Poses Questions And Opportunities

February 3, 2016 — Most of the fish we eat in the U.S. comes from other countries. Fishermen in Louisiana have long sought to displace some of those imports but the industry has faced challenges like hurricanes and the 2010 BP oil spill.

Now, a new source of fish in the gulf offers promise — but also raises questions.

For the first time, the Gulf of Mexico is open for fish farming.

Companies can apply for permits through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency. Then they can install floating fish cages — like those already in place in state waters off the coasts of Maine, Washington and Hawaii.

Harlon Pearce owns Harlon’s LA Fish, which sells local fish to restaurants and grocery stores across the south. On a recent afternoon his refrigerated warehouse in Kenner was full of them. He pointed to yellowfin tuna, snapper, black drum and sheep’s head. It doesn’t always look this way.

Pearce, who is on the board of the Gulf Seafood Institute, says he freezes a lot of his fish in order to meet continuous demand, but ultimately always runs out. He wants to sell nationwide and contract with big chains, like Red Lobster, but he says, “We never have enough fish to supply the markets. Never.”

That’s true for a couple of reasons – the seafood industry in the Gulf still hasn’t bounced back from the 2010 BP oil spill, but it’s always fluctuated due to hurricanes and pollution.

Read the full story at New Orleans Public Radio

 

North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones Asks Corps for More Resources for Oregon, Hatteras Inlets

January 29, 2016 — The following was released by the Office of Congressman Walter B. Jones:

Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) is calling on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allocate additional funding to dredge Eastern North Carolina’s Oregon and Hatteras Inlets.  In a letter sent today, Congressman Jones reminded Army Corps of Engineers leadership of the chronically poor navigation conditions at both inlets.  He also pointed out that the amounts provided in the President’s fiscal year 2016 budget request – $2,000,000 for Oregon Inlet and $300,000 for Hatteras Inlet – are insufficient to keep the channels maintained at anything close to their authorized depths.  In fact, without supplemental funds, both channels may be in danger of closing to vessel traffic during the year.  

While Congress no longer has the ability to legislatively increase funding for specific projects because of an earmark ban imposed in 2011, Congress did attempt to address some of the waterway maintenance issues across the nation in the recently-passed Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations bill for the Corps.  In that bill, Congress created several unallocated pots of money for different project categories, and gave the Corps discretion in determining which projects to fund from these pots.  In his letter to the Corps, Congressman Jones argued that Oregon and Hatteras Inlets are the type of projects Congress had in mind when it provided the Corps with these additional resources. 

“Maintaining Oregon and Hatteras Inlets is vital to the Dare and Hyde County economy,” said Congressman Jones.  “Fishermen, recreational boaters and the Coast Guard must have reliable access through the inlets, and I will continue to do everything I can to fight for that cause.”

View a PDF of the letter

NORTH CAROINA: Marine officials and fishermen exchange concerns about fishing risks

January 27, 2016 — SNEADS FERRY, Onslow County – Officials from Camp Lejeune met with dozens of commercial fishermen at the Sneads Ferry Community Center Wednesday evening to discuss and exchange concerns about possible risks in a part of the New River.

“We’re soliciting public feedback to determine the next steps ahead as we try to mitigate this hazard,” said Camp Lejeune Public Affairs Director Nat Fahy.

At issue is a 2012 to 2014 study that turned up more than 7,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance and debris from the waters alongside Camp Lejeune’s K-2 range.

For now, the base says it will put up signs warning against activities that would disturb the bottom of the river–activities like clam raking, crabbing, and anchoring.

Our position is very simple and that is that these are not federal waters, the waters don’t belong to the military, they are state waters,” said Jerry Schill, President of the North Carolina Fisheries Association.   “Camp Lejeune cannot enact restrictions in these waters.  That can only come from the Army Corps of Engineers.”

Read the full story at WCTI News

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Would-be mussel farmers fishing for project money

December 14, 2015 — The aquaculture project Salem State University marine research scientists hope might ultimately produce acres of mussels in a stretch of deep, open waters off the coast of Cape Ann has received the necessary permits to proceed.

Now all the project managers need is … what else? Money.

Mark R. Fregeau, a SSU marine biology professor, said the project he is managing with SSU colleague and collaborator Ted Maney has been green-lighted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and will begin in earnest once they raise about $75,000 needed to begin laying the initial long lines upon which the mussels will grow.

The mussel aquaculture — or more simply, farm — will be located in federal waters, about 81/2 miles due east of Good Harbor Beach, at a site the researchers believe will provide the perfect environment for a deep-water mussel aquaculture that would be the first of its kind in the U.S.

“We’ve been authorized to put out a couple of (experimental) lines and see how they work and what issues might arise,” Fregeau said. “The reality is that until we actually get into the water, we don’t know exactly what we’ll be dealing with. So, it will be rolled out in phases, a couple lines at a time, and that will give us the opportunity to report back to the Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA.”

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

MAINE: Lobstermen Cry ‘Foul’ Over Proposed Searsport Harbor Dredging

October 15, 2015 — The state of Maine has long been synonymous with deep forested tracts of wilderness stretching from its western boundary with the Connecticut lakes in far northern New Hampshire, up to its northern border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. The state has long been associated with pristine springs, rivers and lakes, the habitat of its signature majestic large antlered moose – and all the while conjuring up images of the ubiquitous Poland Spring water bottle.

The southern and “downeastern” end of Maine is composed of miles of sandy beaches that gradually give way to rocky crags, jutting coastline, and hundreds of small rock outcrops and islands dotted with salty old lighthouses. This rocky coastline is the perfect breeding ground for the one sea creature that Maine is famous for, and makes up the heart of the state’s predominant seafood export – that delectable crustacean, the Maine lobster.

It also appears the “typical Maine rocky coastline” is the prime location where these tasty crustaceans are caught and eventually get exported far and wide to consumers’ tables. This is according to the most recent Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, released last month. Of note, an interesting statistic gleaned from this NOAA study is: “… More than 98 percent of the total GOM (Gulf of Maine) catch has come from inshore NMFS statistical areas.”

This statistic is of great importance as it puts one such lobster breeding-ground right in the crosshairs of an ambitious U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and Maine DOT proposed project to dredge and deepen the channel in Searsport – to the tune of approximately $13 million – to allow two Canadian oil companies, Sprague Energy and Irving Oil, to off-load their crude oil at a local terminal at Mack Point.

At issue for these two oil companies is that they would prefer not to wait for a high tide to off-load their cargo at the terminal, and thus save – by their account – approximately $845,000 per year. To accommodate these oil companies, the COE would risk jeopardizing prime lobster breeding-grounds in western Penobscot Bay, by dumping approximately 1 million cubic yards of dredge spoils from the Searsport channel in areas of Penobscot Bay containing numerous pockmarks created by methane venting.

Read the full story at Triple Pundit