July 20, 2020 — The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) developed a website that outlines the state’s aquaculture permitting process.
The DMF created the website as a “one-stop-shop” for info about the cost, timeline and application and other resources for new growers and the annual reporting process.
August 3, 2017 — For some, the focus was on collaboration and the need to build sustainable seafood partnerships.
“Much of what we have already learned comes from the farming sector,” said Jack Wiggin, head of the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Urban Harbors Institute. Opening a Wednesday morning conference on the seafood industry at The Gloucester House, he noted cited parallels between harvesting America’s farms and seas.
To Anamarija Frankic, however, the future of the seafood industry is tied to a more basic approach.
“It’s like the chicken and egg,” said Frankic, a UMass-Boston teacher of biomimicry — the science of seeking solutions based on time-tested patterns and models. “How can you have aquaculture? How can you sustain seafood without protecting the ocean (waters), not just in the harbors but in watersheds? Much of what we do is very specific, protecting and rebuilding specific species or specific habitat, but we have to work to sustain the entire coastal habitat.”
Those were just two of the ideas raised over the course of the daylong conference, which was funded by the state’s Seaport Economic Council and drew more than 50 experts representing government agencies, fishermen, seafood processors and community leaders.
“This is a summit — I would call it that,” Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken said in welcoming the group to Gloucester. “We haven’t truly had something like this in 20 years.”
Local stakeholders hope event generates opportunities
August 2, 2017 — More than 60 key players from the fishing and seafood industries will be in Gloucester on Wednesday exploring new ways to promote locally caught seafood and spotlight seaport economic successes.
Presenters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Massachusetts Boston, along with waterfront representatives from Maine to New Jersey will attend a day-long conference, open to the public, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Gloucester House.
“Building the Massachusetts Seafood System,” as the event is titled, will include presentations and discussion groups, said local organizer and harbor activist Valerie Nelson. But she said it will be more than just talk.
“This is designed to produce recommendations to the Seaport Council, to the state, maybe to the UMass system,” Nelson said . “This isn’t an idle conversation, this is to lead to a next step. We want some real momentum to come out of this.”
July 5, 2016 — A respected research professor, scientist and part-time resident has been on Kauai for several weeks coordinating the latest phase of a tuna tagging project launched on Kauai and the Big Island three years ago.
Dr. Molly Lutcavage is a research professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s School for the Environment. She is also director of the Large Pelagic Research Center and is renowned for her extensive work with the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishing community.
The Ahi Satellite Tagging Project of the Pacific Island Fisheries Group is a joint venture that uses state-of-the art technology and partners fisheries organizations, policy makers and local fishermen in the effort to gather much-needed baseline data on ahi and other pelagic fish that live and migrate in waters surrounding the main Hawaiian islands and beyond.
“There’s very little information on these patterns for ahi in this region,” Lutcavage said.
“Most of PSAT or data logging tags on ahi were deployed in the eastern and western Pacific, so the Hawaiian islands remain a ‘data poor’ area as far as high-tech tag results,” she added.
Last week, six large yellowfin tuna (ahi) were tagged with pop-up satellite tags and released in waters off Kauai. If all goes well, the tags will collect data that will help identify their migration routes and behavior for one year, Lutcavage said.