Virginia Archives - Page 32 of 65

VIRGINIA: Last of Its Kind, Fishery Faces Reckoning in Chesapeake Bay

February 11, 2020 — For a guy who left school after 11th grade, George Ball figures he has the best-paying job available on this rural stretch of Chesapeake Bay shoreline.

He catches a fish called Atlantic menhaden, used to make fish oil pills and farm-raised salmon feed, and earns about $50,000 a season, as much money as some college graduates.

“There ain’t a whole lot of jobs around here for a person like myself, except for landscaping or something like that,” said Ball, who comes from a long line of black fishermen. “Starting over would be treacherous.”

He may have to, though.

Ball works for Omega Protein, a company facing increasing government restrictions amid criticism that it could be disrupting the Chesapeake Bay’s food chain. Last year, Omega Protein exceeded catch limits in the Chesapeake by more than 30%, prompting the Trump Administration to threaten a moratorium in Virginia waters.

The firm’s sustainability certification from the influential Marine Stewardship Council is now under review. And environmental groups, sport fishermen and some state lawmakers have grown louder in their calls to further restrict — if not shutter — the firm’s operations in the bay.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New York Times

ERIC BURNLEY: Commercial fishermen do not affect recreational fishing

February 3, 2020 — There is a misconception among some recreational fishermen that commercial fishermen are to blame for all the ills we suffer with a lack of flounder, bluefish, trout, striped bass, or (you name it) . Sorry, Charlie, it just ain’t so.

There was a time when both commercial and recreational fishermen could take as many fish of any size as they wanted, and we did. I have seen coolers full of flounder come off the Point at Cape Hatteras with many of those fish well below 12 inches. Blues stacked up like cordwood at Indian River when the run was on, and trout deck loaded in Delaware Bay. At the same time, commercial fishermen were filling their nets with the same fish until the market value dropped to the point where it became a losing proposition to go after them.

I was a small part of the movement to put limits on both recreational and commercial fishermen here in Delaware and in Virginia. In Delaware, I was on the Delaware Wildlife Federation’s Advisory Council, and we met regularly with state officials to try to bring some order to the fishery. The late Buddy Hurlock and his wife Rose were the driving force behind this movement.

Read the full story at the Cape Gazette

Maryland, Virginia weigh cutting striped bass catches in 2020 as species declines

January 29, 2020 — Anglers who live for hooking a feisty striped bass are going to have fewer chances to do it in 2020 — and probably for at least a year or two afterward.

Prompted by a scientific finding that the East Coast’s most prized finfish are in trouble, Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River are all moving to adopt new catch restrictions aimed at stemming the species’ decline.

But many anglers are complaining about the complexity, fairness and even the adequacy of the cutbacks under consideration, which range from a quota tuck of less than 2% for commercial fishermen in Maryland to a 24% reduction in fish removed by recreational anglers in Virginia.

Read the full story at Delmarva Now

Menhaden, the most political fish in the Chesapeake Bay, might not be regulated by Virginia legislature anymore

January 29, 2020 — Virginia moved to keep fishing for menhaden in Chesapeake Bay, but a legislative compromise that got its first nods this week means the big boats from Reedville won’t catch quite as much.

The reason is that the most political fish of all would no longer be regulated by the General Assembly, where state Senate and House of Delegates panels say the legislature should turn the job over to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the panel that oversees every other fish.

Virginia faced a moratorium on the Bay menhaden fishery because Reedville-based Omega Proteins exceeded a cap on the Bay catch imposed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2017.

That cap, of 51,000 metric tons, is 41.5% below the old limit, which is the one written into the Code of Virginia.

Read the full story at The Daily Press

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Proposed Measures for Private Recreational Tilefish Vessels

January 29, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries seeks comments on proposed measures for private recreational tilefish vessels that were approved in Amendment 6 to the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan. Proposed measures include requiring private recreational vessels that intend to target golden or blueline tilefish north of the Virginia/North Carolina border, to obtain a federal private recreational tilefish vessel permit through an online application on the Greater Atlantic Regional Office website. Proposed measures also include a requirement for private recreational tilefish vessels to fill out and submit an electronic vessel trip report within 24 hours of returning to port for trips where tilefish were targeted and/or retained.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. You may also submit comments through regular mail to: Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930

The comments due date is 02-28-2020.

VA: Clock ticking for Hampton Roads and offshore wind industry, state official says

January 24, 2020 — Hampton Roads has a chance to create thousands of jobs and attract a potential multibillion-dollar industry to the region. The only question now is whether regional stakeholders are up to the task.

That’s the message Virginia wind energy leader Jennifer Palestrant told a room full of Hampton Roads mayors, city council members and others during a Hampton Roads Planning District Commission meeting Jan. 16.

“We’re going to get one shot at this,” said Palestrant, chief deputy for Virginia’s Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. “One. This opportunity will not come again.”

Palestrant said she believes momentum is building toward making Hampton Roads one of the largest, most important locations for wind turbine construction on the East Coast. With it could come a large chunk of an estimated $70 billion industry and 14,000 Virginia jobs, according to the commission.

“This is a game changer,” Palestrant said.

Read the full story at Inside Business

MD, VA mulling options to halt decline in striped bass population

January 22, 2020 — Anglers who live for hooking a feisty striped bass are going to have fewer chances to do it in 2020 — and probably for at least a year or two afterward.

The two states are taking somewhat different tacks to comply with a directive from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates fishing for migratory species from Maine to Florida. Last October, the interstate panel ordered an 18% decrease in mortality of striped bass coastwide, including in the Chesapeake Bay, which serves as the main spawning ground and nursery for the species.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

36 years after first Chesapeake Bay Agreement, its restoration is still a pipe dream

January 17, 2020 — December 9 marked the 36th anniversary of the signing of the first Bay Agreement at George Mason University in Virginia.

As a state senator serving on the Chesapeake Bay Commission, I joined 700 Bay enthusiasts as witnesses. The one-page Chesapeake Bay Agreement was signed by Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania’s governors, DC’s mayor, and the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, all of whom solemnly pledged to restore the Bay. I was also a member of a workgroup that recommended legislative actions for each signer that would aid the Bay’s restoration, including a phosphate detergent ban that I sponsored and was enacted in 1985.

All of the attendees — elected federal and state politicians, scientists, administrators and environmental leaders — were optimistic that the herculean task ahead would lead to the Chesapeake’s restoration. The optimism was fueled by the display of bipartisanship that led to President Ronald Reagan declaring in his 1984 State of the Union address, “Though this is a time of budget constraints, I have requested for EPA one of the largest percentage budget increases of any agency. We will begin the long, necessary effort to clean up a productive recreational area and a special national resource — the Chesapeake Bay.” The formal Bay Program under the EPA was established with $10 million in funding.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

VIRGINIA: Dominion chooses turbine supplier for $7.8B offshore wind farm

January 9, 2020 — Richmond-based Dominion Energy has selected Spanish renewable energy engineering company Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A. as the preferred turbine supplier for its proposed $7.8 billion offshore wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach, Dominion announced Tuesday.

Dominion announced plans in September 2019 to build a 220-turbine wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach by 2026. The wind farm, which would be the largest in the nation, is being proposed as part of Dominion’s initiative to reduce its carbon emissions by 55% in the next decade and 80% by 2050. The project would produce enough zero-carbon electricity to power 650,000 Virginia homes.

Biscay, Spain-based Siemens Gamesa manufactured two 6-megawatt turbines for Dominion’s $300 million Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot offshore wind energy project off Virginia Beach’s coast, which is the first step towards building the larger wind farm. Construction on the CVOW pilot project began in June 2019 and is expected to be complete by spring. The turbines will be brought online and producing power for up to 3,000 homes later this year, according to Dominion.

Read the full story at Virginia Business

New striped bass regulations prove costly to Virginia’s fishing businesses

January 3, 2020 — Fishing rods were rigged and ready to go on the back of the Top Dog as Capt. Neil Lessard peered out into a thick covering of fog.

He had been excited about having an afternoon fishing trip in the Chesapeake Bay, where he hoped to put customers onto the fighting end of some big striped bass.

But the trip had to be canceled because of the weather. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem. He’d have another charter the next day. But the way this season has gone for area captains, every last trip could be the difference between food on the table or going broke.

New striped bass regulations adopted by Virginia this fall aren’t just hurting charter captains. Marinas, bait and tackle shops, gas stations, and restaurants all are reporting lower than usual sales. Two of the three hotels around Cape Charles shut down weeks ago because of a lack of customers.

Federal fisheries managers earlier this year issued statements saying the population of striped bass along the East Coast and in the Chesapeake Bay had been declining for several years because of overfishing, and that drastic measures needed to be taken to prevent a total crash of the stock.

Read the full story at The Daily News