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MAINE: LePage op-ed in Wall Street Journal criticizes proposed lobstering regulations

September 9, 2019 — An opinion piece by former Gov. Paul LePage published in the Wall Street Journal criticizes federal officials for proposing restrictions on the lobstering industry that fishermen say would put them out of business.

LePage writes that the restrictions required by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association would not actually reduce the number of right whale deaths in the Gulf of Maine because, he says, “No whale deaths due to entanglements or ship strikes have been recorded in Maine waters since 1998.”

However, in September 2016, the Portland Press Herald reported that NOAA officials concluded the death of a 43-foot right whale found floating off Boothbay Harbor was most likely caused by entanglement in fishing gear ropes.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Trump calls for more tariffs in scale-up of trade war against China

September 10, 2018 — U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to extend U.S. tariffs to an additional USD 267 billion (EUR 230.1 billion) worth of Chinese goods in comments made on Friday, 7 September.

Trump said the new round of tariffs will “take place very soon, depending on what happens.” He added a new list of goods to be affected by the tariffs is ready to go and could be rolled out on short notice, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Trump’s administration previously announced tariffs on USD 200 billion (EUR 170 billion) of Chinese goods on 11 July. That was a follow-up on his levying of tariffs on USD 50 billion (EUR 29.3 billion) worth of Chinese goods in June, and China’s equivalent response later that month.

“If the United States insists on imposing another round of tariffs on Chinese products, China will definitely take countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said following publication of Trump’s threat on 7 September.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

DAVID GOETHEL: Fishermen on the Hook to Pay for Their Own Regulators

December 28, 2015 — The following is a excerpt from an opinion piece published today in The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Goethel, a groundfish fisherman out of Hampton, N.H., writes that he is suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “to stop it from sinking New England’s groundfish industry for good.” He is represented by Cause of Action, a government watchdog group based in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Goethel writes: “The courts are the industry’s last chance. This month, along with the Northeast Fishery Sector 13, I filed a federal lawsuit- Goethel v. Pritzker. Our claim: Neither NOAA nor its subsidiary, the National Marine Fisheries Service, has the authority to charge groundfishermen for at-sea monitors. Even if Congress had granted this authority, they would have had to follow the process called for in the Administrative Procedure Act and other statutes-which they haven’t.  A bipartisan group of senators, including Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), highlighted this troubling fact in April. Writing to the assistant administrator of NOAA Fisheries, they stated NOAA ‘has chosen an interpretation of the FY15 report language that is inconsistent with congressional intent, and consequently, that very high [at-sea monitoring] costs will soon unreasonably burden already struggling members of the fishing industry in the Northeast.'”

Few professions are as significant to New England’s economy and history as fishing. Yet the ranks of groundfish fishermen have dwindled so much that we’re now an endangered species. The causes are many-but the one now threatening us with extinction is the federal government. Along with one other plaintiff, I’m suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to stop it from sinking New England’s groundfish industry for good.

Groundfish include cod, haddock and 11 other common bottom-dwelling species. After years of dwindling stocks, in 2012 the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a disaster declaration for groundfish territory off the coast of New England. Over the past four years my cod quota-my bread and butter-plummeted from 60,000 pounds to 3,700 this year. I caught my limit in four days in June.

Shifting ocean patterns have certainly contributed to our struggles, but regulators are a separate anchor altogether. Groundfish fishermen are organized into a patchwork of 15 sectors, i.e., government-designed cooperative organizations. We operate under at least seven overlapping federal and state entities and programs, all of which have their own regulatory nets.

As if warrantless searches from the Coast Guard, catch inspections upon returning to port, and satellite tracking weren’t enough, at-sea monitors also accompany us on roughly one in five randomly selected fishing trips. They are hired by three for-profit companies-one of which is led by the former NOAA official who designed the monitor program. They follow us around and take notes on everything we do. That includes measuring our nets, measuring fish we bring in and those we throw back, and recording our expenses down to how much we spent on lunch.

The program is unnecessary given the heavy regulation that exists. And last month NOAA informed us that, beginning on Jan. 1, groundfish fishermen must pay an estimated $710 a day when a monitor is present. That fee covers the monitors’ training, mileage to and from the fisherman’s boat, supervisor salaries, data processes and all other administrative costs. It also covers a set profit margin for the three companies providing the monitors. What those margins are, neither NOAA nor the companies have disclosed.

Read the full opinion piece at The Wall Street Journal

Using the United States as a Global Model for Seafood Sustainability

June 24, 2015 — The ocean is a frontier for sustainable growth. It offers increased food security, economic growth and value-added investment opportunities to nations willing to develop maritime resources without using them up. Yet there is an urgent need to deal directly with declines in the value and harvest of wild-capture fisheries around the world.

Read the full story from The Wall Street Journal

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