Saving Seafood

CONNECTICUT: Fishermen hope bumper sticker gets Trump’s attention

March 29, 2017 — STONINGTON, Conn. — For struggling Town Dock fishermen, President Trump’s promise to eliminate regulations and spur the economy means they might finally have success in their long fight to rescind the catch restrictions they say are not only unfair and based on bad science but are putting them out of business.

So in an effort to attract Trump’s attention and help spread their message in Washington, they have printed up a bumper sticker that will be appearing on vehicles here in coming days.

The sticker features a picture of Trump giving a thumbs-up next to a fishing boat with the slogan “Make Commercial Fishing Great Again,” a spin on Trump’s popular campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”

“He’s sat down and talked to coal miners and truck drivers. We’d like to be able to get the seafood industry to sit down and talk to him,” said Mike Gambardella, who runs his family’s fish wholesale business at the Town Dock. “It’s a matter of him understanding the problem.”

Gambardella said if fishermen just had the chance to explain the long-standing problem to Trump, “his head would spin.”

Read the full story at The Day

Commercial disasters declared for nine West Coast fisheries

March 21, 2017 — The Commerce Secretariat determined that nine salmon and crab fisheries in Alaska, California and Washington experienced commercial failures, which will enable fishing communities to seek disaster relief assistance from Congress, NOAA Fisheries Division reported.

The decision was taken by US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker due to the fact that in recent years, each of these fisheries experienced sudden and unexpected large decreases in fish stock biomass due to unusual ocean and climate conditions.

The fisheries deemed to have experienced commercial failures are the following:

  • Gulf of Alaska pink salmon fisheries (Alaska/2016)
  • California Dungeness and rock crab fishery (California/2015-2016);
  • Yurok Tribe Klamath River Chinook salmon fishery (California/2016);
  • Fraser River Makah Tribe and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe sockeye salmon fisheries (Washington/2014);
  • Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay non-treaty coho salmon fishery (Washington/2015);
  • Nisqually Indian Tribe, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and Squaxin Island Tribe South Puget Sound salmon fisheries (Washington/2015);
  • Quinault Indian Nation Grays Harbor and Queets River coho salmon fishery (Washington/2015);
  • Quileute Tribe Dungeness crab fishery (Washington/2015-2016);
  • Ocean salmon troll fishery (Washington/2016).

“The Commerce Department and NOAA stand with America’s fishing communities. We are proud of the contributions they make to the nation’s economy, and we recognize the sacrifices they are forced to take in times of environmental hardship,” said Samuel D. Rauch III, deputy assistant administrator for regulatory programs, NOAA Fisheries.

Rauch stressed their commitment to helping these communities recover and achieve success in the future.

Read the full story at Fish Information & Services

Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan say no to Coast Guard cuts proposed by White House

March 13, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Alaska’s Republican senators won’t support proposed major budget cuts for the U.S. Coast Guard, they told the White House Office of Management and Budget in a letter following reports of major cuts in President Donald Trump’s draft budget.

Several national outlets have reported on a draft White House budget request to Congress that includes $1.3 billion cut from the Coast Guard’s $9.1 billion budget. The Coast Guard cut is reportedly aimed at helping pay for a wall on the southern border shared with Mexico.

Alaska Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker were the only three Republicans among 23 senators to sign the letter. The rest were Democrats.

Cutting into the Coast Guard budget could mean a far lower chance of bolstering the dwindling U.S. fleet of icebreakers, at a time when shipping traffic is increasing in the Arctic. Senators warned this is not the time to “kick the can down the road” on the Coast Guard’s aging fleet.

“We strongly urge you to refrain from any such cuts. The Coast Guard budget has suffered a steady decline since 2010, which resulted in negative impacts to Coast Guard missions, infrastructure, delays in necessary recapitalization efforts, and has generally constrained Coast Guard operations,” the senators wrote in a letter to OMB Director John Mulvaney.

Sullivan’s office was involved in crafting the letter, which was ultimately released by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News

Executive order may miss fishing regulations

March 2, 2017 — An executive order by President Donald Trump designed to radically cut back on federal regulations has spurred disagreement among fishermen about how it will affect them – and lawmakers and regulators aren’t sure what the answer is.

Groups that represent both commercial and recreational fishermen are divided over whether President Trump’s “one in, two out” approach to federal regulations will benefit their industry, harm it or not affect it at all.

In North Carolina, Jerry Schill, executive director of the N.C. Fisheries Association, an industry advocacy group dedicated to promoting the state’s seafood industry, said he’s been exchanging emails with fishing interests from all around the country about the matter.

“The consensus seems to be that it doesn’t affect the commercial fishing regulations, although I wish it did,” Mr. Schill said. “If the administration or others in (Washington) D.C. don’t know if it affects the fishing regulations, and the attorneys that represent commercial fishing suggest that it doesn’t, then it more than likely won’t. Specifically, we’ve been watching the dialogue with the Fisheries Survival Fund.”

The FSF is a fund established in 1998 to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery. The fund works with academic institutions and independent scientific experts to foster cooperative research and help sustain the fishery.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

Commercial fisheries disaster opens door to federal relief for Washington communities

January 24, 2017 — Commercial fishing communities along the central coast of Washington and some areas of Puget Sound are eligible for federal disaster funding because of poor fishing in 2015 and 2016. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzer named nine fisheries groups or areas in an announcement Wednesday, including Westport and Willapa Bay non-treaty commercial coho fisheries.

Congress still needs to appropriate the funds for the relief program.

Each of the nine fisheries “experienced sudden and unexpected large decreases in fish stock biomass due to unusual ocean and climate conditions,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a news release. “This decision enables fishing communities to seek disaster relief assistance from Congress.”

Along with Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay coho, other Washington commercial fisheries benefiting from the declaration include:

– Quinault Indian Nation Grays Harbor and Queets River coho salmon fishery (2015)

– Ocean salmon troll fishery (2016)

– Fraser River Makah Tribe and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe sockeye salmon fisheries (2014)

– Nisqually Indian Tribe, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and Squaxin Island Tribe South Puget Sound salmon fisheries (2015)

– Quileute Tribe Dungeness crab fishery (2015-2016)

Read the full story at the Spokesman-Review

SOUTHEASTERN FISHERIES ASSOCIATION: Eat More Sustainable Seafood for Health and Taste Benefits

January 20, 2017 — The following was released by the Southeastern Fisheries Association (SFA):

SFA President Peter Jarvis Says: “Eat More Sustainable Seafood for Health and Taste Benefits”

WASHINGTON — Soon after he’s sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump will dine on Maine lobster, Gulf shrimp, and Seven Hills Angus beef, to name a few dishes.

These foods are all on the menu for the inaugural luncheon, a long-standing tradition in which the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies hosts a meal for the president and vice president at the Capitol following the inaugural address.

The committee organized its first luncheon in 1953, when lawmakers welcomed President Dwight Eisenhower for creamed chicken, baked ham and potato puffs in the Capitol’s Old Senate Chamber.

Dishes, consumed between toasts, gift presentations and speeches, often encompass foods from the home states of the new leaders, though Trump’s menu owes heavily to California, not his home state of New York or Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s state of Indiana.

President Barack Obama’s 2013 luncheon boasted a menu of steamed lobster, grilled bison and apple pie.

Trump’s, which will be held in the Statuary Hall, will feature three courses.

The first, Maine lobster and Gulf shrimp with saffron sauce and peanut crumble, will be accompanied by a J. Lohr 2013 Arroyo Vista Chardonnay.

The Gulf shrimp may be a tribute to Florida, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located and which the President-elect has called his “second home.”

Read the original story at CNN

Disaster Declared for West Coast Fisheries

January 23, 2017 — SEATTLE — Nine West Coast salmon and crab fisheries have been declared a disaster, allowing fishing communities to seek relief from the federal government.

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker declared the disaster on Jan. 18.

Nine salmon and crab fisheries in Alaska, California and Washington suffered “sudden and unexpected large decreases in fish stock biomass or loss of access due to unusual ocean and climate conditions,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The fisheries include Gulf of Alaska pink salmon, California Dungeness and rock crab, and several tribal salmon fisheries in Washington.

Read the full story at Courthouse News

Alaska’s US senators push Trump nominees to guard fisheries, rural areas while cutting regulations

January 23, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan pressed Cabinet nominees to consider Alaska’s uniqueness, the difficulties of rural areas and the nation’s largest fisheries at a spate of confirmation hearings this week.

Senators can publicly question President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet selections when they sit on the committee holding a confirmation hearing. For Murkowski, that means the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held the first of two confirmation hearings for Health and Human Services nominee Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., on Wednesday, and a hearing for Education nominee Betsy DeVos on Tuesday night.

For Sullivan, that meant a hearing for Commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross, and the Environmental Protection Agency administrator-to-be, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt.

Several of those nominees faced controversy and opposition from Democrats. Hallways were packed with supporters and protesters Wednesday in a Senate office building where three hearings were happening simultaneously.

Murkowski pressed her nominees on how they would adjust some their conservative stances to meet her needs for rural and Native populations in Alaska. Sullivan focused on the state’s fishing industry. Both urged peeling back regulations they said are onerous and often a barrier to economic growth or healthy public services.

Read the full story at the Alaska Dispatch News

Fisheries disasters declared for 9 species on United States West Coast

January 19, 2017 — The United States Secretary of Commerce declared nine salmon and crab fisheries in Alaska, California and Washington as fisheries disasters on Wednesday, 18 January, opening federal coffers for relief assistance.

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker announced each of the fisheries covered by the decision had “experienced sudden and unexpected large decreases in fish stock biomass due to unusual ocean and climate conditions.”

The newly designated fisheries disasters are:

In Alaska:
• Gulf of Alaska pink salmon fisheries (2016)

In California:
• California Dungeness and rock crab fishery (2015-2016)
• Yurok Tribe Klamath River Chinook salmon fishery (2016)

In Washington:
• Fraser River Makah Tribe and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe sockeye salmon fisheries (2014)
• Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay non-treaty coho salmon fishery (2015)
• Nisqually Indian Tribe, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and Squaxin Island Tribe South Puget Sound salmon fisheries (2015)
• Quinault Indian Nation Grays Harbor and Queets River coho salmon fishery (2015)
• Quileute Tribe Dungeness crab fishery (2015-2016)
• Ocean salmon troll fishery (2016)

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Northeast Pacific is the region producing most Marine Stewardship Council fish

December 23, 2016 — The Northeast Pacific fishing area annually produces a total of 2.6 million metric tons of certified seafood from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) sustainable fishing standard, representing 83 per cent of the total catch of the area.

The MSC certified seafood from the area — covering Northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea waters — ranks first for the percentage and includes MSC certified salmon, albacore tuna, pink shrimp, hake, halibut, sablefish, Pacific cod, and Alaska pollock fisheries.

Another North American fishing area, the Northwest Atlantic — waters from North Carolina, the US mid-Atlantic, New England, and Eastern Canada — ranked seventh globally with 32 per cent (580,000 metric tons) of the total catch being MSC certified.

This area is home to MSC certified swordfish, spiny dogfish, sea scallop, lobster, Acadian redfish, haddock, pollock, Atlantic halibut, snow crab, Northern shrimp and Arctic surf clam fisheries.

The analysis and ranking was done as part of the recently published MSC Annual Report 2015-2016, which also reported that MSC certified fisheries caught more than 9.3 million metric tons of seafood in 2015-16, representing almost 10 per cent of the total global wild caught seafood by volume.

The global volume of MSC certified catch has increased by 6 per cent since 2014-15, while the MSC certified supply chain has climbed 16 per cent over the same period.

Between April 2015 and March 2016, the number of processors, restaurants and caterers with MSC Chain of Custody grew from 2,879 to 3,334 companies, operating in 37,121 sites across 82 countries. More than 20,000 products now carry the blue MSC label and can be traced back to fisheries which meet the MSC’s world-class standard for sustainable fishing.

Commenting on the results, Brian Perkins, MSC Regional Director – Americas, said, “When people purchase MSC certified seafood, their choice supports fishermen around the world who are working hard to meet the world’s most rigorous standard for environmental sustainability.”

“While we’re proud of the MSC certified fisheries here in North America, it takes a global effort to safeguard seafood supplies for the future,” pointed out Perkins.

For her part, Christina Burridge, Executive Director, B.C. Seafood Alliance and Chair, International Association of Sustainable Fisheries, stressed that fishermen on the Pacific Coast of the US and Canada are proud to be recognized by the MSC for their responsible stewardship of a renewable food resource for their countries and the world.

Read the full story at Fish & Information Services