Saving Seafood

Law

Two groups appeal the selection of new offshore wind projects for New Jersey, citing cost

March 11, 2024 — Two homeowners’ groups are challenging New Jersey’s preliminary approval of two new offshore wind power projects, saying they would be unlawfully costly to electricity customers.

Protect Our Coast New Jersey and Defend Brigantine Beach and Downbeach filed an appeal to the approval Tuesday in state court, saying that power contracts granted to the project developers violate state law.

The state Board of Public Utilities in January chose Attentive Energy LLC and Leading Light Wind LLC to build offshore wind projects.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

‘We cannot fish in a wind farm’: Local fishermen file lawsuit over offshore wind project

March 11, 2024 — Many people in Morro Bay have mixed feelings about a planned offshore wind project. Now, a lawsuit has been filed.

The Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization and the Port San Luis Commercial Fisherman’s Association claim some rules and regulations related to the project have not been followed.

The Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization was incorporated in 1972 and has around 100 members.

“We’ve been here for a while and we’ve got an incredibly good reputation in all of those years, and we are very proud of it,” said Jeremiah O’Brien, Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization Vice President.

Read the full article at KSBY

Fishermen accused of herring fraud face federal trial

March 11, 2024 — On March 7, five individuals charged with a multi-year scheme of selling unreported herring and forging fishing records began trial in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine. According to The Courier-Gazette, the trial is expected to last at least nine days.

The five defendants who pleaded not guilty are Glenn Robbins of Eliot, Maine; Neil Herrick of Rockland, Maine; Stephen Little of Warren, Maine; Ethan Chase of Portsmouth, N.H., and Jason Parent of Owls Head, Maine and Western Sea Inc. Some additional defendants previously pleaded guilty.

The fishermen and seafood companies were charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, and obstruction of justice in connection with the multi-year scheme, according to the Penobscot Bay Pilot. The indictment was originally filed on Jan. 27, 2022.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Delmarva Watermen File Lawsuit Challenging New Rockfish Regulations

March 11, 2024 — Delmarva Fisheries Association Inc. (DFA) and Maryland Charter Boat Association (MCBA) have filed a formal lawsuit challenging the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) recent mandates that would reduce recreational fishing limits for striped bass (or rockfish) by more than 50%.

As WBOC’s Lauren Miller previously reported, ASMFC’s new regulations would reduce the recreational catch limit on striped bass from two bass 19-31 inches per person to one fish 19-24 inches per person. The new rules are currently slated to take effect May 1st. On the commercial side, fishermen would face a 7% reduction in harvest limits.

Read the full article at WBOC

US federal appeals court orders NOAA to review Gulf of Mexico red grouper quota allocations

March 6, 2024 — A U.S. federal appeals court is requiring NOAA to review red grouper reallocations the group made under its Amendment 53 decision issued in May 2022.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico commercial fishermen sued NOAA’s NMFS the same month, alleging the reallocation of red grouper catch shares illegally favored the recreational-fishing sector via a flawed formula that did not comply with legal requirements.  Amendment 53 reduced the commercial allocation of red grouper caught in the Gulf of Mexico to 59.3 percent – down from 76 percent – while increasing the recreational-fishing sector’s allocation from 24 percent to 40.7 percent.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Court Finds Red Grouper Reallocation Was Flawed, Remands to NMFS

March 5, 2024 — The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance today issued the following statement on the decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remand Amendment 53 (Red Grouper Reallocation) back to the National Marine Fisheries Service:

Two years ago a coalition of commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico sued the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for reallocating red grouper fishing quota from the commercial sector to the recreational sector.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

Labeling lawsuits reshaping sustainable seafood marketing strategies

February 21, 2024 — A series of lawsuits related to sustainability claims and eco-labels have changed the seafood industry’s approach to marketing sustainability bona fides. Lawsuits filed against Mowi, Gorton’s, ALDI, Conagra, Bumble Bee Foods, and Red Lobster are either pending or have resulted in settlements.

The suits should be a wake-up call to the seafood industry that it needs to change its marketing practices, according to Arlin Wasserman – the founder and managing director of Changing Tastes, a seafood industry consultancy working at the intersection of sustainability, public health, information technology, demographics, and the changing role of the culinary professional. Wasserman, who was previously the vice president of sustainability at foodservice provider Sodexo, recently discussed how companies can adapt and modernize their marketing campaigns with SeafoodSource. 

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Portion of Washington hydroelectric dam harms salmon and must be removed, federal judge rules

February 21, 2024 — A portion of a dam on the Puyallup River in Washington, operated by the utility company Electron Hydro, must be removed because it harms fish protected by the Endangered Species Act, a federal judge ruled Friday morning.

In December 2020, Electron Hydro attempted to replace a central portion of the dam, which lies on the Puyallup River near Tacoma. A temporary bypass channel was lined with field turf, rubber and other materials. Then it ruptured, spilling its contents into the river.

Once authorities were notified of the spill, Electron Hydro was ordered to clean up the river before continuing any construction on the dam. Where the temporary bypass channel once stood, Electron erected a temporary rock dam which remains in place to this day.

The Puyallup Tribe, a federally recognized tribe in western Washington, sued Electron Hydro in 2020, claiming that the company polluted the river with toxic materials when the the temporary bypass ruptured.

The tribe also claimed the rock dam impeded the upstream travel and spawning of endangered Chinook salmon, bull trout and steelhead trout. This amounts to an illegal taking of the fish, the tribe says, because Electron Hydro does not possess permits to take any of the fish.

In an 11-page opinion, Senior U.S. District Judge John Coughenour found the tribe presented extensive evidence that the rock dam impedes safe passage for the fish. (Electron Hydro had not argued otherwise.) Since the case is an Endangered Species Act case, he wrote, the tribe needs only to prove that irreparable injury has occurred.

A Reagan appointee, Coughenour pointed to evidence presented by the tribe of “attraction flows” — that is, accelerated water which attracts migrating fish to the rock structure and away from the fish ladder that would allow them to continue upstream.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

Massachusetts lobstermen sue NOAA over restricted fishing area

February 15, 2024 — The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) has launched a new lawsuit against NOAA over proposed permanent area closures related to protecting the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, soon after the Maine lobster industry scored a court win over NOAA rules.

The MLA submitted its lawsuit on 9 February, claiming NOAA’s plan to permanently close the Massachusetts Restricted Area Wedge – and include the wedge in the Massachusetts Restricted Area annually from 1 February to 30 April – is unlawful under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2023. The MLA called the move a “continuation of NOAA’s unlawful conduct” in a press release about the issue.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource