Saving Seafood

State and Local

ALASKA: St. Paul seafood processing facility unlikely to reopen for surprise snow crab fishery

October 11, 2024 — Alaska processor Trident Seafoods announced Monday that it probably won’t be processing crab in the Pribilof Island community of St. Paul this season.

That comes after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s decision to reopen the snow crab or opilio fishery after a two-year closure. The state’s announcement on Friday surprised many fishermen.

It was also a surprise to Trident. Shannon Carroll is the company’s Alaska director of public affairs and fisheries development. On Monday, he told the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that Trident wasn’t expecting the opening.

“To be frank, we never imagined, even a few weeks ago, being in this position,” he said. “And I want to be clear that it’s not a signal that we’re pulling out of St. Paul or pulling out of crab.”

Harvesters will have roughly 4.7 million pounds of snow crab to catch this season. That’s just a sliver of what they’ve historically harvested.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

DELAWARE: Oct. 22 hearing set on dismissal of offshore wind appeal

October 11, 2024 — A South Bethany property owner has filed an appeal challenging the state’s review of two federal consistency certifications for the proposed US Wind offshore wind project that’s planned for the ocean waters off the coast of Maryland, but has a landfall connection north of Bethany Beach at 3R’s Beach. The state’s Environmental Appeals Board has scheduled Tuesday, Oct. 22 hearing on a motion to dismiss the appeal.

Edward Bintz, a Virginia-based attorney who owns property in South Bethany, issued an appeal in August of Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Shawn Garvin’s decision to conditionally concur with two certifications made by US Wind saying it met the state’s Coastal Management Program’s federal consistency policies and procedures. The two certifications are related to the project’s Construction and Operations Plan and the USACE Permits/Authorizations.

Bintz argues that US Wind’s analysis violates the CMP by failing to take into account reasonably foreseeable effects from the project. He also argues that DNREC’s published public notice failed to announce the availability of the federal certifications as well other public notice issues.

Read the full article at the Cape Gazette

Seafood industry DEI initiatives showing staying power

October 11, 2024 — Many U.S. companies across industries swiftly began adopting ambitious diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals in 2020, but work in the field has largely slowed as businesses grow wary of boycotts and other forms of backlash.

However, in the seafood industry, DEI remains integral to many companies’ sustainability goals, according to experts engaged in ensuring the sector supports these types of initiatives.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NEW YORK: Community Offshore Wind partners with fisheries to donate fresh seafood

October 11, 2024 — Community Offshore Wind is teaming up with local fisheries and hunger relief organizations to deliver thousands of fresh seafood meals to families in need across Long Island, including Long Beach, this fall.

“Commercial fishing is an important industry for New York’s long-term economic growth, and it is critical that offshore wind developers work closely with fishermen to ensure their projects share the waters off our coast effectively,” Steven Wong, owner of Aqua Best Seafood Market, said. “By working with us to purchase the fish for these donations directly from regional fishermen, Community Offshore Wind has shown that they are serious about supporting the industry and delivering clean energy in a way that will not negatively impact our marine ecosystem.”

Read the full article at the Long Island Herald

 

DELAWARE: CRI brings legal action over offshore wind farms

October 11, 2024 — The Caesar Rodney Institute’s Center for Energy & Environment, along with two regional watermen concerned about offshore wind farms’ potential impacts on the local fisheries, have filed a lawsuit against DNREC, citing two technical points they say are related to protecting the inland bays and potentially overriding county zoning ordinances.

The Brady Legal Group and founding partner Jane Brady have bought the legal action against the state agency for allegedly not following its own regulations in permitting offshore wind.

Brady — who was Delaware’s attorney general from 1995 to 2005, elected as a Republican — filed the complaint, which lists the Caesar Rodney Institute, Paul “Wes” Townsend and George Merrick as the complainants. The suit is challenging DNREC’s authority to grant permits to U.S. Wind for construction at 3R’s beach and for the use of wetlands and subaqueous lands by running cable beneath the Delaware Inland Bays to a power substation.

Read the full article at the Costal Point

WASHINGTON: Environmental settlement to close two Washington fish hatchery programs

October 11, 2024 — An environmental lawsuit accusing federally-funded fish hatchery programs of contributing to the decline of threatened salmon and steelhead and endangering the orcas that prey on wild salmon ended on Thursday in a settlement that will see the closure of two Washington state fishery programs and the reduction of a third.

Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler filed a lawsuit against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in April, arguing that the department’s Lower Columbia River basin hatchery programs violated the Endangered Species Act.

Now, the Washougal River winter steelhead hatchery program is set to close at the beginning of next year, according to the consent decree, which both parties filed in September and U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle signed on Thursday.

The Deep River net pens coho salmon program has until April to close, and the Kalama River/Fallert Creek Chinook salmon hatchery program will limit its release to 1.9 million fish in 2025.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

Biden-Harris Administration, NOAA invest more than $3.3 million to launch nationwide marine debris survey

October 10, 2024 — Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced an award of more than $3.3 million in funding to support the NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project Nationwide Survey. This funding will support a one-year, standalone, nationwide marine debris assessment, done in partnership with 1stMission LLC, that aims to broaden the understanding of marine debris, including the types and amounts of debris found on U.S. shorelines. These funds are provided by NOAA’s Climate-Ready Coasts initiative through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“Marine debris poses significant threats to water quality, marine habitats and the economic prosperity of coastal communities nationwide,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, this investment of over $3 million will help us understand how marine debris affects our shorelines, expand protections for marine environments and the industries that depend on them, and support a healthier and more prosperous future for coastal communities.”

The nationwide initiative builds on more than a decade of collaborative monitoring efforts with partner agencies, community groups and participants through the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project, as well as an earlier federal initiative known as the National Marine Debris Monitoring Program. The data collected through this comprehensive monitoring effort will be made freely available to the public.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford opens expanded North Terminal, years in the making, to support port industries

October 10, 2024 — New Bedford celebrated the opening of the North Terminal expansion Tuesday on the city’s waterfront.

The expansion is one of the main elements of a decade-long redevelopment plan for the Port of New Bedford, and it aims to serve multiple industries, including commercial fishing and offshore wind.

The project added about 5.5 acres to the terminal and 660 feet of new bulkhead along the water. The bulkhead is now 965 feet long.

Federal, state, and local officials gathered at the terminal for a ribbon cutting.

Gordon Carr, executive director of the New Bedford Port Authority, said the expanded terminal will strengthen the port’s competitiveness.

Read the full article at CAI

MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket evaluates economic, environmental fallout from turbine blade

October 10, 2024 — Three months after a blade from an offshore wind turbine near Martha’s Vineyard fell, Nantucket is addressing the failure’s economic and environmental impact.

“While our community is committed to doing our part to address climate change, we have had to confront the very real and lasting adverse impacts of offshore wind development,” the Nantucket Select Board wrote in a letter to the Cape island’s residents on Wednesday.

Read the full article at Mass Live

MASSACHUSETTS: $42M New Bedford waterfront port project could attract commercial fishing, offshore wind

October 10, 2024 — There’s a maritime version of the old Mark Twain adage to buy land because they’re not making any more of it.

New Bedford Port Authority Executive Director Gordon Carr said it goes something like this: “Waterfront industrial property needs to be preserved at all costs because they’re not making any more of it.”

He added with a smile, “And while I tend to agree with that, today, welcome to New Bedford — because we did make more of it.”

The remark drew applause from the crowd gathered under a tent at 242 Herman Melville Blvd. on the New Bedford waterfront Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the North Terminal Extension Project.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times