On Wednesday, June 2, 2010, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke issued the following release: WASHINGTON – U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today determined there has been a fishery disaster in the Gulf of Mexico due to the economic impact on commercial and recreational fisheries from the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The affected area adds Florida to the earlier determination announced on May 24 for the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. “Today I signed a fishery disaster declaration for Florida for the same reasons I declared a fishery disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. All four of these Gulf Coast states have the potential to suffer significant economic hardship as a result of the BP oil spill,” Locke said. “Today’s disaster determination will help ensure that the Federal government is in a position to mobilize the full range of assistance that Florida fishermen and fishing communities may need.” Locke made the Florida determination under Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The declaration was made in response to requests from Florida Governor Charlie Crist and U.S. Senator Bill Nelson based on the loss of access to many commercial fisheries and the existing and anticipated environmental damage from this unprecedented event. Since May 2, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has closed portions of federal waters affected by the spill to commercial and recreational fishing. This closure area, which is based on actual observations and the scientific trajectory of the spill, now includes 36.6 percent of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, largely between Louisiana at the mouth of the Mississippi and the waters off Florida’s Pensacola Bay. The southern boundary of this closure runs southward to Cuban waters. “We stand with America’s fishermen, their families and businesses in impacted coastal communities during this challenging time,” Locke said. “Commercial and recreational fishing provides vital jobs to the region and is essential to the Gulf Coast’s unique culture and heritage.” Commercial fishermen in the Gulf harvested more than 1 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 2008. In addition, there are approximately 5.7 million recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico region who took 25 million fishing trips in 2008. The administration has requested $15 million of supplemental funding as a backstop to address this disaster, as well as $5 million of economic development assistance through the Economic Development Administration. In addition, the administration is requesting unemployment coverage for this disaster, and the Small Business Administration is offering economic injury disaster loans, which can help fishermen and other affected businesses. However, the administration expects that BP and any other responsible parties will cover the full costs of economic damages to and restoration of these fisheries.
June 9-10 Commercial Marine Expo – Preview by Show Director Ted Hugger
Each week, on WBSM in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bob Vanasse of Saving Seafood joins host Phil Paleologos to discuss issues related to the fisheries with news-making guests.
In this episode, we discuss the upcoming June 9-10 Commercial Marine Expo with Show Director Ted Hugger.
Oxford Professor Cites Misregulation Aiding Plunder of Fish, Other Resources
WASHINGTON, Jun 2, 2010 (IPS) – The resources society derives from nature have been horribly mismanaged and this will lead to the children of the world's poorest people remaining in poverty, according to Paul Collier. The easiest of these resources to regulate is fish, but we have not even managed to get that right, he said.
The Oxford professor and development expert spoke Tuesday in Washington about his new book, "The Plundered Planet: Why We Must – and How We Can – Manage Nature for Global Prosperity".
One of its chapters discusses the failure of governments to effectively regulate fishing industries – which he says is a microcosm of the missteps we have taken in the management of natural resources.
Read the IPS News Agency story in full
New Jersey lawmakers consider ‘right to fish’ law
Lawmakers in southern New Jersey want to give fishing operations the same legal protections as farms.
The Garden State has had a right-to-farm law on the books since 1983, giving farmers the presumptive right to go about their noisy and sometimes smelly work routinely without interference from neighbors.
A measure that passed the state Assembly last month would give similar protections to fishing ports, commercial docks and fish-processing plants.
Read the pressofAtlanticCity.com story in full
Governor Declares a Commercial Fishery Failure in Florida due to BP Oil Spill
The slick from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill edges closer to Florida's westernmost panhandle, yet as of this writing Florida beaches and waterways remain clean and oil free. Florida's gulf coast guides indicate the weather and fishing are better now than last year at this time yet they are experiencing massive cancellations of charters due to rumors and speculation about the oil spill's effects on Florida waters.
The oil spill's negative impact on the charter, tourism and commercial seafood industries has prompted Florida Governor Charlie Crist to send a letter to the United States Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke requesting him to make a declaration of a commercial fishery failure in Florida under the provisions of Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
"…news reports helped foster the mistaken impression that the entire Gulf of Mexico has been tainted by the oil spill. This misinformation has affect tourism and seafood consumption in Florida and resulted in severe economic impacts throughout the state." claims Governor Crist.
Read the full story at World Fishing Network TV
Nelson asks again for the Obama administration to put DOD in charge of oil spill situation
Florida Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson today wrote to President Obama about getting the U.S. military involved with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill situation, even though some officials have questioned what more they could do that isn’t being done.
Nelson wrote:
While the Coast Guard, under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Guard both are involved, it is my belief that the broader assets and command and control capability of the Department of Defense could better translate your directives into prompt, effective action.
I believe such an approach would help protect people’s livelihoods, as well as our coastlines, wetlands and fisheries from the damages of this oil spill. Certainly no one thinks the problem in the Gulf is going to be solved in a few days. But Americans feel that their government is taking an all-hands-on-deck response.
Read more on this in the Daily Loaf blog
Florida fishing resource is not in trouble but fishermen are
Florida fishing guides are reporting fishing better than last year but charter bookings are down.
One charter captain on Florida’s west coast said, “I’m running the same boats at the same location with the same marketing program as last year and with weather and fishing that was actually better this year than in May of 2009. I have had a significant decline in bookings for the month as compared to the same month last year.”
Florida would like to get the word out that there are fish to be caught, hotels for sleeping and restaurants for eating. All are open for business, but needing customers.
Read the Orlando Examiner story in full
Oil spill cleanup needs more government oversight, Snowe says
U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe criticized the Obama administration's role in the cleanup of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico during a visit to an Auburn manufacturing plant on Wednesday.
Snowe said government officials should be overseeing British Petroleum's cleanup efforts and working to expedite the process.
“It's ridiculous that we're relying on BP to make these decisions,” she said. “It's a gap in leadership. Here we have a national catastrophe on our hands and nobody from government is interacting with (BP) on these key decisions to make sure they can hasten the disposition of these booms and make sure that they're deployed as soon as possible.”
Read the Sun Journal story in full
Oceana urges strict control on trawl and seine fishing
MARINE conservation organisation Oceana is warning of high non-compliance with the Mediterranean Regulation that came into force yesterday (June 2) because the European fleet rejects the new measures for nets and distances from the coast.
The European trawl and seine fleets must use a new mesh size and, like dredges, must operate farther from the coast to target bivalves. But Oceana says the Regulation does not guarantee sustainable fishing because it only establishes minimum sizes for 27 marine species, leaving important habitats such as coral, gorgonian and sponge fields unprotected.
“We cannot let another failure in the application of European fishing legislation for the Mediterranean happen. Control must be strict and exceptions must be minimal,” said Xavier Pastor, executive director of Oceana Europe. “The new measures are necessary but still insufficient to achieve long-term sustainability of fishing activities and reduce the overexploitation to which many Mediterranean stocks are subjected.”
Read the FISHnewsEU story in full
NMFS sets meetings for fishermen’s mandate questions
The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced a series of meetings designed to combine feedback and training for the groundfishing fleet, which has been struggling for a month now with a new management regime and what fishermen say are confounding mandates.
The most aggravating — according to sources at the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, the founder of 12 fishing cooperatives or sectors under the new catch share management format — are the on-board observer requirements.
Although the government requires observers on 38 percent of the boats working under sectors, Richard Burgess, captain of the fixed gear sector from Gloucester and owner of a four-boat gillnet fishing business, said the observers are not ready for their work.
Read the Gloucester Times story in full