Saving Seafood

Management & Regulation

Cape Cod Fishermen Among First to Implement Community Standards

CHATHAM, MA (February 21, 2009) – Until three years ago, John Our did what most fishermen do when they catch more cod in a day than they are allowed to bring ashore: He threw overboard thousands of pounds of the scarce and fabled fish, once so plentiful that it helped to spawn New England cities.

"I was discarding more fish per year than I was selling," Our said. The practice was doing little to replenish cod stocks, since many fish died after being returned to the sea.

Now, he is part of a new way to tackle overfishing, one that sets a yearly cod quota to be shared by the fishermen in a community and leaves it up to them to decide how much they catch each day.

Read the Boston Globe story in full

 

OPINION: Judge Finally Forces “Rogue” Agency’s Hands

The Gloucester Times observes that the "NMFS .. has been exposed as a rogue agency much more focuses in shutting down the fishery than balancing the protection of the resource with the survival of the industry."

GLOUCESTER, MA (February 19, 2009) – Gloucester’s fishing industry got some of the best news it has had in a very long time Tuesday from a federal judge — a ruling clarification that indicated fishermen may actually be allowed to work a little more, instead of constantly be told to work less.

U.S. District Judge Edward Harrington had already delivered some good news about three weeks ago, when he set aside the current regulatory structure on fishing known as Framework 42, for 60 days. The judge ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service, which imposes and enforces the regulations, to use those 60 days to give "serious consideration" to modifying the rules to allow the fishing of stocks that had recovered — an alternative regulatory format known as "mixed-stock exemption."

Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full

 

Senator Snowe lambastes interim fisheries rule

BANGOR, Maine (February 18, 2009) — Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday that an interim rule proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service would push the New England fishing industries “off a cliff.”

“We can only speculate on the drastic economic impacts that would befall coastal infrastructure, shore support, and seafood-dependent industries,” she wrote in a letter sent to James Balsiger, the acting administrator of the fisheries service.

The senator is joining Maine fishermen, industry experts and state officials in urging the fisheries service to modify its intended interim regulations, which are planned to take effect in May and likely would last until 2010.

Read the Bangor Daily News story in full

 

Interim Rule: The Reaction

THIS IS A SAVING SEAFOOD NEWS PACKAGE.  WE WILL MONITOR THE GROWING REACTION TO THE INTERIM RULE AND UPDATE THIS PAGE AS EVENTS WARRENT.

QUOTE: "We are not just advisory."  ~Massachusetts Director of Marine Fisheries Paul Diodati

Massachusetts’ director of marine fisheries, Paul Diodati, released a letter to NMFS’ regional director Patricia Kurkul suggesting her policies reflected federal arrogance and found signs that NMFS was operating in ways not intended by Magnuson. "We are not just advisory," Diodati wrote to Kurkul on Tuesday. Quoting from Magnuson, he noted that NMFS was required to "work in tandem" with the states "to exercise sound judgment in the stewardship of fishery resources … which take into account the social and economic needs of the states."

NMFS faces questions from leaders, fishermen

GLOUCESTER, MA (February 20, 2009) – The alliance of fishing interests and state officials that convinced a federal judge to strike down limits put on the industry by the National Marine Fishery Service has condemned an impending regulatory scheme as poor policy, based on poor science and a misread of Congress.

The Massachusetts director of marine fisheries predicted Congress would issue a "clarification" to put NMFS back on track. From many quarters, NMFS was warned that the interim — or emergency rule — that it intends to implement by May 1, the start of the fishing year, would further weaken and destabilize the industry without leading to a healthier fishery. Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full

Congressional coalition fights harsh interim fishing plan

WASHINGTON, DC (February 19, 2009) – A coalition of nine New England congressmen is opposing an interim groundfishing rule proposed by federal regulators and criticized by fishermen who say the rule is too restrictive and will devastate the industry if it takes effect May 1 as expected.

The coalition has written a letter to the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service asking him to scrap the proposed rule in exchange for alternative measures recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council. Read the Standard-Times story in full

 

In a related news story, George Lapointe, Maine fisheries commissioner, observed that “The proposed regulations do not balance the need to rebuild the stocks with the current and very pressing need to preserve what remains of New England’s groundfish fishery and associated infrastructure,” he wrote. “There is little hope that there will be any semblance of a viable commercial fishing industry left to benefit from Amendment 16.”  Read more on this in the Bangor Daily News

 

UPDATE:  Read the congressional coalition’s letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service [PDF]

UPDATE 2:  New England senators protest proposed fishing rules – Read the Associated Press story in full

 

 

 

Environmentalists ask Congress to revisit oil drilling ban

WASHINGTON, DC (February 15, 2009) — Environmental advocates are urging lawmakers to reinstate the national ban on offshore drilling that Congress had lifted only last fall.

Members of the House Natural Resources Committee were told last week that offshore drilling would cause irreparable damage to oceanic ecosystems and strike an economic blow to the country’s fishing industry.

"Offshore drilling is a bad idea, a horrible idea," actor Ted Danson said Wednesday, testifying as a board member of Oceana, an ocean conservancy organization.

Read the Standard-Times story in full

 

Seafarers’ city ponders heading

PORTLAND, Maine (February 16, 2009) – To the east stretches Portland’s city-owned pier, where a blockbuster proposal for badly needed renovations and development fell through last month. To the west, the main cargo terminal lies dormant. And in the center of this waterfront of erstwhile seafaring renown, the clusters of privately owned piers that link city and harbor exhibit various stages of disrepair and decay, compounded by the woes of the once-thriving fishing and lobster boats they berth.

As Maine’s largest city weathers the blows of a deep recession, the port that inspired its name has suffered the worst, and Portlanders are taking a hard look at how to preserve their city’s heritage in a world where oceanfront property increasingly takes precedence over the maritime industry.

And while Portland does not want to lose its identity as an ocean port, the question is how a vibrant city of top-of-the-line restaurants, upscale shops, and white-collar businesses should keep its fading marine industries alive.

Read The Boston Globe story in full

 

Proposed flounder rules threaten Montauk fleet

EAST HAMPTON, NY (February 17, 2009) – East End fishermen could be caught in the net of a federal ban on winter flounder fishing that is set to go into effect in May. They fear the ban will make it impossible for trawler captains to harvest for other ground fish, which would paralyze Montauk’s fishing fleet.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed the ban for the Southern New England and Mid-Atlantic fisheries, which includes New York State. The regulatory agency stopped taking comments on the proposal on Tuesday, February 17.

The area, which is just to the east of Long Island, would be closed to fishing boats that have federal ground fish permits. Currently, there are about two dozen such boats berthed in Montauk.

Read The East Hampton Press story in full

 

Next fishing rules target to be catch, not ‘days’

GLOUCESTER, MA (February 17, 2009) – Even as battles in and out of federal court rage over the controls system long used by the federal government to regulate the North Atlantic fishery, a different future is taking form for the core of the industry that survives.

Perhaps as soon as May 2010, the current business model — based on National Marine Fisheries commitment to regulate every move of each entrepreneurial individual with a federal groundfish permit and a boat — will be junked.

In its place, the vast majority of boat-owning permit holders — after coalescing voluntarily into 19 business cooperatives known as "sectors" — will fish under mandates that are largely of their own making. The new mandates will feature a hard quota or "total allowable catch," rather than the current, effort-based regulations that limit fishermen’s days at sea and their access to specific fishing grounds.

Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full