Saving Seafood

Washington

Marine biologist with Pew ties to head fisheries

According to the Gloucester Times, Dr. Lubchenco, now confirmed as NOAA chief, was part of a working group of "high-profile political and scientific figures" who "helped write a political and policy agenda for the nation based on assumptions of an alarming — and widely disputed — scientific paper." The paper was published inNature in 2003 by R.A. Myers and B. Worm, and "predicted a collapse of biodiversity and an apocalyptic end to seafood-producing species by 2048 due to ‘overfishing’." NOAA nominee tied to discredited fishing report

In additional news, the Gloucester Daily Times reports:  Marine biologist with Pew ties to head fisheries

RECENT COVERAGE:

NMFS chief nominee backed Bush ‘no-fishing zone’

Pew-backed nominee inches to NOAA post

OPINION: Testing Obama’s opposition to ‘ideology’

Senate committee approves stalled NOAA nomination – Dr. Jane Lubchenco

Gloucester Daily Times Opinion: Top NOAA nominee’s Pew ties deserve full vetting

FISHERIES CONCERNS:

Pew ties cloud industry view of NOAA chief nominee

To many in the fishing industry, data that comes financed by the Pew Charitable Trusts is data to be doubted, and in Lubchenco, many in the industry see a proud Pew partisan who is about to take authority over the nation’s fisheries and its remaining fishermen and women.  Read Richard Gaines’ complete story in the Gloucester Times

The Oregonian Comments on Eastern Fisheries’ Concerns

New England fishing interests aren’t happy about Lubchenco’s ties to the Pew Charitable Trusts, which they blame for financing studies aimed at severely curtailing commercial fishing.   Read the commentary in The Oregonian

SENATE COMMITTEE HOLD:

MARCH 5 UPDATE: Obama’s science picks on hold – Read Saving Seafood’s posting in full

WASHINGTON, DC (March 3, 2009) – The nominations of two of President Obama’s top science advisers have stalled in the Senate, according to several sources, posing a challenge to the administration as it seeks to frame new policies on climate change and other environmental issues.Read the Washington Post story in full

CONFIRMATION HEARING:

WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2009) – Dr. Jane Lubchenco, nominated by President Obama to be the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Watch a video of her nomination testimony; her remarks begin at 47:20.

Senator Mel Martinez – general questions begin at 85:21; fisheries-related questions, including his quota concerns, begin at 89:04

Senator Mark Begich – general questions begin at 93:12; fisheries-related questions, including Alaska’s ban on fish farming, begin at 94:03

Senator Olympia Snowe – general questions begin at 100:30; fisheries-related questions, including the great divide between the fishing industry and regulators, begin at 105:50

Read Dr. Lubchenco’s opening statement before the U.S. Senate Committee [PDF]

 

Compliance Guide: Framework 42 suspended – but many regulations live on

GLOUCESTER, MA (February 13, 2009) – Due to the January 26, 2009 court ruling — Massachusetts v. Gutierrez — the "NE multispecies regulations implemented under Framework Adjustment 42 to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan have been suspended until further notice." However, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service, several regulations and measures are STILL IN EFFECT.  A detailed compliance guide for these ongoing regulations appear in this official NOAA / Fisheries Service document:

Official Compliance Guide:  National Marine Fisheries Service [PDF]

 

 

Lease suspensions felling fleet

The suspension of the federal days-at-sea leasing program, felled in the legal clash between an alliance of two states against the National Marine Fisheries Service in a federal courtroom, is wreaking economic havoc on the fleet based in Gloucester.

"I laid the crew off Friday," said Lady Jane owner and Capt. Russell Sherman.

Three of Sherman’s boat employees and a bookkeeper were idled in response to a freeze in a system that he expected would provide 37 days of fishing beyond the 10 he has left on his federal multispecies or groundfish permit for the 2008 fishing year that ends April 30.

Sherman said he had $11,000 in escrow for the extra days.

Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full

 

Fishery future’s in hands of courts

PORTSMOUTH, NH (February 12, 2009) — Underlying the tension that pervaded this week’s meeting of the region’s fishing interests, their representatives on a government council and the chief regulator of all fishing in New England was a clash of how to interpret the nation’s fishing law.

As such, if there is to be a once-and-for-all resolution, it will likely come from the courts, which have already been drawn into the dispute over the ultimate mandate in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. In a preliminary ruling last month, a federal judge in Boston sided with the fishing interests, but it did little more than but roil the sides and send them into head-scratching confusion. Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full

 

Activists push for offshore energy drilling ban

WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2009) — Environmental advocates urged Congress on Wednesday to reinstate the broad moratorium on offshore oil drilling, but a key congressman said on that issue "the ship may have already sailed."

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the political reality is that the broad moratorium across 85 percent of the country’s Outer Continental Shelf — lifted by Congress last fall — is unlikely to be reimposed.

But Rahall, who opened the first of three hearings on offshore drilling, said Congress may need to establish protective buffer areas and place certain regions — including some waters off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — off limits.

Read the Associated Press story in full

 

Judge’s ruling upends federal regulators, fishing industry

GLOUCESTER, MA (February 12, 2009) – Ignoring federal regulators’ pleas, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Harrington chose not to reconsider his earlier decision to suspend strict fishing rules originally established in 2006 by the Commerce Department.

While the rule suspension temporarily eases fishing for some along the eastern seaboard, it makes it impossible for others to obtain new leases to fish in federal waters. Officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service are concerned that the suspension of the rules, known as Framework 42, could exacerbate efforts to end overfishing and force them to ratchet the rebuilding of certain fish stocks. Read the Wicked Local Rockport story in full

 

Gloucester Times Says NMFS is “the Disease”

GLOUCESTER, MA (February 12, 2009) – Nobody knows yet what the final result will be regarding a federal judge’s order to suspend Framework 42, the rules governing the fishing industry.

But the recent three-day meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council in Portsmouth, N.H., did make one thing clear: On Jan. 26, when U.S. District Judge Edward Harrington ordered the suspension of Framework 42 for 60 days, he was only attacking a symptom, which was all he had the authority to attack. The disease at the core of the fight to sustain the fishery is indeed is the agency that imposes those regulations — the National Marine Fisheries Service itself. If survival of the industry and the resource are ever going to be balanced in a reasonable way, this entire rogue agency is going to have to be restructured. Right now, it is essentially a law unto itself. Read the Gloucester Daily Times opinion in full

 

Gregg Withdraws as Commerce Nominee

WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2009) – New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg has withdrawn from consideration to become Commerce Secretary.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Gregg said he has “found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me.”

Gregg, a Republican, had been President Obama’s pick to become Commerce Secretary after his first choice, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, withdrew from consideration amid a federal investigation into possible pay-to-play deals in his state.

Read the CBS News story in full

 

 

Council Rebuffs Feds

PORTSMOUTH, NH (February 11, 2009) — The regional council that sets fishery policy sided with a federal judge yesterday, asserting that Congress did not expect or want the industry brought to its knees in an effort to nurture back to health the weakest stock in the polyglot groundfish system.

In the process, the New England Fishery Management Council put itself at odds with its governmental master, the National Marine Fisheries Service, over Congress’ intent as expressed in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the governing statute for fisheries reauthorized in 2007.

The action added yet another level of uncertainty and complexity to an industry and a fishery caught in conflict between the National Marine Fisheries Service, two states within its jurisdiction suing it, the federal judge hearing the case and the council that works for and advises NMFS on regulatory policies.

Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full

For additional coverage from the Manchester Union-Leader see this story: New England Council Rejects Federal Regulators’ Position