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Frank to hold fishing meeting in D.C.
NEW BEDFORD, MA (December 4, 2008) – Representatives of the city’s groundfishing industry are headed to Washington, D.C., to speak with federal regulators about fishing policy concerns raised during a May summit in New Bedford.
Topping the agenda are three key concerns: how to maximize the harvest of healthy fish stocks; how to reduce bycatch, or fish caught unintentionally and thrown overboard (usually dead or dying) due to regulatory limits; and how to manage large swaths of ocean that have been closed to fishing for years.
Read the Standard-Times story in full
F&W staff cuts could hurt RI’s council, ASMFC representation
NARRAGANSETT, RI (October 2008) – State budget problems have dramatically reduced staffing levels at the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife (F&W) to the point that the agency no longer has personnel available to serve on advisory panels and attend meetings important to the needs of the fishing industry.
According to the minutes of the Aug. 4 meeting of the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council, F&W Chief Michael Lapisky said the marine fisheries section of F&W had been hit the hardest by staff cuts.
Read the Commercial Fisheries News story in full
GARM highlights groundfish gains, losses
PROVIDENCE, RI (October, 2008) – Commercial fishermen have made great strides in rebuilding biomass and reducing fishing mortality on several important groundfish stocks. However, a number of other stocks are still short of their biomass and fishing mortality targets.
The New England Fishery Management Council heard this mixed report during a special two-day meeting held Sept. 3-4 in Providence, where Paul Rago of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Northeast Fisheries Science Center presented the findings of the third and latest Groundfish Assessment Review Meeting (GARM), which wrapped up at the end of August.
Read the Commercial Fisheries News story in full
Senator Snowe: Maine’s fishermen in trouble
Maine’s groundfishing industry could be regulated "out of existence" if federal regulators aren’t careful, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, warned yesterday at a field meeting in Portland.
Snowe’s comment was in response to a plan proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service to temporarily reduce the number of days New England’s groundfishing fleet is allowed at sea from around 48 to 40, or by 18%, to rebuild depleted fish stocks. Snowe held a meeting of the Senate’s subcommittee on Oceans, Atmospheres, Fisheries and the Coast Guard in Portland yesterday to listen to the public’s opinions on the cuts proposed for 2009. In 1990, Maine had about 350 groundfishing boats that worked about 116 days a year, but only 75 or so operate today, according to a press release from Snowe’s office.
Read the MainBiz Online story in full
Testimony: Maine’s Groundfish Industry Could Collapse
PORTLAND, Maine (October 14, 2008) — At its current pace, Maine’s groundfish industry is on the verge of collapse, according to testimony from the Maine fishing industry.
Industry members testified at a hearing Tuesday chaired by U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, D-Maine, that most fishermen fear new proposed regulations will mean even fewer boats along the Maine coast.
Read the WMTW-TV story in full
LETTER: Delay fishing Amendment 16 and use sectors
NEW BEDFORD, MA (October 10, 2008) – Our fisheries management system is wasteful. The regulations actually force fishermen to throw overboard huge quantities of valuable fish. Last year, because of regulations, more than 50 percent of the cod that were caught had to be thrown back dead. This is a sin, particularly given the financial condition of the fishing industry and the need to conserve our stocks.
We have all read over the past decade that the fishing industry is in trouble financially and that the vessels will be out of business if the system doesn't change immediately, but we have had a huge reduction in our fleet from 1,000 vessels to 575 vessels in the last 15 years. During the same period, landings of groundfish have been well below 50 percent, but the reduction was done gradually, and fishermen, being very creative, did what they had to do to adjust to the cuts. And now we are anticipating further cuts that this time are certain to cripple the economic structure of the Massachusetts groundfish fisheries.
Read this commentary in full in SouthCoastToday.com
Snowe: Further fishing cuts catastrophic
PORTLAND, Maine (October 15, 2008) — Sen. Olympia Snowe says plans to cut the number of days that groundfishing boats are permitted to spend at sea next year "would be a death knell" for New England’s fishing industry.
"The horizon before us is ominous," the Maine Republican warned Tuesday at a field hearing before the Senate subcommittee on oceans, atmospheres, fisheries and the Coast Guard.
Read the Associated Press story in full
Midcoast Maine fishermen: ‘The future is now!’
PORT CLYDE, Maine (October 14, 2008) — PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Glen Libby, chair of the Midcoast Fishermen’s Association (MFA), will express his vision for the future of Maine’s groundfish fishery at U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe’s field hearing on the sustainability of Maine’s groundfishing industry at 1:00 p.m. today, October 14, at City Hall in Portland, Maine.
Given the success of its Community Supported Fisheries program (CSF), the MFA sees a tremendous opportunity for conservation and positive economic change for Maine’s groundfish industry. Sector management, now being promoted by the New England Fishery Management Council, is planned for implementation in time for the 2010-fishing season.
Read the official press release in full at CBS News Marketwatch