State and Local

November 3, 2014 — Tougher laws to protect sea turtles could be hurting local fishermen.

From Emerald Isle to the South Carolina line, the NC Division of Marine Fisheries monitors how many sea turtles come in contact with commercial fishermen. If too many interactions occur, Marine Fisheries will shut down all gill net fishing for that area.

"We were concerned from seeing two live sea turtles on the first day of fishing," said Chris Batsavage, the protected resources section chief for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries. "If that trend continued, then we would quickly hit our allow number of sea turtle takes for the management unit down your way."

From September 25 through November 2, no gill net fishing was allowed because of two sea turtles spotted in the northern part of the state. A closure local fisherman, Randy King, does not support.

“I disagree with that," King said. "I think if this county isn't catching any turtles I don't think it should be closed."

King has been a local commercially fisherman for the past 35 year, but the recent fishing restrictions have negatively impacted his income.

Read the full story at WECT

November 1, 2014 — Anyone considering commercial fishing in Alaska as a way of life would do well to turn off reality TV and pick up “Dead Reckoning” by Dave Atcheson of Sterling. In this short but enthralling memoir, Atcheson, a veteran of many summers plying the waters off the state’s coast, offers readers a peek into the world of fishermen during three key seasons of his career.

The book offers a vivid picture of daily life onboard a fishing vessel, vacillating between hard labor and sheer tedium, as well as the inevitable personality conflicts that arise when people share close quarters. It all unfolds amid the stunning beauty along Alaska’s coast — along with the extended stretches of time off that make the lifestyle so addictive. It all culminates in a horrific account of an otherwise routine trip to Bristol Bay that unexpectedly turned into an extended disaster during which Atcheson nearly lost his life.  

Over the first half of the book, Atcheson alternates between two story threads. In one, we follow his 1997 trip to Bristol Bay, an uneventful journey spent getting to know his thoroughly professional captain and highly competent fellow crewmen, a group that would prove well prepared for the fate that awaited them.

First Alaska Job

The other story arc follows Atcheson to Alaska for his first summer in 1984, when he came north from New York state, a college student seeking adventure. Shortly after arriving in Seward, adventure found him through an acquaintance who was also looking for seasonal work.

Read the full story from Alaska Dispatch News

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. (AP) — Coastal waters in the southern part of North Carolina are reopening to anchored, large-mesh gill nets.

Officials with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources say the waters will reopen shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday. The affected waters are located between the N.C. 58 bridge to Emerald Isle and the South Carolina state line.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WECT

November 3, 2014 — Thursday’s passing of longtime Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has sparked countless stories about the beloved mayor’s dealings with fellow politicians and citizens alike.

And those stories stretch to Gloucester, where Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association and head of the regional Fishing Partnership Support Services, recalled Friday how Menino helped the Fishermen’s Wives get an inside track to The White House in their fight against federal fishing regulations.

It was 1994, Sanfilippo said Friday, and she and others in the local fishing community had not yet even met the “new” Boston mayor who had just been elected the previous fall. 

But Boston Harbor had become a flashpoint in a fight over NOAA’s push at the time for new fishing regulations that would limit fishermen’s days at sea and cast other limits most saw as a real threat to the industry. As a show of strength, Sanfilippo recalled, New Bedford fishermen had taken their boats to protest in a jammed Boston Harbor, some Gloucester fishermen followed suit, and it was “chaos,” she said.

Sanfilippo knew the fishing community had to take its case not to the city of Boston, but right to the feds. And she read a report that then-President Clinton was coming to Boston for a fund-raiser.

“We talked about going to that, what it might cost to go to that, and we found out if as something like $5,000 a plate — so we said forget that,” she recounted. Then she learned that the president would be speaking publicly at Boston Harbor Hotel, and set about plans for having some of the fishermen’s wives attend.

Those plans were set, but would anyone be able to get access to the president, to tell him of the fishermen’s plight?

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

 

November 3, 2014 — Gloucester state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, who is facing her own challenge Tuesday in a race with Rockport Republican Mike Boucher, also focused Sunday on Martha Coakley’s run for governor, disputing the existence of the “fisherman” that Republican Charlie Baker tearfully described in Tuesday’s debate.

And she also questioned why, if Baker was so moved by the alleged fisherman he met five years ago, why he has not worked to help fishermen in their communities over the course of that time as well. 

Ferrante, who grew up in a Gloucester fishing family and has worked extensively with the industry, first as an attorney and then in her three terms as a state legislator, said Sunday that she believes Baker’s characterization of the fisherman denying his sons’ pursuit of higher education has been harmful by feeding inaccurate, negative stereotypes of fishermen.

“The entire fishing industry has been buzzing about Charlie Baker’s story from the debate – I don’t believe ‘Charlie Baker’s fisherman’ exists,” Ferrante said. “If Charlie was truly moved to tears by the plight of fishermen five years ago, where has he been?

“Charlie Baker is a man of resources and contacts,” she said. “He could have helped the fishermen when it was reported that House Congressional Republicans were holding up disaster assistance for fishermen. But he didn’t. For an industry so desperate for friends and help, Charlie didn’t show up.”

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

 

November 3, 2014 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

A meeting scheduled for tonight, November 3rd in Ellsworth from 6pm to 8pm, by Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher to discuss next steps for the shrimp fishery has been cancelled due to continued power outages.
 
The meeting scheduled for November 4th in Portland will continue as planned.
 
The purpose of these meetings is to share preliminary information from the Technical Committee’s summary report and their recommendation for next season, and also to collect industry input on future management of the fishery.  
 
Time and location of tomorrow’s meeting is as follows:
 
November 4th:  Casco Bay Lines Conference Room, Portland, 6pm -8pm
 
Following the November 4th meeting, the ASMFC Northern Shrimp Section will meet November 5th at the Holiday Inn in Portland (9:30 am – 3:00 pm), and will review the 2014 stock assessment update, consider the 2015 specifications, and consider approval of the Draft Amendment 3 Public Information Document for public comment.  
 
For more information, call the Department of Marine Resources at 624-6553.

November 1, 2014 — Congress is poised to take direct aim at fish pirates by cutting them out of the seafood trade. The ultimate goal is to put a stop to the poaching of millions of tons of illegal, undocumented and unreported (IUU) fish and shellfish taken from global waters.

Led by the Alaska delegation, a Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) is likely to be signed into law by year’s end. The agreement, part of the Pirate Fishing Elimination Act negotiated by the UN and Food and Agriculture Organization in 2009, would strengthen port inspections and toughen standards for foreign flagged vessels and international shipping. By stopping the fish from reaching the market, it will reduce the incentive for poaching.

“Essentially, the PSMA relies on the principle that all fish and shellfish must be landed at some port in order to enter into trade,” said Mark Gleason, executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a harvester trade group.

For decades, no Alaska fishery has been pinched harder by illegal catches than red king crab from the Bering Sea.

“We are the poster child of what happens to your markets when it is flooded with illegal product,” Gleason said.

Last year alone 100 million pounds of pirated crab from Russia found its way into US markets. (Studies estimate that more than 30% of total seafood imports to the US were caught outside the law).

Any country that ratifies the port agreement has four primary obligations, Gleason explained. They must designate which ports foreign flagged vessels can enter; they must restrict port entry and access to port services to any vessels that have engaged in IUU fishing or support activities, including transshipment; the nation needs to conduct dockside vessel inspections in their ports, and they must share information.

Read the full story from Sit News

October 31, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Just in time — the October issue of Stellwagen Bank E-Notes has been released, including our Top 10 Halloween sanctuary species.  To view the issue, go to: http://stellwagen.noaa.gov/library/pdfs/enotes_october2014.pdf

The issue also includes information about a recent Northeast Fisheries Science Center cod assessment (including important aspects concerning Stellwagen Bank), our Great Shearwater tagging project, Whale Alert 2.0, and our exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science.

November 3, 2014 — While Louisiana fisherman harvested less seafood in 2013, the value of their catch increased over the previous year, according to a federal report.

Alaska led all states in volume and value, landing $5.8 billion pounds of seafood, valued at $1.9 billion, according to the new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Louisiana had the second most landings with 1.1 billion pounds, but its overall value was fourth behind Massachusetts and Maine at $402 million.

Commercial landings by U.S. fishermen totaled 9.9 billion pounds, a 2.5 increase, bringing in $388 million, which was up 7.6 percent, the report says.

Edible fish and shellfish landers were at 8 billion pounds, increasing by 576 million pounds compared to 2012, the report says.

There were 283 million pounds of shrimp landed nationwide, a decrease of 5 percent. That catch brought in a larger price by 15 percent compared to 2012.

Read the full story at Houma Today

November 3, 2014 — Former Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino, who presided over two decades of transformation in the city he loved, was remembered Monday at his funeral Mass as a man who built bridges and backed the underdog during a life devoted to helping people.

“He hit the neighborhoods, acting on the values that lay deep in his soul. Those values told him to stand up for people, stand up to adversity, stand up for what’s right,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said at a funeral service at Most Precious Blood church in Hyde Park.

“Tom Menino believed in underdogs. He knew what it was to be underestimated. … From a mile away, he could spot someone who needed a boost. He backed them. And when Tom Menino had your back, that’s all you needed,” Walsh said.

Governor Deval Patrick said Menino was “rightly praised as the urban mechanic,” who paid close attention to details of neighborhood services, but was also a “thinker of big things,” who had wrought major change in the city.

He also spoke about Menino’s “agenda for racial healing” and drive to make Boston a “welcoming place for people of color and immigrants.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe