State and Local

October 12, 2014 — The 2014 Working Waterfront Festival held Sept. 27 and 28 featured a variety of competitions throughout the weekend. Participants tested their mettle in whaleboat and survival suit races; a tugboat muster; fishing skills such as net mending, splicing, link squeezing, and scallop shucking; and a seafood throwdown. Each event showcased a variety of industry skills, engaging the public in learning about different aspects of the fishing industry.

The Buzzards Bay Rowing Club hosted whaleboat races on Saturday morning. Tropicans won "Best Dressed" and "Most Theatrical," while Shiverin' Timbers were deemed "Most Enthusiastic." Race results can be found on the club website, www.buzzardsbayrowing.org, under Events.

Area tugs converged on the harbor Saturday afternoon for the annual tugboat muster organized by Charlie Mitchell, captain of the Tug Jaguar, and emceed by his brother Bob, of R.A. Mitchell Company. While not a formal contest, tug crews showed their skill and the strength of their boats of all sizes with demonstrations of hawser tossing, turning, and pushing.

Rodney Avila and Ted Williams of Hercules SLR US presented safety demos including a life raft deployment and man overboard drill, as well as a survival suit race to give visitors a sense of the dangers of commercial fishing and the safety protocol that fishermen practice to remain safe at sea.

On Saturday ,groundfishing skills were highlighted with a net-mending competition emceed by net designer Tor Bendiksen of Reidar's Manufacturing, and a rope splicing contest emceed by Barbara Merry of Marlinspike Artist. Winners of the net mending competition were Meghan Lapp, Geoffrey Hatfield and Sarah Fortin, while Kevin Curole of Grand Isle, Louisiana, won the splicing contest.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — October 11, 2014 — The Division of Marine Fisheries said it will cap the amount of disaster relief available to individuals who hold groundfishing permits — essentially cutting in half the amount of money destined for one man.

Boat owner Carlos Rafael threatened to sue the state for reneging on the $617,500 he says he's due — or $32,500, 19 times over.

"I will straighten 'em out," said Rafael, sitting in his South Front street office and phoning his lawyer.

Congress set aside $32.8 million for relief following the declaration of the Northeast groundfish disaster. The first third was destined for the holders of qualifying permits, who would get $32,500 per permit, regardless of how many were held by a single individual or entity.

Friday's announcement changes the rules, capping at 10.9 the number of payments an individual can receive.

Rafael, who with his wife holds 18 qualifying permits, contends he's the only one who will be affected by the new rule. A state spreadsheet with the names of permit holders who have already received payments shows that most recipients are connected with one or two permits. The largest number of permits tied to any one person on the list is six.

Paul Diodati, director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the money saved by capping payments will roll over to a second "bucket" of relief funds, aimed at those in the industry not covered by the first bucket, including potentially deckhands, shoreside businesses and permit holders who didn't meet eligibility requirements.

Read the full story from The New Bedford Standard-Times

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] — October 10, 2014 — Central Maine Cold Storage is a new custom freezing and storage facility for the seafood industry, located in Bucksport, Maine.

"I commend Central Maine Cold Storage for finding a cost-efficient way to meet the needs of Maine seafood harvesters who would have otherwise continued to send their fish to Canadian facilities," said Governor Paul R. LePage.

This new facility brings custom food freezing and storage capacity closer to Maine lobster harvesting operations.

Central Maine Cold Storage saw a void in the market for freezing the seafood harvested from Maine's waters, with between 60 and 70 percent of these products being processed by Canadian facilities. Central Maine Cold Storage now offers an on-demand service of custom freezing and packaging to Maine seafood harvesters.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Michael Ramsingh — October 10, 2014 — Alaska's snow crab fishing quota for the 2014-15 fishing season, which starts up next week, was raised 25 percent from last season's total or by nearly 14 million pounds.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced this season's total Bering Sea snow crab quota at 67.95 million pounds. The catch will be allocated between the IFQ holders and CDQ groups. 61.155 million pounds will go to IFQ, with the remaining 6.795 million pounds given to the CDQ groups.

Fishermen will commence the fishing season at noon Alaska time on October 15. The fishery will remain open through May 15, 2015 in the Eastern subdistrict and through May 31, 2015 in the Western subdistrict.

This marks the third Alaskan crab fishery to see this season's allowable harvest bumped up significantly. The state's red king crab quota was raised 16 percent to 9.986 million pounds. Meanwhile the Tanner or Bairdi crab catch will be the highest since 1993 at 15.1 million pounds.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

October 9, 2014 — When seafood lovers think Virginia, they think oysters and blue crabs — two iconic species of the Chesapeake Bay.

But when it comes to seafood revenue, neither the oyster nor the blue crab is the cash cow that the little sea scallop represents for the commonwealth.

In fact, sea scallops — which aren't even fished in Virginia waters — account for the lion's share of the total value of Virginia landings, outpacing other species by millions of dollars every year.

"It's kind of the silent fishery in Virginia," said marine biologist David Rudders at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in Gloucester Point. "You ride down the road and you see crab pots next to a river or creek. You see a lot of evidence of oysters. But scallops — you would never know they're there."

But they are there, by the billions, lying on the deep ocean floor. And when it comes to Virginia fisheries, they're pearls of great value.

Last year, sea scallops brought in $32.6 million at dockside, compared to $24.2 million for the blue crabs that constitute the state's second-most valuable fishery. Landing figures come from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC).

It's not that sea scallops are harvested in more massive numbers. In fact, Virginia watermen hauled in 18 million pounds of blue crabs last year, six times more than the 3 million pounds of scallop meat.

Read the full story from the Daily Press

October 9, 2014 — Dominic Nicastro, 64, a father of three and grandfather of five, was a lifelong fisherman when fishing vessels numbered into the hundreds and landed millions of pounds of fish here daily.

Jay VanDerpool, 47, a father of two, continues to make his living from the sea as a Rockport lobsterman.

Three Giacalone brothers run a seafood business at Fisherman’s Wharf on the Inner Harbor.

These men are among the 154 faces portrayed in 71 photographs featured in the new exhibition”Portraits of a Working Waterfront” at the Cape Ann Museum. The show was designed to illustrate the maritime web of relationships that exist in Gloucester, the nation’s oldest seaport. Generations of Cape Ann families have made their living with jobs connected to the ocean and the aquatic chain of jobs continues to evolve into the 21st century as the fishing industry responds to ever-changing government regulations and the resulting economic fallout. 

The portraits represent the fishermen who work offshore and those who work at the businesses onshore, as well as their wives, children and a host of others in between whose livelihood depends on the fishermen’s success at sea. Although fishing tends to be a male-dominated industry, several women are front and center, including Viking Gustafson of the Gloucester Marine Railways, and Ann Molloy of the family-run Neptune’s Harvest, a fish fertilizer producer.  

The show opens Saturday at the museum, which went beyond its usual parameters to reach out to a segment of the community who may not see themselves aligned with the city’s cultural anchor.

Read the full story from The Gloucester Daily Times

Read more about the exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum

October 8, 2014 — Thanks to a program in conjunction with the Chatham-based Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance on selected days the Pantry is able to provide needy families with fresh locally caught and frozen Cape Cod fish, in this case, bluefish direct from the fisherman.

Redfish, bluefish it certainly is a new fish – for clients of The Family Pantry of Cape Cod.

Thanks to a program in conjunction with the Chatham-based Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance on selected days the Pantry is able to provide needy families with fresh locally caught and frozen Cape Cod fish, in this case, bluefish direct from the fisherman.

Tom Smith of Orleans has been fishing for bluefish for 35 years. Pomatonus salatrix has kept him in good stead all that time.

“I have a permit to use a net,” he explained. “We circle around a school of fish and make noise and scare them into the net then haul them back right away so all the fish come back alive. Then we head back home.”

Read the full story from the Cape Cod Day

 

October 7, 2014 — The longtime president and driving force behind the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association will serve as the keynote speaker at the annual Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce Women in Business luncheon at the Gloucester House this Thursday.

Angela Sanfilippo, who has played a lead role in advocating for the fishing industry and waterfront businesses, and who also serves as executive director of the fishermen’s partnership, an organization that assists fishermen and other workers in getting access to health insurance and in providing safety programs, will address the Chamber gathering at Thursday’s program, which runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

 

October 7, 2014 — The agency was uncomfortable with the number of interactions fishing boats were having with endangered sea turtles since September.

It's the height of commercial flounder season along the North Carolina Coast, but gillnet fishing boats have been banned from heading out. That's because a large number of sea turtles are still swimming in those areas.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has temporarily closed areas in four Northeastern sounds and southern coastal waters to the fisheries. The agency was uncomfortable with the number of interactions fishing boats were having with endangered sea turtles since September.

The state’s incidental take permit allows a limited number of interactions with sea turtles in various areas. If an area reaches that limit, the fishery is shut down for the rest of the season. (The season runs September through August.)

Marine Fisheries Division closed the waters preemptively, to prevent those limits being reached.

Read the full story from North Carolina Public Radio WUNC

 

October 3, 2014 — State and federal wildlife officials are resorting to installing giant water chillers in some of California's fish hatcheries, as drought, over-allocation of water and climate change all combine this year to make temperatures too warm for some baby salmon and other fish to survive.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workers installed the coolers at the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery at the foot of northern California's Shasta Dam this summer when water temperatures hit the mid-60s – too tepid for the half-million winter-run baby salmon growing there, said Scott Hamelberg, a federal hatchery manager.

The winter-run salmon are endangered, and the coolers lower the water temperature to a more livable 60 degrees, he said.

The big water coolers are a first for the federal hatchery, necessitated by warmer-than-normal water in California's third year of drought.

At the American River hatchery east of Sacramento, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife also are installing giant coolers to bring down water temperatures for the hatchery's young salmon and trout, hatchery manager Gary Novak said.

Certain endangered species of trout at that fishery "don't really tolerate the heat too well," Novak said.

Smaller coolers in tanks are cooling various other fish rescued by wildlife officials after California's drought dried up their home stretch of rivers and streams entirely.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald