State and Local

March 7, 2014 — Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley visited Gloucester on Thursday, riding the political bicycle built for two that really only has room for one.

Coakley spent part of the day dispensing with her duties as the state’s chief law enforcement official, meeting in the late afternoon with about 20 local fishermen and fishing advocates at The Gloucester House to speak about the state’s lawsuit in U. S. District Court against the Department of Commerce — and by extension, NOAA — and other issues related to the ongoing fishing crisis.

“This particular event is an attorney general event, from my point of view,” Coakley said following the approximately hour-long meeting where she spent much more time listening than talking. “I really wanted to get an update, in my role as attorney general, as to what is going on.”

She called that her day job.

Coakley also is an announced Democratic candidate for governor. That, she joked, is her night job.

Her pursuit of the state’s corner office never seemed too far away, whether it was the blue Coakley pin adorning the lapel of her squiring host, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, the compliments paid her by fishermen and advocates who openly stated their preference for her to ascend to the state’s chief executive in the next election, or the campaign fund-raiser that was next on her schedule.

Read the full strory at the Gloucester Daily Times 

 

March 6, 2014 — The T-shirts said it all – "Commercial Fisherman: Proudly Feeding America." "Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, Together We Persevere." "Fish Forever." There was an aura of feistiness at the 39th Maine Fishermen's Forum last weekend, as fishermen of all stripes, government officials, environmentalists and business people came together to discuss the current state of fishing in New England.

Underlying the discussions was a pervasive recognition that the western Atlantic Ocean is inexorably changing as the world's climate grows warmer. In order to continue as their fathers and grandfathers did before them, the region's fishermen know that they must change as well.

Lobsters at Center Stage

Lobsters once again took center stage at the Forum. On Saturday, the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) announced the preliminary 2013 landing figures for the state. Maine lobstermen harvested 125,953,876 pounds, slightly less than in 2012 but still the second highest number of pounds on record. The average price per pound increased slightly, resulting in a total landed value of $364 million, a $22 million increase over 2012 and $30 million over 2011.

The importance of the lobster fishery and the need to improve its marketing were emphasized by Governor Paul LePage at a Friday presentation by the new Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative (MLMC). "Now that we have a sustainable industry, we can go to work. We need to protect the brand. It's a healthy product. Long live the lobster industry of Maine," he said. Maine lobster received certification as a sustainable fishery from the Maine Stewardship Council in 2013, which allows seafood businesses to use the coveted MSC label on Maine lobster and lobster products.

The MLMC came into existence last October, superceding the old Maine Lobster Promotion Council. Marianne LaCroix, interim director of the Collaborative, said the goal of its marketing plan is straightforward: to get more people to eat more lobster more often. The MLMC's budget in this first year is $750,000. That increases to $1.5 million in 2015 and caps at $2.25 million in 2016.

The MLMC plans to start by promoting Maine lobster's sweet flavor to chefs, upscale hotel and restaurant chains, seafood buyers and journalists. It has established a partnership with the Culinary Institute of America and will take part in the Institute's Food Arts Greystone Flavor Summit in April in California, which brings food and beverage executives and corporate and executive chefs together to explore food trends and future directions. LaCroix said that increasing demand for Maine lobster is a task shared by the Collaborative and lobstermen themselves. "This marketing effort depends on industry. We can't do it alone," she said.

Read the full story at The Free Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. — March 5, 2014 — American Indian tribal members arrested while exercising their treaty fishing rights before 1975 would get the chance to clear their criminal records under a bill headed to Gov. Jay Inslee's desk.

House Bill 2080 passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday. It passed the House in February.

The measure would allow tribal members to apply to the sentencing court to expunge their related misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor or felony convictions. Family members and tribal officials could also seek a vacated criminal record on behalf of a deceased person. The court would have the discretion to vacate the conviction, unless certain conditions apply, such as if the person was convicted for a violent crime or crime against a person.

Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, said the bill corrects a mistake.

Read the full story at The Bellingham Herald 

EDGEWATER, Fla., — March 6, 2014 — When saltwater anglers discuss their favorite species, “black drum” is not usually at the top of the list. While this bottom-dweller grows very large (over 100 pounds) and fights with the might of the Wabash Cannonball, it just doesn’t draw the acclaim of its cousin the redfish — or most other inshore game fish.

“It’s not a glamour fish, not a high-profile fish,” said fisheries biologist Mike Murphy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

But the black drum is very precious to light-tackle guide captain Joe Porcelli of Edgewater and his colleagues who fish primarily in the shallow waters of east-central Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. For them, it’s another species to target when the reds aren’t cooperating or when it’s too cold for snook and tarpon, or too rough to fish offshore.

Porcelli has made a big part of his career catching really big black drum. He is responsible for 11 IGFA world records — all but one as a guide — including a 90 1/2-pounder caught on four-pound-test line by Raleigh Werking of Edgewater in 1998 and a 66-pound junior world record for Coral Springs’ Heather Harkavy in 2009.

Read the full story at the Miami Herald 

 

 

March 4, 2014 — To increase and broaden public input on statewide fisheries issues and facilitate dialogue between various fisheries interests, the Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress are forming a new fisheries advisory group that meets for the first time March 29.

The new group, called the Wisconsin Fisheries Advisory Council, will bring together representatives from diverse statewide fishing groups, as well as representatives from the fishing business community and tourism. In addition to groups such as Walleyes for Tomorrow and Trout Unlimited, angling groups aimed at bringing new people to fishing will be represented as well, including Becoming an Outdoors-Woman, Wisconsin Women Fish and the Hmong American Sportsmen Club.

The group will advise DNR's fisheries management board and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress on statewide issues, including DNR's long-term fisheries plan, biennial budgeting, and balancing angling groups' sometimes competing desires and priorities for their favorite fish species, said Mike Staggs, DNR's fisheries director.

Read the full story from the LaCrosse Tribune

March 4, 2014 — There has been for several years now, a vigorous debate about the role the State of North Carolina and the Federal Government should take in "managing" marine resources. The debate centers around two divergent schools of thought, generally divided between those who side with the "commercial" fishing industry and those who side with the "recreational" fishing industry.

Oversimplified, commercial fishermen use nets to catch their fish while recreational fishermen use hook and line tackle. Of course the boats are different as a result. Commercial fishermen are the folk who provide the fresh seafood served in restaurants and at fish markets. Recreational fishermen, by definition, do not sell their catch. They keep it for themselves or their friends.

The recreational fishermen claim that commercial fishermen destroy the populations of many fish with the use of their nets, particularly trawl nets. So they want the state to enforce regulations that the commercial fishermen contend will virtually outlaw them catching fish. An absurd example of these regulations is that in order to protect one, or a few, species of fish they pass regulations that make it illegal to catch those fish. But when you put your net in the water you can determine what you will catch. So to avoid the penalties many commercial fishermen has simple sold their equipment and have gone out of the business.

Here is where the issue gets much bigger than how fish should be caught. The commercial fishing industry produces fresh local seafood that is served in restaurants and sold at fish markets. Most people know there is no substitute for fresh seafood. Imported seafood is simply not as good, and some (including us) believe it is not "fitten to eat." So what we're really looking at here is whether the state is going to kill the fresh seafood industry and deprive us of that bounty.

Read the full story at the Beaufort Observer 

 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass., — February 28, 2014 — Launched with passion in the mid-1980s, the growth of Reidar's Manufacturing over the past 28 years is the story of a talented fishing family who built a thriving business from the ground up, outfitting commercial fishing boats with innovative equipment and gear.

Patriarch Reidar Bendiksen, 67, was a commercial fisherman for decades before starting the business. When not at sea, he would spend hours in the family's Dartmouth home developing better ways to operate his boat.

He has a knack, his family said, for making fishing gear better, stronger, and safer to use.

"I always was a tinkerer," said Reidar, his voice still tinged with sounds from his native Norway. "When I worked I would see the gear and stuff like that, then I'd say, wow this would work better if I did this. This would work better if I did that."

Reidar's son, Tor Bendiksen, 34, remembers, as a child, being fascinated by designs and drawings that his dad made each night. Coming down for breakfast in the morning, he would eagerly seek out the new drawings from the prior evening's work.

"I was always looking on the kitchen table and seeing something that he drew up for an idea and we'd ask what is this, what is that?" he recalled.

Reidar had a natural inclination to make things better, Tor said.

 
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

ROCKPORT, Maine — February 28, 2014 —  Thanks to a 20-cent increase in the average price lobstermen received for their catch, the landings value of Maine’s most lucrative commercial fishery jumped by more than $20 million in 2013.

By preliminary estimates, the overall value of Maine’s lobster landings in 2013 was $364.5 million, according to statistics released this week by the Maine Department of Marine Resources. That estimated value is nearly $23 million more than the $341.7 million hauled in by lobstermen in 2012.

The state’s 6,000 or so licensed commercial lobstermen brought ashore nearly 126 million pounds of lobster last year, slightly less than the 127.2 million pounds caught in 2012, according to DMR. The average price lobstermen got for their catch in 2013 was $2.89, up from $2.69 the year before.

Jeff Nichols, spokesman for DMR, said Friday that the 20-cent increase in the average price certainly is helpful, compared to the prior year. But prices of less than $3 per pound are still far below what they were in the mid-2000s, when fishermen averaged more than $4 per pound for four consecutive years. The prices that fishermen pay for bait and diesel fuel remain significantly higher than they were in the late 1990s, when lobstermen could expect to receive around $2.90 per pound.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News 

 

March 2, 2014 — In the world of start-up businesses, the 20/20 perspective offered by hindsight often has entrepreneurs looking back and seeing all the different ways they could have launched their business — the other, better materials they might have used, prices they might have set, or marketing tactics they might have taken.

But though it may be hard-earned, hindsight can also provide valuable insight.

This month, in an attempt to learn from the wisdom of experienced local business owners, the SouthCoast Business Bulletin asked six entrepreneurs for their "hindsight" lessons — what is the one thing, we wondered, that you wished you'd known before you launched your venture?

They all had stories to tell and nuggets of wisdom to share. In fact, the only stumbling point was limiting them to just one insight, said writer Pamela Berard, who wrote the story.

But if we were forced to choose an over-arching theme, it was best summed up by Erin Kavanaugh, a former health insurance professional who left the industry to open Nothin' Crazy, a women's clothing and gift boutique in Dartmouth.

Planning is important, she said, but even with the best preparation, the unexpected steps in to throw your plans off.

"No matter how much you've prepared and researched, and even prepared financially, there's always going to be something else," said Kavanaugh. "You have to just be ready for constant change."

One New Bedford fishing gear business learned that lesson in an ocean-sized way.

Launched with passion in the mid-1980s, the growth of Reidar's Manufacturing is the story of a talented fishing family who built a thriving business from the ground up, outfitting commercial fishing boats with innovative equipment and gear.

Patriarch Reidar Bendiksen, 67, was a commercial fisherman for decades before starting the business. When not at sea, he would spend hours in the family's Dartmouth home developing better ways to operate his boat.

Read the full story from the New Bedford Standard-Times

ROCKPORT, Maine — March 1, 2014 — With big money changing hands over tiny glass eels, Maine’s elver fishermen have developed a bad reputation in other Atlantic states as renegades.

On Saturday afternoon, state officials told a packed room of elver harvesters at the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum that they needed to change that this season so that regulators will not place drastic limitations on the fishery or shut it down altogether.

The most important step toward that goal will be to follow the recently set catch restrictions on the state’s 10-week elver season, which is scheduled to begin on March 22. Fishermen will be limited to a statewide harvest of 11,749 pounds, a 35 percent reduction from the amount caught in Maine last year. Some in the room called out that making individual quotas will be unfair toward the fishermen who have been working this fishery long before the price shot up as demand in Japan and China has increased. But state officials were unmoved.

“We’ve got to stay within our quota this year,” Terry Stockwell of the Maine Department of Marine Resources said during the first meeting of the Maine Elver Fishermen Association at the Samoset Resort. “We’ve got to demonstrate to the [Atlantic States Marine Fisheries] Commission that we’re not a renegade fishery.”

Read the full story from The Bangor Daily News