State and Local

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — May 21, 2014 — Meet Sean Barrett, the co-founder of Dock to Dish, the first community supported fishery in Long Island, New York.

A few years ago, during a trip to San Sebastian, Spain, Sean noticed a very different practice occurring among local fishermen. They were selling their day's catch directly to restaurants that lined the harbor. Diners were experiencing the freshest fish, straight from the sea to the table. This inspired Sean's idea of Dock to Dish, a revival of an old way of life, where customers buy their fish directly from the source.

Read the full story and watch the video from the Huffington Post

NAGS HEAD, N.C. — May 19, 2014 (UPI) — A lancet fish, a mysterious creature known for its cannibalistic tendencies, washed ashore last week near Jennette's Pier in North Carolina's Nags Head Beach.

The lancet fish is rare. But a quick look at the species, and one might decide it's better that way. Outfitted with big, round eyes, an oversized mouth and long, sharp fangs, the lancet fish isn't winning any beauty contests.

But it's hideous appearance and brother-eating habits didn't stop local pier attendant Leif Rasmussen from capturing the fish as it was washed into the shallows.

Read the full story from UPI

May 19, 2014 — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of a free mobile application that provides up-to-date information on fishing, hunting, wildlife watching and other outdoor adventure opportunities in New York State.

The application is called the "New York Fish & Wildlife" app and was developed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation in partnership with Parks By Nature Network at no cost to the State. The new app is available for free download in the iTunes App Store and the Android Market for use on iPhone and Android devices.

ParksByNature Network, LLC (PBN) developed the technology Pocket Ranger, a smartphone outdoor mobile guide application as a resource for state park systems and fish and wildlife agencies across the country.

"The new app provides advanced GPS mapping features as well as many other features to maximize any outdoor adventure, including detailed species information, news, advisories and weather alerts, social networking and photo sharing, and cache-able map tiles for offline use," according to the governor's press release.

Read the full story at Syracuse.com 

WOOLWICH, Maine — May 17, 2014 — While Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and North Carolina have imposed a fishing moratorium on alewives, some states allow limited inshore recreational and commercial fishing. Maine has the most concentrated alewife fishery in the nation, with harvesting allowed in 19 communities. At the same time, dozens of efforts are underway across the state to protect the fish.

Volunteer alewife counts are being done on Flanders Stream in Sullivan, at the Bristol Mills Dam on the Pemaquid River and on Patten Stream in Surry. Another one is in the works for Highland Lake in Falmouth. Almost all of the counts still need volunteers, until the season winds down around June 15.

Other counts are being done at fish ladders staffed by the Department of Marine Resources and hydroelectric dam workers on the Saco, Kennebec, Androscoggin and Penobscot rivers.

This year, volunteers and Department of Marine Resources staffers carried alewives by hand over the lower Togus dam in Chelsea.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

BUCKSPORT, Maine — May 16, 2014 — State fishery officials have decided to permanently close 7 square miles of the lower Penobscot River to lobster and crab harvesting.

The Department of Marine Resources closed the area in February, citing concerns about elevated mercury levels found in lobsters along that section of river. The source of the mercury, the level of which is little more than what is found in canned white tuna, has been traced to the defunct HoltraChem plant in Orrington.

Officials have said the closure is a precautionary measure and that the mercury found in the lobster upriver from Jellison Point in Stockton Springs could pose a health threat to certain people or if someone ate a lot of it over a period of time.

The closure was enacted in February by emergency rule, which lasts for only 90 days. The decision to make the closure permanent, or until the state decides it is no longer needed, went into effect Wednesday.

The closed area is considered to be fairly small and is fished by maybe a dozen fishermen, industry officials have estimated. There are about 6,000 licensed lobstermen in Maine who spread their traps out over 14,000 square miles of ocean along the coast.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News 

 

RALEIGH, N.C. — May 14, 2014 — As the public comment period closed May 7th on the proposed use of seismic airguns along the East Coast, coastal residents and elected officials are joining the growing movement urging President Obama to protect coastal economies and marine life by prohibiting the use of dynamite-like seismic airgun blasts. As of May 7th, more than 4,800 state residents, and 25 state and local elected officials have submitted their concerns to the Obama administration.

Eleven coastal municipalities along the Atlantic coast have passed local resolutions and letters of both concern and opposition to their use, including Carolina Beach, Nags Head, Topsail Beach and Oak Island, NC.

In February, the United States government released a final proposal that would allow the use of this controversial technology to look for oil and gas deposits deep below the ocean floor in an area twice the size of California, stretching from Delaware to Florida.  According to the Department of the Interior (DOI), these dynamite-like blasts could injure and possibly kill up to 138,200 marine mammals like dolphins and whales, while disrupting the necessary activities of millions more. One species of particular concern is the North Atlantic right whale, the rarest large whale species, of which there are only approximately 500 left worldwide. In addition, fisheries managers have also raised concerns about the potential disruption to fish habitat and catch rates.

“We commend the Tar Heel State’s citizens and elected officials for standing up and letting their voices be heard on seismic blasting,” said Randy Sturgill, campaign organizer at Oceana. “The White House and the Department of the Interior have been sent a powerful message that coastal communities do not want to turn the Atlantic into a blast zone. Seismic airguns would threaten the health of ocean ecosystems and the resources they provide to coastal communities along the entire North Carolina coast.”

Read the full story at the Island Gazette 

 

May 19, 2014 — A business that serves commercial fishermen has built-in challenges, among them weather, changing fish populations and federal regulations that substantially impact planning and development. To survive and thrive, a marine design and supply business has to be nimble, innovative and just plain determined.

Last year’s expansion of Reidar’s Trawl Gear and Marine Supply to a 21,000-square-foot building in New Bedford is a visible statement that the family business is on the right course. The move consolidated the original Fairhaven, Mass., office, design and production space and a separate warehouse.

The purchase of the land and construction of the new building were accomplished with the assistance of a $779,000 loan from the South Eastern Economic Development Corp., in cooperation with Bristol County Savings Bank. The funding was provided under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 504 program, which allows funds to be used for the purchase of real estate and equipment.

In the new building since last July, Reidar’s now has adequate space for a welding shop for repairs, which is a substantial part of the business, as well as space for offices, design and production.

We design gear that specifically targets selected species. For instance, I design gear to catch haddock, which are abundant now. You don’t want to catch flounder with the haddock, so with our gear, you don’t even bring the flounder into the net,” said Chief Operating Officer Tor Bendiksen.

Read the full story at Providence Business News

May 15, 2014 — The debate over which sector – commercial or recreational fishing – provides the bigger economic punch can finally be put to rest.

The annual ‘Fisheries Economics of the US’ report by the Dept. of Commerce shows once and for all that in terms of values, jobs, sales and incomes the commercial sector far outscores recreational fishing. A breakdown of the extensive report by market analyst John Sackton shows that in 2012, commercial fishing had $140 billion in sales compared to $58 billion for sport fishing. And for the value contributed to the national economy, commercial fishing added nearly $60 billion, double the recreational sector.

In terms of jobs, the seafood industry employed 1.27 million people compared to 380,000 for sports anglers. The most striking difference, Sackton said, is in where those people are employed. For sport fishing it was building boats and engines, representing 82% of both employment and sales and it is very regionally concentrated. The NOAA report added that less than 20% of the jobs in the sport industry come from guides, boat operators, tackle shops and various rentals.  

For the commercial fishing industry, the value and jobs created are spread throughout the  entire country; for the recreational sector, they are concentrated in a few states and industries. For example, Florida accounted for 30% of all US recreational fishing jobs; add in the Gulf States and N. Carolina and the number jumps to nearly half the national total.

The economic benefits of the commercial seafood sector also penetrate all parts of the US and the economy. Unlike its sport counterparts, a fisherman in Alaska is in fact supporting dozens of other US jobs in retail, wholesale, distribution and import sectors. In short, the facts negate the argument that  recreational fishing has a greater or more direct economic impact than the commercial fishery.

Read the full story at the Petersburg Pilot

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — May 15, 2014 — As we had predicted last year, Silver Bay has created an organization to take over the MSC client relationship for Alaska Salmon for the coming season from the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association.

The group is called the Alaska Salmon Processors Association, and it is a non-profit registered with the state of Alaska.

The non-profits agent is Robert Zuanich, the Seattle lawyer who is also the managing partner of Silver Bay.  Zuanich was also instrumental in getting the PSVOA to take on the client role, which was supported by Silver Bay at the time. Because of his involvement, it is reasonable to infer that Silver Bay's interest is the main force behind the new client association.
 
The Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association, which took on the clientship for last years season, was dealt a huge blow when the MSC certifier failed to include Prince William Sound salmon in its certification last year, saying instead they needed further time to study the fishery.
 
PWS salmon is one of the biggest fisheries for the PSVOA, and their board was clearly embarassed by what happened.  In leaving the MSC process, the PSVOA reiterated their support for the RFM certification program put forward by ASMI.
 
Bristol Bay is shaping up as a wild-west shoot out this year, as Silver Bay is aggessively hiring away people from other companies, especially Trident.  Dave Hambleton, former manager of Trident's salmon operations, joined Silver Bay several months ago as chief operating officer.
 
At the Brussels Seafood Show, several people reported that Paul Padgett, a veteran fisheries executive who has been with Trident for 29 years and recently retired, will also consult for Silver Bay.
 
The word on the street is that Silver Bay is paying astronomical amounts of money to get people who know something about salmon, and to try and jump start their Bristol Bay operation in its first year.
 
Silver Bay is a fishermen-owned salmon processor that started in Sitka in 2007.  They have now expanded to four plants, in Southeast, PWS, and their newest, in Naknek in Bristol Bay.
 
Silver Bay mostly produces frozen, headed and gutted salmon for domestic and export markets, although they may be trying to produce more value added products in Naknek.  Silver Bay says they are now one of the largest seafoods companies in Alaska, operating five domestic processing facilities throughout Alaska and the West Coast.
 
"Silver Bay's primary strength is in its combination of having a state of the art processing plant and favorable logistics to support its operations; competent management and key personnel; an established fish buying system; and ownership by fishermen who represent over 80% of committed effort," says the company's promotional material.
 
As Silver Bay ramps up their Naknek plant, there is also a widespread feeling that there may be a bidding war as Silver Bay tries to win the allegiance of harvesters who have never sold to them in the past.
 
Also in Brussels, it was reported that Silver Bay's financing model – like that of another upstart salmon supplier, Yehe Corp., is based on buyers advancing funds to Silver Bay in return for guaranteed fish.  This model is risky, as the bankruptcy filing of Yehe attests, because if there is a change in the market buyers tend to renegotiate their contracts and leave their supplier high and dry.  The other problem with this model is that it forces sales for cash or to customers with no long term committment, leading to downward pressure on the sockeye market greater than what might otherwise exist.  The buyers using this model see it as a way to get the cheapest price salmon; not to participate in a long-term healthy fishery. 
 
The fishermen who support this model see it as a short term way to get a higher dollar.  In the middle, are processing margins which can dwindle to nothing or a loss in this environment.
 
In recent years sockeye has been an excellent performer for Bristol Bay fishermen and processors, but the key to making profits from salmon is not simply adaquate supply, it is also investment in sales channels, in product quality, and in the experience that allows for consistency year after year.
 
With an aggressive new entrant this year in Bristol Bay, many of these attributes are going to be tested.

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

May 14, 2014 — The tiny plastic particles that became more popular in soaps and facial scrubs over the last few years are showing up on beaches and in the waters of the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie.

A report to be released today by state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman renews his call for a first-in-the-nation ban on the sale of products containing the microbeads. And the report offers more details on the environmental effects of the particles, which are about the size of a grain of salt.

A Fredonia State College professor who has been at the forefront of researching microbead pollution in the Great Lakes said their presence is already noticeable.

“Our beaches are slowly becoming plasticized,” said Sherri Mason, an associate professor of chemistry at Fredonia. “People don’t realize how many actual particles are under their feet. They’re small, but you can definitely see them.”

The microbeads get there through a journey that starts with a bathroom drain. After the beauty products are used over a sink or in a bathtub, the microbeads are rinsed down the drain. Because the plastic microbeads float, they flow with treated wastewater into bodies of water.

A single tube of face wash can contain more than 350,000 of the beads, according to the 5 Gyres Institute, an environmental organization that works to reduce plastics pollution.

Microbeads are not removed by wastewater treatment plants because, unlike organic sewage, they neither bind together and settle in the effluent nor are they eliminated through biological controls. Therefore, an estimated 19 tons of microbeads a year pass through and are discharged into the state’s waters.

“I don’t think people are aware that this is everywhere,” Mason said. “Any water body that has a wastewater treatment plant has this problem.”

Read the full story from The Buffalo News