State and Local

February 1, 2014 — Reaping the bounty of your CSA produce may be months off, but boat-to-you-fish delivery is days away.

Brewster-based Cape Cod Fish Share, now in its third year, kicks off its winter season on Tuesday.

The Cape company that brings locally caught seafood from the Chatham docks to Bostonians’ doorsteps has grown from offering four shares a year to six.

“It’s important to keep it going. There is very little work for people to do if they don’t have another trade,” said creator Dave Henchy of the winter program.

The shares last five weeks and vary in plans and price from $159 for a three-week allotment to $169-$249 for five-week shares. Each week, subscribers receive 1 1⁄2 to 2 1⁄2 pounds of fish. It averages two dinners a week, said Henchy.

“We try not to repeat the same species,” said Henchy, 51. “They get 10 different species of fish over the five-week share.”

The variety varies depending on season and is sourced from the waters off Fairhaven, Plymouth and Martha’s Vineyard. The fall share, which ended in mid-December, featured black seabass, swordfish, haddock, silver hake and skate wings.

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — February 3, 2014 — The following was released by the Northeast Seafood Coalition:

On Saturday, February 22, the Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC) will host a fundraiser, including a raffle and auction, with the proceeds going to benefit the work of the NSC in advocating on behalf of the region’s struggling groundfishermen. The event will take place from 6-11 pm at The Gloucester House, located at 63 Rogers Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Admission to the event includes dinner and live music from the band Just Like Newman. The NSC will also be hosting an auction and a 50/50 raffle, awarding $18,500 in prize money. The winner of the raffle will take home $10,000, with $5000 awarded to the runner-up. Third prize wins $2,000, with $1,000 and $500 going to fourth and fifth place. Tickets to the event are $100, and will go directly to helping NSC continue to work for our fishermen and fishing communities.

To purchase tickets or to find out more information, contact Christine Sherman of the Northeast Seafood Coalition at 978-269-4555.

View the flyer for the event here

*PLEASE NOTE: The phone number provided in the linked flyer (978-269-3555) is incorrect. To contact Christine Sherman, please use the number provided above.

 

February 3, 2014 — Black sea bass have made an amazing recovery from low numbers in the 1990s and are not considered overfished. Fishermen are catching just half the amount that scientists and regulators allow, and the size of the black sea bass population along the East Coast is above what scientists and fishery managers say is enough to sustain the maximum yield possible.

So why is the charter boat fleet of Cape Cod so concerned that it will not be able to catch enough black sea bass this year to keep it in business?

The answer is a fisheries Catch-22, a combination of regulatory red tape, inadequate science and cautious regulators.

"We had 20 fish (per day/per person) for years, even when the fishery was in dire straits," Allen said. In December, the state Division of Marine Fisheries notified all charter and recreational fishermen that they could catch only four fish per person per day.

Allen said the Cape's charter fleet clients come mainly from Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. They drive hundreds of miles and stay on the Cape for days at a time, spending hundreds of dollars each day. They will not do that for just four fish a day, Allen argued.

"Four is zero," he said. It costs $700 per day for six fishermen to charter his 35-foot vessel. Allen estimated that Cape boats make up 90 percent of the black sea bass charter fleet and use local ports. The revenues aren't confined to the boats but extend to accommodations, bait, gear, fuel, restaurants and other businesses — to the point that the charter fleet estimates that its operation brings in $4.5 million to the local economy. Also, the high seasons for black sea bass charters are the spring and fall, shoulder seasons when the Cape economy needs a boost.

Division of Marine Fisheries Deputy Director David Pierce faulted a poor stock assessment back in 2004 and what he termed overly cautious regulations from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which manages black sea bass in federal waters in concert with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in state waters. The overall quota is split between commercial and recreational fishermen. Recreational fishermen did exceed their target annual catch limit in three of the past four years, according to Mid-Atlantic fishery council statistics.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

January 31, 2014 — Proposed legislation to protect due-process rights of the holders of fisheries licenses and permits has passed the Massachusetts House and is on the way to the Senate for deliberation there.

The legislation, sponsored by state Reps. Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester and William Straus of Mattapoisett, both Democrats, expands the appeals process for anyone unsatisfied with the ruling of the state Division of Marine Fisheries on the transfer of a commercial fishing license, permit or certificate of registration.

Specifically, the proposed legislation mandates the availability of a judicial review for any decision by DMF on proposed transfers of licenses, permits and certificates of registration. DMF, unlike most state permitting agencies, currently is under no obligation to submit its decisions to judicial review.

Stephen Ouellette, a prominent Gloucester maritime attorney, said the legislation represents a positive beginning to the process of reforming the DMF decision-making process, which he described as an “unfettered grant of public authority” that has allowed DMF Director Paul Diodati to make rulings without ever explaining the basis for them.

Ouellette said Diodati has headed an “exceptionally arbitrary process” in which his office can base decisions on a vague clause in the current statute that allows him to decide a matter based on “the best interests of the commonwealth.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

January 31, 2013 —  The following was released by the office of Massachusetts State Senator Bruce Tarr:

Senate Bill 1979, An Act Establishing a Seafood Marketing Program, has been scheduled for a public hearing before the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture next Thursday, February 6th at 11 a.m. in Hearing Room A-1 at the State House.  Attached is a copy of the public hearing agenda, the bill text, and the press release Senator Tarr issued when the bill was first filed in December.

Read the press release here

Read the text of the bill here

Read the public hearing agenda here

WISCASSET, Maine — January 29, 2014 — The Department of Marine Resources on Wednesday took no action to further restrict scallop fishing from the New Hampshire border to Penobscot Bay, but said further steps — such as those already taken in the rest of the state — would be necessary to sustain the fishery through the rest of the season.

Fishermen from southwestern Maine gathered at the Lincoln County Communications Center found no consensus on what steps should be taken — or if any are needed at all.

But Trisha De Graff, resource coordinator for scallops, urchins and groundfish for the department, said something must happen before the 70-day season ends in March.

“We’re at a tipping point right now,” she said. “If we want to make it to the end of the season, something has to be done.”

Many of the fifty or so draggers and divers in attendance disagreed, telling De Graaf that the fishery “can manage itself” if several zone closures are removed.

“With all these closed areas … you’re killing scallops,” said Adam Benner of Bremen. “You’ve had it closed too long and they weren’t turning the bottom … now the rivers are dead. Let nature take it’s course … we’re not going to kill our resource.”

“It’s closed for roughly 290 days a year [already],” said Travis Carter, who fishes out of Muscongus Bay. “Can’t you just leave it alone and open it up?

Read the full story from The Bangor Daily News

FREEPORT, Maine — January 29, 2014 — A series of studies commissioned by the Town Council and conducted over the summer yielded new information about the invasive green crabs plaguing Maine's coastal waters, but was largely compromised by timing and a lack of maintenance, according to a preliminary report.

Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias, reported on the studies earlier this month to the Town Council, which allocated $100,000 in 2012 for ongoing research of the crabs and their effects on the local soft-shell clam population in particular.

Clammers have speculated for several years that the crabs have decimated as much as two-thirds of their productive clam flats. A resource survey conducted in Spar Cove in June supported those claims, Beal said.

"The soft-shell clams resource is lacking or missing in the mid-to-lower intertidal area, and the only clams that are available are generally in the upper intertidal, where they don't grow as fast and where habitat is more limiting," Beal said. "Once that's been fished out, there isn't a lot of the resource to replace it."

Two experiments conducted in Little River were designed to study the ability of nets and fences to protect clams from crabs. And while they showed that both methods can be used to deter crabs, they failed to provide more detailed insights.

That was partly because of timing. The experiments, designed to begin in late spring, required permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. When those took longer to acquire than anticipated, the start of the work was delayed until mid-July. By then, many of the clams were gone.

Read the full story from the Maine Sun Journal

January 30, 2014 — People planning Super Bowl crawfish boils may be out of luck. Farmers say cold has kept crawfish scarce all winter, and now many ponds are iced over.

The prolonged cold also means crawfish aren't eating and are likely to be smaller than normal at the peak of crawfish season, said farmer David Savoy of Church Point.

People may have to order ahead even at the peak of the season, said Craig Lutz, an LSU AgCenter professor and aquaculture specialist.

"I think it's fair to say that when we get to Mardi Gras and we get to Easter, we're definitely going to be behind what we would be in a normal season. There'll still be crawfish available. But I think people are going to have to plan a lot better to make sure they have crawfish on those weekends when they want them," he said Wednesday.

AgCenter aquaculture and crawfish specialist Mark Shirley was optimistic about the spring and summer harvest but said the supply is going to be short for Super Bowl, a weekend when there's high demand.

Savoy, who has farmed crawfish for 40 years, said it's the slowest start he's ever seen to the season. He said he's never seen such a run of mornings below 35 degrees and afternoons less than 70 degrees.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Orleans Times-Picayune

January 29, 2014 — Weather that might be too cold for fishing won’t stop fishermen from talking about fishing. You’ll find hundreds of them getting together over the next few weeks to swap fish stories at Coastal Conservation Association North Carolina chapter banquets. They’ll also be raising money for projects involving saltwater fisheries.

“That is their major source of raising funds to support fisheries conservation issues and to allow them to be a voice for North Carolina’s recreational fishermen,” said Laura Hurt, CCA NC’s communications intern from East Carolina University who also is a banquet veteran because she is married to Greg Hurt, CCA NC past president and current chairman.

The state has more than a half-million licensed recreational fishermen.

The 3,000-member CCA NC’s banquet season starts 6 p.m. Feb. 6 with the 20th CCA Johnston County event at the Johnston County Agriculture Center in Smithfield. The event will include raffles and silent and live auctions.

Next comes the Feb. 27 East Carolina Chapter banquet at Rock Springs Center in Greenville.

Tickets cost $55 solo or $85 a couple. Email info@ccanc.org, or call CCA NC at 919-781-3474. Find more banquets at www.ccanc.org.

Read the full story from the Charlotte News & Observer

AUGUSTA, Maine– January 29, 2014 — The state and Maine’s Indian tribes are approaching a deal that would effectively allocate part of the lucrative elver fishery to the tribes, defusing tension that arose last year but creating separate regulations for tribal and non-tribal fishermen.

Significant sticking points that remain have hindered efforts by the LePage administration and lawmakers to steer the $40 million industry away from the brink of closure by federal authorities.

State officials are trying to balance conservation of the fishery with the sovereignty of the tribes, including the Passamaquoddies. The tribe issued 575 licenses last year, well above the state limit of 200, and that led to a clash between law enforcement officers and Passamaquoddy fishermen on the banks of the Pennamaquan River in Washington County.

A bill backed by the LePage administration and sponsored by Rep. Walter Kumiega, D-Deer Isle, would invalidate elver licenses issued by any tribe without ratification by the state, set catch limits for individual fishermen, and impose criminal penalties for all elver fishermen who violate state regulations.

Lawmakers’ consideration of the bill was complicated Wednesday as tribal representatives and members of the LePage administration met with the state Attorney General’s Office to discuss a deal that would exempt tribal fishermen from the catch quotas and the criminal penalties, while keeping the current regulations for all other elver fishermen.

The agreement also would allow tribal members to catch as many elvers, collectively, in the season that begins March 22 as they did in 2013.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald