State and Local

January 16, 2014 — State fisheries regulators have issued new rules for harvesting and storing Long Island shellfish, following outbreaks of a harmful bacterium in local waters last year.

The rules, effective this month, seek to keep clams and oysters cool enough to prevent exposure to the bacteria, known as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which saw outbreaks in Oyster Bay Harbor and Cold Spring Harbor in 2013.

Shellfish digger permits issued on Long Island this year come with a copy of the new rules, which are based on guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's National Shellfish Sanitation Program.

The rules prohibit clammers from storing clams in containers that are not self-draining, or from allowing clams to "sit in standing or stagnant water." Stored clams also must be labeled with time-of-harvest tags from the point at which diggers begin harvesting.

In addition, if the state Department of Environmental Conservation determines a harvest area has experienced a Vibrio outbreak, shellfish diggers in certain North Shore waters must ice clams and oysters within one hour of harvest time, or refrigerate them within five hours. The shellfish can't be mingled with those from outside sectors east of those affected.

Read the full story at Newsday

January 17, 2014 — The following was released by Bristol Bay United:

On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency released the final version of its Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment (BBWA). The BBWA details the risks of potential large-scale hard rock mining in Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon fishery — a $1.5 billion industry that supports 14,000 jobs. The assessment was initiated after nine federally-recognized Alaska Native tribes, the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, commercial and sport fishing interests and others asked the EPA to use its Clean Water Act section 404(c) authority to protect Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine – a huge deposit of copper, gold, and molybdenum at the headwaters of two of Bristol Bay’s most productive rivers.

More than 75% of the 900,000 comments were in favor of EPA action to restrict hard rock mining in Bristol Bay. 85% of all Alaskans and 98% of those in the Bristol Bay region expressed support for what the EPA is doing in Bristol Bay in a state known for its support of resource development.

The BBWA gives ample evidence to back up the original request for EPA Clean Water Act action. Indeed, even without a major disaster or catastrophe, EPA found that the Pebble Mine would destroy up to 94 miles of salmon streams and up to 5,350 acres of wetlands, lakes, and ponds in Bristol Bay. And Pebble’s waste rock – which could be more than 10 billion tons – would have to be stored somewhere and that portion which is potentially acid generating will have to monitored and treated in perpetuity. With the final assessment now released, the EPA has the opportunity to protect both a unique natural resource and an economic powerhouse.

Stopping Pebble Mine will create certainty for existing American businesses

The Bristol Bay commercial salmon fishery supports more than 14,000 jobs and $1.5 billion in economic impact. The continued threat of the proposed Pebble Mine has cast a cloud of uncertainty over this fishery for the last decade, denying businesses the confidence they need to make important investment decisions that would create more jobs.Even Senator Lisa Murkowski – typically very pro-development – has voiced frustration with the years of failed promises by Pebble to apply for permits. Now, the Pebble Limited Partnership (or PLP, the foreign mining company behind the mine) wants to drag the fishing industry through a second decade of uncertainty, including through a long National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and Clean Water Act permitting fight. This will only worsen the economic problems Pebble has already created. By using its well-established proactive Clean Water Act authority, the EPA can and should act now to provide certainty to the commercial fishermen, sportsmen and lodge owners, and subsistence fishermen who rely on Bristol Bay that Bristol Bay salmon will not be sacrificed in favor of the proposed Pebble mine.

Even Pebble’s own supporters acknowledge the tremendous risk of the project. In September 2013, Anglo American, which had invested over $540 million in the project, announced that it was withdrawing from the Pebble Limited Partnership. Even though it will take a $300 million loss on the project, Anglo American said it wanted to focus on projects with the “highest value and lowest risks.” In December, Rio Tinto – which owns a 19% stake in now-sole PLP partner Northern Dynasty Minerals – announced it is mulling divestment in Northern Dynasty.

The EPA has full authority to protect Bristol Bay

Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act was created to allow the EPA Administrator to prohibit, withdraw, deny, or restrict the discharge of dredged or fill materials into the waters of the United States if such discharge “will have an unacceptable adverse effect on municipal water supplies, shellfish beds and fishery areas (including spawning and breeding areas), wildlife, or recreational areas.” EPA may do so “before a permit application has been submitted to the Corps.” The EPA’s Watershed Assessment found that, among other far-reaching impacts, Pebble would destroy 90 miles of salmon habitat under a “best case scenario.” The standard for a 404(c) action has already been met and exceeded by EPA.

Further, in the recent Mingo Logan Coal Company v. EPA case, a federal Appeals Court ruled that: "The Congress made plain its intent to grant the [EPA] administrator authority to prohibit/deny/restrict/withdraw a specification at any time.” The decision reaffirms the EPA’s authority to proactively restrict projects even before permits are filed. In fact in the initial regulations for the Clean Water Act’s 404c provision (44 Fed. Reg. 58076, 58077), the EPA recognized that “where possible it is much more preferable to exercise this [§404(c)] authority before the Corps or state has issued a permit…”

The EPA’s science is sound

In its assessment, the EPA used publically available information about the Pebble deposit put forward by Northern Dynasty Minerals, as well as reasonable copper mining scenarios in the Bristol Bay region. Through its peer-reviewed science, it is clear that mining on the scale of Pebble simply cannot coexist with a thriving and healthy fishery. In an earlier draft, one peer reviewer said: 

“Make no mistake we cannot have both mining and productive salmon stocks in the Bristol Bay watershed. . . As a result of the mining operation, the government will be saddled with a 1000 years (at minimum) of monitoring and maintenance of this closed site.” (Stein)

Northern Dynasty Mineral’s own data is the backbone of the EPA Watershed Assessment

Though PLP claims it does not have a mining plan, the EPA based its assessment on documents publically filed by Northern Dynasty Minerals, and subsequent actions put serious doubt in this assertion. In 2006, the company submitted plans when it applied for water rights with the State of Alaska. In 2011, they submitted a preliminary assessment to the Securities Exchange Commission to solicit investor support for the project. And, PLP used realistic mining scenarios to release an economic study about the potential economic benefits of the Pebble Mine.

Moreover, as the EPA notes in the executive summary of the BBWA, “Even an environmental assessment of a specific plan proposed for permitting by a mining company would be an assessment of a scenario that would undoubtedly differ from the actual development.” What won’t change are the size, location, and potentially acid-generating type of ore for the Pebble deposit that is squarely located at the headwaters of the world’s most productive wild sockeye salmon fishery.

Pebble is a long-term burden for the government and taxpayers

Large-s cale hard rock mines almost universally tend to leave pollution legacies that are left to the government and taxpayers to deal with. PLP CEO John Shively explained his views on mining pollution last year: “The biggest problems came not during mining, but after… At closure, we will have to have a system for closure, and we will have to have a very substantial amount of money set aside so that if we’re not available to work on closure, the government or someone else can do it.”  This is hardly a reassuring promise to deal with the reclamation, long-term monitoring and water treatment that will be necessary in perpetuity.

There is unprecedented support for EPA action

Over 1,000 hunting and fishing groups and businesses, commercial fishermen in Alaska and across the U.S., 26,000 retail food stores, 225 chefs and restaurant owners, over 100 jewelers like Tiffany and Co., religious organizations and leaders, and many others support EPA action to protect Bristol Bay. In a state known for its strong support for resource development, polls show that nearly 60% of Alaskans and 80% of Bristol Bay residents oppose the Pebble Mine.

The Clean Water Act stands between Bristol Bay and massive mining development

The Pebble Mine will need 67 permits to start mining – 66 from Alaska, and one from the federal government.  Alaska has never denied a permit for major resource development and the state is trying to pass legislation that would stack the deck even further in favor of mining proponents.

“We have a good process. We can permit a project like Pebble. It will take more time and more resources and more manpower.”
–    Ed Fogels, Deputy Commissioner Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources (In Juneau Empire)

Further, if permitted, the proposed Pebble Mine will enable the development of a mining district that includes additional contiguous blocks of mining claims owned by other mining companies.  As the assessment notes, the development of six other mine sites in the region could span an additional 14,000 acres and eliminate another 43 miles of streams, substantially increasing the likelihood that mining operations will adversely impact Bristol Bay ecosystems. Seven different mining operators have already established claims covering 965 square miles, an area 14 times larger than Washington D.C. If the Obama administration fails to stop the proposed Pebble mine, foreign mining companies could succeed in creating the largest open pit mines in North American history.

The EPA has the rare opportunity to both protect a vital habitat and thousands of American jobs by using its Clean Water Act authority in Bristol Bay.

 

 

January 16, 2013 — New Jersey anglers attending Monday night’s meeting on proposed regional management measures for summer flounder unanimously rejected the plan.

Yet, depending on how states vote on the issue, the measures may still be put in place.

The meeting was held to collect public comment on Draft Addendum XXV, which proposes three options for the management of summer flounder.

Option 1 is to keep the status quo, which is conservation equivalency and allows states to set their own size, season and bag limits. Option 2, which is designed to be used in conjunction with Option 1, allows for the sharing of under-utilized quota.

Option 3, Adaptive Regional Management, proposes managing the stock on a regional basis. The two regions proposed are (1)Massachusetts; Rhode Island to New Jersey; Delaware to Viginia; and North Carolina or (2) Massachusetts and Rhode Island; Connecticut to New Jersey; Delware to Virginia and North Carolina.

The ASMFC’s rational behind the plan is to provide a more equitable access to a shared fishery. However, the regional push is widely recognized as New York’s effort to get more fish to catch.

Read the full story from MyCentralJersey

January 15, 2014 — The 300 driftnetters that belong to United Cook Inlet Drift Associaion,  or UCIDA , say the state’s current Cook Inlet salmon management plan violates the Magnuson Stevens Act, and they are suing.

The suit was filed by UCIDA   just a year ago in federal district court in Washington DC. It challenges the validity of Amendment 12 of the Fisheries Management Plan [FMP] for salmon fisheries in the federal Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ] off the coast of Alaska. Amendment 12 essentially eliminates the EEZ waters in three areas of Alaska: in Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and the western end of the Alaska Peninsula.

Dr. Roland Maw heads Soldotna – based UCIDA

“Half the area where we fish is in the federal EEZ. These are in federal waters and they are federally owned fish at that point. And, as such, we felt that the federal government has a piece of legislation called Magnuson Stevens Act that has certain requirements concerning the biology and management of those stocks. “

The state of Alaska has  intervened in the suit, on the side of the defendants, because Amendment 12 removes federal oversight from the three areas and allows the state to manage salmon in those areas as it has since statehood. Cora Campbell is commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and testified Tuesday at a finance subcommittee hearing on the issue in Anchorage.

Read the full story and listen to the audio from Alaska Public Media

WASHINGTON — January 15, 2014 — Massachusetts fishermen and MIT scientists are among the winners in a $1.012 trillion spending deal released Monday night by Congress.

Under the bill poised to clear Congress this week, $75 million in fisheries disaster relief will go toward to the Commerce Department, which will then distribute it to states.

The assistance is part of a bipartisan bill that is set to begin moving through Congress to fund the U.S. government through Sept. 30. The compromise signals a break from years of forced budget cuts and congressional funding fights.
“We’re very pleased,” Representative John Tierney, who represents North Shore communities including the fishing community of Gloucester, told the Globe on Tuesday. “We’ve been desperate for our folks to get the help that they need.”

The $75 million in fisheries money marks the first relief since the Northeast groundfishing industry was declared an economic disaster in September 2012. The Senate previously voted for $150 million in disaster assistance, but the House appropriated no funding.

The omnibus spending measure also would give $22.2 million to the Alcator C-Mod facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which examines nuclear fusion as a potential energy source. The long-running research experiment was planning to cease its operation, after its already reduced federal funding was cut further last year.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe 

 

 

BOSTON — January 15, 2014 — Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) released the following statement today, following the inclusion of $75 million in fisheries disaster aid in the Fiscal Year 2014 federal appropriations bill; the House is expected to vote on the bill tomorrow:

 “This overdue funding is critical to help our fishing families and ports survive through a crisis that threatens their existence, and its expected approval is welcome news.  Now we must first turn our attention to ensuring that it’s distributed in timely and effective ways, and then to addressing the regulatory issues that make it necessary in the first place.  Without meaningful regulatory and statutory changes, we will continue to face the extinction of our commercial fishing industry.”

Read the release here

January 15, 2014 — With so many people pining for the tiny crustaceans, I thought it would be interesting to see if there are still any frozen shrimp out there from the 2013 season for consumers to snap up before they’re gone for good. I also checked in with some Maine restaurants to see what they will be offering on their menus as an alternative to Maine shrimp.

A round of calls and emails to Maine fish markets and grocery stores confirmed that there’s hardly any Maine shrimp left out there in the consumer pipeline, except for Hannaford grocery stores.

“In terms of frozen shrimp from last year, we do have a limited supply in some stores,” said Hannaford spokesman Eric Blom.

Tom Keegan, who handles shrimp and lobster sales for Cozy Harbor Seafood on Portland’s Union Wharf, said the Hannaford shrimp are cooked, peeled Cozy Harbor Maine shrimp found in 9-ounce packages in the frozen seafood case.

“They do have some product in most of the stores now, I believe,” Keegan said. “I’m not sure how long it will last. We really don’t have anything to follow it up with.”

Keegan said the company has considered buying northern shrimp from Canada, but has not made a decision yet.

“I think it would probably happen sometime in the first half of the year if we were going to do something like that,” he said. “The Canadian season really kind of kicks in in April.… That’s when they see their largest shrimp.”

Michael Alfiero of Harbor Fish Market in Portland said they “bought heavy” last year, knowing that this year’s Maine shrimp season was uncertain. They ran out of stock in the fall. The market has purchased a limited amount of Canadian shrimp that Alfiero is selling in bulk to loyal wholesale accounts for $10 to $11 per pound, but “I don’t really have anything for the retail trade.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald 

 

 

MOSS LANDING, Cal. — January 14, 2014 — Fishermen in Moss Landing said they're being slapped with too many regulations on how much black cod fish they can catch, which is hurting their bottom line. Black cod is one of the more popular and sought after fish on the coast. As a result, there's just not enough to go around and regulators are trying to prevent over-fishing.

"This is kind of our bread and butter fish," said Roger Whitney, fish buyer at Bay Fresh Seafood in Moss Landing.

Because of all the federal regulations over the last several years on the fish, many of the vessels at the Moss Landing Harbor aren't even untied.

"The price went down to where it's not worth it," said fisherman John Amaral. "We get less for the big fish now than we used to get for the small, so it cuts the overall price in half."

Amaral said he was forced to walk away two years ago and turned to crabbing.

"We were fishing like 17 miles out of the harbor. Now we have to go about 50 to 60 miles out of the harbor, so we're pretty much getting fished out," he said.

From Eureka down to Point Lopez, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration only allows 2,850 pounds of black cod to be caught in two months, something fishermen said they can do in one day. Because there's been a 27 percent decline of the fish since 2006, NOAA said the regulations are needed for the stock to sustain itself.

Read the full story at KION

January 16, 2014 — Have you tried hogfish? The local catch tastes sweeter than grouper, is flakier than dolphin, and is as rich as scallops. "It's the perfect fish — not firm or tough. It just melts in your mouth," says Rebecca Franks, owner of Fish Fish Restaurant Bar & Market in North Miami and an Islamorada resident.

Indeed, hogfish would be perfect — if only catching it were easier. On clear days, divers spear Lachnolaimus maximus off coral reefs. But during bad weather, spearing becomes impossible. "When it's blowing 30 to 40 knots, a diver can't go into the water and get a hogfish," says Bobby Mongelli, who has owned Hogfish Bar & Grill on Stock Island for 12 years.

So restaurants get hogfish from another source. During lobster and crab season, it is caught in traps, and fishermen gain some valuable bycatch.

Read the full story at the Miami New Times

AUGUSTA, Maine — January 13, 2014 —  The spread of “dead mud” among Maine’s shellfish flats could have disastrous implications for clammers, lobstermen, oyster farmers and others whose livelihoods depend on healthy coastal ecosystems.

What’s the source of this new threat to one of the state’s most important natural resource industries? Several indicators point to the acidity of the ocean as the culprit.

All along the coast, environmental groups and marine biologists are seeing a correlation between higher acidity levels in seawater, lower landings of shellfish and reproductive problems at aquaculture facilities, but there is little data to prove it. A bill sponsored by Rep. Mick Devin, D-Newcastle, who works as a marine biologist, seeks to solve the mystery.

LD 1602, which would establish a panel of experts to study the problem, has the support of the state’s Department of Marine Resources and would cost $25,000 or less, according to Devin.

“Maine’s marine resources support a $1 billion industry and thousands of jobs,” said Devin, who introduced the bill to the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee on Monday. “Ocean acidification has the potential to shut down Maine’s shellfish industry and we can’t afford to lose it.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News