State and Local

December 2, 2013 — Maine scallop fishermen kicked off their season Monday with some of the highest per-pound prices ever seen, helping to offset harvesting restrictions put in place to better manage the fishery, a state official said.

Fishermen in the scallop-rich waters of Cobscook Bay near the Canadian border were being paid $12 to $13 per pound on the opening day, far higher than last season’s prices that ranged between $7 and $9, said Trisha DeGraaf, scallop resource management coordinator from the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

“This year’s price is the highest I’ve ever seen it,” she said Monday after visiting Cobscook Bay, where more than 100 scallop boats were out despite rough weather.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

BOSTON — December 2, 2013 — The following was released by the office of Massachusetts Govorner Deval Patrick:

Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Rick Sullivan today announced expanded loan opportunities for commercial fishermen from the Commonwealth’s Commercial Fisheries Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). The RLF was expanded after months of collaboration and conversation with project partners and local fishermen.

“The changes to the revolving loan fund program will allow commercial fishermen in the groundfish industry to access capital needed to repair vessels, purchase new gear and refinance fisheries-related debt,” Secretary Sullivan said. “This is another example of Governor Patrick’s strong commitment to commercial fishermen, their families and Massachusetts’ coastal communities.”

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce declared a disaster in the Northeast Groundfish Fishery in September 2012. The Patrick Administration continues to work with Massachusetts’ congressional delegation to get much needed financial assistance to the Commonwealth’s fishermen and their families.

Just last month, the Administration’s application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan declaration by the U.S. Small Business Administration was approved, making Massachusetts fishermen eligible for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).  EIDLs are working capital loans that help small businesses meet their ordinary and necessary financial obligations that cannot be met as a direct result of a disaster. Governor Patrick brought representatives from across the administration together to compile resources for fishermen and their families.

The Department of Fish & Game (DFG) and its Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), working with their federal partner National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, have expanded eligibility for use of the Commonwealth’s Commercial Fisheries Revolving Loan Fund by groundfishermen to include vessel repairs, gear upgrades, monitoring costs and refinancing of existing fisheries-related debt. Qualified groundfishermen are able to add these financing opportunities to the existing ability to lease groundfish quota through the RLF.

“The stability of the Massachusetts fishing industry is critical to the economic vitality of the Commonwealth’s coastal communities and important to all of Massachusetts,” said DFG Commissioner Mary Griffin. “The enhanced revolving loan fund will help fishermen meet basic needs to weather the current crisis in the groundfish industry and continue in the important business of supplying nutritious, local seafood.”

“These loan funds will help groundfishermen bridge the expanse they face as we work together to rebuild our shared groundfish resources,” noted DMF Director Paul Diodati. “At the same time, the Division continues to lead long-term policy and science initiatives to help ensure the fishery, fishermen, fishing families and communities regain much-needed stability.”

While the Community Development Partnership continues to administer the regional RLF on the Cape and Islands, DMF is working with partners on the North Shore to implement a second regional loan fund for non-Cape and Islands groundfishermen.

The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is responsible for promoting the conservation and enjoyment of the Commonwealth's natural resources. DFG carries out this mission through land protection and wildlife habitat management, management of inland and marine fish and wildlife species, and ecological restoration of fresh water, salt water, and terrestrial habitats. DFG promotes enjoyment of the Massachusetts environment through outdoor skills workshops, fishing festivals and other educational programs, and by enhancing access to the Commonwealth's rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.

 

Decmeber 3, 2013 — A new report from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, posted in the November issue of Alaska Economic Trends, shows that monthly jobs in seafood harvesting rose from 8,067 in 2011 to 8,189 in 2012.

Of that total, the salmon fisheries dominated in monthly employment, with 4,551 jobs, compared to 1,252 jobs in groundfish fisheries, 974 in halibut fisheries, 593 in crab fisheries, 502 in sablefish fisheries, 184 in miscellaneous shellfish fisheries and 128 in herring fisheries, according to the report by Jack Cannon and Josh Warren.

Statistics compiled by state and federal agencies, including the National Marine Fisheries Service, also showed that overall monthly harvesting employment compared with an average of 7,260 workers in 2007, 7,270 workers in 2008, 7,087 in 2009 and 7,871 workers in 2010.

While salmon generates more harvesting jobs than any other fishery, groundfish is the state's largest fishery in terms of both value and volume, with a relatively small number of large boats landing large quantities of those fish, mostly pollock, without need of proportionate increases in manpower.

Read the full story at The Cordova Times 

 

November 25, 2013 — Mayor Michael Brennan lauded a voter-approved transportation bond as a key element to growing Portland's working waterfront.

Brennan was joined by city officials and members of the Portland legislative delegation on Monday to discuss the impact the recently passed state transportation bond will have on the city's working waterfront. Included in the $100 million bond package is $9 million for improvements around the International Marine Terminal related to rail connectivity; $3 million for dreading in Portland Harbor; and $1 million for improvements at the Fish Exchange.

"These are three critical projects for our working waterfront," said Maine Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland.
Along with the improvements targeted through the bond, Brennan said he hopes that officials will leverage additional money for facility upgrades at the Ocean Gateway Terminal, which soon could host a new ferry service to Nova Scotia, and funding to study improvements to the intermodal transportation hub at Thompson's Point.

"When you look at all those difference pieces … we see a future for Portland's waterfront that is very bright," Brennan said.

Around the International Marine Terminal, the bond money will go toward property acquisition, preparation and adding rail lines to connect with the PanAm system. Greg Mitchell, the city's economic development director, said those improvements will connect Portland and Maine to an international market place, and open the door to new business opportunities.

Read the full story from The Portland Daily Sun

CHATHAM, Mass. — December 2, 2013 — This spring could see one of the biggest mussel harvests in recent memory — if the ducks don't get them all first.

Chatham fishermen and the shellfish department believe an extensive mussel set in Chatham Harbor survived their most vulnerable seed stage and are now about 3/4 of an inch in size. They could reach market size by March, Shellfish Constable Renee Gagnee said, if the town can protect them from the flocks of eider ducks that are now feasting on them.

Selectmen recently approved Gagnee's proposal to use various methods to scare ducks away from three areas of the harbor. The areas represent only a small portion of the harbor and the ducks would still have extensive areas to feed on mussel beds both inside and in a large area off North Beach, he said.

Read the full story from the Cape Cod Times

PORTLAND, Maine — December 2, 2013 — Maine scallop fishermen are kicking off a season that'll last 70 days along most of the coast.

But fishermen in the scallop-rich waters of Cobscook Bay along the Canadian border in far eastern Maine will be limited to a 50-day season. The season opened Monday in three zones from Kittery to Lubec.

Read the full story at the Daily Journal  

 

 

$10 million a year from the harvest is used to pay for ongoing scientific research to keep tabs on scallop populations, said John Bullard, a former New Bedford mayor who is the regional administrator for commercial fisheries for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "The scallopers were like, 'My God, look what we've done.' We don't want to ever get into a position where we were in the past," said Bullard. "They have become tremendous stewards of this resource."

NEW BEDFORD, Mass., (The Boston Globe) December 2, 2013 — Unlike other ports around the country, New Bedford is flush with money from the richest fishery in the nation – sea scallops. With many fishermen idle this time of year, the port is mobbed with clean, well-maintained scallopers – many sporting fresh coats of paint. The crowded New Bedford port is in stark contrast to so many other fishing towns whose fleets have shrunk over the years and rusty beatup boats are more common.

Scallops are now averaging $12 a pound off the boat in New Bedford Harbor, at least double the prices of a decade ago, according to Jeff Bolton, vice president of sales at Atlantic Capes Fisheries, which has offices in Fall River and owns 17 scallop boats. A decade ago, fishermen got around $6 a pound. At one point a few weeks ago the dock prices briefly hit $15 a pound, the highest in local memory.  
 
On a good day, a boat can haul 4,000 pounds or more. Since the typical trip lasts 10 days, it's possible for a boat to earn $500,000 on a single outing, said scallop captain Eric Hansen – or $40,000 for each fisherman.

"It's not unheard of for a crew working a full-time boat to be at six figures" in income, said Hansen. "It goes to the car dealerships, support systems in the city – diesel mechanics, ice plants. It keeps the city alive."    
 
New Bedford's catch has become particularly popular among Europeans who prize the region's wild-caught, oversized scallops, said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney in Washington who works for the Fisheries Survival Fund, a trade association of scallop fishermen. "The big White Castle-burger-patty-sized scallop is unique to our fishery," he said.  
 
The health of North Atlantic scallops beds, ironically, stems from the closure of the once-rich fishing grounds on Georges Bank and other areas in the mid-1990s after years of overfishing led fish populations to nosedive. Even today much of Georges Banks is still closed to cod and other fishing, but in those early years the fishing moratoriums allowed the scallop population to explode.

But the scallopers couldn't convince government regulators to let them drop their nets.

In response, the fishing industry created the Fisheries Survival Fund and teamed up with marine biologists at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to prove its hunch. The scientists used submerged video cameras to record footage of the ocean floor, revealing extensive beds of fully grown, undisturbed scallops.

"Regions that were formerly closed had in fact been these great breeding grounds for scallops," said Dan Georgianna, an economist at UMass Dartmouth who specializes in the fishing industry.

By the late 1990s, the scientific data had convinced the National Marine Fisheries Service to open previously closed areas to scallopers. 
 
The scallop fishery is lucrative even though scallop fishermen are at sea for only about 90 days a year, said Deirdre Boelke, who coordinates the scallop plan for NOAA. Moreover, scallopers are worried about a proposed 1,000-pound reduction in their annual catch limits for next year in some fisheries to 12,000 pounds, a decrease regulators said is necessary to allow the prodigious stocks of juvenile scallops to grow even larger. NOAA is also proposing reducing the number of days fisherman can access other zones where there are no catch limits to 23 days from the current 33.  
 
However, scallopers and New Bedford officials are objecting to NOAA's proposal to lower the catch limits for next year, the second straight year lands would decrease under the scallop-bed rotation plan. The New England Fishery Management Council is expected to recommend a new quota next month to the National Marine Fisheries Service, whose officials have final say on the limits.

Boelke, the NOAA scallop coordinator, said the lower catch limit is not driven by overfishing concerns. Rather, the current crop of scallops is too young.

"The scallops are there," Boelke said. "They just aren't ready."

But scallopers fear the small catch will only serve to push prices up to the point where consumers will stop buying, and fishermen will make less money. Hansen, for example, said the catch limit should remain at the current 13,000 pounds, enough to sustain scallopers until new beds of scallops are opened in two years. 

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

 

 

 

November 26, 2013 — A new report finds the sprawling, 150-year-old maritime industry continues to be a major mainstay of the state's economy.

Water, water everywhere and lots of jobs to boot.

That’s the gist of a new report on the economic impact of the maritime industry in Washington State. The report spotlights the important role the maritime industry plays in the state’s economy, estimating that the sector generates $30 billion in total revenues and about 148,000 jobs.

Those numbers make maritime bigger than Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon or other large employers in the region. Not bad for an industry that traces its roots back more than 150 years to the earliest days of the state.

Read the full story at Crosscut

 

CHATHAM, Mass., — November 29, 2013 — This spring could see one of the biggest mussel harvests in recent memory – if the ducks don’t get them all first.

Chatham fishermen and the shellfish department believe an extensive mussel set in Chatham Harbor survived their most vulnerable seed stage and are now about 3/4 of an inch in size. They could reach market size by March, Shellfish Constable Renee Gagnee said, if the town can protect them from the flocks of eider ducks that are now feasting on them.

Selectmen recently approved Gagnee’s proposal to use various methods to scare ducks away from three areas of the harbor. The areas only represent a small portion of the harbor and the ducks would still have extensive areas to feed on mussel beds both inside and in a large area off North Beach, he said.

Selectmen approved a plan that included mooring a barge east of Strong Island that would have an acoustic cannon firing at 30-minute intervals. The noise would be dissipated by the distance of the island from residential areas and dunes on the island would also block much of the sound, Gagnee said.

Sound measurements will be taken at landings closest to the area. Recent testing already showed the sound at 120 decibels at less than 5 feet from the cannon, lower than the 165 decibels of a shotgun blast.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times 

November 30, 2013 — The new year is a few weeks away but it’s not too early to think about 2014 hunting licenses.

The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife says 2014 hunting, sporting, fishing, and trapping licenses will be available for purchase starting on Monday.

They can be purchased at all license vendor locations, MassWildlife District offices, the West Boylston Field Headquarters, and at MassFishHunt.org.

Anyone 15 or older needs a license to hunt or for freshwater fishing.

Read the full story by the Associated Press at The Boston Globe