State and Local

BOSTON — November 5, 2013 — The region's $1.2 billion New England fishing industry's iconic cod, flounder and other popular fish stocks are still far from healthy despite nearly two decades of increasingly harsh regulations.

In fact, the sense of gloom and doom following drastic cuts to fishing quotas this year is so bad that fishermen aren't even showing up for fishery management meetings any more.

Only a handful attended Monday when the Massachusetts congressional delegation assembled in the Statehouse to take testimony on the current state of the industry, getting an earful about changes that need to be made to keep it viable.

Two panels of experts told legislators that fishermen and their families need financial help; that the science used to estimate fish populations needs a lot of improvement in accuracy and timeliness; that time frames to rebuild fish stocks need to be extended; and that global warming is going to make it all worse and needs to be taken into account.

"There is no doubt our groundfish fishery is facing disaster," said Tom Dempsey, the Cape's representative on the New England Fishery Management Council.

The legislators included Democratic Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey; U.S. Reps. John Tierney, D-Mass., and William Keating D-Mass.; and Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and the Coast Guard. Begich is leader of the effort to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the federal legislation that both funds and delineates fisheries management.

Markey told fishermen that Congress is working on help. The Senate included $150 million in national fisheries aid money in its latest appropriations bill, he said. He described the low-interest Small Business Administration loans authorized for the region's fishermen last Friday as a "little blue sky breaking through the clouds."

"The fixes that are coming are way behind the problems," Dempsey said in an interview before the meeting.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — November 4, 2013 — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is at the Statehouse today, conducting a federal fisheries “listening tour.”

Mayor Jon Mitchell was invited to be on the hearing panel. Among those bringing testimony is Dr. Brian Rothschild, a retired UMass Dartmouth professor of marine science and president of the fledgling Center for Sustainable Fisheries.

Rothschild’s prepared remarks call for a sweeping overhaul of the Magnuson Stevens Act that governs fisheries and is up for reauthorization.

He made an often-repeated observation that NOAA Fisheries lacks a balanced reading of the 10 national standards set down by Magnuson.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

PORTLAND, Maine — October 30, 2013 — Maine's lucrative glass eel fishery will be allowed to remain open next year as long as state officials devise a plan to cut its 2014 catch by at least 25 percent, regulators agreed Wednesday.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's eel management board voted to postpone passing new regulations that would go into effect in 2014, opting instead to vote on new rules next spring that would be effective in 2015, said commission spokeswoman Tina Berger.

In the interim, state officials will work with eel fishermen and dealers in Maine to create a plan that results in next spring's catch being 25 percent to 40 percent smaller than this year's spring harvest.

The regulatory debate has been closely watched by Maine fishermen who catch the tiny translucent eels, known as elvers, in nets as they swim up coastal rivers and by dealers who export the alien-looking creatures to Asia, where they are used as seed stock in aquaculture facilities.

Read the full story by the Associated Press at The Republic

October 30, 2013 — This year was looking like a windfall for Georgia shrimpers. The production of Asian farmed shrimp was down after a bacterial infection swept through Thailand’s ponds. The resulting shortage of imports drove prices up.

“Everybody was looking forward to fall,” said Herbert “Truck” McIver Jr., a McIntosh County shrimper who works on the Sundown. “That’s almost a guarantee. It would’ve been an awesome year with the price. Prices are probably like $1 more (per pound) than last year.”

That’s not how it’s panning out.

Instead of celebrating, Georgia shrimpers are finding so few shrimp they’re planning to petition for disaster status. And they’re looking for answers to what’s devastating the catch from Charleston to Jacksonville, a shrimp disease called black gill.

History of black gill

The condition, in which shrimp develop black spots on their gills, first showed up in Georgia shrimp in the 1990s. Since then it’s waxed and waned, but the last several years have been bad ones, shrimpers say. This year up to 90 percent of the shrimp in some trawls have been infected.

Research from pond-raised shrimp indicates black gill has many causes, including bacteria, fungus, lack of nutrients, an overdose of copper or too much sediment. None of those are implicated in Georgia wild shrimp. Instead, the culprit is a single-celled parasite called a ciliate.

Too small to detect with the naked eye, ciliates are about 100 times bigger than bacteria, making them easy to see with a microscope. When infected with ciliates, shrimp fight back by encrusting the parasites inside the gills.

Read the full story at the Savannah Morning News

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — October 30, 2013 — Maine fishermen are being given a 70-day scallop season along most of the coast.

Regulators say the upcoming season will begin Dec. 2 and continue through late March from Kittery to Lubec.

Read the full story from Boston.com

October 28, 2013 — A bitter fight in Washington state over whether to label foods with ingredients that have been genetically modified has attracted tens of millions of dollars in spending, more than $27 million if you add the funds of both sides together.

The amount of cash and other donations rivals previous fiercely fought battles for the state's Senate seats instead of what some might consider an arcane issue of food safety.

Washington voters go to the polls Nov. 5. Their decision follows a contest in California last year in which a similar plan to label foodstuffs with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was defeated.

The dispute has raised passions on all sides in the state — as well as attracted the interest of hugely powerful lobbyist groups and giant corporations. Supporters of the measure — known as I-522, the People's Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act — see a cause rooted in transparency, environmental awareness and the free flow of information between companies and consumers.

Opponents, meanwhile, who have raised most of their campaign funds from biotech and food corporations, argue that the mandate to label GMOs is a poorly written and inefficient law that would burden farmers and ultimately raise prices on grocery store shelves. They also say GMO food ingredients are perfectly safe.

Read the full story at Al Jazeera America 

ROCKPORT, Mass., — October 28, 2013 — A Rockland fisherman credits his father-in-law with saving his life when the commercial fishing vessel the two were on sank three miles off the coast of Rockport, Mass., on Friday night.

David Oakes, 46, of South Thomaston died, Knox County Sheriff Donna Dennison confirmed Monday.

Later on Monday, Oakes’ son-in-law Jason Randall credited his father-in-law with saving his life.

Randall said Oakes had asked him to help bring back the 65-foot Terra Nova from Gloucester, Mass., where it had undergone repairs for the past three weeks. The work on the boat had been completed Thursday morning and Oakes and Randall had left Gloucester on Friday to bring the Terra Nova to Maine.

While they were steaming off Massachusetts, they noticed water pouring into the boat, according to Randall. He said Oakes immediately radioed the Coast Guard and asked whether they could fly out some pumps to help get rid of the water. The Coast Guard reported that the first distress call from the Terra Nova came in between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday.

“While David was on the radio, I went back down to the cabin and saw that a few more feet of water had come in just since he had been talking to the Coast Guard,” Randall said.

Randall said he ran to the pilot house and told Oakes, who notified the Coast Guard of the situation. Oakes then told Randall to put on a survival suit and Oakes donned one as well.

Randall said that as he was trying to get off the boat while it was sinking, he slipped and his father-in-law grabbed him and pushed him over the side to get clear of the vessel.

“That was the last time I saw him. His last act was to save my life,” Randall said.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News 

 

JEFFERSON, N.J. — October 29, 2013 — Sportsmen from across the state will hold a rally with Gov. Chris Christie expected to attend, on Sunday afternoon at the Camp Jefferson Amphitheatre on Weldon Road.

The 4:30 p.m. rally is to show the governor “that we appreciate the accomplishments made on our behalf during the past four years,” said Anthony P. Mauro Sr., who heads the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, a political action committee focused on hunting, fishing and conservation issues. Among issues to be discussed are the state Marine Fisheries Bureau which, NJOA believes needs more attention and funding to support and sustain recreational and commercial fishing, a $2 billion industry for the state.

Also to be brought up are issues such as improved forest habitat and implementation of forest management methods.

The Sportsmen’s group announced the rally to its members in an email that includes the statement “Meet Governor Christie.”

The governor’s campaign office said Sunday’s appearance is part of a scheduled bus tour of the state which begins Wednesday and will include Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno or the governor or both at various stops over the seven days of the tour.

Read the full story from the New Jersey Herald

October 29, 2013 — Fishing Partnership and Health Care for All will be offering free information sessions throughout Massachusetts and answering questions about what the new health insurance means for fishing families.

The dates of those session are as follows:

November 4th at 6:00pm
– Massachusetts Fishermen's Partnership Office,
  114 McArthur Blvd, New Bedford, MA

November 12th at 5:30pm
– Chatham Community Center,
  702 Main St, Chatham, MA

November 13th at both 10:00am and 6:00pm
– Radisson Hotel Plymouth Harbor,
  180 Water Street, Plymouth, MA

November 18th at 6:00pm
– Massachusetts Fishermen's Partnership Office
  114 McArthur Blvd, New Bedford, MA

November 21st at 6:00pm
– Gloucester Sawyer Free Library,
2 Dale Ave, Gloucester, MA 01930

View the full list of free information sessions being hosted by the Fishing Partnership

Learn more about the event in New Bedford, Massachusetts

Read about the Department of Career Services Rapid Response Team

COCOA BEACH, Fla. — Octover 26, 2013 — The state of Florida has declared war on lionfish — a pernicious invader from the Indo-Pacific — and is recruiting troops both domestic and foreign to join the fight.

That was the tone of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Lionfish Summit held Tuesday through Thursday — a meeting of about 100 divers, resources managers, scientists and conservationists eagerly forming battle plans to attack the enemy.

“This is really a war,” said RJ de Pedro Muñoz, operations director of Proyecto Pterois (Lionfish Project) in Puerto Rico. “We need to know what is our enemy doing. Where are the troops?”

By all accounts, lionfish is a formidable foe, presenting daunting challenges to combatants on the front lines.

Since the first Florida sighting of what was probably an abandoned aquarium pet in Dania Beach in 1985, the candy-striped predators with toxin-tipped fins have spread as far as the northern Gulf of Mexico, mid- and south Atlantic, and throughout the Caribbean and Bahamas.

Read the full story from the Miami Herald