State and Local

June 24, 2013 — For nearly 200 years, the Fulton Fish Market was the hub of activity for restaurants and stores, noted the report. It closed eight years ago and moved to the Bronx.

Now, as a wrecking ball draws near, some locals want to see the market preserved for future use.

“There’s this idea that came out lately of Seaport City. I hear it’s a clunker of an idea,” one resident said to boos at a rally on Sunday.

Organizers pushed for preserving what they called the “landmark of the world.”

“Not torn down, not turned into condos, not turned into hotels, no market in the lobby of a hotel. We want these to remain as markets for the city of New York,” Robert LaValva of the Save Our Seaport Coalition said, according to 1010 WINS.

Read the full story at Israel National News 

 

PORTLAND, Maine — June 24, 2013 — From his office on the city's waterfront, Aaron Merriam, an IT infrastructure engineer, often ponders the health and future of the harbor.

Having grown up among the fishing community in Bucksport, Merriam wants to see a vibrant working waterfront when he looks out over the harbor; instead, he sees vacant building space in the district set aside for fishing activity and a steady encroachment of non-fishing businesses.

The infrastructure engineer in him worries.

"It seems like there's a problem that needs to be solved, that no one's solving," Merriam said. "There's an opportunity there."

City planners tried a new strategy two years ago with zoning tweaks designed to support Portland's waterfront central zone.

Previously, the city's zoning regulations required 100 percent of the first floor space in the zone's buildings be set aside for marine-use businesses, but wharf owners argued that they couldn't find enough marine-based tenants to keep the zone's 15 piers economically viable. The infrastructure was crumbling and tenants were being evicted from one pier because of dangerous conditions.

But there is much at stake.

"If you don't have the piers, you're not going to have the working waterfront," said Larry Legere of Waterfront Alliance, a coalition of Portland waterfront stakeholders.

In 2010, the city agreed to alter the zoning to allow up to 45 percent of first floor space be used for non-marine business, provided building owners could prove they couldn't find marine-related tenants. The new zoning regulations also required the city to do an annual survey to study the zone's use.

The soon-to-be-released 2012 survey is expected to show that vacancy rates for marine-use space remains high. That comes as no surprise to building owners in the zone who have had trouble attracting marine-based tenants.

The new zoning has helped fill non-marine vacancies at Merrill's Wharf, according to Anthony Gatti, a partner with Waterfront Maine, which owns the wharf, but much of the wharf's marine-based space remains unrented, he said. Waterfront Maine has aggressively marketed working waterfront space. It had two potential renters, but the city rejected both for not being involved directly in the fishing industry.

"It's not like it's completely dead, but we haven't been able to find the right user," Gatti said.

CHANGING WATERFRONTS

The vacancies reflect the changing nature of Maine's working waterfronts, said the Waterfront Alliance's Legere. Portland's once-robust groundfishing fleet has shrunk to nearly a tenth of the size it was a quarter century ago.

Portland is still the state's groundfishing hub, but lobster boats now fill much of the berthing spaces in the commercial fishing zone, according to Bill Needelman, Portland city planner.

Blaming the vacancies solely on the drop in groundfish landings may not reveal the complete picture, said Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association. The infrastructure needed for fish processing also has shrunk with technology, and the city no longer is the sole hub for moving Maine's lobster to marketplace, he said.

Even if the groundfish industry rebounded, the vacancies along Portland's waterfront won't fill up the same way they did in the past, Martens said.

"We have to acknowledge that we're not going to be putting a bunch of fish-cutting houses down there," Martens said.

MORE DATA NEEDED

The city is hoping with the survey to gather data to make informed decisions about how to shape its waterfront, Needelman said. So far, he said, it appears the landscape has shifted little since the 2010 zoning changes. It might take a few more surveys before the city can detect trends.

"We really only have two years of data to compare," Needelman said.

With the new zoning rules, city officials are being asked to judge what is and what isn't working waterfront endeavors. The answer isn't always clear. A recreational fishing specialty clothing company called 12wt applied to rent out working waterfront space on Merrill's Wharf. The process was a bit confusing, said Stephen Stracqualursi, co-founder of 12wt.

The application was wide open for legal interpretation, and 12wt was first denied before being approved. Even then, it was difficult to get an accurate picture of how much it would cost to renovate the space, and the eventual price tag proved too much for the start-up company.

12wt moved instead to Cotton Street, just off the waterfront, but Stracqualursi still hopes to move to the wharf district someday to be closer to the recreational fishing guide community.

"We would have loved to have been at Merrill’s Wharf," he said.

With the city gaining a reputation in New England and beyond for its restaurants and pubs, demand for street level space has driven up rents. And the affordable spaces are less than desirable, said Needelman.

"There are some very low rents down there," he said, "but those rents are in spaces that are in marginal condition."

As Maine's fishing landscape changes, it may become necessary for Portland to change the shape of what constitutes working waterfront, say stakeholders.

Needelman said he could see the city envisioning the possibility of new uses, like providing infrastructure support for renewable energy projects on the ocean. Portland's working waterfront also might incorporate more aspects of shipping and tourism alongside fishing in the future, said Martens.

"We need to be asking bigger questions about what working waterfront looks like," Martens said.

 

DURHAM, N.H. — June 24, 2013 — The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department will hold a public hearing on proposed marine rules on July 8, 2013, at 2 p.m. at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Region 3 Office, 225 Main Street, Durham, N.H. The hearing is an opportunity to provide public comment on proposed new rules for Atlantic menhaden, including a daily trip limit and dealer reporting requirements.

The new rules for menhaden are being proposed so that the state will be in compliance with Amendment 2 to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic menhaden. The Amendment established a 170,800 MT total allowable catch (TAC) beginning in 2013. The TAC represents a 20% reduction from the average of landings from 2009-2011.

The complete proposed rule, with original and proposed rule language, may be found here.

Read the full press release at the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — June 21, 2013 — Fundraising has begun in earnest for the city's fishermen's memorial, with supporters looking for more than $160,000 needed to build the statue commemorating the men who go to, and sometimes fail to return from, the sea.

"We are working for every brick in the wall, every stone that will be placed," said Deb Shrader, president of the Fishermen's Tribute Fund.

Local artist Erik Durant, who will sculpt the monument, unveiled the memorial's concept art Thursday morning after the city celebrated the centennial of "The Whaleman," the statue in front of the New Bedford Free Public Library dedicated to whaling.

The Standard-Times wrote about the memorial and ran a photograph of its design a year ago, but Thursday was the statue's first public unveiling.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

June 20, 2013 — Sure, Georges Bank has what regulators believe is a recovered, healthy stock of haddock, but isn't it time we considered less favored, but happily often cheaper, fish? There's a delicious opportunity this summer to give more plentiful local varieties a chance through the annual "Out of the Blue" campaign the Gulf of Maine Research Institute runs in partnership with area fine-dining establishments.

Tourists and regulars demand familiar haddock in the fried fish sandwiches they gobble down in their cars clogging Brunswick's Fat Boy Drive-In. And haddock — frozen-at-sea from Norway — was the most prominent fish recently advertised at my local Hannaford's seafood counter. Ever since cod collapsed, its whitefish cousin has starred in chowders and on fish-and-chip platters at New England seafood shacks and in home kitchens. (Scrod, too — baby haddock or cod.) But now Gulf of Maine haddock is in trouble, too. Catch limits on haddock here were cut 73 percent this year — another blow to the Northeast coast, which the US Department of Commerce recently declared a "commercial fisheries disaster." Sure, Georges Bank has what regulators believe is a recovered, healthy stock of haddock, but isn't it time we considered less favored, but happily often cheaper, fish?

There's a delicious opportunity this summer to give more plentiful local varieties a chance through the annual "Out of the Blue" campaign the Gulf of Maine Research Institute runs in partnership with area fine-dining establishments. This week's promotion focuses on Atlantic mackerel, nearly twice as high as salmon in omega-3 fatty acids but one of the least used from Maine waters. Europeans and the Japanese love it. Trattoria Athena in Brunswick features an Italian dish of mackerel with golden raisins, pine nuts, and toasted bread crumbs over linguine. The restaurant's excellent new Maine Street wine bar, Enoteca Anthena, has yopsari, a crostini spread of smoked mackerel, green garlic, and Greek yogurt chef Tim O'Brien recently debuted at the Kennebunkport Festival. Several Portland restaurants are among the 19 participating — including big names such as Five Fifty-Five, Fore Street, Local 188, and Eve's at the Garden.

Read the full story at The Portland Phoenix

June 20, 2013 — When Hurricane Sandy visited Seymour's Boatyard, she was a messy guest, flooding the Northport marina on Bayview Avenue with almost 2 feet of water. The damage was not covered by insurance, and neither was the revenue the Weber family lost when the storm's aftermath kept them from serving their commercial and recreational boating clients.

Now they and other coastal merchants could benefit from a New York State program that is offering grants to companies damaged last October by Sandy, in August 2011 by Hurricane Irene, or in September 2011 by Tropical Storm Lee.

The Coastal Fishing Industry Grant Program, announced May 20 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office, was created with $20 million in federal funding. According to the governor's office, small businesses can apply for grants of up to $50,000, to cover losses not reimbursed by insurance or compensated by federal, state, or local disaster relief. Commercial or recreational fishing businesses — or businesses that support those industries — are eligible to apply if they were directly affected by the storms. Fishing-related businesses that can apply for the grants include marinas, bait and tackle shops, and facilities that harvest, process or ship fish. The governor's office said the companies are eligible to apply if they suffered "damage and/or economic hardship" from the storms.

Businesses can apply by calling 855-NYS-Sandy (855-697-72639); or visiting www.nysandyhelp.ny.gov, navigating to the "Businesses" tab and clicking on the Coastal Fishing Fact Sheet.

Read the full story at The Times Beacon Record

 

June 18, 2013 — The humble pollock, great cash fish of the north, conquered the world through the flaky bland hegemony of a fish stick. At more than $1 billion a year, there is no bigger fishery for human consumption on the planet.

But pollock was also meant to be a savior, part of a Washington-backed antipoverty plan aimed at residents here on Alaska’s mostly undeveloped west coast. A generation ago, organizers envisioned federally guaranteed shares of the pollock catch that would create a rising tide of funds to lift up poor, isolated villages where jobs and hope are scarce.

Pollock did succeed, wildly. The dollars that flowed into the Community Development Quota Program, as the catch-share system was called, created a hydra-headed nonprofit money machine. Six nonprofit groups arose on the Bering Sea shore, and they have invested mightily in ships, real estate and processing plants. Over two decades, the groups amassed a combined net worth of $785 million.

But the results on the ground, in rural community and economic development, have been deeply uneven, and nonexistent for many people who still gaze out to the blinking lights of the factory ships and wonder what happened.

“You eat from one bowl,” said Ivan M. Ivan, 67, chief of the native community here in Akiak, quoting the Yup’ik Eskimo cultural adage about shared resources. “That didn’t happen.”

Collectively, the groups created tens of thousands of jobs and scholarships in one of the poorest regions of the nation. But critics say that community development, over time, got lost in a push toward institutional sustainability — and in some cases lavish salaries for leaders. Deregulation became self-regulation with a board of overseers appointed by the groups themselves the only real watchdog in recent years.

Read the full story at the New York Times

 

 

June 17, 2013 — In the wake of several high-profile cases of alleged scale-tampering by Bering Sea groundfish vessels, the National Marine Fisheries Service is revising its regulations for weighing fish at-sea. The new measures are aimed at making it more difficult for vessels to under-report their catch.

The Bering Sea’s large catcher-processors weigh their harvest as it heads to the processing line on what’s known as a flow-scale – a section of conveyor belt that takes dozens of measurements per second. When properly calibrated, flow-scales give fisheries managers a very accurate estimate of the amount of fish being harvested. But like all scales, they can be manipulated.

“I’m hesitant to lay out exactly how one could tamper with a scale.”

That’s Alan Kinsolving. He’s in charge of at-sea measurement for the National Marine Fisheries Service, and helped draft the new regulations. As he explained to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council at its meeting this month, there are lots of ways that his office works to keep boats honest – they only approve a limited number of scale models, do thorough inspections of the scales annually, and make sure they’re calibrated daily against a known weight.

“Unfortunately, none of this inherently prevents vessel owners or vessel crew from fraudulently misusing scale equipment on the boat,” Kinsolving says.

He told the Council that one of the biggest loopholes in the current regulations is a provision that allows scales to be off by as much as three percent without penalty.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

 

June 17, 2013 — The law that underpins federal fishing policy in the U.S. is currently in the process of being revised by Congress. The Magnuson-Stevens Act was passed in 1976 with the aim of protecting U.S. federal waters from foreign competition. The goal has been to try and improve the sustainable management of fisheries through the introduction of science-based catch limits. Tom Porter takes a look at what revisions Maine fishermen and scientists want to see from Washington.

One man who can remember life as a commercial fisherman before Magnuson is Jim Odlin. From offices on Portland's fish pier, Odlin owns and operates a number of groundfishing vessels – both in Maine and in Massachusetts. As a teenager back in the 1970s, he fished regularly in federal waters.

"I have distinct memories – with my first fishing boat I was around 18, 19 – of running through a fleet going towards Brown's Bank, and there was a hundred foreign ships," Odlin says, "so many foreign ships that it lit the sky up like you were going into Boston."

These ships – many of them Russian – hauled everything out the ocean that they could, says Odlin. So when Congress passed Magnuson-Stevens, and effectively kicked out the foreigners, fishermen like him were relieved.

But 27 years later, Odlin says, the New England groundfish fleet has shrunk, from about 1,200 active vessels down to less than 400, only about 10 percent of which are in Maine. Entire fishing ports, he says, have effectively disappeared.

"Rockland used to be a major fishing port, it's no longer, Boothbay Harbor, Portland's on its way," he says. "So, you know, if you look at it in that context, I would question how successful it's been."

Odlin – who served as a member of the New England Fishery Management Council for nine years – is skeptical of some of the science behind catch limits, and says Magnuson-Stevens has been too hard on the industry.

Overfishing, he says, is no longer the threat it was – he points out that there are haddock on George's bank now dying of old age, rather than being fished. Odlin says a re-authorization of the act should recognize this and relax the tight restrictions on groundfishing.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at the Maine Public Broadcasting Network

 

 

June 14, 2013 — Shucks Maine Lobster wants to launch a new processing facility on Portland’s city-owned Maine State Pier, adding jobs and expanding the amount of lobster meat it processes and exports from the state.

The company, which is based in Richmond, is seeking to lease from the city roughly 19,000 square feet in the Portland Ocean Terminal, which is located on the Maine State Pier. The proposed lease would be for 15 years, with the option to expand in the future, according to a memo from Greg Mitchell, Portland’s economic development director, to the Portland City Council’s Housing and Community Development Committee.

The committee unanimously approved the company’s lease at a meeting Wednesday night, according to Nelle Hanig, business programs manager for the city. The full City Council is expected to vote on the lease at its meeting July 15, Hanig said.

If the company’s plans are approved, Shucks Maine Lobster would hire nine full-time and 60 part-time seasonal employees at its Portland location, according to John Hathaway, the company’s CEO. The company’s peak hiring season is from May until January, he said.

The cost to get the Portland facility up and running would be more than $2 million, including slightly more than $1 million to retrofit the space and another $1 million or so for the necessary equipment, Hathaway said.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News