State and Local

May 31, 2013 — State Attorney General Martha Coakley on Thursday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging the legality of drastic new quota cutbacks in the Northeast fishery, which she called the "death penalty" for the industry. Coakley appeared at a press conference at the Boston Fish Pier with several lawmakers and officials including U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rick Sullivan.

Those present were mainly from Gloucester, which has been hit hardest by cutbacks in groundfish quotas.

There were no New Bedford representatives at the press conference; Mayor Jon Mitchell had a scheduling conflict.

Tarr praised Coakley for keeping a promise she made a month ago during a fish rally at the same spot. Coakley said then she would do everything in her power to help the fishing industry.

At the press conference, Coakley and others repeatedly referred to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in harsh terms such as "relentless," "vindictive" and "overzealous."

Also Thursday, Northeast fishermen and industry members petitioned NOAA to close the Northeast Regional Office and redirect the funds to help the fishing industry which has been declared in a state of "economic disaster."

Read the full article at the New Bedford Standard-Times 

May 30, 2013 — Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed a lawsuit against federal regulators, alleging that new rules reducing the number of ground-feeding fish that can be caught for the rest of the year will be a “death sentence” for the industry.

Effective May 1, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ordered fisherman to reduce by 77 percent their catches of certain species of fish, including haddock, cod, and flounder. The suit, filed today in US District Court in Boston, aims to block the regulations, claiming NOAA based them on questionable science and did not take into account the potentially disastrous economic impacts they would have on fisherman.

The US government, Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, and the National Marine Fisheries Service are also defendants in the case.

“The federal government has shown a callous disregard for the well-being of Massachusetts fishing families,” Coakley said in a statement. “The fishing industry has been part of our Commonwealth’s proud past, and we will continue to fight to ensure that is part of our vibrant future.”

NOAA has sought for decades to contain overfishing of certain species in New England by implementing catch quotas on the fishing industry.

Throughout that time, Massachusetts fisherman have clashed with the agency over the quotas, which they perceive to be too low, and the subsequent penalties the agency hands down when fisherman exceed them, which fisherman believe are too harsh.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

May 30, 2013 — If those tasty crustaceans smothered by grits in South Carolina restaurants are from Florida, the restaurant owner would be breaking the law by calling them “local” shrimp, under a change working its way through the Legislature.

The same goes for “local” grouper in the display case at the grocery store that’s really from Asia.

The new definition for local seafood would be added to the state’s food labeling regulations in a bill, H.3297, which has made it to the House floor. Even if the bill passes the House in the next two weeks, the Senate won’t consider it until 2014.

Violators would face a misdemeanor charge, but the emphasis is less on punishment than on making clearly illegal what local seafood industry leaders see as a deceptive practice. How pervasive a practice? It’s difficult to say.

“I know it’s a lot, but what is ‘a lot?’” said Frank Blum, executive director of the S.C. Seafood Alliance.

The state’s seafood industry’s revenue dropped to $24 million in 2004 from $48 million in 1995, a dip attributed mainly to foreign competition. The local drop came at a time when seafood consumption worldwide was growing.

“Foreign aquaculture grew like a weed,” Blum said. “It kept up with, and passed a little, what was needed for consumption.”

Changes in U.S. and state regulations that reduced local catch of some species also had an impact. State seafood revenue has inched up to about $27 million since 2004, Blum said.

Nearly 90 percent of seafood consumed in the U.S. is caught or raised in foreign waters, Blum said. It’s unlikely every grocery store, market or restaurant advertising local seafood is telling the truth.

Read the full story at the Greenville News

May 29, 2013 — New Jersey, like many other coastal states, has never considered adopting what several marine conservation groups call the most effective tool to aid coastal ocean habitat – “no-take” protected areas that prohibit fishing and other activity, such as exploratory drilling, in the designated zones.

The controversial strategy has been used by only three coastal states to set at least 1 percent of their coastal waters off limits to fishing. Hawaii leads the way with 23 percent of its ocean covered by a no-take policy, followed by California at 9 percent and Florida at 1 percent.

 “Despite a multitude of threats to their health, U.S. states are failing to adequately protect their coastal and ocean waters,” said Lance Morgan, president of the Marine Conservation Institute, which surveyed the states’ use of no-take zones in a report it released Wednesday. “No-take marine protected areas are the gold standard for helping oceans thrive, but the SeaStates report shows that far too few states and territories are using this critical tool.”

If pursued in New Jersey, such a strategy could have significant impacts on the state’s robust commercial and recreational fishing industries, industry advocates say. While New Jersey and federal fishery management agencies already have a multitude of regulations in place that restrict fishing, including when and how much to catch and which type of gear can be used, no-take zones are particularly contentious because they prohibit any kind of fishing throughout the year, limiting access to fishable waters by commercial and recreational fishermen.

“There are already a lot of areas where we are limited through regulations on gear or what season we can fish in,” said Nils Stolpe, communications director for the Garden State Seafood Association.

New Jersey’s seafood industry generated total sales of $6.6 billion in 2011, fifth highest among all 23 coastal states, and supported more than 43,000 jobs that year, according to federal data.

New Jersey generated $214 million alone in fish landings, ranking seventh. The bulk of that came from shellfish, particularly sea scallops. New Jersey ranked fourth in recreational fishing revenue, generating $1.7 billion.

Read the full story at the Bergen County Record

May 28, 2013 — It takes quite a crew to get an Alaska salmon from “boat to throat,” and everyone along the line gets a cut of the catch. How that “value chain” has paid out in the past few years shows some nice gains for Alaska fishermen and processors.

“We often get asked what share the fisherman retains, and how much each segment of the supply chain gets for salmon. The answer depends on the species, and the product you are talking about, and what gear type,” said Andy Wink, a fisheries economist with the McDowell Group in Juneau who compiled the report for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.“

Wink’s report tracks and compares from 2008 – 2011salmon ex-vessel (dock price) payouts for fishermen and first wholesale value for processors, which typically is defined as the value of the product as it leaves Alaska.

The chain illustrates three examples, showing values from high to low returns for fishermen, with troll caught kings topping the list.

“In this case, the harvester bleeds and dresses the fish and adds most of the value before delivery. The processor basically just holds and ships out the fish, and acts as more of a distributor,” Wink explained.
For that reason, the Chinook fisherman gets a higher return; 40% of the final retail value in that four year time frame. The value chain for sockeye fillets follows a very different pattern.

Read the full story at The Fish Site

May 27, 2013 — It's looking like not one but two different marine education facilities are coming to Hampton Beach this summer.

It hasn't yet been announced, but the Blue Ocean Society is poised to get its wish to put an educational touch-tank in the Hampton Beach Seashell Complex. State Parks officials can't confirm anything, since details of a contract still need to be worked out and approved by the governor's Executive Council next month, but there were only two applicants for the space, and Ellen Goethel — the Blue Ocean Society's challenger — said she wasn't chosen.

But don't count Goethel out, because she's hard at work getting ready for the June 29 opening of the Explore the Ocean World Oceanarium a little farther north at 367 Ocean Blvd. She jumped on the opportunity when a space became available, and the 600-square-foot store in the Oceanside Mall will allow her to fit in two touch-tanks.

"There's going to be a flurry of activity going on very shortly," she said.

Goethel, who is married to commercial fisherman David Goethel, gives talks to pre-school through high-school-aged students in schools all around New England and has been looking for a home base in the Hampton area for nearly 30 years. She visits between 50 and 90 schools a year, she said, and spends four or five days a week this time of year giving talks to students.

She's planning on having two touch-tanks, a refrigerated lobster tank, dried specimens, lots of fishing equipment that kids can try on and videos that explain salt-marsh farming and fishing techniques. And her ties to the local fishing industry mean she has lots of interesting creatures to show off.

Read the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

May 27, 2013 — Lawmakers are divided over a proposal to remove penalties for Maine-based groundfishing trawlers that catch lobsters in federally regulated waters.

The proposal, L.D. 1549, is designed to ensure that the state's dwindling groundfishing fleet can keep the lobsters that come up in trawl nets and sell them in states that allow such lobsters to be landed.

Critics of the bill fear that it will lead to further loosening of restrictions on sales of incidentally caught lobsters, a practice the lobster industry fiercely opposes because of concerns about its impact on the state's most valuable fishery.

The Legislature's Marine Resources Committee endorsed an amended version of the bill last week, 7-6. The bill would lift the penalty for three years before triggering a legislative review. It could reach the Legislature as soon as this week.

Maine now prohibits sales of lobster bycatch, as does Canada. The state also penalizes commercial vessels licensed in Maine for landing or storing lobsters in Area 3, a federally regulated zone that extends from Maine to the mid-Atlantic states and begins about 40 miles off the Maine coast. The penalty can be as much as $50,000.

Read the full story at the Kennebec Journal

May 25, 2013 — Research to assess the stocks of groundfish, including yellowtail flounder and cod in the region managed by the New England Fisheries Council, will be conducted by UMass Dartmouth's School of Marine Science and Technology and the State Division of Marine Fisheries' Marine Fisheries Institute.

"In the wake of devastating new federal regulations based on faulty science, further research by recognized experts is needed to fully understand the state of our fisheries and the best methods to ensure continued vitality in fishing stocks," Montigny said.

Calling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which regulates the fishing industry, "the enemy," Montigny said "The only way we can beat them back, the only way we can protect the industry is by getting better science and putting it right in their face."

Tucked among the 197 amendments attached to the $34 billion budget proposal approved by the state Senate late Thursday night are hundreds of thousand of dollars to benefit SouthCoast services and programs.

State Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, said he was not only able to secure funding for several programs but, in last-minute negotiations, actually got more than he requested.

Montigny said his request for $100,000 for the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center was doubled and the $250,000 he sought for fisheries research was bumped to $350,000.

"I never feel the budget does everything it should, but I was able to do the work I know best and I'm very pleased that my efforts have benefitted many worthwhile (local) initiatives," he said.

The Zeiterion, on shaky financial footing, requested additional funding from the city and state. "This ($200,000) earmark will help to ensure that the Zeiterion continues to be a major anchor of New Bedford's burgeoning arts district," Montigny said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

May 27, 2013 — The third annual Fishing For a Cause striped bass, bluefish and fluke catch-and-release tournament will be held Friday, June 21, 12:01 a.m. to Saturday, June 22 at 4 p.m.

The tournament will culminate in an awards dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. on the Saturday.

According to a news release, the tournament will again be anchored at Popes Island Marina with fishing grounds from Cape Cod Bay to Block Island.

Fishing For a Cause is organized by and for the benefit of the Schwartz Center for Children, which provides comprehensive medical and educational services for children with special needs.

The awards dinner will be held seaside under a tent at Popes Island marina. Officials at the Schwartz Center said in the release that they anticipate close to 400 people will attend this year's catered dinner, which will be prepared and served by Pepper's Fine Catering, and feature music by the Providence-based band Santa Mamba.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times