State and Local

September 5, 2012 —

"The First Circuit heard a very strong argument today that provides ample reason to reverse the District Court and rule in favor of New England fishermen.  At its core, this is a case about democracy and the rule of law.  In the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Congress expressly guaranteed that New England fishermen were entitled to a referendum and a host of other procedural protections before the government could implement the current management system.  What we heard today was a compelling demonstration of how NOAA ignored the law and rammed through a new catch-share system without regard to how it would affect fishing communities.  A ruling in our favor would strike down NOAA’s irresponsible implementation of the law and go a long way toward ensuring future management measures take into account people–not just fish–as Congress intended."

–Jon Mitchell, Mayor of New Bedford

 

 

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. — September 3, 2012 —  A lifelong fisherman who suffered a stroke and can no longer work says he has been unable to sell his boat or his state fishing permit, even with interested buyers, because of state regulations.

Lawrence Derego, 60, wrested a living from the sea as a commercial fisherman until a stroke on Jan. 1, 2008, paralyzed his left side. Despite intensive rehab, Derego still has difficulty maintaining his balance. He and his wife, Jane, a certified nursing assistant, are struggling financially while their 40-foot lobster boat, Seahorse, remains in storage at Fairhaven Shipyard.

"After it happened I had a man who wanted to run the boat for me. But the Department of Marine Fisheries said it had to be owner-operated," said Derego, who holds lobster and conch permits. Derego had to wait six months to get on disability and a full year for Medicare.

"It was tough with no money coming in. Our nest egg was gone," he said.

With the price of lobster depressed, the conch, or channeled whelk, fishery has now become lucrative. But selling his permit is not an option, he said, because DMF rules currently prohibit the transfer of a license. However Derego said that transferring his license would not add to the number of permit holders and a moratorium on new permits has already been in effect since 1989.

Conch catches have increased sharply over the last six years, according to DMF figures, which show more than 2 million pounds landed in 2010. That number is now more than 3 million, leading to fears that the harvest is unsustainable.

"In May 2010 we had someone who wanted to buy the permits, but they said that transfers were frozen," Derego said. DMF told him to get in the boat and go fishing, he said. Derego, who first went fishing with his father when he was 6 years old, said it is all he has ever done and he would still be out there if he could do it.

"They said (his stroke rehabilitation) would be six months to a year," his wife said. "We were going to Sandwich three days a week for rehab trying to get him back. But he still has no balance at all."

The Deregos' plight became public recently when Scott Brown visited Fairhaven to speak with a group of fishermen's wives. Jane Derego made an emotional plea to the senator for help.

The Department of Marine Fisheries responded to inquiries from The Standard-Times through a spokesman, Reginald Zimmerman, and seemed to offer some hope for a resolution.

"Given Mr. Derego's current situation, we are currently reviewing a proposed rule, introduced in May, which may allow for the transfer of the conch permit along with the lobster permit," Zimmerman said in an email. "We look forward to working with the Derego family in getting this important matter resolved."

 

Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times 

 

 

September 1, 2012 — While thunderstorms cancelled some trips, shortened others and made a few very exciting, fishing remains good. Croaker still lead the parade in Delaware Bay with flounder and bluefish close behind.

Most of the activity is centered on reef sites with blues showing up under diving birds at the Outer Wall and mixed in the bottom fisherman’s catch.

Speaking of thunderstorms, I don’t recall one lasting for more than 12 hours as we saw from Saturday into Sunday. My rain gauge showed over 6 inches with some areas experiencing twice that much.

The thunder and lightning were constant, putting my two cats into hiding for the duration and into therapy for the next year. Several pontoon boats were damaged by a waterspout at Pot-Nets Bayside and cars parked in an underground garage in Rehoboth were found floating. For us, the good news is Hurricane Isaac paid a visit to New Orleans and has spared the Atlantic coast.

The unsettled weather has cut down on the number of ocean fishing trips, with those who did fish finding pretty much the same action as in the bay. Flounder and croaker were available from the mouth of Indian River Inlet out to Site 11. A decent number of trout were caught off the Bethany Beach condos, and bluefish have been thick at Fenwick Shoal.

Indian River Inlet and Bay give up the occasional keeper flounder with most taken on live spot. The rocks hold triggerfish and sheepshead on sand fleas. The same bait will attract rockfish at night.

Surf fishing has produced blues, croaker, spot, sharks and skates. With the mullet run under way, cut chunks or whole finger mullet have been the top baits.

The offshore waters hold marlin, wahoo and dolphin with several boats deep dropping for tilefish. Golden tiles make up the majority of the catch, and they are excellent table fare.

Over the past two years I have seen more baitfish in Delaware Bay and the ocean than I can recall seeing at any previous time.

Last Friday, I decided to kill a few hours by fishing from Broadkill Beach, and while the catching was poor the sight of mullet jumping from the water close to shore and endless schools of menhaden farther out was heartening. Since Delaware does not harbor many large predators during the summer, the bait went about its business undisturbed.

Sharks are the one big fish that we do have in the summer, and recreational fishermen are catching big specimens close to shore. No doubt these fish are attracted by the bait, and a recent Facebook post showing blacktips feeding on bunker in the New Jersey surf proves the point.

A Philadelphia TV news report showed a decent-sized hammerhead at a New Jersey beach surfing the waves. All of this shark activity is due to the abundance of bait.

I am sure most fishermen have heard about the terrible crisis with menhaden. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has ordered member states to drastically reduce menhaden landings and claims the current population is at an all-time low. I have no idea where they are looking, but my observations would place menhaden populations at an all-time high.

A few weeks ago, I was in Virginia Beach and observed three Omega Protein boats harvesting menhaden at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. At the time, we were cruising the same area looking for cobia and seeing a fair number of menhaden schools. I am sure there would be more menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay if Omega Protein would stop catching them, but in Virginia that will not happen anytime soon.

In Delaware, we are happy to have plenty of bait and hold out high hopes we will soon see schools of big rockfish harassing them.

 

Read the full story in the Cape Gazette 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — Boston Mayor Tom Menino netted another partner today in his effort to sell fresh fish at local farmers markets, claiming New Bedford as his newest catch.

Dayboat fish, fresh off the boat, were sold at some Boston farmers markets for the first time since the 1990s this summer, part of a pilot program that Menino said he hoped to expand throughout the city.

“The mayor and I are going to work together with our staffs to make sure that as we move forward on this issue that New Bedford is part of this program,” Menino said. “I’m the mayor of Boston. I want to help these mayors out.”

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — August 29, 2012 — New York joined Massachusetts and two other New England states Tuesday in seeking a federal disaster declaration for the Northeast groundfishery whose commercial and recreational fleets, in rapid consolidation, are facing catch reductions of 45-73 percent next year based on preliminary estimates by government scientists.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s office hinted late Monday that a regional disaster declaration is being drafted by the administration.

The radical catch cutbacks are driven by stock assessments, as mandated by the 2006 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, but the government’s science has drawn increasing skepticism. Last week, Mayors Carolyn Kirk of Gloucester and Jon Mitchell of New Bedford urged a freeze on catch limit reductions until confidence was restored in the assessment process.

In his filing for Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick asked for $21 million, but there has been no estimate of the budget for a regional disaster.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine filed disaster requests six or more months ago, but have gotten no response, either from Jane Lubchenco at the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the Department of Commerce, NOAA’s parent agency, and the silence has angered elected leaders of the filing states.

 

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.

 

 

August 28, 2012 — Fishermen gathered in Portland today to let the region's new top federal fisheries official know what they think about where the industry is going.

John Bullard was recently appointed to head the Northeast Regional Office of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Soon after taking the job, Bullard launched a series of "listening sessions'' across New England to hear from stakeholders about the major issues facing the industry and thoughts on how it should be structured.

Today's session was being held at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, on Portland's waterfront. Among those voicing their opinions was Kirk Newkirk, who says he used to make a good living catching cod.

"It is National Marine Fisheries' job to make sure that every single one of us in this room has something to bring home at the end of the day," he said. "When one user group or another user group or any of us don't have fish at the end of the day it's a problem."

 

Read the full story at the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

 

 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — August 25, 2012 — Rhode Island lawmakers have joined Gov. Lincoln Chafee in pushing the federal government to declare a disaster in the New England groundfish fishery, citing significant catch limit reductions projected for next year.

The lawmakers say in a letter released Saturday that the declaration could make fishermen eligible for additional loan programs and authorizes Congress to provide additional assistance.

Chafee on Friday issued a request to the U.S. Department of Commerce, citing significant cuts in catch limits for species as cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder that are projected for 2013.

The governors of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine have made similar requests. Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts last week asked for $21 million in disaster relief for his state.

U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse together with U.S. Reps. James Langevin and David Cicilline say in a joint letter released Saturday that commercial fishing is a vital part of the Rhode Island economy and culture.

‘‘We specifically want to underscore the Governor’s point that in addition to the direct impact on groundfish catch limits, there will likely be indirect impacts on other fisheries that these same permit holders, and many other Rhode Island fishermen, also rely on,’’ the lawmakers said in the letter.

 

Read the full story from the AP at the Boston Globe.

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — August 25, 2012 — Mayor Jon Mitchell interrupted a family vacation on Cape Cod Friday to deliver an urgent appeal on behalf of commercial fishermen at a meeting of fisheries scientists in Boston.

Accompanied by New Bedford fisherman Rodney Avila, the mayor asked the New England Fishery Management Council's science and statistical committee to maintain the existing catch limits for New England groundfish for the next fishing year which begins on May 1.

Earlier this month, the council's groundfish committee projected cuts of 70 percent and more for species such as cod and haddock in the 2013 fishing year.

The science and statistical committee, made up of 18 fishery scientists, makes recommendations on setting catch limits to the full fishery management council.

"There is no difference of opinion about the likely impact of these cuts," Mitchell told The Standard-Times after the meeting. "Many fishermen will just go out of business."

Maintaining the current catch limits would allow time for a comprehensive review of the stock assessment models and the data collection process, Mitchell said. The fishing industry has long complained of the scientific models used by NOAA's Fishery Service to assess the abundance of fish stocks.

 

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times.

 

 

August 23, 2012 — Don Baker was shocked at the sight around his 34-foot-long sailboat as he sailed along the western end of the Toms River on Thursday morning. “(Dead fish), each about three inches long, were all over section C of the lagoon area,” said the 80-year-old Matawan resident. “They were all floating in the water.”

The state Department of Environmental Protection noted a report of hundreds of dead Atlantic menhaden fish in a lagoon at the Lighthouse Point Marina at Crabbe Road and Route 166 in South Toms River, said state DEP spokesman Larry Hajna in an email.

Baker, who stores his sailboat at the marina, said he noticed roughly 30 seagulls sitting at the main entrance to the lagoon area who were not feeding on the fish around 11 a.m. Thursday.

“That led me to believe either they had their fill of fish or they detected something wrong with them and so (they) would not eat them,” Baker said.

However, the state DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife investigated the incident with the Ocean County Health Department and found no obvious sources of pollution or contamination, according to the state DEP’s website.

Baker said he first noticed strange behavior by the fish in the river Wednesday evening.

“Yesterday, when I came back in at 5 p.m., the fish were all flopping out of the water,” Baker said. “I assumed they were being chased by a big fish.”

However, there is nothing unusual about the incident, according to the state DEP.

Menhaden travel in large schools that can number in the millions and may live as long as 12 years with a maximum length of 20 inches and weight of three pounds, according to a profile found on the state DEP’s website.

It is not uncommon for very large schools of juvenile (menhaden) to run up into shallow lagoons, which then use up all of the oxygen in the lagoon that results in a fish kill, according to the state DEP’s website.

Several such incidents happened in small creeks in the Raritan Bay in Monmouth County in August 2010. The deaths of thousands of fish resulted from the incident, as well as a very large fish kill in Delaware Bay, all due to extremely low dissolved oxygen levels, according to the website.

 

Read the full story in the Asbury Park Press

 

 

 

 

August 23, 2012 — The past two weeks have featured a ton of wildlife action along the shoreline of Long Beach Island and neighboring beaches. Large schools of Atlantic Menhaden or Peanut Bunker (Brevoortia tyrannus) have entered the area and been pushed very close to shore by a wide variety of predators. These schools of fish are easy to see from the beach, recognizable as dark patches of choppy water.

When close enough, beach goers may even smell these fish as they give off a strong, oily scent. This oily quality is one of the main reasons why Atlantic Menhaden are fished commercially as that fish oil is used in a wide variety of products, ranging from food to cosmetics.

Predators surround these schools of Atlantic Menhaden and push them into tighter and tighter packs, creating a bait ball, an almost solid sphere-like area of small fish that are an easy meal. Adult Atlantic Menhaden are roughly a foot long and almost any predatory fish larger than that love to feed on bunker schools. Recreational fishermen will target Atlantic Menhaden schools to go after the bluefish and striped bass that are likely feeding on bunker below the surface.

The Atlantic Menhaden schools have also attracted various cetaceans to our coast. Resident bottlenose dolphins have enjoyed easy dining, working together to push their prey against the beach and sometimes directly onto the sand! Pilot whales have been reportedly sighted feeding further offshore. The morning of Aug. 17 gave early beach goers the fairly rare opportunity to witness the feeding and breeching patterns of several humpback whales close to shore. The whales made their way north to south, feeding on bunker schools and playing close to shore, putting on a fantastic show.

Area bunker schools have also provided ample opportunity for surf fisherman to land some small sharks. Small brown sharks, thresher sharks, and sandbar sharks have been landed with high frequency in August, drawn into the shallows by Atlantic Menhaden schools. A video of a feeding frenzy of sharks on a bunker school just off Island Beach State Park on Aug. 16 has attracted fantastic attention as most beach goers are fascinated that sharks do indeed inhabit our waters. While these sharks are small enough that they do not pose a real threat to humans, it should be noted that during a true feeding frenzy, there is a serious danger of swimmers being bitten. As the water becomes more and more murky from the action of intense swimming of predator and prey, sharks and bluefish will often swim through the water with jaws wide open, biting anything they run into.

 

Read the full story in the Asbury Park Press