State and Local

June 29, 2012 — MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will hold public meetings in July to receive comments on locations for three new inshore fishing reefs/oyster sanctuary sites

The division’s Oyster Sanctuary Program has received a Coastal Recreational Fishing License grant to construct three inshore fishing reefs/oyster sanctuaries in the Cedar Island, Cape Fear River and Manteo areas.

The goal is to increase angling opportunities in North Carolina by creating and protecting sub-tidal oyster reefs with easy access for the recreational angler.

The reefs will be made with different types of concrete structures. These materials will attract oyster larvae, as well as clams, juvenile fish, crabs and other marine organisms, which in turn, will attract larger fish, enhancing hook-and-line fishing.

The reefs will also serve as a brood stock for oysters. Harvest of oysters and the use of bottom disturbing gear are prohibited on the reefs. But the oysters that grow there will produce millions of eggs annually that will be carried by currents and tides to surrounding areas that are open to oyster harvest.

At each location, this project will construct a reef on 10 acres of soft bottom.

 

Read the full story on Cape Fear Business News 

June 28, 2012 – Caviar, salted sturgeon eggs, is a delicacy most often associated with Russia … the “treat of tsars.” New Jerseyans may be surprised, then, to learn that this state we’re in was once world-famous for its own caviar.

In the late 1800s, the Delaware Bay and Delaware River were one of the planet’s most productive sturgeon fisheries, helping make the United States the world’s top caviar exporter.

The Delaware Bay even had its own sturgeon boomtown at the mouth of the Stow Creek in Cumberland County, known as Caviar Point or sometimes simply Caviar.

Caviar had a processing plant and its own railroad spur for sending the delicacy north through the Pine Barrens to New York City. At its peak around 1895, nearly two dozen wholesalers shipped 15 train cars of caviar and smoked sturgeon every day.

Atlantic sturgeon were huge and plentiful. Gigantic females were slaughtered to extract the eggs. But demand for caviar exceeded the Delaware Bay’s supply of the slow-maturing Atlantic sturgeon. The caviar business eventually crashed in the early 1900s due to overfishing; newspaper stories from the time indicate that Caviar residents thought they were being punished by God. Without its namesake business, Caviar became known as Bayside.

Read the full story at NJToday.net.

 

 

June 28, 2012 – Instead of seeking a meal this year, scallop hunters might consider a different spot on the table.

Researchers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg have completed their surveys of the bay and the survey says that scallop numbers are significantly off the stocks of 2011 and 2010.

The season, said Steve Geiger with the Research Institute, may be one in which hunters might want to aim to share the crop, the goal maybe a smaller take than last year.

“Instead of going out and trying to catch dinner, maybe they ought to think about going out for an appetizer,” Geiger said. “What (researchers) are seeing is way down.”

The scallop season begins Sunday and continues through Sept. 10.

Each year, researchers place 20 transect lines of 300 meters in length at stations around the bay.

The configuration works like this: the first station is just off the boat ramp at Frank Pate Park and researchers work in a horseshoe around the south end of the bay and up to T. H. Stone St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.

In all, roughly 12,000 square meters of the bay are surveyed, a diver dipping underwater at one end of each transect and counting scallops along the length of the line.

Read the full story at The Star.

 

 

The Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership issued the following statement regarding the settlement agreement between Cape Wind and the Martha's Vineyard / Dukes County Fishermen's Association:

The Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, the largest commercial fishing organization in the state, remains strongly opposed to Cape Wind. The fact that the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen have dropped their lawsuit against Cape Wind in exchange for monetary compensation does not change the fact that Cape Wind will devastate essential fish habitat in Nantucket Sound and put the livelihoods of many commercial fishermen at risk. It is deplorable in such tough economic times that Cape Wind would stoop so low as to push fishermen to accept an arrangement that would harm the industry for generations to come.

Read the press release about the settlement between Cape Wind and the Martha's Vineyard / Dukes County Fishermen's Association

 

 

June 25, 2012 — DARTMOUTH — Former 18-year state Rep. John F. Quinn was named by the U.S. Commerce Department on Monday to a seat on the New England Fisheries Management Council.

Quinn, an attorney who has represented many clients in various roles in the fishing industry — including appearances at council meetings — said he believes he has the perfect set of skills for the job of managing fish stocks in the Northeast.

Since leaving the Legislature in 2010 and making a losing bid to replace Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, Quinn has been a lecturer at the UMass Law School and director of the UMass Center for Graduate Civic Engagement. He said it's a perfect fit with the management council: "There's no better public policy than local fishing."

Quinn's actions as an attorney representing a fishing boat owner whose catch was being seized in 1990 became an issue in the sheriff's race.

Quinn was notified of a $15,000 federal fine, but on review the fine was later reduced to $6 and the matter was dismissed.
Quinn's explanation was that he was doing what he was being paid to do: aggressively represent his client.
The state Board of Bar Overseers reviewed the case and took no action.

Rodney Avila, who is vacating the seat Quinn will occupy, said "I knew it a month ago" by the tone of questions and by the support he had that Quinn would get the job.

 

Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times

June 25, 2012 – The following was released by the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association:

Today the Commerce Department announced the most recent appointments to the New England Fishery Management Council, the decision-making body that oversees the development of federal fishery regulations for New England.

Maine’s small-boat, community-based fishermen will have a new voice representing them. Vincent Balzano, a third generation fisherman out of Portland Maine, has been appointed to replace Port Clyde fisherman and business operator Glen Libby.

“Glen has been an important advocate for the fishermen of Maine both on and off the Council and has been instrumental in ensuring the survival of the Maine inshore fleet,” said Ben Martens, Executive Director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, which Glen Libby helped establish in 2006. “We were happy to see NOAA’s Fisheries Service and the Commerce Department recognize the importance Maine inshore fishermen in the decision-making process. We are very excited to continue to work with Vincent and the other Maine representatives on the Council to develop common sense regulations to protect Maine’s iconic fishing fleet.”

“Being on the New England Fishery Management Council has been an incredible experience and I am honored that I was allowed to have that opportunity,” Said Glen Libby. “The Council has a lot of very important decisions to make in the near future and I’m happy that the small boats of Maine will continue to have a voice in these decisions. Vincent (Balzano) has worked hard to help build the Port Clyde Community Groundfish Sector and I’m excited to see what he can do at the Council.”

Mr. Libby continued by saying “I’m also looking forward to spending more time focusing on Port Clyde Fresh Catch and participating in the regulatory process from the other side of the table.” Port Clyde Fresh Catch is small-scale fishermen led processing facility focused on direct marketing of local, sustainable seafood.

Vincent Balzano, a longtime advocate for the Maine fleet, has been an active participant in the Council process for years serving on Advisory Panels for Groundfish, Habitat, and Whiting. He has also served as the Advisory Panel Chair for North Atlantic Shrimp at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. In response to the appointment, Mr. Blazano stated: “I’d just like to thank Glen for the years he spent on the Council and all the hard work he did for the Maine fleet. I’d also like to thank Governor Paul LePage for appointing me for this position. I know we have a lot of work to do and I hope to bring new energy and ideas to the process.”

Also appointed to the Council from Maine was Terry Alexander, a fisherman out of Portland, who is replacing James Odlin.

 

 

The following was released by the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association CHATHAM, Mass. June 21, 2012 – Yesterday, the New England Fishery Management Council finalized new rules for the Atlantic herring fishery, known as Amendment 5. Fishermen from all over New England have been fighting for five years to get better accountability on a fishery dominated by massive vessels which tow huge nets that remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of fish from the ecosystem.

Cape fishermen fought to get onboard observers on every trip the midwater trawlers make. They protested because those vessels did not have to weigh their catch. They sounded the alarm on the practice of dumping, which undermined efforts to get accurate information on catch and bycatch in this high volume fleet.

They have reason to feel hopeful that progress was made yesterday as the council initiated key changes to how the fishery operates by requiring fishery observers on every midwater trawl fishing trip, obligating that the catch be weighed and putting a limit on the amount of times fish can be dumped. They realize that a lot more work will be necessary to hammer out the details and get this on the water quickly, but this decision was momentous.

"It is about time that the industrial herring industry gets held to the standards the rest of us have been held to for years," says Tim Linnell, groundfisherman and owner of F/V Perry's Pride II out of Chatham, Mass. "100 percent monitoring for a gear that takes so much fish indiscriminately out of the ecosystem is not only necessary, but critical to understanding what is going on in that fishery."

"Finally the council did for the herring fishery what every other fishery in New England has had to do for years: required them to accurately weigh and report their catch," says Craig Poosikian, a commercial fisherman from Orleans, Mass. who fishes for striped bass, fluke, scup and sea bass. "No more honor system of estimating how much fish they caught. I welcome them to the club!"

"The council decided that keeping fish from observers by dumping the net before bringing it on board was no longer going to be an option for herring vessels," says Alex Friedman, a commercial tuna and striped bass fisherman from Martha's Vineyard. "They gave the fishery a ton of leeway, but at least they have the threat of trip termination if they keep dumping fish, and that is a good first step in putting accountability on this fleet."

Fishermen who harvest cod, haddock and other bottom-dwelling groundfish were angered that the council did not ban the industrial trawlers from fishing in areas set aside as groundfish sanctuaries. Recent news of plummeting populations of Gulf of Maine cod and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder has rocked the industry.

"Many groundfishermen have sacrificed for years by not fishing in areas that were identified as sanctuaries for spawning and juvenile groundfish," says Ted Ligenza, a traditional jig fisherman on his vessel Riena Marie out of Chatham, Mass. "It's a disgrace that they will continue to be allowed to fish there when we know they get groundfish as bycatch. But at least now they will have to take observers into all of the closed areas when they want to fish there."

The Council will now send its final Amendment 5 document to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval.

June 21, 2012 — A manufacturing breakdown delays plastic license tags required for traps, costing fishermen time and money.

A manufacturing problem has delayed the production of license tags for lobster traps, forcing hundreds of lobstermen in New England to wait weeks to set their traps for the season.

Stoffel Seals, a division of TydenBrooks of Congers, N.Y., said a machine's breakdown in May delayed its production of the plastic tags. It expects to be on its regular shipment schedule before the end of July.

Normally, it takes 15 business days for lobstermen to get the numbered, color-coded tags. Stoffel said it's now taking an additional 10 to 12 business days.

However, the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association said it was told that the company is eight weeks behind schedule.

Stoffel, which supplies lobstermen in New England and Canada, said it doesn't know how many tags were delayed.

"Any other year, a delay would not be as big of an issue," said Lyman Kennedy of Falmouth, who fishes 600 traps out of Union Wharf in Portland.

But with soft-shell lobsters abundant early this year, he estimates that he will miss out on $15,000 to $20,000 by having to wait to set his traps.

"My sternman's out of money, too," he said. "That's two families out of money."

Maine's 4,500 lobstermen are required to have license tags on their traps by June 1.

The delay has affected more than 100 of them, said Joseph Fessenden, chief of the Maine Marine Patrol. Fessenden said he doesn't know the total number of traps that must be kept out of the water.

A commercial lobsterman can fish with as many as 800 traps.

Because of Stoffel's manufacturing problems, the Maine Department of Marine Resources has bent its rules somewhat.

Lobstermen will be allowed to set their traps four weeks after they order tags, so if the tags remain unavailable, the lobstermen can fish without fear of having their traps seized, Fessenden said.

"It's been a struggle for a lot of people," he said. "The majority of fishermen got their tags. But for whatever reason — whether it's the expense or a personal issue — some people ordered later and they are without tags. We showed some flexibility."

The tags cost 50 cents each, so a lobsterman who fishes 800 traps pays $400 to the state.

Maine and Massachusetts are the nation's two leading lobster harvesters.

 

Read the full story on the Portland Press Herald

June 11, 2012 — INDIAN ISLAND —  Work crews today began demolition of the Great Works Dam on the Penobscot River, the largest-ever river restoration project in eastern North America.

Excavators began pounding the defunct concrete fishway in the middle of the dam following more than an hour of speeches by federal, state and Penobscot Indian Nation officials.

Ken Salazar, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, said the $62 million project, which includes the removal of two dams and improved fish passages at two other dams, is a model for other restoration efforts in the nation because of its collaborative approach.

"It's really a great day for America and a great example for anyone who believes anything is possible," Salazar said.

Hundreds of people were on hand to hear the speeches and celebrate the project's start at the dam, the second of three located downstream from Indian Island, the Penobscot Indian reservation.

The project is seen as a model for river restoration in other parts of the world because the terms of a multi-party agreement will allow power companies to increase power generation elsewhere in the river watershed. In the end, there will be no loss of power production.

Environmental groups say the project is the largest-ever river restoration effort in eastern North America and represents the last best hope of restoring wild runs of Atlantic salmon in the United States.

 

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald

The following was released by the Penobscot River Restoration Trust:

OLD TOWN, Maine – June 11, 2012 —  On Monday, June 11, demolition of the Penobscot River’s Great Works Dam begins. This is a major step toward allowing the river to flow free from Old Town to the Gulf of Maine for the first time in generations.

For centuries, dams along the Penobscot River have blocked fish from reaching their historic spawning grounds, depleting native fish populations and diminishing fishing and recreation for Maine communities.  On June 11, the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, with its public and private partners, celebrates the beginning of the removal of the Great Works Dam, a one thousand foot long mass of concrete, timber and cribwork.  This historic event is a key component of the innovative Penobscot River Restoration Project aimed at reviving native fish populations, cultural traditions and creating economic and recreational opportunities, while maintaining existing hydropower production along the largest river within Maine.

“Today is an important milestone for river conservation in America,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who is attending the press conference, said. “Through a historic partnership that exemplifies President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, we are reconnecting 1,000 miles of river, restoring vital habitat for fish and wildlife, expanding opportunities for outdoor recreation, and supporting energy production, jobs and economic growth in communities throughout Maine.”

The decommissioning and removal of Great Works Dam, located north of Bangor, is part of a broad collaborative effort that will eventually include removal of the Veazie Dam and creation of new, upstream fish passage at Milford and Howland Dams. Once completed, the Project will vastly improve access to nearly 1,000 miles of historic fish habitat, benefitting 11 species of native sea-run fish including endangered Atlantic salmon.  The entire Project will be phased over several years and will create hundreds of jobs.

The Penobscot River Restoration Project balances fisheries restoration with hydropower production; it is considered a model of collaborative partnership for accomplishing large-scale ecological restoration across the United States.  Attending the Great Works Dam Removal Event on June 11, is Eric Schwaab, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as other high-level dignitaries.  Said Schwaab, "NOAA has long hoped to see the Penobscot River's Atlantic salmon, herring, sturgeon and shad swim freely to their spawning grounds upstream.  This will help spur the growth of these fish populations that are vital to the health of the larger Gulf of Maine ecosystem as well as the commercial and recreational fishing it supports."

The Penobscot River Restoration Project will enable the Penobscot Indian Nation to once again obtain sustenance and more fully realize cultural practices from the river that bears their name. “Today is a day that will be remembered as a most significant event in reuniting our long-lost fisheries resources with their historic homeland. Bringing back these lost relatives continues the restoration of ancient natural cycles of creation in a river we have been connected to for thousands of years, and makes us who we are as a people,"  said Chief Francis of the Penobscot Indian Nation.

The remarkable private-public collaboration includes hydropower companies Black Bear Hydro and PPL Corporation; the Penobscot Indian Nation; NOAA; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; American Rivers; the Atlantic Salmon Federation; Maine Audubon; Natural Resources Council of Maine; the Penobscot River Restoration Trust; The Nature Conservancy; and Trout Unlimited.  Scott Hall, Vice President, Environmental & Business Services, Black Bear Hydro Partners, LLC said, “Black Bear looks forward to developing new hydropower in the Penobscot watershed as part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project’s new balance between energy production and fisheries. We look forward to working together with the Penobscot River Restoration Trust and other project partners to realize both energy and fisheries benefits for Maine.”

An announcement at today’s press conference confirmed that this is also a celebration of the unprecedented private-public collaboration that is supporting the restoration of this mighty river.  As of today, the Project is close to reaching the estimated $62 million necessary for completion.  This week alone, the momentum generated by this milestone resulted in new contributions for the Project totaling approximately $3.8 million from foundation and private sources.  Combined with generous funding throughout the project from numerous foundations, businesses and private donors, private contributions are now at $31 million.  Simultaneously, DOI and NOAA are pledging to support the Project with an additional $3.55 million in funding that would bring the federal government’s contribution to nearly $30 million.  The Penobscot River Restoration Trust is tremendously grateful for the unprecedented investment in the river by private and public supporters which further demonstrates the power of partnership.

Major funding for the Great Works Dam removal was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Restoration Center through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including funds for scientific monitoring of the Project, with additional support provided through the FWS national fish passage program and other public and private sources.

The Penobscot River is the largest river within Maine and second largest in New England.  Its tributaries flow from near Mount Katahdin in the North Woods through the heart of Maine to Penobscot Bay, draining 8,570 square miles, or about a quarter of the state. The Penobscot River Restoration Project's reconfiguration of dams will have a wide range of benefits for fish and wildlife populations, water quality and communities along the river while at the same time maintaining hydropower.

“The Penobscot River Restoration Trust is pleased to join our partners in this historic moment in Maine.  The benefits of the Great Works Dam removal, and the Project more generally, will be far reaching, positively affecting fisheries and related environmental ecosystems, expanding business and cultural opportunities and recreational use of the expansive Penobscot River,” said Laura Rose Day, Executive Director of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust.

Completion of the project will have a positive impact on:

• Fish restoration: The Project will significantly improve access to 1,000 miles of upstream habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon and other “upper river” species of commercial and recreational importance by removal of the Great Works and Veazie dams and installation of a fish bypass at Howland Dam.  In addition, Black Bear Hydro will construct a fish lift at Milford and improve fish passage at other dams. Overall, populations of endangered Atlantic salmon, American shad, alewives, blueback herring and seven other species of migratory fish are expected to rebound. “Lower river” species, including endangered sturgeon, will regain full access to their historic river habitat.

• Energy: Maintaining hydroelectric power is a core element of this Project.  Black Bear Hydro has invested significant resources at its hydroelectric facilities, maintaining and potentially increasing hydro power generation, while reducing the impact on migrating fish.

• Cultural traditions: The Penobscot has been the ancestral home to the Penobscot Indians for more than 10,000 years. Removing Great Works and Veazie dams will rejoin the Penobscot Indian Nation’s homeland with the Atlantic Ocean.  A return of sea-run fish will also revitalize opportunities for culturally significant fishing and paddling traditions.

• Recreation: Recreational fishermen, paddlers, hikers, bird watchers and other outdoor enthusiast, will benefit from a restored river. Opportunities will improve over time due to increased species and habitat diversity.  Outfitters, tour guides and other outdoor-related businesses stand to profit from increased recreational opportunities.

• Environment and natural resources: The increase in bio-diversity will enhance the entire Penobscot River ecosystem.  As fish populations grow, bird populations will diversify because of an increasing food supply.  Over time, the increase in historic herring biomass may also help restore commercial ground fisheries between the Gulf of Maine and the Penobscot.

• Job creation and economic benefits: The Penobscot River Restoration Project is creating or maintaining a variety of jobs for people in construction, engineering, and scientific industries while also creating new opportunities for long-term economic growth in the region. Potential economic opportunities include tourism due to restored and enhanced recreational use of the Penobscot River as well as improved commercial fisheries stock.