State and Local

PORTLAND, Maine—Three Maine lobstermen and a former groundfish fisherman have become the first graduates from the first-ever "Cod Academy" aimed at teaching them the ins and outs of fish farming.

Since kicking off in January, the school has provided the four with both classroom training and hands-on experience at a commercial fish farm off eastern Maine that raises cod. They were recognized Tuesday at a graduation ceremony at the USDA National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center in Franklin.

The goal is to provide fishermen more opportunities to make their livelihoods off the water while diversifying the state's aquaculture industry and preserving Maine's working waterfronts, said Sebastian Belle, director of the Maine Aquaculture Association who spearheaded the program. The graduates are now eligible for financial assistance from the association to start their own small-scale cod farms if they choose.

Read the complete story by The AP at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OAK BLUFFS – July 22, 2011 – State and local officials today announced a partnership agreement between the Massachusetts Department of Fish & Game’s (DFG) Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) and the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group (MVSG, which will greatly enhance efforts to restore shellfish such as bay scallops, oysters, and quahogs in Martha’s Vineyard waters.

“I appreciate the assistance provided by State Representative Timothy Madden and work of Marine Fisheries staff in crafting an innovative partnership that will bolster shellfishing on the Vineyard,” said DFG Commissioner Mary Griffin.
 
DMF’s partner in the project, MSVG, is a non-profit organization comprised of the shellfish departments in the six Island towns. The group will be authorized to use the first floor of the Martha’s Vineyard Marine Fisheries Station in Oak Bluffs for shellfish culture and research. MVSG will have exclusive use of three rooms April through October.
 
DMF provided $250,000 in infrastructure improvements to the former state lobster hatchery in Oak Bluffs to accommodate shellfish nursery operations by the MVSG. Being done in two phases, renovations began July 1 and are scheduled for completion by the end of the calendar year. Retrofits include extensive plumbing for seawater, replacement of pumps and pipes, and the upgrading and installation of fiberglass tanks.
 
“I’m very pleased to see a hatchery revive on Martha’s Vineyard,” said Cape and Islands State Sen. Dan Wolf. “Kudos to all the local shellfish officials who came together, working with the Division of Marine Fisheries, to get this facility with a great tradition and legacy back up and running. John Hughes no doubt will be proud!”
 
The State Lobster Hatchery in Oak Bluffs was built in 1949 under supervision of renowned lobster culturist, John Hughes. Hughes, who at age 90 still resides on Martha’s Vineyard, directed the agency’s development and operation of the facility through 1978. During this time, Hughes pioneered successful techniques to raise lobsters that brought preeminent mariculture status to the island facility. Many of his innovations were used to develop similar facilities in other parts of the world. On his retirement, operation of the lobster hatchery was assumed by Hughes assistant, Mike Syslo, who is also a Martha’s Vineyard resident.
 
“First of all, I want to thank Commissioner Griffin and DMF Director Paul Diodati for being so responsive and supportive of the Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group,” said State Rep. Timothy Madden. “They saw an opportunity that would not only benefit the MVSG and help them reach their goals, but also would benefit the Division of Marine Fisheries by revitalizing sustainable shellfish programs."
 
The MVSG will raise shellfish to be placed in field nursery systems throughout Island waters. These shellfish will be protected from predators for one growing season before being planted in public shellfish beds where licensed shellfishermen will be able to harvest then once they reach legal size.
 
For over 30 years, the MVSG's community-based resource management program has sought to preserve and expand the Island's traditional shellfisheries. Key to this effort has been the operation of a solar energy-assisted shellfish hatchery on Lagoon Pond in Tisbury, the application of innovative aquaculture technology and a continuing vigilance to improve and maintain the good surface water quality crucial to a viable shellfish industry.
 
For the past 20 years, this non-profit consortium has pursued a community resource development program for the protection and enhancement of the Island's economically important shellfish species such as quahogs, bay scallops, and oysters. The new partnership with DMF at the state facility will greatly increase the amount of shellfish that can be produced, and allow the consortium to raise shellfish to a larger size before releasing them to island waters, which is expected to improve productivity.
 
Lobster aquaculture and research at the Lobster Hatchery ceased in 2002, DMF decided that it could not combat challenges of waterborne disease and limited resources that diminished the agency’s ability to accomplish its benchmark goals. For the past decade, the Hatchery has provided office support for DMF Sport Fish and Shellfish projects and a base of operation for the Massachusetts Office of Environmental Law Enforcement.
 
Local interest to use the state’s facility for educational purposes, research, finfish aquaculture and other purposes has grown over the years, but discussions to identify best use of the site became more focused a year ago with help from State Rep. Madden, who, after being contacted by a number of interested island residents, began discussions with DMF officials.   

 

 

 

 

 

NARRAGANSETT — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has approved a Rhode Island ocean zoning plan that designates waters off the state’s coast for renewable energy development. The Ocean Special Area Management Plan, or SAMP, is the first of its kind in the nation to win federal approval.

NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco was joined by Governor Chafee in announcing the decision on Friday at the Bay Campus of the University of Rhode Island, whose scientists carried out much of the oceanographic research that the plan is based upon. Anne Livingston, chairwoman of the state Coastal Resources Management Council, which directed the two-year, $8-million effort to create the plan, and Paul Rich, chief development officer of Deepwater Wind, the company that proposes building two wind farms off Rhode Island, were also among the speakers.

Lubchenco heralded the Rhode Island plan as a model that other states can follow as they try to find the best locations for offshore renewable energy while still balancing the interests of commercial and recreational fishermen, boaters, environmentalists and others.

Read the complete story from The Providence Journal.

 

 

 

 

 

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage denies saying he wouldn't work in the best interests of fishermen in Maine's largest city, with a spokesman on Thursday describing as "absurd" a claim made by a former Cabinet member that the Republican governor was disgruntled over of lack of support in the strongly Democratic city.

Former Marine Resources Commissioner Norman Olsen issued a statement after resigning that spelled out his grievances with the governor, and made the jolting claim that LePage wasn't interested in helping Portland fishermen because the governor didn't enjoy political support in the city.

Adam Fisher, spokesman for the governor, said Thursday that Olsen's account was "flat-out wrong."

"He doesn't make policy based on who likes him or who doesn't like him. He makes decisions based on what's good policy," Fisher said.

Read the complete article by the AP at Beaumont Enterprise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NARRAGANSETT – July 22, 2011 – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has approved a study that inventoried the waters off Rhode Island with an eye toward facilitating development of offshore wind farms.

On Friday, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco joined Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee at a ceremony at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett campus. They signed the ocean Special Area Management Plan drafted by URI researchers and the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council.

Known as the SAMP, the $9.7 million plan explored the uses of about 1,467 square miles of ocean off Rhode Island. Researchers provided information on marine life, recreation, shipping, topography and more. The CRMC approved the 11-chapter plan in October.

Read the complete story from Providence Business News.

 

 

 

 

 

Former Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Norman Olsen issued the following statement today regarding his resignation from the cabinet of Gov. Paul LePage:

I submitted my resignation to Governor LePage, effective at 0915 hours this morning.

As you all know from my confirmation hearing testimony, my interviews with some of you, and from repeated appearances before the Marine Resources Committee, I took this job with several aims, all of which I discussed with the seven-person committee that unanimously recommended me as the sole candidate for Commissioner of Marine Resources, and with the Governor when I met him December 30 and he offered me the job.

Among those aims were to manage Maine's marine resources for sustainability: of our resources, of our fishing industry, of our coastal communities, and for all the people of Maine.

The marine resources of Maine are, we should all recall, the resources of the people of the entire state, not just those who, by having been in the industry at the right time, now have not only the exclusive right to harvest lobster, scallops, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and, in many towns, even clams, but enjoy, on their own and without recourse to other authority, the right to enact, and then alter as they wish, regulations to exclude all others.

The other 1.3 million residents of Maine who have been excluded from these fisheries and from the opportunity to make a living on the ocean should feel no less a sense of ownership of these valuable resources.

In managing for sustainability, I planned, and the Governor concurred, that we would take advantage of the vastly increasing offshore groundfish stocks and return to Maine the fleet of boats that has, for economic and regulatory reasons, migrated to Massachusetts — taking with them hundreds of shoreside processing jobs.

We would also seek to adapt the laws and regulations by which interest groups exclude from their fisheries all competition and new entrants, enacting instead transparent means for new entrants to join each fishery, while prudently maintaining sustainable resources.

We would manage our resources based on science — both biology and economics — not based on how many lobstermen can fill a legislative hearing at the Augusta Civic Center.

The Governor was clear that those were his aims, as well as mine, and he pledged his resolve to pursue that course for the benefit of all the people of Maine. Speaking at the Maine Fishermen's Forum in March, he said "Commissioner Olsen is in charge."

Let me be clear. Had the Governor not been perfectly clear on those points of agreement, I would not have accepted the position. As you all know, I did, after all, grow up in this industry. Like my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before me, I had my own boat by age 12. I worked my way up to a larger boat and fished 550 traps single-handed by the time I was out of college. I spent the first decade of my professional career deeply involved in fishing and fishery management. I knew the challenges of dealing with entrenched groups, particularly those who have taken public resources for their exclusive use, and who can intimidate lawmakers who question such exclusive privilege.

I was equally clear in my statements at my confirmation hearing before the Joint standing Committee on Marine Resources, which saw fit to unanimously endorse my nomination as Commissioner of Marine Resources. At that time, I also pledged both complete transparency, and my determination to maintain a constant dialogue with industry, a determination that I have fulfilled in working every single day since assuming duty January 26.

At the Maine Fishermen's Forum in March, I addressed completely and transparently every question put before me by an audience of some 400, including many members of the press and the Marine Resources Committee. The Governor told the same gathering, "Commissioner Olsen is in charge."

Regrettably, while I have maintained my commitments, the Governor's office has not maintained its resolve.

Since then, the Governor and his senior team have repeatedly given private audiences to groups and individuals objecting to my open discussion of the issues. While legitimate fishing industry representatives wait months for appointments, a single vocal individual with wild accusations can get through the door within days. A group with a photocopier can generate a hundred letters of complaint.

I learn about such meetings only when these individuals go back to their colleagues, or their fellow lobster zone council members, or, frankly, my own DMR staff, to draw from three known cases, to say that they got to the Governor and he's going to fire the commissioner.

Instead of backing me in our joint aims of managing Maine's marine resources for the benefit of the entire state, the Governor and his senior team cut me off. As a Commissioner of the State of Maine, I had to wait six full weeks, from early May to late June, to get a meeting with the Governor on time-critical issues of resource management worth tens of millions of dollars to the State.

When I did get a meeting, and presented my initiatives to the Governor, he rejected them all:

— No further collaboration with the City of Portland to develop measures to return our groundfish boats to Maine, despite the work already done to secure the support of visiting Commerce Department officials. Portland was against him, he said, and we will not work with that city. Rather than work with Portland, he said, we'll build a new port somewhere.

— No further collaboration with the Director of the federal National Marine Fisheries Service to secure emergency federal assistance that could help return the fleet to Maine.

— No consideration of measures to properly and prudently manage the heavily overcapitalized shrimp fishery so that Maine could gain the most value-added from this resource.

— No collaboration with the federal government to jointly manage resources in federal waters. Instead, he instructed his deputy legal counsel to find a way for Maine to supersede federal authority outside the three-mile limit.

Yet more disturbing, after that meeting in late June, the Governor sent his chief of staff and his chief of boards and commissions to threaten me with firing if I would not do whatever necessary to stop the complaints reaching him from special interest groups. I was not allowed to know the source of the complaints, or their content, but I was to back off. "If you don't turn this around by the end of summer, Commissioner Olsen, the Governor will have to make a hard decision, and you don't want him to have to do that, Commissioner Olsen."

In addition, the Governor has adopted a policy of prohibiting me from attending meetings that he has with industry members, even those for whom I initiated the meeting request. I learn the outcomes of these meetings — and his positions on the topics that they raise — from a staff aide who reports to me whatever she feels like reporting.

Finally, with the initiation July 1 of the still-ongoing top-to-bottom, all-agency review of the Department of Marine Resources by a team of outside experts, and the uncovering of deficiencies there, those industry members, grant recipients and DMR staff members who have collaborated for the past decade to their mutual benefit, and against the best interests of the State, have found common cause in attacking me. That's understandable, I suppose. It must be very uncomfortable when the Commissioner's investigations uncover the fact that your supposedly well-run program essentially doesn't exist.

In the latest development, a senior DMR bureau director has ordered key staff members to no longer provide me with information that I am seeking.

This morning, I asked the Governor for his direct support to take action. He urged me to do so, including via firings, and confirmed that I have led his agenda of responsible fisheries management and government reform, but he declined to go public with that support. Instead, his aide said, after Labor Day they would call unspecified people to get their opinions on me, and those poll results would determine whether I stay on as commissioner. If such support was evident from the telephone poll, then, the governor pledged, he would hold a press conference to voice his unequivocal support for me. If not, I would be relieved. In short, my future, and that of Maine's fishing industry, would depend on a staffer's telephone poll.

In that regard, and with me no longer here to ensure transparency, I urge each of you to insist on the publication of the review study, as required by law, and reject the attempt, already under way, at a cover-up. I am confident that the report will reinforce my own findings that the Department is in need of major overhaul.

I still find it amazing that a tiny faction of industry members seeking to protect their state-granted monopolies over a public resource — perhaps a hundred and fifty out of some 12,000 marine resource license holders — and signing pre-printed letters, can trounce a supposedly iron-willed Governor. But, clearly, they have done so.

So, I am leaving, not for health reasons, and not to spend more time with my family, and not to pursue other interests, which are all the commonly used themes for such resignations, but because this administration is more interested in pacifying special interest groups than in responsibly managing Maine's marine resources for the benefit of the entire state. I cannot be part of that. The legacy of my fishermen father, grandfather and great grandfather will not allow it.

I leave with regret for the people of Maine, who have allowed public resources to become the private domain of a select few, and especially for those other Mainers who have been prevented from earning a living.

Finally, I regret leaving that portion of DMR employees who, in the face of their supervisors' and colleagues' intransigence and willful disregard of the State's greater interests, try their hardest to manage our state resources and enforce our laws for the benefit of all Mainers. To them I give my heartfelt thanks and my best hopes for avoiding the retribution that they are even now facing.

 

 

 

 

 

AUGUSTA – Norman Olsen resigned Wednesday as commissioner of the state Department of Marine Resources, saying that after six months of pursuing Gov. Paul LePage's policy goals, he felt he did not have the governor's full support.

Olsen said he realized that he might be on his own after two LePage staffers issued a warning to him in a recent meeting. They said complaints had reached LePage's office that he was not responsive enough to the industry.

"I was put on warning that I had until the end of the summer to turn the situation around," he said.

After running into more difficulty in his departmental audit and feeling more and more left out of the industry's communications with the administration, Olsen decided he had to see the governor.

Olsen said he told LePage on Wednesday morning about the difficulties he was having with staffers, and the governor told him to sort out the situation and fire people if necessary. Olsen told the governor he was wary of doing that because he had been told by the governor's staff that he needed to boost his popularity.

Olsen said he was told that a LePage staffer would poll industry people around Labor Day to find out whether Olsen was being more responsive. If they said he was, he could keep his job. If they said he wasn't, his position would be re-evaluated.

 

Read the complete story from The Portland Press Herald

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past November, on a fair but chilly day, John Denehy and his crew rode their weathered 18-foot motorboat from Winthrop to the northwest corner of Boston Harbor near Logan Airport, where they expected to find the usual goldmine of harvestable clams. This sweet spot, known as the Wood Island flats, has historically proved to be an exceptionally rich nursery ground. Combined with two other runway-side wetlands, last year Wood Island yielded nearly 150,000 pounds of clams, or about half of Boston's output.

On this trip, though, there was hardly any live catch to be found. Instead of a treasure trove, turn after turn revealed heaps of rancid shells. J.J. Gold, one of Denehy's two digging partners, says he was "pained to discover the barren conditions." Eyeing the terrain, Gold estimated that the soft-shell clam population had been fully decimated, which it turns out was indeed the case. That's when Denehy, leaning on one knee, puzzled, looked up and off the coast, where someone had fixed a boom to absorb what appeared to be an oil spill. "I was devastated," he says. "We were in such disbelief that I wanted to cry."

Read the complete story in The Boston Phoenix

 

 

 

Fishing regulations are among topics covered when Gloucester's congressman is interviewed during an episode of the "Cape Ann Report" on Cape Ann TV.

The special edition of the "Cape Ann Report" features a 30-minute discussion between Congressman John Tierney, whose district includes all of Cape Ann, and local attorney Meredith A. Fine.

Besides fishing regulations, the two will discuss whether the 6th District will be eliminated, the federal budget impasse, and President Obama's actions in Libya.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

It appears Mr. Claws will go free after all. The 23-pound lobster was up for auction at the Rhode Island National Guard Open House Air Show to benefit the National Guard.

Pete Chevalier, who caught the giant lobster, said if he raised $2,500 that he would release the lobster. If not, he would still give the money raised to the fund, but that he would eat Mr. Claws. Chevalier told NBC 10 he collected a little more than $1,300, but doesn't plan on eating him. He said he'll release the lobster today.

Reproduced with permission from Seafood.com News, a subscription site.