State and Local

Having failed this spring to reel in votes, the legislators who proposed declaring three species of fish off-limits to commercial fishermen are instead asking their colleagues to create a committee dedicated to studying that idea.

The sponsors of HB353, known as the "game fish bill," have resurrected the legislation for inclusion in the Studies Act of 2011, which lawmakers could pass when they resume work July 13. In its current form, the Studies Act calls for the creation of the Marine Fisheries Legislative Study Committee, whose members would consider a wide range of ways to overhaul fishing laws.

The original idea behind HB353 – to designate red drum, spotted sea trout and striped bass as game fish, making them illegal to sell – remains on the proposed committee's agenda. Additional ideas to study include the creation of a hook-and-line commercial fishery, changes to the process of appointments to the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission and the elimination of the trawl boat fishery.

Members would submit a final report, including legislative proposals, in 2012.

Read the complete story from The Virginian-Pilot.

 

 

 

 

 

After executing a strategic campaign to have America's wild fish stocks essentially privatized under catch shares, the Environmental Defense Fund president's decision to reject a Senate subcommittee invitation to discuss the topic at a hearing in Boston next Monday has infuriated the mayors of New England's leading fishing ports.

Mayor Scott Lang of New Bedford, backed by Mayor Carolyn Kirk of Gloucester, urged the U.S. Senate Tuesday to subpoena EDF President Fred Krupp to compel him to testify under oath about the influence of his organization on federal fisheries policy.

"It's time to bring the people in under subpoena to get the facts on what was done behind the curtain," Lang said in a telephone interview.

"I concur with Mayor Lang on taking the step to subpoena (Krupp)," Kirk added in an email to the Times. "We need full transparency as to the depth and breadth of EDF's influence on national policy."

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Folks from all over the Northern Neck are expected Saturday at the Reedville Fishermen's Museum for a 100th birthday celebration of the museum's historic skipjack, Claud W. Somers.

There will be maritime music, children's games, a birthday cake and the opening of a new exhibit on skipjacks–the sail-powered, shallow-draft vessels that once filled the Chesapeake Bay with crews dredging oysters.

Another new attraction at the Northumberland County museum is even more directly connected to Reedville and the menhaden fishing industry that has employed thousands over the years, in fleets and factories that once dotted nearly every creek.

It's a table-sized scale model of the menhaden boat the B.H.B. Hubbard Jr. Of 11 such boats sent to France to serve as minesweepers in World War II, the Hubbard alone made it back.

Read the complete story from The Free Lance-Star.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gloucester is home to the oldest seafaring support business of its kind, and the oldest continuously operating marine railway in the country. The Gloucester Marine Railways, a shipyard at the tip of Rocky Neck that hauls large boats onto drydock for repairs, maintenance and storage, has been of service to thousands of schooners, commercial and pleasure boats for 152 years. Owned by five of the city's fishery founding families, it has been managed for the past 13 years by Viking Gustafson.

Those timeless tasks have been performed on boats from Captain Cook's that explored the Arctic in 1907, the Nantucket Lightship, and, right now, the Boston Tea Party Museum's replica of the Beaver, which has been in Gloucester drydock for restoration since October.

Gustafson said she and the corporate owners — descendents of the Brancaleone, Parisi, Novello, Lovasco and Maceri families that bought the yard in 1953 — have hunkered down to streamline their business and adjust to the declining fishing industry, while fighting the regulations that hurt the fleet.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Veteran commercial fisherman and biologist Capt. David Goethel of Hampton said he had the opportunity to speak with Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin at the Fisherman Coop Thursday, June 2, after his day out on the water. During his meeting with her, he explained to her the fishery regulations and his position as a member of the New England Fishery Management Council. "I explained how New Hampshire is disadvantaged here," Goethel said. "She knew exactly what I was talking about."

Goethel said Palin conveyed to him her feelings that small businesses are important, and that their closing is counterproductive to the economy.

"She didn't seem to be in campaign mode," Goethel said. "She seemed like a tourist."

Goethel said of the approximately 45 minutes to an hour Palin was there, most of that time she and her parents and daughter, Piper, were in the building where fish were being filleted and where the lobster tanks are located.

Read the complete story from Hampton Union.

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 4, 2011 – Those who came out for and against proposed changes to New Jersey's waterfront public access laws found some common ground at a final public hearing on the issue Thursday night, but strong opinions from those on both sides of the debate let it be known where the lines were drawn in the sand.

The debate has been roaring for some time and, most recently, at public hearings held by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The uproar is over the state's policies toward allowing public access to waterfront areas. The rules would change the type of access private business owners would have to provide the general public, and also put access plans in the hands of individual municipalities rather than a single plan for the entire state.

Hundreds packed the Long Beach Township municipal complex Thursday night to have their say on the issue. While many of those who attended the meeting to oppose the potential changes found common ground with marina owners who feel they should not have to provide the public with 24 hour, year-round access to their privately-owned properties – a DEP edict first proposed by the Corzine administration that is stricken in the new proposal – the public's right to access publicly-owned land drew widespread support.

Read the complete story from The New Milford Patch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Officials at the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game (DFG) are encouraging state residents to get on the water and go fishing this weekend to take advantage of  the annual free fishing weekend when anglers aren’t required to purchase freshwater or saltwater fishing permits to fish in any of the Commonwealth’s fresh or saltwater waterways.

“Free fishing weekend is a great opportunity for adults and kids to enjoy tremendous fishing opportunities here in Massachusetts, and to really get out and experience the great outdoors,” said DFG Commissioner Mary Griffin. “We especially encourage people who have not tried fishing before to try something new or those who haven’t fished in a long time to  to take up the hobby again. It’s a great activity for the whole family.”

Adults wishing to fish recreationally in state marine waters beyond June 4 and 5 are required to possess a Massachusetts recreational saltwater fishing permit – unless fishing under the authority of a recreational license from New Hampshire, Rhode Island or Connecticut.

The purchase of a recreational saltwater or freshwater fishing permit directly funds improvements to fishing access projects and other programs that support recreational fishing and fishing management and research efforts across the state.

For information about free fishing in saltwater contact Matt Ayer at DFG’s Division of Marine Fisheries at (978) 282-0308 ext 107 or matt.ayer@state.ma.us. For freshwater fishing, contact Jim Lagacy at DFG’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife at (508) 389-6309 or jim.lagacy@state.ma.us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Massachusetts Senate Republican Leader Bruce Tarr has written to New England Fisheries Management Council Chair John Pappalardo to express the view that "Contrary … to the assertions made by Assistant Administrator Eric Schwaab at the Gloucester meeting that the management system "is not broken" and requires refinement only …  it does suffer from significant dysfunction and requires major reform to become more effective and to rebuild the partnership between those who regulate and those who are regulated.

Senator Tarr's letter outlines a number of suggested corrective actions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

State fisheries regulators want to know what the public thinks about a commercial ocean hook-and-line season for striped bass.

Earlier this month, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission decided to take the idea to regional advisory committees as a possible alternative to ocean trawling with nets.

Trawling created an uproar this winter after thousands of discarded fish were seen dead on the water and pictures and videos circulated on the Internet.

The commission also went on record as opposing pending legislation that would designated striped bass, as well as red drum and speckled trout, as game fish, effectively putting it off limits to commercial fishing, according to a statement from the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

Read the complete story from The Outer Banks Voice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GLOUCESTER – The mayors of New Bedford and Gloucester voiced their disappointment with top officials based on a 236-page report revealing “miscarriages of justice” by federal fisheries law enforcers, the Gloucester Times reported Wednesday.

Mayor Scott Lang of New Bedford and Mayor Carolyn Kirk of Gloucester said the response by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was superficial, insincere and unlikely to bring about meaningful reform.

The comments were made to the Times during a interview taped for broadcast. Lubchenco was in Gloucester on May 16 to meet with fishermen and apologize for the failing of the law enforcement system, to announce the return of $649,527 in fines levied and to discuss reforms.

Read the complete story from Providence Business News.