State and Local

DURHAM, N.H. — The State of New Hampshire has been notified by the National Marine Fisheries Service of four vacancies for the New England Fishery Management Council's at-large seats, one of which is currently held by Michael Leary of New Hampshire.

To assist in filling these vacancies, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's Marine Fisheries Division will host a candidates' interview night on Tuesday, February 15, 2011, at 7:00 p.m., at the Urban Forestry Center, 45 Elwyn Road, Portsmouth, N.H.

Potential candidates must be prepared to present their qualifications at the session. Interested candidates should contact Doug Grout, Chief of Marine Fisheries for the N.H. Fish and Game Department, at (603) 868-1095.

Candidates will be interviewed by the Marine Advisory Board and representatives of the New Hampshire Commercial Fishermen Association and Coastal Conservation Association – New Hampshire. The public is also invited to attend the session and will be provided an opportunity to ask questions of any candidate.

The process of filling council seats requires the governor of each New England state to submit names to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce for consideration. The State of New Hampshire uses a public process to recommend individuals for the Governor to consider for submission.

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) is one of eight regional councils established by federal regulation in 1976. NEFMC is charged with conserving and managing fishery resources from three to 200 miles off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

See this notice at Sport Fishermen.

 

 

 

 

 

New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang has released this letter from the Conservation Law Foundation's Peter Shelley. Mr. Shelley is an attorney representing CLF on the opposing side of the cities of New Bedford and Gloucester in the cities' lawsuit against NOAA and the Commerce Department on Amendment 16 Federal fisheries regulations.

Mr. Shelley writes, "I was very pleased to hear that Dr. Cadrin reported that he will be bringing the work that his group has been doing on improving the groundfish science to the SSC and the formal groundfish peer review process for further review and analysis."

"We share your concern that the benefits of the rebuilding stocks and the higher groundfish prices should be shared fairly and equitably throughout the fleet and have not had the benefit of the specific information you may have access to that would allow that topic to be addressed by the Council."

"We are also genuinely interested in understanding better what some of the increased costs are associated with the sector system that may be offsetting the increased gross revenues that many fishing ports are recording this year. Having that detail would allow all of us to have a clearer picture of the real economics of the new sectors."

Read the original letter to Mayor Lang.

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD – January 14, 2011 – The state Thursday jumped in on the side of New Bedford and Gloucester in their federal lawsuit against the Commerce secretary over fishing allocations.

On behalf of Gov. Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley filed an amicus brief backing the lawsuit's contention that Amendment 16 to the Magnuson-Stevens Act violated the law in at least four ways.

The state is asking Federal District Court Judge Rya Zobel to send the issue of annual catch limits back to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke for upward recalculation. The brief argues the annual catch limits now do not reflect the "optimal yield" that the law demands for the fishing industry but rather sets the limits artificially and damagingly low.

The two fishing ports, filing suit last summer, asked for a wider array of remedies, including declaring that Amendment 16 is illegal, that Commerce reimburse the cities' legal expenses, that Amendment 16 be suspended, that Commerce undertake a thorough economic analysis of various alternatives and not just one plan, and anything else the court may deem appropriate.

Coakley told The Standard-Times that the narrower appeal is the result of limitations on the state's participation as a friend of the court and not a party in the case.

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

The New Bedford Harbor Development Commission has developed a "top ten" list of issues as a press briefing to inform journalists, talk show hosts, and other newcomers to the issues facing the New England fishing industry.

The list was developed by interviewing numerous industry leaders to get their views of the most pressing challenges facing the industry and the actions or inaction by Federal regulators they find most offensive.

It includes links to stories from various sources addressing many of the issues in greater detail.

 

From the lack of transparency in NOAA’s decision-making process to the prohibitively restrictive management of stocks that have led to widespread underfishing, the commercial fishing industry contends with a variety of pressing challenges. The following are among the most urgent issues as identified by fisheries scientists and industry leaders: 

Catch Share Program Has Created Major Crisis
Since the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration began implementing a restrictive catch share policy last May, more than half of New England's entire groundfish fleet – 253 boats — have become idle. With between three and five jobs per vessel, that means as many as 1,265 jobs have been lost in the last five months.
https://www.savingseafood.org/state-and-local/catch-shares-cut-new-england-fleet-in-halfnew-bedford-mayor-to-convene-council-me-4.html

Higher Allocations are Necessary and Sustainable
NOAA systematically sets catch limits far too conservatively. A report prepared by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries indicates that the new catch share policy has resulted in $21 million in direct economic losses and forgone yield of $19 million for the Massachusetts groundfish fishery. The report also showed that that an additional 14,500 metric tons of ground fish (such as flounder and cod) can safely be brought to market.
https://www.savingseafood.org/fishing-industry-alerts/massachusetts-governor-attorneygeneral-file-brief-challenging-implementation-of-federal-fisheries-regul-2.html

Consolidation of Enterprises Diminishes Market for Smaller Businesses
The new catch share program has also resulted in consolidated fishing enterprises and decreasing access to fishery resources for small-scale fishing enterprises. During the first five months of the 2010 fishing year, more than half of the fleet had not fished at all, collecting zero fishing revenue from landings of any finfish. Yet, the number of vessels that earned more than $300,000 increased from 21 vessels to 41 vessels. These forty-one vessels account for roughly 55% of the total revenues, leaving little room to compete for smaller operations.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x1744206447/Publisher-refutes-earlier-NOAAreports

Decisions Do Not Completely Account for Economic Considerations
The Commerce Department should better consider economic factors in determining policy. As it is, NOAA only looks at revenues, without considering higher costs and other factors that are integral to the equation. The result: thousands of jobs have been lost and many local economies have been jeopardized.
https://www.savingseafood.org/state-and-local/fishing-industry-reaction-when-have-theydone-anything-for-the-fishe-3.html
https://www.savingseafood.org/economic-impact/nations-top-fishing-port-rallies-aroundfishing-families-hurt-by-federal-regula.html

Science and Policy are Incompatible (Exhibit 5)
There is disparity between scientific data and management policy. For instance, habitat closures, which prohibit scallop fishing in certain areas, have been shown to be counterproductive – for both habitat protection and fishing. Another example: recent science on skates shows that they are not currently overfished, yet they are being managed now as if they are. In fact, recently retired chief scientist for NOAA has remarked recently that overfishing is not happening at all.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlaWeLkS0t__O2_fChxd-Ty6w3qA?docId=f808be18d5cc48d58ab923de17d7a604

Communication, Data-Sharing between Industry and Government are Problematic
Similarly, there are fundamental communication issues, as well, characterized by a lack of trust between industry and government scientists, and to some extent academia. Many experts feel that the pool of scientific information should be expanded, but that NMFS is reluctant to consider scientific data from outside of its own establishment. Furthermore, NMFS used flawed data when it set about converting the scallop industry to a catch share model.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/fishing/x1081150919/Mid-Atlantic-lawsuit-targets-NMFS-history-of-flawed-data

NOAA’s Decision-Making Process Is Not Transparent
A lack of transparency pervades NOAA’s decision-making process and few people know what’s going on at any given time or how any conclusions were actually reached. Also, it is widely thought that NGOs such as Pew and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) are influencing policy decisions. There’s evidence that the EDF has sponsored behind-the-scenes efforts that make NOAA’s catch share program appear successful. Also, New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang has called for an investigation of the regulatory process by the Inspector General's Office as a result of the consistent lack of regulatory transparency and the recently published scathing report on the law enforcement branch of NOAA.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x20128517/Suit-cites-NOAA-sham-in-catchshare-scheme
https://www.savingseafood.org/conservation-environment/pew-environment-supports-secretary-of-commerce-lockes-dec-3.html

Law Enforcement Violations and Lack of Resources Allocated to Their Investigation
With hundreds of complaints filed over the last few years, the Commerce Department Inspector General has identified a potential pattern of intimidation and abuse by the law enforcement branches of NOAA and NMFS. Many cases involving small scale fishermen are under investigation, but there is reason to believe that the Special Master may not have been provided with enough resources to adequately or affectively pursue the investigations.
https://www.savingseafood.org/washington/lawmakers-write-a-letter-to-special-mastercharles-swartwood-to-offer-reso-2.html
https://www.savingseafood.org/washington/blog-significant-transparency-changes-fornoaa-to-come-in-3.html

Better Planning Needed for Federal Actions
Prospective wide-scale federal management decisions could dramatically affect local and regional fisheries. If, for example, the status of loggerhead sea turtles is uplisted from threatened to endangered, there could be devastating affects to many fisheries, without a comprehensive plan that cohesively weighs costs and benefits. Approaches such as species status listings could also unfairly inhibit fishing practices across the board when the source of problems may be much more localized.
https://www.savingseafood.org/conservation-environment/noaa-fisheries-service-and-u.s.-fish-and-wildlife-service-propose-listing-changes-for-loggerhead-t-3.html
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/08/13/13greenwire-as-risks-rise-for-sea-turtlesregulators-mull-30441.html

Improvements Needed for Bycatch Management and Integration of Management Plans
The industry could explore ways to improve management of bycatch: blanket assumptions have created bycatch rules that should not apply to every species and could benefit both industry and conservation efforts. Likewise, the industry could explore ways to integrate management plans. There are multiple species-specific fishery management plans and considering them in a more comprehensive and holistic approach may be worthwhile.

Read the press briefing.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — Jan. 15, 2011 —  Mayor Scott Lang says the "rule-making" process in the federal fisheries regulatory system is as "corrupt" as its New England law enforcement branch was revealed to be.

And he predicted Thursday night that corruption, alleged to emanate from "inside baseball" played by government officials and environmental giants such as the Environmental Defense Fund, will be exposed in "the light of day," targeted in part by a lawsuit filed by the cities of New Bedford and Gloucester and a wide range of commercial fishing interests.

Lang issued the corruption allegation — reprising a potentially explosive element in the looming lawsuit against the federal government — after scientists at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth critiqued as wrong and misinformed the reasoning behind a decision that denies the groundfishing industry based here and Gloucester relief from regulatory constraints and direct economic aid.

One of the critics was Steve Cadrin, who helped write the report used as the basis for the request and serves as the chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council's Science and Statistical Committee.

Lang and industry representatives from Gloucester and New Bedford — along with Congressman Barney Frank and scientists from UMass-Dartmouth's School of Marine Science and Technology — all denounced the decision outlined by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in brief letters to the governor and congressman. Locke's rejection was accompanied by a separate letter to Patrick by Eric Schwaab, the federal government's top fisheries official, explaining aspects of Locke's decision in detail. But those at Thursday's gathering painted Locke's and Schwaab's case as factually ignorant.

Patrick was represented at the meeting by Rick Sullivan, a former mayor of Westfield and the new secretary of energy and environmental affairs, as well as Mary Griffin and Paul Diodati, top officials in the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

"Certain fights are worth fighting," said Sullivan. "This is one of them."

Hours earlier in Boston, on behalf of the governor, Attorney General Martha Coakley released a legal memorandum and request to U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel to allow the commonwealth to join the lawsuit filed last summer by the Gloucester, New Bedford and fishing interests all along the Atlantic Coast.

Lang has been outspoken in linking the Environmental Defense Fund and other groups' agendas to the actions of the council, an arm of the federal government made up of part-time members rooted in various elements of the industry and state government officials.

Lang obtained thousands of documents in a Freedom of Information Act filing last year, but was denied hundreds of others for disputed reasons in an effort to show that NOAA and its environmental allies had conspired to trample rights in a race to give EDF and other groups the catch share system they had lobbied for.

The Conservation Law Foundation has filed a memorandum with Judge Zobel urging her to bar the discovery motion sought by the plaintiffs, and to keep the correspondence between the government and environmental groups shielded from the public.

Before Lang spoke, three UMass-Dartmouth scientists, including Cadrin, deconstructed the letters from Locke and Schwaab that laid out the reasoning behind the rejection of governor's case for identifying a man-made, government-driven fisheries failure, and for emergency action that would include increased catch limits and direct economic aid.

Cadrin challenged much of the argument in the letters from Locke and Schwaab as factually and conceptually incorrect.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to Congressman Frank, Richard Sullivan, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang.

Lang and industry representatives from Gloucester and New Bedford — along with Congressman Barney Frank and scientists from UMass-Dartmouth's School of Marine Science and Technology — all denounced the decision outlined by Locke in brief letters to the governor and congressman. Locke's rejection was accompanied by a separate letter to Patrick by Eric Schwaab, the federal government's top fisheries official, explaining aspects of Locke's decision in detail. But those at Thursday's gathering painted Locke's and Schwaab's case as factually ignorant.

Patrick was represented at the meeting by Rick Sullivan, a former mayor of Westfield and the new secretary of energy and environmental affairs, as well as Mary Griffin and Paul Diodati, top officials in the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

"Certain fights are worth fighting," said Sullivan. "This is one of them."

"I believe the rulemaking process is as corrupt at the law enforcement process," Lang told about 100 participants in the meeting — including industry representatives from Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island in addition to Gloucester and New Bedford.

He said the government regulated "with a thumb or a finger on the scale."

And he said, the law enforcement system exposed by IG Todd Zinser was as bad as any federal body in modern history — although, Lang charged, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco and Schwaab, her choice to head NOAA's fisheries service, had done their best to ignore the findings.

 

 

 

 

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Thursday formally joined the hub fishing ports of Gloucester and New Bedford and a coalition of industry interests from Maine to North Carolina, challenging the Obama administration's groundfish regulatory regimen in federal district court.

The filings by state Attorney General Martha Coakley for Gov. Deval Patrick accuse the federal government of violating four national standards written into the 2006 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and illegally hurting the economy of the industry and fishing communities.

The latest version of Magnuson simultaneously commanded an expeditious restoration of overfished stocks, while also directing the effort to involve the optimal sustainable yield to the fishing industry.

The filing by the attorney general for the governor also accused the federal government of violating Magnuson's required use of "best scientific information available," while minimizing "adverse economic impacts" on the fishing communities.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Port Clyde, a coastal community of 1500 people, has only had one drastic change in the last decades. It’s the fish: there’s just not so much of them anymore.

Glen Libby, 54, a Port Clyde fisherman, remembers the time when you could catch more in a day than what people now need four days to catch. “Over the last decades, it’s been a steady decline,” said Glen Libby, chairman of the Midcoast Fishermen’s Association, a non-profit group seeking to improve the lives of local fishermen, and president of a local fishermen’s cooperative. “Every year you hope it’s the year that it turns around. We’re still hopeful it will.”

The decline in groundfish (haddock, cod, flounder, halibut, hake, Pollock, and red fish) is due to the influx of industrial fishing in the region in the last few decades. Despite the challenges, Glen Libby is part of a family of fishermen—Glen, a former groundfisherman and current shrimp fisherman. Glen’s brother Gary Libby, 52, is a groundfishermen, lobsterman, and shrimp fisherman. Glen’s son Justin Libby, 30, captains a groundfish boat. Glen and Gary’s father, Roger Libby, who is in his 70’s, originally got the family into fishing and is still a constant presence on the Port Clyde docks, keeping his eye on the family business.

But the family has had to adjust to higher fuel prices, federal regulations and competition from industrial fisheries. Their strategy to stay afloat? They organized the Port Clyde fishing cooperative last year, with local fishermen processing and selling their catch directly to customers. The fishermen use environmentally-friendly fishing gear that meets or exceeds federal requirements and attracts customers who want to support a local, sustainable fishing model. The coop, called Port Clyde Fresh Catch, offers a delivery subscription service and online sales, where customers can have fresh or frozen seafood shipped to their home. The coop also has extended to restaurant and farmer’s market sales.

Read the complete story from Earth Justice.

 

 

 

 

 

New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang will host a meeting of his Oceans and Fisheries Council on Thursday, January 13.

In addition to the mayor, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank will attend the meeting and speak.

Yesterday, in an op-ed in the New Bedford Standard-Times, Congressman Frank warned the White House "I have worked with the Obama administration on a number of important issues since the president came to office … But the president must understand that if the administration persists in such a serious assault on the livelihood of the working men and women of the fishing industry, it will make it difficult for me and others to maintain this degree of cooperation."

Today, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed an amicus brief on behalf of Governor Deval Patrick in support of a lawsuit by the Cities of New Bedford and Gloucester against President Obama's Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke.

Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environment Rick Sullivan will represent Governor Patrick at the meeting and will speak.

"These unreasonably low limits set by the federal government are threatening the economic livelihood of our fishing families," said Attorney General Coakley. "The regulations are unjust and unwarranted, and we are seeking to have them recalculated in a scientific manner and with greater consideration for the economic impact on our fishing communities."
 
"We will not stand idly by while our fishing families in the Commonwealth pay the price for a regulatory change that was poorly thought through and poorly implemented," said Governor Patrick. "The court needs to understand that neither science nor fairness justifies the regulations now imposing great hardship on the many small fishing operations in Massachusetts that need relief now."

The meeting is open to the public.

Members of the press, and those who are unable to attend in person are invited to listen in to the meeting by telephone

Dial – (712) 432-1690
Enter Access Code – 1079860#

The agenda follows:

 

Mayor’s Ocean and Fisheries Council Meeting
 
 Thursday, January 13, 2011
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
 
Agenda
 
 
1.    Introductions (Brian Rothschild, Dean Emeritus, UMass School for Marine Science and Technology)
 
2.    Update on Economic Conditions (Richie Canastra, Whaling City and Boston Seafood Display Auctions)
 
3.    Update on conditions in Gloucester (Vito Giacalone, Northeast Seafood Coalition)
 
4.    Governor Patrick’s denied request and Overfishing Issues (Professor Steve Cadrin, NOAA/UMass Cooperative Marine Education & Research Program)
 
5.    Governor Patrick’s denied request and Economic isues (Professor Dan Georgianna, Chairperson, Department of Economics, UMass Dartmouth)
 
6.    Speakers
 
–       New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang
 
–       Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank
 
–       Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environment Rick Sullivan (representing Governor Deval Patrick)
 

The Standard-Times has called for fishermen from New Bedford and Gloucester to "do what farmers did with their tractors in the 1970s" and bring their protest to Washington with a peaceful floating protest on the Potomac. The newspaper accused Commerce Secretary Gary Locke of "passing the buck" to the New England Fishery Management Council, an organization they called "a deeply dysfunctional mishmash of environmentalists, fishing interests and political appointees."

The paper argues that fishermen deserve "a full investigation by Congress and the Commerce Department's inspector general" as "[n]either a letter from the governor nor the urging of members of Congress has made a difference."

Last Friday, Commerce Department Secretary Gary Locke refused a request from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to allow higher catch limits than those authorized by the New England Fisheries Management Council and NOAA Fisheries.  The governor backed his request with Federal scientific data analyzed by the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries which showed the Commerce Secretary could allow higher levels without risking overfishing of stocks.

The paper stated "Imminent disaster for the New Bedford fleet seems to be no problem for federal fishing regulators and their overseers at the U.S. Department of Commerce, who don't much care whether Northeastern fishermen survive or not. All they care about is making their own lives easier by passing the buck to the New England Fishery Management Council."

The paper called the New England Fisheries Managment Council  "a deeply dysfunctional mishmash of environmentalists, fishing interests and political appointees."

The paper called Secretary Locke's decision "a procedural excuse."

The paper continued:

"… to Locke, the important thing isn't the scientific value of the data and their ability to right real-world wrongs being perpetrated against fishermen but the possibility that his decision could be viewed as an overruling of the council. Locke acknowledged in October that the Magnuson-Stevens Act gives him the authority to issue emergency regulations to raise catch limits."

"Likewise, Eric C. Schwaab, top fisheries administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which answers to Commerce, has chosen not to take reasonable steps to help New England fishermen. He puts on a good show when he visits New Bedford, then behaves in an adversarial manner when he returns to Washington. Schwaab wrote a longer, more detailed letter accompanying the one Locke sent to Patrick, laying out the same points."

"Forgive the fishermen if they have some doubts about NOAA. In July, the Commerce Department's inspector general found that NOAA law enforcement had misspent fines collected from fishermen, using the money for ridiculous luxury purchases, including a $300,000 undercover boat, personal cars for employees in the law enforcement division regardless of need, and a trip for 15 to Norway for a conference."

Read the complete editorial from the Standard-Times