Washington

Octobver 30, 2013 — Both U. S. senators from Massachusetts agree on the need to reform the federal Saltonstall-Kennedy Act, but Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey have adopted different strategies for arriving at that goal.

One thing seems clear: Neither Warren nor Markey appear ready to file a specific Saltonstall-Kennedy reform bill in the Senate’s current session.

The Bay State senators offered alternative means for pursuing Saltonstall-Kennedy reform this week when directly asked whether they plan to file specific legislation to reform the federal act that dates to 1954 and was designed to fund research and improve the nation’s fisheries and fishing industry.

Warren sees the road to Saltonstall-Kennedy reform going through the ongoing reauthorization process for the over-arching Magnuson-Stevens Act that governs and regulates the nation’s fisheries and fishing industry.

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [seafoodnews.com] — October 28, 2013 — Last week, Oceana's Vice President for U.S. Oceans, Jacqueline Savitz took to the stage at the TEDxMidAtlantic event at Sidney Harman Hall in Washington, D.C. to address the problem of seafood fraud in the United States and what can be done to stop it, and to share Oceana's message that saving our oceans can help feed the world.

During her presentation, Savitz also announced a new letter signed by more than 450 chefs, restaurant owners and culinary leaders, representing nearly all 50 states, which calls on Congress to pass the Safety and Fraud Enforcement for Seafood (SAFE Seafood) Act.

The letter, which is signed by top chefs like José Andrés (Guest Curator at TEDxMidAtlantic 2013), Mario Batali, Daniel Boulud, Anthony Bourdain, Jacques Pepin, Eric Ripert, Barton Seaver, Michael Symon and Alice Waters, lays out the need for Congress to require traceability for all seafood sold in the U.S. This letter follows a similar one released exactly one year ago today that 500 chefs and restaurant owners signed to support traceability to help stop seafood fraud. This letter however, is the first one to specifically call for the passage of the SAFE  Seafood Act.

In the letter, the chefs say they "are committed to serving seafood that protects our oceans, our wallets and our health," and that "we should be able to tell our customers, without question, what they are eating as well as where, when and how it was caught."

"Chefs and restaurant owners want to know the seafood they serve their customers is safe, legally caught and honestly labeled," Savitz said. "By passing the SAFE Seafood Act, Congress can protect U.S. consumers and honest seafood sellers by making sure that customers get what they paid for."

Despite growing concern about where our food comes from, seafood buyers are routinely given vague, misleading and even false information about the fish they purchase. In fact, Oceana recently found that one-third, or 33 percent, of the seafood samples it collected nationally were mislabeled according to Food and Drug Administration guidelines. In fact, for popular species like red snapper, wild salmon and Atlantic cod, less desirable, cheaper or more readily available fish were often substituted.

"Chefs know they can only make informed and sustainable choices if they are given honest information about the seafood they serve," Savitz said. "Chefs and seafood consumers want to know more about the food on their dinner plates, and without boat to plate traceability, we will continue to be ripped off and in some cases, this jeopardizes people's health. For instance when high mercury fish are substituted for low mercury fish, or when there is a seafood allergy involved."

In March, the SAFE Seafood Act was introduced in Congress (H.R.1012/S.520), to help stop seafood fraud by requiring full chain traceability for all seafood sold in the U.S. The bill is championed by Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) in the Senate and Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) in the House of Representatives. Oceana urges Congress to pass this important legislation quickly.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

October 28, 2013 — NOAA has opened up electronic vessel trip reporting to all Northeast region fisheries, potentially offering a more efficient means for fishermen to submit trip information on catch, gear, discards, areas fished and a host of other details required by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The new guidelines, announced last week, also could bring more of the region’s groundfishermen into the electronic trip-reporting fold than have participated since that commercial fleet was the lone segment approved to use the technology more than two years ago.

“In the past year, about 70 (groundfish) boats have been set up to report electronically, meaning the software resides on computers onboard their vessels,” said Barry Clifford, NOAA fishery information specialist. “That accounts for about 3,000 reports that we received for this past fishing year. We’re hoping that it will be more widely adopted in the coming fishing year.”

Vito Giacalone, policy director for the Northeast Seafood Coalition, said many of the groundfishermen have shied away from using the NOAA system to electronically file their trip reports because the system and its accompanying technology seemed to be ever-shifting, and because it limited their electronic reporting to just groundfish.

“They kept moving the bar and changing things when what they needed to do was simplify things,” Giacalone, the coalition’s policy director, said of NOAA officials.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times 

 

ROCKLAND, Maine — October 24, 2013 — A century ago, Rockland Harbor’s bustling lime industry meant that lots of boats needed to load and unload boats at the North End to fill the hungry kilns, with navigation so important that the waterway was designated a federal channel.

Those days have long gone, but the designation — and the limitations it imposes — remain. And that has thrown a monkey wrench into the business operations of the O’Hara Corp., a company that has been located on the waterfront for decades. Company officials wanted to continue to moor a semipermanent barge in the channel near Front Street to which they tie up herring boats for lobster bait, but to do so would require an act of Congress.

On Wednesday night, they got that. The House of Representatives voted 417-3 to approve the 2013 Water Resources Reform and Development Act, a bipartisan bill that authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop, maintain and support the needs of the country’s ports and waterways. The bill had already been approved by the Senate on an 83-14 vote. Its co-sponsors included U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud. The bill contains several provisions that will affect Maine, including modifying the federal channel in Rockland Harbor.

“I think the change of channel is going to benefit us,” Paul McFarland, the general manager of O’Hara Corp., said Tuesday. “It will enable us to operate a little more easily.”

Pingree said she and Michaud were happy to help the company, which she described as a key part of the working waterfront and fishing community in Rockland that makes a big contribution to the local economy.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

DULUTH, Minn. — October 24, 2013 — The era of the paper nautical chart is coming to an end. In the United States, NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey , which creates and maintains the nation’s suite of over a thousand nautical charts of U.S. coastal waters, today announced major changes ahead for mariners and others who use nautical charts.

Starting April 13, the federal government will no longer print traditional lithographic (paper) nautical charts, but will continue to provide other forms of nautical charts, including print on demand charts and versions for electronic charting systems.

“Like most other mariners, I grew up on NOAA lithographic charts and have used them for years,” said Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “We know that changing chart formats and availability will be a difficult change for some mariners who love their traditional paper charts, but we’re still going to provide other forms of our official charts.”

Read the full story from the NetNewsLedger

October 24, 2013 — U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, today sent a letter to Penny Pritzker, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC), voicing his concerns surrounding the lack of leadership at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in implementing NOAA's own catch share policy, which has resulted in using outdated allocation quotas for fish in the Gulf of Mexico, particularly for red snapper. Vitter's letter comes before the Senate takes up the nomination of Dr. Kathryn Sullivan to be Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of NOAA.

"For too long Louisiana anglers have sat in waiting for NOAA to implement their own policies and required guidelines for periodic review of allocation levels," Vitter said. "We need to make sure that the Agency in charge of managing fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico understands the importance of ensuring that policies for managing marine life and economies in the Gulf are periodically reviewed. NOAA's lack of leadership in requiring action on the Agency's own policy has the potential for fishermen and businesses to suffer and even waste precious resources. Implementing their own policy to ensure concerns are periodically addressed should be a priority."

Read the full story from the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — October 25, 2013 — So few monkfish are being caught by the Northeast fishing fleet that NOAA Fisheries said it is lifting the cap on monkfish for the vast majority of boats in the Northern Fishery Management Area, which is north of Nantucket.

The action is in response to a request from the New England Fisheries Management Council to make it possible for quota-deprived fishing boats to catch more fish.

Read the full story by Steve Urbon at the New Bedford Standard-Times

October 20, 2013 — A consortium of domestic shrimp producers on Tuesday sued the U.S. Department of Commerce in the U.S. Court of International Trade for its decision to revoke an anti-dumping duty order on shrimp imports from a Chinese company, alleging that Commerce made the determination based on faulty data.

The complaint from the Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee alleged that Commerce had failed to acknowledge a discrepancy between the amount of shrimp shipped to the U.S. reported by Chinese exporter Zhanjiang Regal Integrated Marine Resources Co. Ltd. and the data on record with U.S. importing authorities.



Read the full story from SeafoodSource

October 17, 2013 — With the U.S. government shutdown now over, lawmakers in the Pacific Northwest are urging the commerce department to allow Bering Sea fishermen to start fishing for Alaska king crab.

Fishermen couldn’t start fishing on 15 October, when the season was supposed to begin, because the government shutdown prevented federal employees at the National Marine Fisheries Services from issuing fishing permits.

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oreg.), Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.), and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oreg.) all signed a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who oversees the NMFS, urging her to order the permits issued immediately.

Read the full story from SeafoodSource

October 22, 2013 — NOAA is awarding $36 million for more than 40 coastal habitat restoration projects across the United States. These projects will restore up to 16,000 acres of habitat, and open nearly 400 stream miles for fish passage. They will benefit fish species like threatened populations of steelhead trout and salmon.

Fish populations, especially migratory fish like salmon and steelhead, are limited by a lack of habitat. We are working with partners to restore habitat for these fish by removing barriers to fish passage, reconnecting tidal flow, and improving in-stream conditions. These projects will also remove marine debris from fish habitat, and restore coral and oyster reefs.

In the Northeast Region, projects will benefit species like river herring by removing barriers to fish passage and improving in-stream conditions. We will address actions recommended in the recovery plans for Endangered Species Act-listed species.

In the Southeast Region, we will restore threatened coral populations and marshes and remove marine debris.

In the Northwest Region, we will help restore salmon habitat by reconnecting wetlands and stream channels to tidal flow. We will also address the impacts of marine debris on coastal habitat and wildlife.

In the Southwest Region, we will restore habitat for salmon and steelhead by removing barriers to fish passage and improving in-stream conditions. These projects address actions recommended in the recovery plans for Endangered Species Act-listed species. Projects in Hawai’i will also remove marine debris.

In the Great Lakes, we will help restore nearly 1,000 acres of marsh and wetland habitat, and open more than 34 stream miles for fish passage. These projects will benefit more than 40 species of fish.

Our investment in habitat is part of a long-term effort to rebuild fisheries, many of which have declined from habitat loss, over-fishing, and climate change. Recent successes show that restoring habitat is a way not only to stop the decline of fish populations, but also to regrow them to previous levels.

Read the full story from NOAA