Washington

A draft letter to congressional leaders from the office of Sen. John Kerry, circulating within the New England delegation in connection with a proposed and controversial fisheries aid package, blames the decline of the groundfishery on weakened fish stocks — and nothing else.

The draft letter — said to be subject to additional changes before a finished draft is sent — ignores the impact on the region’s fishing industry of the 2010 introduction of the catch share management system and its commodities trading, a controversial system that was cited by Gov. Deval Patrick in his November 2011 disaster declaration request as hurling the industry toward hyper consolidation and accelerated job loss.

The letter also makes no mention of congressional alterations to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the governing statute for the nation’s fisheries. These changes merged in 2010 to radically reduce catch limits by virtually universal agreement.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOSTON—New England lawmakers are preparing to ask Congress for $100 million in disaster relief funds for fishermen, including money to help them exit the industry if they wish and subsidies for those who stay in.

The proposal is outlined in a draft letter to congressional leaders from Sen. John Kerry that's being circulated among the New England delegation.

Discussions are ongoing about how to allocate the $100 million, and the details and dollar amounts discussed in the letter could change.

Read the complete story by Jay Lindsay of the AP at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 31, 2012 — The New England groundfish industry has been under strict management for more than two decades, but the reductions in catch limits pending for the 2013 and 2014 fishing years are unprecedented in their severity. From New Bedford groundfish and scallop fishermen dependent on yellowtail, to Cape Cod and Gloucester fishermen dependent on cod, to Maine fishermen dependent on plaice and witch flounder – no segment of the industry will go unscathed. Reductions in catch limits in the order of 50-90% for these stocks are required by law, and will be implemented in spite of the severe economic impact that is certain to follow.
 
The New England Congressional delegation recognizes the economic harm that these reductions will impose on fishing communities, and is exploring options to alleviate that harm. We thank the delegation for this initiative and we look forward to working with our industry colleagues throughout the region, with fisheries managers, and with the Congress to develop both short and long-term mitigation programs.
 
All options must be explored, including a voluntary buyout, subject to vote by the industry, with the goal of providing a humane option for those forced to exit the fishery because of reduced catch limits.
 

August 31, 2012 — Earlier this week, the Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC) board of directors adopted a motion to support a draft proposal from Senator John Kerry’s office designed to help mitigate impacts of the dismal forecast for 2013 fishing opportunities. NSC views federal disaster relief as being one important component of a plan for 2013 and beyond.

This is an important draft proposal that must be considered very seriously and we are grateful to the  Senator for taking this initiative. We will continue to work with Mr. Kerry and other Congressional leaders  from the region to assist them with development of a final mitigation plan. As NSC has previously stated,  for any mitigation plan to be effective everything has to be on the table—including science, management,  the law, and financial assistance. For this reason, Mr. Kerry’s draft proposal includes funding to allow the  industry to voluntarily develop a buyback plan option.

There is a very brief window of opportunity for Congress to fund disaster assistance in September and so  failure to include this funding would take an important option off the table for the industry to consider in the  future. This does not in any way force the industry to implement a buyback, but it does make sure the  funding is available should the industry decide it does want a buyback sometime in the coming months.  Fishermen have consistently complied with science and management measures, but several critical  stocks on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine continue to decline and face drastic reductions in  upcoming fishing years—beginning in 2013. NSC is actively working with other industry and Agency  leaders, Council members and Congressional offices to develop a coherent and effective plan of proposed  mitigation measures.

The Northeast Seafood Coalition is the largest membership organization in the northeast groundfish fishery, which represents a  majority of the active fishermen in the region—is committed to working with the Council, Congress and the  Agency to develop and implement solutions that will ensure the survival of the northeast groundfish.

 

Gloucester, Mass. — August 31, 2012 — The Northeast groundfishing industry proved deeply divided Thursday about a draft legislative proposal under discussion within the New England Congressional delegation for a massive federal bailout and buyback package for fishermen and related businesses.

The size of the package is $200 million, including a government loan to industry for purchasing permits and boats to be repaid by those who continue fishing.

The Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, the region’s largest industry group, earlier this week approved a resolution at its board meeting supporting in principle the disaster relief package. And according to a spokesman for Rep. Barney Frank, “all the action items” in a draft letter circulating in the delegation “were directly requested by the fishing industry.”

The Thursday Times reported on a draft letter outlining a bailout and buyback package. Since then, the Times has received a second version of the letter, but while the language and rationale for the aid was different, the action items remained the same and the dollar figures vary only slightly.

The second draft describes the aid as: $67.5 million in disaster assistance for fishermen and their communities; $15 million to subsidize at-sea monitoring of fishermen mandated by the government; $10 million to cover defaults on the buyback program and $7.5 million for cooperative research, for a subtotal of $100 million in aid.

Both drafts, however, also discuss a $100 million loan program for the voluntary buyback that would allow fishermen struggling to stay afloat in the industry to bow out.

With more than 250 member businesses, the Gloucester-based coalition has been identified by a congressional source as a moving force for the aid package. But the coalition has not taken a formal position on the buyback, its spokesman Nick Brancaleone, said in an email Thursday.

Meanwhile, a number of fishermen, including seafood coalition members, former fishermen and a marine scientist who has been a lead industry advocate, Thursday scorned the package — which remains in a fluid state, as ideas flow across Washington while the delegation awaits a decision on whether the Department of Commerce intends to acknowledge that the Northeast groundfishery has legally failed.

“The buyback will be the end of the harbor and the fishing industry,” said retired fisherman and longtime former City Councilor John “Gus” Foote. “It’s a disgrace when government says we buy you out. Send the word out to Obama who says he wants to save jobs: Fishermen are just important as coal miners.”

“An industry funded buyout?” said Paul “Sasquatch” Cohan, who operates a small day-boat business from Gloucester. “We’ve had that for some time.”

“It is unacceptable to ask for buyout money when people have been able to sell out for all these years,” said Tina Jackson, a commercial fisherman in Pt. Judith, R.I., and president of the American Association of Fishermen and their Families.

“A hastily developed and poorly planned catch share system has evidently created a $200 million buyback program that is surreal, oddly circular, and counterproductive,” said Brian Rothschild, a professor of marine science at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, in an email.

“This proposed buy-back program ignores the issues that generated the disaster claims,” Rothschild added. “It would totally change the structure of the fleet, flying in the face of the NOAA claim that the catch share system would help “… to rebuild fisheries and sustain fishermen, communities, and vibrant waterfronts; increase the conservation of species, specifically end overfishing; and reduce the costs of management and business operations”.

 

Read the full story in the Gloucester Times 

 

 

Gloucester, Mass. — August 30, 2012 — A draft letter that outlines a proposed disaster relief program for the Northeast groundfishery — featuring a $100 million permit and boat buyback program, and $87.5 million in various subsidies for those who stay in business — is circulating among members of the New England congressional delegation.

Under the program, the government would front the buyback money, which would be re-paid from charges on the revenue generated by the industry survivors, according to the draft letter. The government would also put up $10 million to cover the anticipated default rate in the program.

A copy of the draft letter was provided to the Times Wednesday by a staffer within the New England delegation. The letter is being circulated for ideas and signatures in time to put the House and Senate leadership and appropriations committees on notice of a desire to tack the groundfish disaster relief program onto a bill that was likely to make it to President Obama’s desk before the end of the 112th Congress. One likely carrier is a disaster assistance bill for farmers that passed the House in July. But many New England delegation members have not yet seen the package, a congressional staffer told the Times Wednesday.

It was more than eight months ago that Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine asked the Department of Commerce to declare a fisheries disaster.

The administration never has responded, creating widespread anger.

“Our fishermen work hard every day under challenging conditions,” said Congressman Frank Guinta of New Hampshire. “The least Washington can do is extend the courtesy of replying to the request for disaster assistance.”

On Monday, Sen. John Kerry’s office issued a statement hinting that a regional disaster declaration was being drafted.

Without the declaration, which is authorized for fishery failures in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, relief aid is considered a political near impossibility.

Along with the $100 million buyout, the draft letter proposed $30 million in direct aid to fishermen, another $30 million to assist communities and shore side businesses, $15 million to cover at sea monitoring for two years, $7.5 million for cooperative and traditional scientific research, $2.5 million to for retraining ex-fishermen and another $5 million to support the 17 fishing cooperatives, or sectors, now operating in New England.

On Tuesday, New York said that it, too, was seeking relief from the failure of the groundfishery, and urged to be included in any disaster relief legislation.

However, only Massachusetts, which filed first last November, submitted original socio-economic studies ostensibly proving the Northeast groundfishery has failed.

Gov. Deval Patrick declared the studies a break-even analysis, and a case study of a group of boats based in small ports along Massachusetts Bay proved the disaster was triggered by the 2010 conversion of the groundfishery into an allocated commodity market trading in “catch shares” among fishing cooperatives whose members are encouraged to buy, sell and trade shares, and thus fishing quota.

The system, however, is shown to have consolidated control of the fishery into fewer and larger capitalized hands, while driving smaller, independent boats to the sidelines. NOAA’s own figures showed that 21 of the Gloucester fleet’s then 96 boats were essentially driven out of business in 2010 alone, the first year under the catch share system.

Twice, in 2011 and again this year, Democratic Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, as well as a significant number of their Democratic colleagues, joined with House Republicans in approving amendments to spending bills to halt the expansion of the catch share system, the fisheries agenda brought by Jane Lubchenco, when she was picked by President Obama to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2009.

 

Read the full story in the Gloucester Times

 

 

 

 

BOSTON — August 28, 2012 — U.S. Sen. Scott Brown has released new radio and television ads in which he touts his support for the troubled fishing industry and blames Washington for its problems.

Brown’s ad says the region’s fishing industry is dying because of unrealistically low federal catch limits, as well as unfair enforcement of fishing laws. He says no one has been held accountable for mistakes and errors that hurt fishing families.

Brown has been a consistent critic of federal fishery management, and has called on President Obama to fire Jane Lubchenco, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

 

Read the full story from the AP at the Boston Globe.

 

 

WASHINGTON — August 27, 2012 — In the wake of the recent incidents in New Brunswick which disrupted the delivery of Maine lobster to Canadian processors, U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Ranking Member of both the Senate Small Business Committee and the Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, has written to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Karen Mills to request an update on her agency’s efforts to promote the expansion of seafood processing here at home.

The SBA in 2007 was required to work with the Department of Commerce and other federal agencies in encouraging investment in domestic seafood processing facilities for fisheries that currently send large percentages of their catch abroad to be processed and marketed, such as Maine lobster.   Senator Snowe also requested a meeting between members of Maine’s lobster industry, federal and state officials, and her staff regarding ways the agency can best assist our state’s lobster fishermen in becoming more competitive.

“Events like those that unfolded earlier this month in Canada demonstrate the necessity of boosting domestic processing of seafood our fishermen catch,” said Senator Snowe.  “Indeed, at present, the processing of roughly 50 percent of Maine lobsters takes place in New Brunswick alone, despite the 2007 mandate that various federal agencies work to enhance our ability to process such seafood in the United States.  I hope that with a focused effort by the SBA to provide technical support and resources we can expand existing Maine businesses and assist new entrepreneurs to invest in processing operations that will ultimately augment economic development and create jobs here at home.”

Read Senator Snowe's letter here

 

 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — August 24, 2012 — U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, along with dignitaries in the seafood industry from across the nation, gathered at Copper River Seafoods in Anchorage today. Sen. Begich plans to introduce legislation that will create a national seafood marketing and development effort built to increase value and create jobs within the American industry.

Sen. Begich's proposal was drafted by a nationwide seafood coalition and is supported by more than 70 fishing groups spanning the Atlantic to the Pacific, along with the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico. Begich notes the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute as an inspiration for the bill.

The National Seafood Marketing Program strives to highlight U.S. produced and harvested seafood, to distinguish American seafood from foreign fish and to ensure sustainable fisheries. Sen. Begich said this legislation is similar to the Travel Promotion Act but is aimed at seafood.

"We market so many things internationally, but our seafood product we don't market in a national way to the international markets, and so this will take us to a new level," said Sen. Begich.
The legislation authorizes $50 million annually for the promotion. Begich said it plans to find funding from other sources over time.

"The idea is not to promote this at the taxpayers expense, but within our own industries and our own ability as we've done with the tourism industry," said Sen. Begich.

 

Read the full story here.

 

 

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — August 25, 2012 — The bulk of some 60 bright-orange clad fishermen stood applauding after Donald Waters delivered testimony Saturday at a congressional hearing in Panama City.

After the crescendo of clapping hands, “we got our word in,” came from one of the audience members gather at Florida State University Panama City.

The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee oversight field hearing, titled “Fishing Jobs: How Strengthening America’s Fisheries Strengthens Our Economy,” was called by chairman of the Natural Resources Committee Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, to gather information on how data collection and management policies have affected local fisheries.

In turn, the hearing drew concerned commercial fishers from along the Gulf of Mexico.

“With all due respect, we don’t need Congress taking us back to the failures of the past,” Waters said. “We need you to help us address the changes of the future. . . . Do not turn back the clock, help us conserve our fisheries and jobs for tomorrow.”

Many of the commercial fishermen, wearing shirts that read “Keep catch-shares on the table, Keep fish on the table,” agreed with Waters’ sentiments to not reform current policies. The main concern being on guidelines set by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which is up for reauthorization as soon as 2013.

“We have a system that is working, or else we wouldn’t be here fighting.” Waters said.

However, Southerland said the current legislation is not working for all.

“The federal government should have no role in picking winners and losers in hopes of locking up our fisheries with overregulation, free of congressional oversight and public opinion,” Southerland said.

Most of the witness testimony during the hearing focused on the reliance on bad data’s effects, not just on commercial and recreational fishing jobs, but also small businesses and entire local economies, according to Hastings.

“One of the things that bothered me is a lot of the decisions made were made on old or not accurate data,” Hastings said. “There needs to be a closer look at recreational fishing.”

Witnesses pointed to arbitrary deadlines and mandates, catch shares, annual catch limits and the National Ocean Policy as alternate causes for review of federal policies.

Approximately 150,000 Floridians are directly employed in fishing-related businesses — 100,000 in the commercial sector and 50,000 in the recreational sector. Florida alone accounts for nearly 40 percent of all marine recreational fishing nationally, with $5.7 billion in total sales from recreational fishing in 2011 and $5.6 billion in commercial sales in 2008.

 

Read the full story in the Panama City News Herald