Washington

WASHINGTON, DC (February 19, 2009) – A coalition of nine New England congressmen is opposing an interim groundfishing rule proposed by federal regulators and criticized by fishermen who say the rule is too restrictive and will devastate the industry if it takes effect May 1 as expected.

The coalition has written a letter to the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service asking him to scrap the proposed rule in exchange for alternative measures recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council. Read the Standard-Times story in full

 

In a related news story, George Lapointe, Maine fisheries commissioner, observed that “The proposed regulations do not balance the need to rebuild the stocks with the current and very pressing need to preserve what remains of New England’s groundfish fishery and associated infrastructure,” he wrote. “There is little hope that there will be any semblance of a viable commercial fishing industry left to benefit from Amendment 16.”  Read more on this in the Bangor Daily News

 

UPDATE:  Read the congressional coalition’s letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service [PDF]

UPDATE 2:  New England senators protest proposed fishing rules – Read the Associated Press story in full

 

 

 

According to the Gloucester Times, Dr. Lubchenco, now confirmed as NOAA chief, was part of a working group of "high-profile political and scientific figures" who "helped write a political and policy agenda for the nation based on assumptions of an alarming — and widely disputed — scientific paper." The paper was published inNature in 2003 by R.A. Myers and B. Worm, and "predicted a collapse of biodiversity and an apocalyptic end to seafood-producing species by 2048 due to ‘overfishing’." NOAA nominee tied to discredited fishing report

In additional news, the Gloucester Daily Times reports:  Marine biologist with Pew ties to head fisheries

RECENT COVERAGE:

NMFS chief nominee backed Bush ‘no-fishing zone’

Pew-backed nominee inches to NOAA post

OPINION: Testing Obama’s opposition to ‘ideology’

Senate committee approves stalled NOAA nomination – Dr. Jane Lubchenco

Gloucester Daily Times Opinion: Top NOAA nominee’s Pew ties deserve full vetting

FISHERIES CONCERNS:

Pew ties cloud industry view of NOAA chief nominee

To many in the fishing industry, data that comes financed by the Pew Charitable Trusts is data to be doubted, and in Lubchenco, many in the industry see a proud Pew partisan who is about to take authority over the nation’s fisheries and its remaining fishermen and women.  Read Richard Gaines’ complete story in the Gloucester Times

The Oregonian Comments on Eastern Fisheries’ Concerns

New England fishing interests aren’t happy about Lubchenco’s ties to the Pew Charitable Trusts, which they blame for financing studies aimed at severely curtailing commercial fishing.   Read the commentary in The Oregonian

SENATE COMMITTEE HOLD:

MARCH 5 UPDATE: Obama’s science picks on hold – Read Saving Seafood’s posting in full

WASHINGTON, DC (March 3, 2009) – The nominations of two of President Obama’s top science advisers have stalled in the Senate, according to several sources, posing a challenge to the administration as it seeks to frame new policies on climate change and other environmental issues.Read the Washington Post story in full

CONFIRMATION HEARING:

WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2009) – Dr. Jane Lubchenco, nominated by President Obama to be the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Watch a video of her nomination testimony; her remarks begin at 47:20.

Senator Mel Martinez – general questions begin at 85:21; fisheries-related questions, including his quota concerns, begin at 89:04

Senator Mark Begich – general questions begin at 93:12; fisheries-related questions, including Alaska’s ban on fish farming, begin at 94:03

Senator Olympia Snowe – general questions begin at 100:30; fisheries-related questions, including the great divide between the fishing industry and regulators, begin at 105:50

Read Dr. Lubchenco’s opening statement before the U.S. Senate Committee [PDF]

 

WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2009) – The Whaling City Seafood Display Auction and the Boston Seafood Display Auction announce The Project to Save Seafood and Ocean Resources and the website SavingSeafood.org. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Saving Seafood Project will also operate in New Bedford and Boston.

Read the official Saving Seafood press release in full [PDF]

 

 

 

GLOUCESTER, MA (February 04, 2009) – Six New England senators’ effort to affix a $156.4 million rescue plan for the groundfish industry to the near $900 billion economic stimulus and recovery plan in the U.S. Senate apparently failed some time ago behind an opaque curtain.

In its brief presence on the scene, the recovery plan attained the status of a zombie — that of the living dead.

Even as representatives of a sponsor, Sen. John Kerry, focused on a "legislative solution" this week to the fishery’s crippling woes and a leading industry group continued working feverishly to shore up support for the package it authored, from the office of the lead sponsor, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, came word that the effort had collapsed "weeks ago."

Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full

 

WASHINGTON, DC (February 3, 2009) – President Obama extended a political olive branch to the GOP Tuesday, nominating Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire, to head the Commerce Department.

"Clearly, Judd and I don’t agree on every issue, most notably who should’ve won the [presidential] election," Obama joked in announcing the nomination, "but we do agree on the urgent need to get American businesses and families back on their feet."

Gregg will be an "able, persuasive ambassador for industry" because he is a skillful negotiator and a "master of reaching across the aisle to get things done," Obama said.

Read the CNN story in full

 

NORTH PROVIDENCE, RI (February 2, 2009) – Among the items before the U.S. Senate this week, as it weighs its own version of the economic stimulus plan that cleared the House last week, is a proposal to add $156.4 million to help transform the Northeast’s commercial groundfishing industry.

The measure – sponsored by Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, the U.S. senators from Rhode Island; their Massachusetts counterparts, John Kerry and Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy; and the senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Olympia Snow – would allocate $100 million to boat buyout programs; $41.5 million to catch-verification staffing and technology; and $10 million to job training for past and future fishermen.

The goal is to downsize the region’s groundfishing fleet by 25 percent to 50 percent from its current total of about 800 boats, many of which sail out of New Bedford or Gloucester, Mass. The sponsors see the move as an alternative method of protecting both the North Atlantic fisheries and the fishermen themselves.

Read the Providence Business News story in full

 

GLOUCESTER, MA (February 02, 2009) – With the North Atlantic fishery chronically declining and now at what many believe is a make-or-break moment, senators from three New England states have asked Congress for $156.4 million to transform, downsize and modernize the nation's original industry.

The bulk of the appropriation, $100 million, would be used as boat buyout money.

In addition, the proposal asks for $41.5 million for catch verification technology and staff, and $10 million for job training for the exiting and entering generations of fishermen.

Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full

 

WASHINGTON, DC (January, 16, 2009) – Legislation authored by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) to focus research on rising ocean acidity passed the Senate yesterday. Ocean acidification harms marine life and poses serious risks to the fishing industry.

 

“Ocean acidification is a serious threat to our environment and to our marine life,” said Sen. Lautenberg. “Changes in ocean chemistry, caused by greenhouse gases, will affect our food supply and the health of our oceans. But research on ocean acidification is still in its infancy. My legislation would provide the needed research to analyze and address the environmental and economic impacts of ocean acidification.”

Increased carbon dioxide emissions are causing oceans to become more acidic. Ocean acidity has increased 30 percent in the last 100 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA also projects that, by the end of this century, current levels of carbon dioxide emissions would result in the lowest levels of ocean pH in 20 million years.

Read the story in full

 

WASHINGTON, DC (January 7, 2009) – Teacher, fisherman, furniture maker, marine scientist–there isn’t much that University  of Massachusetts Dartmouth professor Brian Rothschild can’t do and do well.

Luckily for the city of New Bedford, sometime in the 1990s he set his mind on seeking ways to save the local scallop fishery. A little over a decade later, scallops have made the city the biggest fishing port, in terms of dollars worth of seafood caught, in the United States.

Read the tribute in full at Congressman Frank’s official website

 

WASHINGTON, DC (January 14, 2009) – Congressman Barney Frank today urged the Coast Guard to improve the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) technology, used to track commercial fishing boats, in order to improve safety within the fishing industry.

In a letter he sent today to Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, Frank urged the agency to “begin the process of determining whatever improvements are necessary to enable VMS technology to be used reliably for safety, and to take the necessary steps to implement those changes as soon as possible.”

Read the Congressional statement in full