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NEW BEDFORD June 1, 2012 — Mark Smith, executive director of the Ocean Explorium in downtown New Bedford, is stepping down after five years in charge and will be replaced by Abbey Spargo, the Explorium's education programs coordinator.

Spargo, who has a master's degree in environmental science and fisheries biology, has been with the Explorium since it began, working first with its outreach program.

"Leaving is bittersweet. I've made friends here that are lifelong friends," Smith said. A native of Australia, Smith said he plans to return there to be closer to his extended family and will live in Queensland.

"I think I've brought something everywhere I've been and I hope I'm leaving a legacy here," he said, reflecting on his tenure. "Things look very promising for the Explorium and I believe Abbey is the best person to bring it forward."

Smith's last day on the job will be June 22 but he will remain in the area for about a month beyond that, he said.

Spargo, who was born in Zimbabwe and lived there for eight years before moving to England and finally the United States, said the ocean has always held a fascination for her.

"Zimbabwe was landlocked and I think that made the ocean all the more exciting to me as a child," she said.

"Mark will be terribly missed. He's been an incredible team leader," she said. "But I think we'll be able to leverage the assets he's built up here as we continue to grow and expand."

Despite the poor economy, which always creates a difficult climate for nonprofits, the Explorium is doing well, Spargo said, and to date has doubled its number of paid visitors this year over the same period in 2011. The Explorium is not self-sustaining and relies on various sources for funding such as state and federal grants, admission charges, revenue from programs and private donations.

 Read the full story in South Coast Today 

May 31, 2012 – BAR HARBOR, ME — Fishermen and fishing rights can play a critical role in restoring the health of the nation’s fisheries according to MacArthur-Award-winning fisherman and scientist Ted Ames.

Along with his wife, Robin Alden, the former commissioner of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources, the two will discuss what they call “a unique ecological and economic opportunity in the eastern Gulf of Maine.” The talk, “Bring Back the Cod!” is scheduled for Thursday, June 14, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Gates Community Center at College of the Atlantic.

Ms. Alden and Mr. Ames co-founded Penobscot East Resource Center in Stonington to restore a diverse and healthy ecosystem to eastern Maine. They believe fishermen can fish the oceans forever. More than 20 years ago, groundfish – cod, haddock, pollock, hake, and flounder – disappeared in Down East Maine, from Penobscot Bay to the Canadian border, according to Alden and Ames. These species remain depleted despite healthier populations in other parts of the Gulf of Maine.

Although 3,000 people fish the waters in eastern Maine, not one fishes groundfish; those fishing rights are lost. This year, however, three events are converging to change that: dam removal on the Penobscot River, programs to regain fishing rights, and a special program offering fishermen the hope and skills to speak for the future of fishing. These, say Mr. Ames and Ms. Alden, are the building blocks of a resilient marine ecosystem and fishing economy.

Mr. Ames fished commercially for 28 years. He was vice-chairman of Maine Department of Marine Resources Hatchery Technology Committee, executive director of the Maine Gillnetters Association and director of Alden-Ames Lab, an environmental and water quality laboratory. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biochemistry from the University of Maine where he taught for 10 years.

Read the full story here.

 

 

May 29, 2012, NEW YORK — A Bronx man who runs a fish farm in his 14th-floor apartment is being sued by his landlord in a building where neighbors claim the tanks leak and stink up their homes.

The landlord claims Christopher Toole, 47, is violating his lease at the Riverdale building by illegally breeding fish and running the Society of Aquaponic Values and Education from the home, according to the New York Post.

He has "refused to refrain" from making noises and causing odors, the lawsuit says.

"He's running a business out of his apartment," Errol Brett, the landlord for Windsor Apts. Inc., told the Post.

Neighbors say Toole is responsible for several large leaks and drags his fish farming materials across the floor through the night.

“It’s irritating because you hear noise all the time. It’s 3:30 in the morning, and you hear him dragging his aquarium or whatever it is across the floor. It has changed my life,”  resident Roch McDowell, who lives directly below Toole, told the paper.

Read the full story at MSNBC.

 

 

May 23, 2012 – The U.S. Navy is in the process of updating and recalibrating training of its Atlantic fleet, with activities planned for an area covering 2.6 million square nautical miles of the Western Atlantic, including the waters off New England, around Florida and throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

A key component of the process is the filing with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of a draft environmental impact statement that evaluates "the potential environmental effect associated with military readiness, training and research," the Navy wrote in the Federal Register notice last Friday.

Despite the possibility of testing futuristic weapons, the draft environmental impact statement filed with NOAA expresses confidence the training will have negligible impact.

"The Navy's proposed action is to conduct training and testing activities, which may include the use of active sonar and explosives, primarily within existing range complexes, operating areas and testing ranges along the East Coast of the U.S., the Gulf of Mexico, pier side locations, port transit channels and the lower Chesapeake Bay," G. L. Edwards, the Navy's director of environmental readiness wrote on May 7 to Peyton Robertson, NOAA's director of the Chesapeake Bay office.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.

 

 

The following was released by the Northeast Seafood Coalition:

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — May 21, 2012 — The Northeast Seafood Coalition (“NSC” or “Coalition”) — the largest commercial fishing industry policy voice dedicated to working with government regulations and environmental concerns to preserve the long-term health of fishery resources, fishing communities and the fishing industry of the northeast United States – has named Nicolas Brancaleone as communications manager. In this new role, Brancaleone will oversee internal and external communications with NSC membership, stakeholders and the media. He will report directly to Jackie Odell, Executive Director of the Coalition.

“We are delighted that Nick has become part of the Northeast Seafood Coalition team! Nick has a strong background in marketing and communications and years of on the ground experience working with the fishing industry,” Jackie Odell, executive director of the NSC said.

A graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Brancaleone joins the NSC from Gloucester’s fixed gear sector, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization and ensuring compliance with all federal regulations pertaining to the Sector and its membership. There, he developed critical communications platforms and acted as a liaison between the Sector’s members and NOAA Fisheries Service, the New England Fishery Management Council and other relevant parties. Brancaleone has been involved in the sector management system since 2010 and guided members through the difficult transition from the previous days-at-sea management system.

“After ten years since its founding, NSC and its members are in a challenging path where communications is more important than ever. Nick Brancaleone is the perfect candidate for NSC's first communications manager,” John Bell, chairman of the NSC board of directors said. “An advocate of New England's working waterfronts, Nick is both schooled in communications and experienced in the complex issues of fisheries policy. The NSC board and members look forward to a long working relationship with Nick.”

Brancaleone is keenly aware of the current turbulent nature of the commercial fishing industry and recognizes the need for fishermen to be knowledgeable and cognizant of policy that directly impacts their businesses.

“The NSC has a history of independent thinking and a respect for all commercial fishing entities of all sizes. I’ve had the privilege of working directly with the Coalition for two years as a sector manager, and I commend them for their dedication to the industry and fishing communities in the northeast,” Brancaleone said. “I’m thrilled to join the talented NSC team and look forward to effectively communicating with their membership and interested parties.”

 

 

May 18, 2012 – The Phyllis A., the oldest fishing vessel in Gloucester, was pulled up and onto shore at Gloucester Marine Railways on Thursday morning for major repairs.

The Phyllis A. was built in 1925 in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Former Capt. Richard Arnold was on hand as the boat was hauled in. Arnold, 83, took over as captain from his brother Alvin, just shortly after he retired from the Coast Guard in 1972 and skippered the fishing boat to 2000. He and the boat retired on the same day.

The boat had been fished continuously by the Arnold family from 1925 to 2000.

The haul begins the work on the hull which is being funded by a 2011 Community Preservation Act grant from the residents of Gloucester.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — Buzzards Bay-area environmental groups have teamed up to create an iPhone application that will facilitate reporting of fish kills and help to determine what is killing hundreds of bluefish, striped bass and menhaden.

Joe Famely, an environmental scientist for the Woods Hole Group, said the app, called mCrowd, was inspired by his discovery of a group of 1,000 dead fish in 2009.

“We originally thought it might be because of low oxygen levels, but the data didn’t support that,” Famely said of the fish kill found two miles southwest of Falmouth’s Cleveland Ledge. “That got us thinking about what’s going on in the bay.”

In the summers that followed, the Woods Hole Group received several reports of groups of 25 to 50 fish washing ashore on Falmouth beaches. Some of the fish had lesions or tumors on their skin; others had no visible signs of illness.

Read the complete article in The Standard-Times

 

 

 

 

 

May 15, 2012 – The Department of the Navy has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Overseas EIS (OEIS) for U.S. Navy training and testing activities conducted within the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) Study Area. The U.S. Navy is requesting and welcomes your comments on the Draft EIS/OEIS.

The Study Area is in the western Atlantic Ocean and encompasses the waters off the east coast of North America and the Gulf of Mexico. The Study Area covers approximately 2.6 million square nautical miles of ocean area, and includes designated U.S. Navy operating areas and special use airspace.

The U.S. Navy's mission is to organize, train, equip, and maintain combat-ready Naval Forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, and maintaining freedom of the seas as mandated by federal law (Title 10 U.S. Code § 5062). The Chief of Naval Operations is charged with ensuring the readiness of the nation's naval forces and meets that directive, in part, by establishing and executing training programs and ensuring naval forces have access to training ranges, operating areas, and airspace needed to develop and maintain skills for the conduct of operations.

The Navy's proposed action is to conduct training and testing activities, which may include the use of active sonar and explosives, primarily within existing range complexes, operating areas, and testing ranges along the east coast of the U.S., the Gulf of Mexico, pier-side locations, port transit channels, and the lower Chesapeake Bay.

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the U.S. Navy is holding five public meetings to inform and provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the proposed action, alternatives under consideration, and the adequacy and accuracy of the analysis in the Draft EIS/OEIS. All comments (oral or written) submitted during the 60-day public review period (May 11, 2012 to July 10, 2012) will become part of the public record on the Draft EIS/OEIS and will be addressed in the Final EIS/OEIS.

U.S. Navy representatives will be available during the open house public meetings to provide information and answer questions. Members of the public can arrive anytime between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. The public meeting schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Hotel Providence
139 Mathewson Street
Providence, RI 02903

Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center
1000 Water Street
Jacksonville, FL 32204

Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Hilton Garden Inn Panama City
1101 N. Highway 231
Panama City, FL 32405

Monday, June 11, 2012
Virginia Beach Convention Center
1000 19th Street
Virginia Beach, VA 23451

Tuesday, June 12, 2 012
Hampton Inn and Suites Swansboro
215 Old Hammock Road
Swansboro, NC 28584

Read the release from the Navy here.

 

 

WOOLWICH, Maine — Steve Dodge, who has been helping with springtime alewife harvests in Woolwich for 54 years, held up a stick with 10 smoked fish Sunday and told a reporter to “write us up big.”

“Tell ’em they’re smoked golden brown and incredibly delicious,” said Dodge. “Even if they’re not.”

Dodge, who first helped scoop alewives out of the Kennebec River tributary at age 11, said he prefers his cooked fresh, not smoked. But judging by the steady stream of people who made their way down to the little-known smoke shack near the Woolwich Town Office Sunday, there are plenty who enjoy the gray-and-silver fish, which are known to be bony and oily if not prepared correctly. On the spectrum between the lovers and haters, Brad and Donna Allen, who have a summer home in Phippsburg, are way on the “love” side.

“They’re absolutely delicious,” said Brad Allen, who says a minute in the microwave on a paper plate is all it takes to prepare one perfectly. “They’re ridiculously good. You’ve just got to go easy with the bones. Biting off a big hunk just isn’t going to cut it.”

Read the complete story from Bangor Daily News

 

 

 

 

 

May 3, 2012 – NOAA wanted a magician to act as a motivational speaker to create “a unique model of translating magic and [principles] of the psychology of magic, magic tools, techniques, and experiences into a method of teaching leadership,” according to an ad for magic services , which appeared Tuesday.  NOAA took down the ad, however, after media reports surfaced Thursday.

The agency “has referred the solicitation to the General Counsel and NOAA's Chief of Resources, Operations and Management to review the statement of work and the process surrounding the solicitation,” NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen emailed POLITICO.

“No speakers have been hired or confirmed for this training session,” he added.

NOAA isn’t flying its staff to a pricey Las Vegas hotel, and it said it needed a magician for training purposes, not entertainment. Still, spending taxpayers’ money on prestidigitation risks conjuring up comparisons with the General Services Administration’s infamous Vegas adventure.

GSA came under heavy fire last month for spending $823,000 on a 2010 Las Vegas convention that included a magician, mind reader and commemorative coins. Administrator Martha Johnson stepped down over the episode, which gave Republicans ammunition for attacks blaming President Barack Obama.

A NOAA employee declined to comment when POLITICO contacted her Thursday.

Read the full story at Politico.