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NEW BEDFORD, MA – A donation by three leaders in the local fishing industry has given a big boost to food pantries trying to answer the growing need for assistance this holiday season.

Last Wednesday, the three men — Richie Canastra of the Whaling City Seafood Auction, Carlos Rafael of Carlos Seafoods and Richard Barry of Pier Fish — met to talk about the struggles of local families and decided to do something about it.

Two days later, said Canastra, their combined donation of $10,000 had purchased and delivered 630 turkeys to Pier Fish's freezers, ready for distribution to local food pantries through the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

The various food pantries, such as St. Lawrence, the Red Cross and St. Anthony's, are all linked in a cooperative network that ensures that food aid is evenly distributed and that families are limited to one Thanksgiving turkey apiece.

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DARTMOUTH — Downtown New Bedford Inc. and the New Bedford Seafood Industry Scholarship Fund Committee have chosen the recipients of this year's awards. The combined fund benefited seven area high school graduates who have a parent working in a business related to the seafood industry of New Bedford. The awards totaled $4,000.

The Pier Fish Company and Downtown New Bedford Inc., created this fund in 2009 as a thank you to the seafood industry that generously support the events that are produced annually by DNB, Inc. promoting the restaurants throughout the area. The Taste of SouthCoast is held in May and the New Bedford Seaport Chowder Festival is held in September.

The top contributor to the fund for the second year is Pier Fish Company. This year the fund was increased by donations from Bergies Seafood; Hygrade Ocean Products; Northern Wind; NWD Trucking; Tempest Fisheries and Whaling City Display Auction.

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

 

 

 

 

 

The once-bountiful Atlantic sturgeon that sustained North America's first European settlers and Native Americans now may number in the hundreds in the Chesapeake Bay, but no one really knows. Sturgeon, which have survived virtually unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs, are dwindling worldwide under the influence of human beings.

In October, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration announced the Chesapeake Bay sturgeon was among five East Coast populations proposed for protection. The others range from New York to the South Atlantic states. The proposed listing is a desperate attempt to save "a fish of superlatives," Garman says.

The listing would be aimed at saving the fish's habitat, as their harvest already is banned.

"Sturgeon is the most endangered family of fish," said Brad Sewell, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has pushed for protections. "Globally, they're all going extinct."

Read the complete story from The Beatrice Daily Sun.

 

 

 

 

 

PORTLAND – Linda Greenlaw piloted her boat into Portland Harbor on Wednesday, capping a three-month swordfish season marked by an unusual partnership that put her branded catch on ice in one of Maine's largest supermarket chains.

A welcome home celebration, open to the public, will be held for Greenlaw and the crew of the Hannah Boden from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at Custom House Wharf.

Greenlaw, the boat's captain and a best-selling author, said the season was successful overall, but the final trip was relatively slow.

"This time of year they migrate," Greenlaw said. "The fish decided to take off."

Greenlaw estimated that the crew landed 10,000 pounds of swordfish this trip. An excellent trip will net 35,000 pounds.

Read the complete story from The Portland Press Herald.

 

 

 

 

 

Hatteras Island, North Carolina (November 4, 2010) – Persons interested in helping with the 2nd Annual Hatteras Connection Seafood Dinner Fundraiser are invited to a planning meeting at 1 p.m., Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at the Fessenden Center in Buxton.

Last December the event raised almost $3000 for the Hatteras Island Food Pantry and Hatteras Meals, Inc. and helped stock the food pantry’s shelves for the holiday season.

This year the fundraiser will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, December 7 at the Hatteras Village Civic Center.

For more information, contact Susan West, Hatteras Connection Coordinator, at ridgeroad@earthlink.net or (252) 995-4131.

Hatteras Connection is a community-based project dedicated to sustainable economic development and environmental stewardship, and committed to working to ensure a future for new generations of watermen on Hatteras Island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally from Ireland, Standard-Times reporter Don Cuddy does not let down the Irish tradition for the love for writing. He has been working for The Standard-Times for about six years, starting out as a contributing writer and eventually working his way up to full-time reporter in 2007. He started covering the fishing industry in New Bedford a year ago and has made a film of his experience on a commercial boat last April.

Q: How did you come up with the idea of creating a film about your experience on a boat?

A: I didn't come up with the idea. What happened was with new fishery's regulations; beginning on May 1st, the paper was interested on finding out how they would affect the fishing community. They sent me down to the waterfront to talk to fisherman, and when I met Tom, the captain of the boat that I went on, he said to me, "You should come with us to see what it is like."

I asked the paper to allow me to go with him. They agreed, and the next day I was going out through the hurricane barrier. Before I left I realized that this was going to be a unique experience and probably one I would never have again.

So, I ran over to Dartmouth and I bought a video camera the night before we went to sea. And anyone that comes to see the movie, they will notice that the opening scene was a little shaky because that was literally the first time I had ever turned the camera on … This was a question of seizing the moment. This was something that was unusual, and I should document it.

Q: What is the message you are trying to portray through the film?

A: There's no message. It's not a documentary. It's simply a picture, an image of what takes place when these guys go out there to make a living. It's an attempt really to gain some respect for these fishermen because they work so hard, and they don't seem to be getting their story out there. They're not the kind of people that employ public relations companies. They're the ones that go out there and risk their lives … to supply us with something that we take for granted, the fish and chips.

Read the complete interview from The Standard Times.

 

 

 

 

 

(10/29/2010) – The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) was recently notified by NMFS' Southeast Regional Office that a 4,800-square mile fishing ban is on its way for South Atlantic anglers. A final rule to implement controversial Amendment 17A will likely be published in mid-November, but the U.S. Department of Commerce's announcement will ultimately establish a closed area extending from southern Georgia to Cape Canaveral, FL affecting angler harvest and possession of all snapper-grouper species.

The fishing closure affects areas with depths between 98 and 240 feet and is being implemented as part of the Amendment 17-A which indefinitely bans all bottom-fishing for both the commercial and recreational sectors. A blanket ban on red snapper harvest adopted as a temporary measure last year remains in effect in a 200-nautical mile zone off the entire Southeast coast.

According to the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), the closure is based purely on flawed science, inaccurate harvest data and overly restrictive federal fisheries language written into the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Management and Conservation Act. "There is no biological problem with this fishery," said RFA Executive Director Jim Donofrio, "this is a management and legislative problem, not a fishery issue."

Read the complete story from Sport Fishermen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A federal plan to shut down bottom fishing in a large area off Florida’s east coast has won a final approval, raising fears of lost work among fishermen in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia.

“It’s not good. It’s probably going to put all the party boats out of business for sure,” said Benny Hendrix, a charter boat operator in Fernandina Beach.

The closure of about 4,800 square miles of ocean bottom is part of a package of steps to protect red snapper from overfishing.

Although U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke formally approved that plan this week, his agency must still finalize a set of rules to implement the new limits.

Read the complete story from The Florida Times-Union.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LUBEC, Maine—The site of a former sardine plant in eastern Maine is being preserved on a permanent basis for commercial fishing uses.

According to Maine Public Broadcasting Network, the owner of a 1.5-acre parcel with a deepwater wharf in Lubec has received a grant from the state's Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program in exchange for limiting the property to its current uses.

State officials say the wharf is used by 38 lobster and scallop boats and nearly 120 skiff fishermen who unload clams, urchins and periwinkles.

Read the complete story from The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the [Gloucester Times] editor:

I would like to express my support for Ann-Margaret Ferrante for the position of state representative.

I know Ann-Margaret to be a dedicated and determined representative of our local fishermen and fishing industry. Personally, as a seafood industry member, I have seen Ann-Margaret make great strides with tremendous effort and assertiveness in our struggles. She has truly been an incredible force in the pursuit of a better future for all in our community.

As a legislative aide to Sen. Bruce Tarr, as the executive director of the Massachusetts Fisheries Commission, as an attorney in private practice, Ann-Margaret has become extremely educated about her district and the ongoing threat to the fishing industry and the community.

She is one of a few who recognized the urgency of change and attention to what was happening within a corrupt government agency, NOAA law enforcement. If not for her tireless efforts to make things right, there would not have been an Inspector General's report addressing the abuse issues against fishermen from NOAA law enforcement, there would not have been an alternative technology for stock assessment and the fight to get allocations right.

Read the complete letter from The Gloucester Times.