Other News

The administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wrote to the chairs of the Oil Spill Commission today to "alert" them as to a "mischaracterization" of a NOAA document in a commission staff working paper, the release of which Wednesday subjected the White House to much criticism of its response to the oil spill.

NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco said she wanted to "set the record straight" as to the description in the paper that: "The Commission staff has also been advised that, in late April or early May 2010, NOAA wanted to make public some of its long-term, worst-case discharge models for the Deepwater Horizon spill, and requested approval to do so from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. Staff was told that the Office of Management and Budget denied NOAA’s request."

Read the complete story from ABC News.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week, I critiqued Ron Arnold’s story about the “catch share” program being instituted in New England, saying that free-market environmentalists should support Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) programs. I stand by that point.

What is interesting, however, is that the more I look into it, the more I realize that what is being imposed (literally – see below) in New England is not the sort of catch share program I support. As happened with what became cap-and-trade in energy policy, the left has taken a good idea and perverted it so that it is a ghastly parody of the free market institution.

First, it seems that the scientific claim on which the call for action is based is exaggerated. Students of the environmental movement should not be surprised at this, as it is a pattern that repeats itself from DDT to global warming. The claim is that the fisheries as currently managed are in crisis and severely overfished. This does not appear to be the case.

For many years, these fisheries have been subject to regulation that sets a Total Allowable Catch (TAC), which represents the amount of fish scientists believe can be sustainably removed from the fishery. The TAC has not been exceeded for many fish species for years, and in most cases the catch landed isn’t even close to the TAC.  For instance, in the last year for which full figures are available, 2008, only 6% of the TAC for Haddock in the George’s Bank area was landed. Fishing sources tell me that this significant undercatch is because of the excessive amount of regulation that dictate when and where fishermen can fish (a “complex web” that is likely to get more complicated if the environmentalists’ latest attempt to designate “critical habitat” for the North Atlantic Right Whale succeeds.) Regulations also lead to significant amounts of caught fish being returned dead to the sea.  These regulations will be unaffected, for the most part, by a transition to catch share.

Read the complete story from the Washington Examiner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hatteras Island, NC fishermen help feed the elderly and infirm with fresh fish.

Watch the video from ABC News.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOAA's Teacher at Sea Program is NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS for the 2011 Field Season until November 30, 2010

The mission of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Teacher at Sea (TAS) program is to give teachers a clearer insight into our ocean planet, a greater understanding of maritime work and studies, and to increase their level of environmental literacy by fostering an interdisciplinary research experience. The program provides a unique environment for learning and teaching by sending kindergarten through college-level teachers to sea aboard NOAA research and survey ships to work under the tutelage of scientists and crew. Then, armed with new understanding and experience, teachers bring this knowledge back to their classrooms.  Indeed, the greatest payoff of NOAA's Teacher at Sea program is the enthusiasm for learning more about our ocean planet generated between teachers and students.

Read all about it and learn how to apply from NOAA's website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REEDVILLE The venerable smokestack, once part of a fish processing plant  and long a beacon for boat captains, is perhaps Reedville's most iconic structure, a towering monument to the industry that built this town.

It has weathered dozens of hurricanes, as well as fires and who-knows-what-else thrown at it over the past century at its position near the Chesapeake Bay. But when lightning scored a direct hit on the crumbling stack in early August and was followed by a violent windstorm a few days later, bricks around the top of the tower tumbled into Cockrell's Creek, and those fighting to save this tall piece of history wondered if the battle was lost.

"We were a month away from starting restoration," said Monty Deihl, general manager of Omega Protein, the company that owns the long-dormant stack and a member of the Save The Stack committee, "and we were afraid . . . that something was going to happen and it was going to crash the effort."

Read the complete story from The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite still being short of fundraising goal, grass-roots group oversees restoration work on the Reedville Stack.

REEDVILLE, Virginia – 9/28/2010 – Last year, not long after Omega Protein picked local Fleeton native and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Monty Deihl to run its menhaden fleet and processing plant here, the new manager and former boat crewman found himself in a skiff out on Cockrell's Creek.

Cruising about on a nice day, Deihl and his wife found themselves passing by the 130-foot, round smokestack on Omega Protein property, the only remnant of the first menhaden plant in a Northern Neck county that once had many.

"We saw the damage lightning had done at the top and bricks that had tumbled down from it," Deihl said. "My wife looked at me and said, 'Monty, if this falls down, it's going to be your fault.'"

This week, thanks to an ongoing Save the Stack grass-roots community effort that Deihl and Omega Protein are playing a big part in, critical repairs and restoration work is finishing up what will keep that from happening.

A crew from Industrial Access in Alpharetta, Ga., has spent the better part of the month on scaffolding, restoring the structure, which was built around 1902.

Deihl, one of more than a dozen locals in a steering committee for the Save the Stack effort, said the work has included replacing damaged brick and mortar, as well as the steel straps that help support the structure.

"They've also installed a stainless-steel cap on top to keep water out," he said, noting that a system is included to handle lightning strikes.

Work on the restoration effort, expected to be finished by the end of this week, doesn't mean the Save the Stack fundraising will stop.

The group set $350,000 as its goal, but decided to start the work even though recent counts showed the total had yet to reach $200,000.

"We knew lightning had struck it twice this summer alone, doing more damage at the top," said Deihl, who was proud to announce Omega's pledge to put $86,000 into the project.

Read the complete story from The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Gaines, the Times' staff writer whose investigative coverage of the fishing industry, the federal regulations that govern it, and the genesis of government policy and science behind them, has been honored — along with the Times itself — with one of the New England commercial fishing's most prestigious awards.

Gaines and the Times were honored Sunday in New Bedford with the Offshore Mariners' Wives "Friend of the Fishermen" award, presented as part of New Bedford's annual Blessing of the Fleet that highlights that city's Working Waterfront Festival.

The awards drew applause Sunday from more than 100 fishermen and fishing activists, and a stage of guests that included state Attorney General Martha Coakley and New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang.

The honor marks the first time the award has ever gone to any journalist or media outlet, with past winners including several people within the fishing industry and Congressman Barney Frank, who again is in a lead role in fighting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's regulatory policies and enforcement. The award presented to Gaines and the Times also marked the first time it has been presented to someone outside the greater New Bedford community.

In accepting the award on behalf of the Times, Editor Ray Lamont told the audience at the New Bedford State Pier that "we are absolutely humbled by this award."

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHATHAM, MA – September 27, 2010 – The midwater trawlers fishing for herring in federal waters from Chatham to Provincetown went over their catch limit by almost 40 percent this year, according to NOAA Fishery's Atlantic Herring Weekly Landing Report released last week.

By greatly exceeding their quota in Area 1B, a sensitive habitat located a mere three miles from shore, the herring boats are taking even more fish away from the striped bass, cod, pollock and tuna that Cape Cod fishermen depend on for their businesses. And with inadequate monitoring and rules governing this fleet, the trawlers were allowed to go over their limit by around 3.7 million pounds with no consequence this year or next.

"The Cape's commercial fishermen can't go over our allowance by a single pound of fish without being shut down and these guys went over by 38 percent," said John Our, a Chatham-based groundfish fisherman. "Those boats went over by more pounds of herring than the weight of all fish Chatham boats caught last year."

"If National Marine Fisheries is going to make everyone accountable, that's got to include the herring industry too," he added.

The overage in Area 1B is just another example of the fact that there is not adequate monitoring of this fishery.

"If observers had been on board the boats to track their catch, this area could have been shut down when it should have been and those herring would be there for stripers and tuna," said Darren Saletta, a commercial striped bass fisherman from Chatham.

A plan to enhance monitoring on midwater trawlers is in the works at the New England Fishery Management Council, but there are still important measures that need to be included in Amendment 5 in order to ensure the rule changes actually have an impact and stop overage events like what happened in 1B this year.

The Council is scheduled to take up this issue tomorrow — Tuesday, Sept. 28 — when it meets at the Hotel Viking in Newport, R.I.

·     READ the Atlantic Herring Weekly Landings Report.

·     CHECK OUT the agenda for the September Council meeting.

·     FOLLOW our Tweets on the CCCHFA Twitter page for updates on tomorrow's meeting.

 

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More than 150 groundfish trawl fishermen and fishery experts from up and down the west coast have gathered in Santa Rosa, California today to learn how to structure their businesses under a new catch share program that will start Jan. 1st.  Fishermen will hear from other fishermen who have made the transition to catch shares as well as government officials, fishery monitors, business and finance planners, and other fishery experts.  The goal is to give fishermen the tools to thrive under the new system.

The workshop started this morning with introductory comments from Brian Mose, a trawl fisherman from British Columbia. Mose said that when his fishery – nearly identical to the U.S. groundfish fishery – moved to a catch share, fishermen had no help to figure out the new system.  He described fishermen as “shell shocked.”  But within a few months, fishermen began making changes, and today, the program is a success.  Fishermen are making money and the fish stocks are stable or growing. 

The new Pacific catch share was seven years in the making and should be a turning point for fishermen and the groundfish they harvest.  Just ten years ago, the fishery was declared a disaster.  Landings have plummeted 70 percent in the last two decades, and since 1998 revenues have dropped from $47.3 million to $22.2 million.

Read the complete story from EDF.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Herring are no longer a major food fish in New England, and the few dozen boats in the region that still catch the fish — commonly known as sardines — sell them primarily as lobster bait.

But the small, silvery fish that swim in huge schools are at the center of a fierce controversy. On Tuesday, the New England Fishery Management Council is scheduled to start forming a new management plan for the fishery. The effort has pitted the fleet of mid-water trawlers that catch herring against environmental groups, commercial groundfishermen and recreational anglers.

"This one has been a tough one. It is complicated and extremely controversial," said Lori Steele, the council's management plan coordinator.

The herring fishery comprises 35 to 40 boats, most of them mid-water trawlers based in Maine and Massachusetts. That's a small number relative to the groundfishing fleet in New England.

Read the complete story from The Portland Press Herald.