Saving Seafood

Documentary Tracks Territory Dispute Over Lobster Bounty

December 7, 2018 — While many communities, including the Vineyard, have seen extreme declines in lobster populations over the years, the species has rebounded further north in a disputed area on the border of the United States and Canada. Fueled by warming waters due to climate change, this newly robust lobster area is being claimed by both countries, and it’s been dubbed the gray zone.

Lobster War, a new film about the building tension in the gray zone off the coast of Maine, will screen on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center. Film director and Boston Globe reporter David Abel will appear for a question and answer session via Skype. He will be joined by Tubby Medeiros and Wes Brighton of the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, both of whom lobster in the waters around the Vineyard.

Speaking with the Gazette by phone, Mr. Abel said he learned about the gray zone through his environmental reporting for the Boston Globe.

“I’m interested in telling stories that look at how climate change affects us and how it’s not an abstract threat, but it’s having a real impact on people’s lives,” he said.

Read the full story at The Vineyard Gazette 

Documentary on New England Fishery, ‘Sacred Cod’, Holds Free Public Screenings

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — March 16, 2017 — A new documentary on the state of the New England cod fishery will be screened for the public in a free special engagement in Washington, D.C. The film, Scared Cod: The Fight For a New England Tradition, was directed and produced by Steve Liss, Andy Laub, and the Boston Globe’s David Abel.

The Museum of Natural History has announced plans to hold a free public screening on Friday, March 24, at 6:30 pm. Registration for the event is free and can be done here. Following the screening there will be a panel discussion with Mr. Liss and Mr. Abel, moderated by Nancy Knowlton, the Museum’s Sant Chair for Marine Science.

The film is a “feature-length documentary that captures the collapse of the historic cod population in New England, delving into the role of overfishing, the impact of climate change, the effect of government policies on fishermen and the fish, and the prospect of a region built on cod having no cod left to fish.” It features interviews with fishermen, scientists, and federal policymakers. 

Sacred Cod will premiere on the Discovery Channel on April 15.

Fishermen File Suit in N.H. Against NOAA Over Observers

December 9, 2015 — The following is an excerpt from a story published today in the Boston Globe. The plaintiffs in this lawsuit are David Goethel, who has been a fisherman for over 30 years and has served two terms on the New England Fishery Management Council, and Northeast Sector 13, a nonprofit organization comprised of 20 active groundfishermen who are permitted in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia. They are represented in the lawsuit by Cause of Action, a government accountability organization committed to ensuring that decisions made by federal agencies are open, honest, and fair. 

A group of fishermen in the region filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in federal district court in Concord, N.H., arguing that the agency violated their rights by forcing them to pay for a controversial program that requires government-trained monitors on their vessels to observe their catch.

The fishermen, who in the coming weeks will be required to pay hundreds of dollars every time an observer accompanies them to sea, argue that the costs are too much to bear and will put many of them out of business. 

They’re asking the court to prevent the regulations from taking effect when the federal dollars now subsidizing the program run out early next year. 

“I’m extremely fearful that I won’t be able to do what I love and provide for my family if I’m forced to pay,” said David Goethel, one of the plaintiffs, who for 30 years has been fishing for cod and other bottom-dwelling fish out of Hampton, N.H. “I’m doing this not only to protect myself, but to stand up for others out there like me whose livelihoods are in serious jeopardy.” 

The lawsuit alleges that, by forcing fishermen to pay for the monitors, regulators have violated their Constitutional rights and that their actions are “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.”

It adds that agency officials are “acting in excess of any statutory authority granted by Congress” and “improperly infringing on Congress’s exclusive taxation authority.”

As a result, the fishermen claim, the government’s authority to require the payments are “void and unenforceable.”

Fishing officials acknowledge that requiring the fishermen to pay for the so-called “at-sea monitoring” program will increase the hardship of fishermen who are already struggling with major cuts to their quotas. A federal report this year found that the costs could cause 59 percent of the region’s groundfishing fleet to lose money.

But agency officials have said that NOAA no longer has the money to pay for the program, and that by law, the fishermen were supposed to start paying for the observers three years ago.

The government has defrayed the costs because of the industry’s financial turmoil, said John Bullard, the agency’s regional administrator. In February, the agency told fishermen they would have to start paying later this year.

Bullard declined to comment on the lawsuit.

“NOAA Fisheries does not discuss ongoing litigation,” he said. “Independent of any litigation, we appreciate the challenge that paying for at-sea monitoring raises for fishermen.”

He and others noted that the fishermen may end up paying less than they expect for the observer program.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe  

Read the Legal Memo here 

Read the Complaint here

Congressman William Keating: Wrong to Bankrupt Fishermen Over Monitors

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — August 31, 2015 — The following op-ed was written by Congressman William R. Keating (D – MA), and originally appeared in the Boston Globe. Congressman Keating wrote to the Globe to denounce plans to shift the costs of at-sea monitoring entirely onto New England fishermen :

For centuries, Massachusetts’ fishermen have played a vital role in our coastal economy, providing our families with food and our communities with revenue. The last decade, in particular, has again demonstrated the grit and perseverance of this historic industry, with changes in regulations, decreasing stocks, and rising fuel costs.

A comprehensive monitoring program is an important tool for collecting essential catch information for managing fisheries. At the end of the day, it is the fishermen who will benefit most from robust and thriving fisheries. However, the majority of the industry is simply unable to cover the costs.

I have worked with my colleagues in Congress and Governor Baker to urge the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to continue to fund the observer program and not shift the burden onto the industry. In the meantime, as discussion continues over the use of Bin 3 groundfish disaster money as an interim solution, this option should not absolve NOAA of its responsibility to deal with this issue both in the short- and long-term.

There are long-term solutions to this problem, including investing in cost-effective alternatives such as the wide-scale adoption of the use of cutting-edge technologies that allow for electronic monitoring. In the meantime, NOAA must find a way to support this historic industry and not bankrupt it with bills that they cannot afford.

Read the opinion piece from Congressman William Keating online at the Boston Globe

US wants struggling fishermen to pay for observers

August 4, 2015 — One was knocked overboard on a winter trip in the middle of the night, while another was handed a noose and told to hang himself. Their computers have been tossed into the sea, their bunks set up over a boat’s toilet, their water bottles tainted with tobacco spit.

The men and women who monitor the catch of New England’s once-mighty groundfishing industry, a job required by federal law to curb overfishing, have long had strained relationships with the fishermen who take them to sea.

Now, with federal funding for the controversial program set to run out this fall, the region’s long-beleaguered fishermen are being told they have to pay for the observers themselves — or they can’t fish.”

“This could be the final hit that pushes us into bankruptcy, causing the collapse of the whole fleet,” said Phil Lynch, 45, a Scituate fisherman who has persisted while the number of groundfishing boats in the region has plummeted by more than 70 percent over the past decade. “The guys still left will be gone.”

The threat to the estimated 200 boats remaining, more than half of which are based in Massachusetts, became more palpable last week when the National Marine Fisheries Service denied an emergency request from the council that oversees New England’s fishing industry to suspend the observer program. The agency said fishermen who catch cod, flounder, and other bottom-dwelling fish will have to find a way to pay for the region’s approximately 100 observers, who accompany them on about a quarter of their trips.

Fishermen insist they can’t afford to pay for the observers, especially after major cuts to their quotas. At a government-estimated cost of $710 every time an observer accompanies fishermen to sea, the program would cause most boats to operate at a loss, they say.

“They’ve set up fishermen to fail, and now they want to monitor the failure,” said Vito Giacalone, policy director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, an advocacy group for commercial fishermen. “I believe they’re out to put us out of business.”

Read the full story from The Boston Globe

Read a letter from NOAA Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard officially rejecting the request for emergency funding