Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Two locals bypassed for fish council seats

June 30, 2021 — The federal Department of Commerce has filled five vacancies on the New England Fishery Management Council, bypassing the candidacy of the Northeast Seafood Coalition Executive Director Jackie Odell for two of those seats.

Odell was a candidate for the obligatory Massachusetts seat that went to Mike Pierdinock, a Cape Cod recreational fishing stakeholder who will be serving his first three-year term on the council.

Odell was Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s second choice for the Bay State’s obligatory seat that will become vacant Aug. 10 when council Chairman John Quinn retires after reaching the mandatory limit of three consecutive three-year terms.

She also was Baker’s first choice for the at-large seat that will become available Aug. 10 with the pending retirement of Vincent M. Balzano of Maine from the council. Balzano also reached his term limit of nine years.

Peter Seminara, Gloucester’s shellfish warden and Baker’s third choice for the at-large seat, also was passed over in this year’s round of appointments.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo chose to appoint Kristin ‘Togue’ Brawn of Maine to her first three-year term on the council for the at-large seat. Brawn operates a wholesale seafood business that sources scallops from Maine’s scallop dayboat fleet.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Baker nominates locals for regional fish council

June 17, 2021 — The New England Fishery Management Council will lose four of its longest-serving members this summer because of term limits and two of the vacant seats could be filled by candidates from Cape Ann.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has nominated Jackie Odell, the executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition and a Gloucester resident, as his second choice to replace retiring council Chairman John Quinn in the obligatory Massachusetts seat.

“Ms. Odell’s support of the council process established by the (Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act) is rooted in a belief that utilizing data, sound science and comprehensive analyses are essential to the management decision-making process,” Baker wrote in his nominating letter to Paul Doremus, NOAA Fisheries acting assistant administrator for fisheries. “Encouraging advancements in science and evolving scientific methodologies is vital to ensure successful management measures.”

Baker listed recreational fishing stakeholder Mike Pierdinock, of Plymouth, as his preferred candidate for the Massachusetts seat.

The governor also nominated Odell as his preferred candidate for the at-large seat that will be vacated in August by Vincent Balzano, of Saco, Maine.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Baker, guvs urge Biden to keep offshore wind a priority

June 7, 2021 — Gov. Charlie Baker and governors from eight other states poised to benefit environmentally and economically from the emerging offshore wind sector sent President Joe Biden a letter on Friday outlining their thoughts and recommendations for keeping the momentum going in the fledgling field.

Biden’s administration has moved quickly to advance offshore wind projects, namely the Vineyard Wind I project that last month got the federal go-ahead it had been waiting about two years to receive, and Baker’s administration has cheered the president’s swift action.

Vineyard Wind, which is expected to deliver 800 megawatts of wind-generated power to Massachusetts by 2023, is on track to be the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in the United States. Mayflower Wind, an 804-MW project, is also under contract to deliver power to Massachusetts. And an upcoming state solicitation seeks a project of up to 1,600 MW that can come online by the end of the decade.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Nordic Fisheries, Marine Hydraulics Suing City of New Bedford Over North Terminal Expansion

February 19, 2021 — Did the City of New Bedford breach a 99-year lease contract in the North Terminal expansion project? That’s what Nordic Fisheries and Marine Hydraulics are alleging. The two companies filed a lawsuit against the City of New Bedford on January 27.

The situation stems back to 2017, when the North Terminal expansion plans were first being discussed. By September 2019 Governor Charlie Baker announced the administration’s commitment of $24 million to dredge the New Bedford-Fairhaven Harbor. According to a press release, the funding would “enable the dredging of approximately 430,000 cubic yards of sediment from the harbor, deepening berths and access channels at more than 40 commercial marina and waterfront properties.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

MASSACHUSETTS: Charlie Baker’s embattled climate undersecretary targets fishing industry

February 11, 2021 — The Baker administration’s embattled climate change undersecretary David Ismay is again being called out for his questionable comments — this time against fishermen.

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, that broke the first video on the $130,000-a-year official’s rhetoric, says he also told climate activists that in order to obtain enough wind power, “something has to give” in regard to the fishing industry.

“We need offshore wind, and yes there is fishing out in the ocean too, but you know, there’s, we can’t have no offshore wind, no transmission, no solar, and have clean energy. Right. Something has to give,” Ismay is quoted telling Vermont climate advocates last month. He goes on to discuss transmission lines that will be placed in the ocean.

Massachusetts is home to some of the nation’s most productive commercial fishing ports, the state Division of Marine Fisheries states. The agency adds they are “happy to help commercial fishermen learn about permits, regulations, and the other commercial fishing resources.”

Read the full story at The Boston Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Baker irked by undersecretary’s climate remarks

February 8, 2021 — David Ismay, the Baker administration’s undersecretary for climate change, got into hot water with the governor on Friday after a video surfaced in which he appeared to say Massachusetts residents are going to be squeezed financially as the state tries to reduce emissions.

In a panel discussion with the Vermont Climate Council on January 25 that is available on YouTube, Ismay said the numbers facing the state are daunting. He said 60 percent of the state’s emissions come from residential heating and passenger vehicles. To meet the state’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050, Ismay said, 3 million homes need to transition to clean energy and 5 million vehicles need to be replaced with zero emission cars.

Ismay said Massachusetts doesn’t have many big sources of emissions left to target, and is left with changing the lifestyles of ordinary people. “There is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts, to point the finger at, turn the screws on, and break their will so they stop emitting,” he said. “That’s you. We have to break your will. I can’t even say that publicly.”

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford High School to Expand Marine Technology Program

January 11, 2021 — New Bedford High School has landed a $250,000 state grant to build a state-of-the-art Marine Technology Laboratory.

The new facility will prepare students for careers in marine and maritime industries. Skills training will be provided within the school’s Career Vocational Technical Education Program. The Massachusetts Skills Capital Grant was announced by the Baker-Polito administration.

“At a critical time in our Commonwealth, these Skills Capital Grants will increase flexibility and support for schools and educational institutions to launch new programs and help more students develop important technical skills and prepare them for high-demand industries,” Governor Charlie Baker stated.

Read the full story at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTS: Open Door, fishing vessel win food security grants

November 2, 2020 — The Open Door and a Gloucester fishing company will share in $5.9 million in state grants to help ensure a secure food supply chain for Massachusetts residents, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The administration of Gov. Charlie Baker announced the $5.9 million is being distributed to 47 recipients within the Massachusetts local food system, including farms, non-profit emergency food distributors, seafood harvesters, processors and other elements in the state’s food production and delivery system.

The Open Door, which operates food pantries in Gloucester and Ipswich and other food delivery services, received $201,073 to develop and implement an online food ordering and delivery system and enhance its Gloucester facility to provide more safe storage of locally produced food.

“We are reviewing software options now,” said Julie LaFontaine, president and CEO of The Open Door. “We expect to be rolling it out after the first of the new year.

The grant, part of the fourth round of funding from the state’s $36 million Food Infrastructure Security Grant program, also will help the non-profit on Emerson Avenue to expand its Mobile Market program throughout the Cape Ann community.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Cape Cod’s oyster growers struggle to recover from pandemic losses

October 12, 2020 — When Gov. Charlie Baker shut down restaurants and bars in March, Zack Dixon’s world, and that of hundreds of other shellfish farmers in Barnstable County, dropped off a cliff.

“Restaurants are our customers. When they closed in March, our business revenues went to zero,” said Dixon, who co-owns the Holbrook Oyster company with Justin and Jacob Dalby.

Over the past couple of decades, oysters have become the darling of the culinary world and aquaculture has expanded exponentially. Massachusetts landed nearly 8.7 million pounds of oysters, mostly from aquaculture farming, in 2018, worth $28.3 million. The Cape is home to 265 of the 391 licensed growers in the state, cultivating nearly 661 acres, half the state total of 1,203 acres.

When the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association surveyed larger dealers and wholesalers following the shutdown, they found that 98% of the market for oysters had evaporated overnight, said association president Bob Rheault.

“We knew we were inextricably tied to the food service industry, we didn’t realize how tied in we were,” said Rheault. “I don’t think any one of us would have guessed that amount.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

NEMFC approves 100 percent observer coverage with federal funding

October 2, 2020 — The Northeast groundfish fleet will move toward 100 percent observer coverage – so long as full government funding if available, the New England Fishery Management Council decided in approving Amendment 23 to its multispecies plan Wednesday.

While most fishermen dispute the need for blanket coverage – whether by at-sea observers or electronic systems – the final amendment offers some temporary respite, in specifying that costs will be 100 percent reimbursed by federal funding for the first four years.

If federal funding is insufficient, industry will pay for a default of 40 percent coverage. In the third year of the program, the council will review results and could reset the requirements for year five.

It’s expected the amendment, if approved by NMFS, could take effect in 2021. The compromise devised by council members came a day after Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker wrote to council chairman John Quinn, urging a solution to monitoring costs.

At around $700 a day, requiring full monitoring on every trip would drive much of the fleet out of business, fishermen warned.

Read the full story at National Fisherman