Saving Seafood

New rules to help southern New England lobsters up for vote

July 31, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A plan to try to slow the decline of southern New England’s lobster population with new fishing restrictions is up for a potential final vote this week.

The population of lobsters off Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts has plummeted in recent years. The regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering a host of new restrictions about lobster fishing at a meeting on Tuesday.

Proposed management tools have included changes to legal harvesting size, reductions to the number of traps and seasonal closures to fishing areas.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Boston.com

CONNECTICUT: Industry expert says consumers have a role in saving local seafood

July 28, 2017 — STONINGTON, Ct. — Finding fresh, locally caught fish isn’t easy, but if educated consumers are persistent, they will not only help local fishermen, they’ll also help rebuild weakened domestic seafood markets that have been deeply gouged by imports and regulations.

Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., a producer and trader of frozen seafood in North Kingstown, explained these points and more in her presentation, “Sea to Table: Bringing the Bounty of the Sea to You,” before an audience of about 40 people at the La Grua Center Thursday night.

In attendance were state Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, First Selectman Rob Simmons and a number of longtime local fishermen. The Stonington Economic Development Commission sponsored Lapp’s presentation.

She was joined by a panel comprised of Tom Williams, a generational fisherman with two sons who are commercial fishermen; Rich Fuka, president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance; and Mike Gambardella, owner of Gambardella Wholesale Fish at the Stonington Town Dock.

Lapp said the fishing industry was so over-regulated, “You practically have to be a lawyer to go fishing.”

Read the full story at the Westerly Sun

CONNECTICUT: Resurgent Blessing of the Fleet keeps focus on local fishermen who died at sea

July 26, 2017 — Sunday’s 63rd annual Blessing of the Fleet will feature some new additions while retaining its customary focus on members of the Town Dock fishing fleet who have died at sea and their families.

“We never want to lose sight of that. This is a family tradition we’re upholding,” said committee co-chairman Mike Crowley about the event, which he added is experiencing a resurgence thanks to supporters with new attractions and a growing parade.

Crowley said this year’s blessing will include the restored 61-foot eastern-rig dragger Roann, a National Historic Landmark that is on display at Mystic Seaport. The Roann’s previous owners, the Williams family, fished out of Point Judith, R.I., and occasionally Stonington.

There will also be tent at the Town Dock this year with artifacts from the fleet as well as photos and stories about its boats, captains and crews. New England Science and Sailing in the borough also will have an exhibit and will be offering children’s activities from noon to 4 p.m. at the Town Dock.

As it always does, the event begins with a special Fishermen’s Mass at 10:30 a.m. St. Mary Church in the borough, which plays an integral part in the annual celebration, Crowley said. The Mass commemorates fleet members who have died at sea and includes prayers for the safety and success of current fishermen.

About 11:45 a.m., a parade will step off from the Town Dock, proceed through the borough and pass by St. Mary Church, where the Most Rev. Michael Cote, Bishop of Norwich, will join the procession back to the Town Dock, where he will bless the boats in the fleet. After the blessing and laying of a wreath in memory of local fishermen who have died at sea, there will be food at the Town Dock and music by the band Country Misfits from noon to 4 p.m.

Read the full story at The Day

CONNECTICUT: Expert’s talk at LaGrua Thursday to focus on benefits of local sea-to-table options

July 24, 2017 — STONINGTON, Ct. — Meghan Lapp, an expert on the commercial fishing industry and its regulations, will give a talk entitled “Sea to Table: Bringing the Bounty of the Sea to You” on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the LaGrua Center at 32 Water St.

The Stonington Economic Development Commission is sponsoring the presentation, which will focus on how local harvesters provide fresh seafood, navigate fishery regulations and science, and what species are fresh, local and available. Admission is free.

Lapp, of Narragansett, is a fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., a producer and trader of sea-frozen fish in North Kingstown. She is on the Habitat Advisory Panel and the Herring Advisory Panel for the New England Fishery Management Council, the Ecosystems and Oceans Planning Advisory Panel for the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Menhaden Advisory Panel for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

She holds a master’s degree in legal science from Queen’s University in Belfast.

Growing up in Long Island, Lapp had familial ties in the fishing industry and worked in a fish market alongside commercial fisherman during summers in college.

Read the full story at the Westerly Sun

Maine senators say Congress should save Sea Grant program

June 8, 2017 — Maine’s U.S. senators are signing on to a request to keep the National Sea Grant College Program funded at least at its current level.

President Trump has proposed to eliminate the program, which funds science that’s beneficial to commercial fisheries, conservation and coastal businesses. It has existed for about a half-century.

Maine Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, are joining an effort led by Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy to save the program. The group is sending a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the commerce appropriations subcommittee to stress the importance of Sea Grant.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Fishermen hoping to reel in Obama-era conservation

May 31, 2017 — New England fishermen are looking for a seat at the table as the Trump administration mulls whether to make any adjustments to an Obama-era marine monument off Cape Cod that has drawn criticism for the potential impact on the fishing industry.

“The monument was put in place with probably less than full input by the fisheries’ people,” New England Fishery Management Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn said. “In reviewing it, we should be included in this process.”

Quinn is one of eight signatories of a letter drafted earlier this month and sent to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross Jr. asking the Trump administration to consult with the nation’s eight regional fishery management councils before taking any action.

Trump signed an executive order last month calling for a review of national monument designations made under the Antiquities Act since Jan. 1, 1996. The order, dated May 1, calls for an interim report to the president within 45 days and a final report within 120 days.

The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, created by former President Barack Obama last September, protects an area roughly the size of Connecticut 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod.

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

NEW YORK: Lobstermen: Additional Regulations Will Deal Death Blow To Industry

May 18, 2017 — The lobster population in the Long Island Sound is at a record low — so says a multi-state commission that will soon make changes to how and when lobsters can be harvested from the sound.

As CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported, lobstermen from Connecticut to Long Island warn this could be the end of their struggling industry.

At Northport Fish And Lobster Company, the tanks are filled with fresh lobsters, but not from the nearby Long Island Sound.

“Most of our lobsters are coming from Maine and Canada right now because all the lobsters have been dying for the last 10 years,” chef Brett Kaplan explained.

Northport Harbor once buzzed with dozens of lobster boats, but now has just a handful. Most of the twenty lobstermen left harvesting the sound from Long Island and Connecticut gathered in East Setauket to tell New York state regulators that tighter restrictions will be the last straw in an already decimated industry.

“You’re sacrificing the lobstermen for the lobsters. They get paid to manage the fisheries and are doing it at our expense,” lobsterman and Northport Mayor George Doll said.

“We will be done. Lobster fishing in Long Island sound will be no more, it will be a distant memory and it’s unacceptable,” lobsterman Mike Kalaman added.

Read the full story at CBS New York

Fishermen work to get Trump’s attention on Thames River

May 18, 2017 — Supporters of President Trump are gathering in southeastern Connecticut Wednesday. Among them are a group of fishermen who organized on the Thames River.

These fishing vessels were on a different kind of mission. News 8 was on board the Tradition, a 70 foot vessel that is one of more than 25 boats out trying to get the president’s attention hoping for change to what they say are outdated and over regulated rules that could eventually kill the fishing industry here in New England.

The vessels set out from Stonington at around 8 a.m. for the one hour sail to the Thames River. The Tradition works out of Rhode Island but the boats there Wednesday also came from Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts.

Aaron Williams, the Captain of the Tradition, has been a fishermen since 1998 but has been out on the water since he was 5-years-old. This is his families’ business, their livelihood and he doesn’t argue that regulations were needed two decades ago when inventory was low. But, he says after decades of responsible and regulated fishing, it’s time to change things again so the industry can survive.

“We never ever want to see unregulated fishing because we know where that goes; but what we would like to see is more participation from us in the management process. We’re not in it to catch the last fish that would be pointless.” said Williams.

Read the full story at WTNH

Southern New England Lobstering Changes up for Vote

May 5, 2017 — New restrictions on lobster fishing are up for a vote as regulators try to slow the loss of the valuable crustaceans from southern New England waters.

Scientists say populations of lobsters off of Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts have declined as waters have warmed. A board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is scheduled to vote on new management measures Monday and Tuesday.

Fishing managers are considering tools like trap reductions, changes to the legal harvesting size of lobsters and seasonal closures to try to preserve the population.

Most U.S. lobster is brought to shore in Maine. That state has had record high catches in recent years. The price of lobsters has been high, too.

Read the full story at New England Cable Network

MELISSA WATERMAN: Marine Matters: A Feeling of Relief Down East

April 27, 2017 — Well, they did it. At its April 17 meeting in Connecticut the New England Fisheries Management Council reaffirmed the economically vital place that lobster fishing has in this state by exempting lobstermen from restrictions that may flow from the council’s Omnibus Deep Sea Coral Amendment.

The decision qualifies as a Big Deal. The council has been considering ways to protect deep-sea corals found within the Gulf of Maine and along the continental shelf for several years. Protecting a living creature that is not a fish is new ground for the council, which draws its regulatory authority from the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act. But revisions to the act in 2006 gave the council “discretionary authority” to protect deep-sea corals in New England. Thus, creation of the Omnibus Amendment, the provisions of which will be applied to all of the council’s 28 fisheries management plans.

The amendment identifies four coral areas in the Gulf of Maine as well as several canyons south of Georges Bank for protection. Two Gulf of Maine sites are places where Maine lobstermen set their traps — Outer Schoodic Ridge and Mt. Desert Rock.

You and I would look at the two locations and say, “Hmmmmm. Water.” Lobstermen, on the other hand, look at the water and envision what lies beneath it, the rocky seabed on which lots of lobsters live in their individual burrows.

So, when the council stated last year that it was considering closing those two areas to all bottom-tending gear, Down East lobstermen took notice. Such closures would mean no fishing for lobster or red crab, another commercially valuable species. In January, the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) asked the council to specifically exempt lobster fishing from possible closed-area restrictions. The council replied that it was too early in the amendment process to exempt any fishery. It asked, instead, for more information about the economic value of these two areas.

Read the full opinion piece at The Free Press