Saving Seafood

Warren releases ‘Blue New Deal,’ a plan to help ailing oceans

December 10, 2019 — Senator Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday released an addendum to her vision for a Green New Deal: the Blue New Deal.

The new plan seeks to address how climate change is affecting oceans and other waters, while ensuring a vibrant marine economy, she said.

“While the ocean is severely threatened, it can also be a major part of the climate solution,” she wrote in a nine-page summary of the plan. “That is why I believe that a Blue New Deal must be an essential part of any Green New Deal.”

“Not being consulted on this isn’t a good start to the relationship,” said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney for the Fisheries Survival Fund in Washington, D.C., which represents the scallop industry. “We expected something more well-thought-out from her.”

Annie Hawkins, executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a coalition of fishing industry associations and companies, said that “any large industrial project in the ocean will have significant impacts to the sustainability of established activities and the marine environment.”

“To me, it seems like it was written by staff, and they did a lot of Googling,” said Robert Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, a Washington-based group that represents commercial fishermen. “It’s disappointing, because we know Senator Warren has a more sophisticated understanding of fisheries.”

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Fishermen look to DC delegation for aid

November 25, 2019 — Former fisherman Sam Parisi appeared before the city Fisheries Commission on Thursday night to tout his campaign for national legislation to help fishermen as the federal Farm Bill helps farmers.

“We need someone to draft a fish bill like the farm bill,” Parisi told the commission members at City Hall. “The only way we can survive is with federal legislation and assistance. Farmers get paid not to grow certain crops. Why can’t we get paid not to fish certain stocks?”

Parisi requested the commission write a letter to the city’s congressional delegation in support of drafting of a bill specifically to help fishermen and fishing communities. But commission members, while appreciative of Parisi’s sentiments, also expressed concerns that a campaign to write, pass and enact federal legislation is fraught with its own perils.

“The danger is saying we’ll back a bill that doesn’t exist,” said Chairman Mark Ring. “You don’t want to back something 100% without seeing it.”

While Parisi’s concept was short on specifics beyond federal reimbursement when catch quotas are cut, his proposal led to an active discussion on the next steps for a fishery that continues to find itself under the siege of still-dormant cod quota in the Gulf of Maine, questionable stock assessments and expanding regulation — and cost — of all manner of monitoring.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Why Atlantic Canada’s lucrative seafood industry is concerned about Elizabeth Warren

November 21, 2019 — Canada is defending measures it has taken to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, as political pressure — and blame — mounts from the United States in the wake of a rash of whale deaths in Canadian waters in 2019.

“We’re very confident that our measures are world-class in nature and stand up extremely well to those in the United States,” said Adam Burns, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ director of resource management.

Burns was responding to the latest salvo from Massachusetts senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, who are threatening a ban of some Atlantic Canadian seafood products.

The senators blame a Canadian “roll back” of whale protection measures in 2019. Canada had 12 right whale deaths in its waters in 2017, then none in 2018.

Read the full story at CBC News

US Senators call on Canada to increase right whale protection, Maine lobstermen reject DMR plan

November 20, 2019 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) has voted not to support a Maine Department of Marine Resources whale plan intended to reduce risk to the endangered North Atlantic right whale species.

The vote not to support the plan came just before two Democratic senators from Massachusetts – Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren – sent a letter to NOAA Fisheries asking the organization to examine whether Canada’s Atlantic Fisheries marine mammal conservation standards are “doing enough to protect” the right whale. If not, the letter calls on NOAA to use its authority under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to prohibit imports and fishery products from Canadian fisheries impacting the whales.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

U.S. senators call for review of Canadian protections of endangered right whales

November 18, 2019 — Two U.S. senators from Massachusetts, including presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, are calling for an investigation of Canada’s regulatory measures to protect the North Atlantic right whale.

Democrat senators Edward Markey and Warren sent a letter this week to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration arguing Canadian rules for protecting the endangered whales are less strict than those in the United States.

Their request notes New England lobster fishermen are currently responding to a federal plan that reduces the amount of rope in the water and requires lines that break more easily.

Read the full story at CTV

MASSACHUSETTS: Congressional delegation urges feds to find new lobster markets

September 19, 2019 — As the United States trade war with China continues to take its toll on Massachusetts lobstermen, members of the state’s Congressional delegation, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are urging the Trump administration to find new markets for American lobster exports.

Sens. Warren and Ed Markey and Congressmen Joseph Kennedy III, William Keating, Stephen Lynch and Seth Moulton wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday imploring him assist the local lobster industry.

The lawmakers said that China’s 25 percent tariffs on imported American lobsters has had a “material impact” on the state’s lobster industry, already forcing at least two businesses to close and leaving 250 people out of work.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MA Lawmakers Press U.S. Trade Representative for Real Solutions for Massachusetts Lobstermen Impacted by Trade Tariffs

September 17, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), along with Representatives Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA-08), William Keating (D-MA-09), Seth Moulton (D-MA-06) and Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-MA-04), yesterday sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer urging him to explore new markets for American lobster exports to address the impact of China’s 25 percent tariffs on imported American lobsters. The lawmakers’ letter comes ahead of a Joint Committee on Export Development oversight hearing in the Massachusetts State House to assess the impact of Chinese tariffs on the Commonwealth’s lobster industry.

U.S. lobster exports to China are down more than 80 percent since June 2018, which is reflected in the losses reported by local Massachusetts lobster companies. At least two businesses in the state have been forced to cease operations, leaving more than 250 employees out of work, and the U.S. lobster industry more vulnerable to long-term decline and competition from Canada.

“While Massachusetts state legislators are exploring solutions for economic relief at the state level, it is imperative that there be federal resolve to assist the Massachusetts lobstermen whose livelihoods heavily relied on exports to China,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

In June 2018, in response to concerns from local elected officials, Senator Warren sent a letter to Ambassador Lighthizer urging him to explore ways to open new markets for American lobster exports. In response to her letter, Ambassador Lighthizer acknowledged her concerns and indicated that trade agreements with countries in Africa and South East Asia and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Foreign Commercial Service could help mitigate the loss of the Chinese market.

In their letter to Ambassador Lighthizer, the lawmakers highlighted the harmful impact of the Trump Administration’s trade war on the Massachusetts lobster industry and reiterated calls for the USTR to explore new export markets for American lobstermen.

“We urge you to work with the Massachusetts lobster industry to provide specific solutions and resources to end the dire losses to the Massachusetts economy,” the lawmakers continued. 

The lawmakers requested a response to their letter by September 30, 2019.

US lawmakers urge speedy Vineyard decision

August 20, 2019 — A bipartisan group of senators are calling on US federal government to finalise the supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) and mitigate delay to the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in US waters.

Massachusetts senators Edward Markey (Democrat) and Elizabeth Warren (Democrat), Louisiana senators Bill Cassidy (Republican) and John Kennedy (Republican), along with representatives Richard Neal, William Keating and Joseph Kennedy (Massachusetts), as well as Steve Scalise (Louisiana), have sent a letter to the Department of Interior and the Department of Commerce.

The letter is in response to the decision by Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management – the designated lead agency on offshore wind – will need to implement a supplemental EIS, before issuing a final EIS, which could significantly delay the 800MW Vineyard Wind offshore wind project, off the coast of Massachusetts.

Read the full story at ReNews

Senator Warren Statement on NOAA Settlement with Carlos Rafael

August 20, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement today following news that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reached a settlement of the civil case against Carlos Rafael:

“The U.S. Department of Commerce and the NOAA should do everything in their power to ensure that all of the fishing permits Carlos Rafael held remain in the Port of New Bedford. These permits sustain an industry that has been part of the fabric and the way of life in New Bedford for hundreds of years. Law-abiding fishing families and businesses have already suffered through no fault of their own, and don’t deserve to have their livelihoods taken away because of Rafael’s wrongdoing.”

Last October, Senator Warren sent a letter to the Commerce Department and NOAA urging them to keep the fishing permits in the hands of Massachusetts families and businesses.

Sens. Warren And Markey Speak Out Against Vineyard Wind Decision

August 15, 2019 — U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, both D-Mass., are speaking out against the recent federal decision to delay Vineyard Wind’s offshore project, proposed off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) decided to delay the publication of Vineyard Wind’s final environmental impact statement and, instead, initiate a supplemental draft environmental impact statement process.

“The Trump administration’s last-minute decision to delay approval of a major offshore wind energy project is extremely disappointing,” states Warren. “The Vineyard Wind project – which is projected to create thousands of jobs and generate clean energy for over 400,000 families and businesses across the commonwealth – would save money for Massachusetts ratepayers, reduce carbon emissions by over 1.6 tons per year and help the commonwealth reach its clean energy targets by 2035.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power