Saving Seafood

Modern Fish Act passes House: Industry wonders what happened to Magnuson?

December 21, 2018 — The U.S. House voted to pass the Modern Fish Act on Wednesday, just two days after the Senate approved it unanimously, swiftly sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.

The “Modernizing Recreational Fishing Management Act,” or S.1520, has been the subject of debate and compromise among lawmakers, commercial and recreational fishing interests, and environmentalists for months.

The National Coalition for Fishing Communities released a statement on Thursday denouncing the quick passage of the bill and cementing their earlier support for Rep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, H.R. 200, that was passed over earlier this year.

Unfortunately, the Senate failed to take up the House bill, and instead took up S.1520, the “Modernizing Recreational Fishing Management Act,” read the statement. “In its original form, S.1520 faced widespread opposition from both commercial fishing and environmental groups. After its most controversial components were either totally removed or substantially weakened, it moved forward in the Senate and passed the House yesterday.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Modern Fish Act Falls Short: Full Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Still Needed

December 20, 2018 — The following was released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

In June, members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities wrote to Congressional leadership in support of H.R. 200, the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. That bill, championed by Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska), would have addressed the concerns of the commercial fishing industry by allowing more flexibility in management, eliminating arbitrary rebuilding timelines, and adding other reforms to better take into account the complex challenges facing commercial fishermen.

Unfortunately, the Senate failed to take up the House bill, and instead took up S.1520, the “Modernizing Recreational Fishing Management Act.” In its original form, S.1520 faced widespread opposition from both commercial fishing and environmental groups. After its most controversial components were either totally removed or substantially weakened, it moved forward in the Senate and passed the House yesterday.

S.1520 is an amendment to, but not a reauthorization of, the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Commercial fishing interests, recreational interests, and environmental groups all agree that the Magnuson-Stevens Act should, as the Environmental Defense Fund recently noted, “be recognized as one of the most successful conservation statutes ever enacted.” But no law is perfect, and there are still reforms that need to be addressed.

“We certainly hope the passage of this bill doesn’t reduce the incentive for the 116th Congress to work with the seafood industry on legislation to reauthorize the MSA in ways that will enhance the law and benefit fishing communities throughout the U.S.,” said Lori Steele, Executive Director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association in Portland, Oregon. “The need for such legislation remains.”

“The enormous amount of energy spent working to turn S.1520 from a widely opposed bill to a diminished version just so it could make it through the Senate would have been better spent on crafting a helpful Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization,” said Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association in New Jersey. “If the President signs this bill into law, the best outcome might be that the public may get a better sense of the significant catch and discard mortality associated with recreational fishing, but the bill does not get us the real reform that both industries need.”

“Any Magnuson-Stevens re-authorization should include two goals,” said David Krebs, president of Ariel Seafoods Inc. in Destin, Florida and a board member of the Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance. “The ten national standards must be maintained, and provisions should be included to ensure balance between commercial and recreational interests on the eight fishery management councils.”

Ms. Steele and Mr. DiDomenico both testified before the Senate this year in favor of needed improvements to the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Some of the crucial issues addressed in HR 200, and that were not addressed by the Senate include:

1) Eliminating the 10-year time requirement for rebuilding fisheries and replacing it with a biologically based time frame. This will allow the Regional Fishery Management Councils (RFMCs) to determine the optimal path and duration for stock rebuilding.

2) Modifying requirements for annual catch limits (ACLs) to allow RFMCs to consider ecosystem changes and the needs of fishing communities when establishing ACLs. In light of changing environmental conditions and the role of the environment in fisheries recruitment, these considerations make both scientific and common sense.

3) Using the term “depleted” instead of “overfished” throughout the Act is a simple yet very important change that will allow the Secretary of Commerce to more accurately characterize stock condition not based solely on fishing mortality. The term “overfished” is perceived negatively and can unfairly implicate the industry for stock conditions resulting from other factors.

4) Maintaining the requirement for a transparent referendum process before any new catch share program can be implemented in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions to ensure the industry has a role in determining its future.

Senate unanimously passes “compromise” recreational fishing bill

December 18, 2018 — The U.S. Senate on Monday, 17 December, unanimously passed a bill that would urge regional management councils to revise policies and take into account the needs of anglers in mixed-use fisheries.

The Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act, proposed by U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), would require the Government Accountability Office to review how the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic management councils allocate catch limits in fisheries shared by commercial and recreational fishermen. It also would encourage the two councils to find alternative methods for managing recreational fisheries.

“I appreciate the hard work of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get this bill passed, but there is still more work to be done,” Wicker said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to modernize federal fishing policies on the Gulf Coast and to support our fishermen.”

Monday’s vote comes after Wicker and members of the sportfishing industry stepped up their efforts to get the bill passed before the 115th Congress’ term ends. Wicker filed the bill in July 2017, and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee advanced the bill in June.

However, the bill coming out of the committee met with serious resistance from commercial interest groups, who feared the bill would be detrimental to their industry. The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance as recently as last month said it opposed the bill as written.

Greg DiDomenico, executive director of the Garden State Seafood Association, lamented that the time and energy directed toward Wicker’s bill in the Senate could have been better used for discussing a Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization. If Wicker’s bill becomes law, the best outcome might be that the pubic gets a truer sense of the impact the recreational industry has on Southeastern fisheries.

“This does not get us the real reform that both industries need,” DiDomenico told SeafoodSource.

The push to revise recreational management policies comes on the heels of the federal government relaxing some regulations in the Gulf. Earlier this year, Gulf states started a two-year pilot to manage the red snapper recreational fishery in federal waters.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Wind “Stakeholder” Group Meets In NJ

November 30, 2018 — While it appears that actual invitations weren’t sent to many stakeholders in the fishing community – certainly not by way of public email blast or general notification – the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is expected to meet with local “stakeholders” starting December 4 regarding wind farm development off the Jersey Shore.

Despite a noticeable lack of outreach and often restrictive holiday season planning, BPU will hold three Public Stakeholder Meetings in early December focused on Governor Murphy’s offshore wind goals and the BPU’s solicitation for 1,100 MW of offshore wind capacity.

A tip by Garden State Seafood Association (GSSA) executive director Greg DiDomenico (who said he “stumbled across the announcement by accident”) reveals how BPU staff, members of the NJ Offshore Wind Interagency Taskforce, offshore wind developers, and environmental non-government organizations (NGO’s) are expected to meet three times in December to review the State’s process for developing offshore wind.

Read the full story at The Fisherman

Saving Seafood Mourns the Passing of Danny Cohen, Founder and CEO of Atlantic Capes

November 21, 2018 — With sadness, Saving Seafood reports the passing of Daniel M. Cohen, founder and CEO of Atlantic Capes Fisheries, Inc. Danny was a longtime supporter of Saving Seafood, our National Coalition for Fishing Communities, and our member organizations, including the Fisheries Survival Fund and the Garden State Seafood Association.

Danny was featured in a 1997 New York Times profile, “Not on Board, but at the Helm,” and in 2014 testified before the U.S. Senate on the effects of climate change on wildlife and agriculture (he appears in this C-SPAN video beginning at approximately 1:19:30).

His obituary follows:

Daniel Myer Cohen, a pillar of the East Coast commercial fishing industry, and an eloquent spokesperson for commercial fisherman throughout America, died on November 20, 2018 in Cape May, NJ, at the age of 63, after a protracted and heroic struggle with cancer.

“Danny,” as he was known, took over the small fishing-dock and several fishing boats left to him by his father, Joseph Cohen, in 1976 and built it into Atlantic Capes Fisheries, Inc., an industry leading vertically integrated seafood enterprise.  ACF’s fleet of scallop, clam and other fishing vessels working out of company owned and managed facilities in Ocean City Maryland, Cape May and Point Pleasant New Jersey and additional ports in New England, supply seafood to company owned processing plants in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Early in his professional life and in his emerging role as a public advocate, Danny recognized that ensuring a sustainable wild harvest industry depended upon responsible environmental and resource stewardship.  Among other activities in the field of fisheries science, policy and management, Danny appeared before Congress and served as Chairman of the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) Scientific Monitoring Committee and on the NFI Clam Committee, both of which work to sustainably manage the major shellfisheries of the mid-Atlantic region.

Illustrating the advancing impact of applied research to the seafood aquaculture, in the 1990s Danny began working with Rutgers University and founded Cape May Salt Oyster Company, re-vitalizing the Delaware Bay oyster industry by growing disease resistant shellfish whose triploid oysters, championed early on by the slow food movement, can be found on the menus of some the nation’s finest restaurants.   Tetraploid technology which is also being applied to scallop aquaculture is revolutionizing shellfish production across the globe.

Well over a decade ago Danny also recognized the impact offshore wind development would pose to the commercial fisheries. In an effort to protect the fishing industry while harnessing its maritime expertise, Danny galvanized the industry by founding Fishermen’s Energy of New Jersey, LLC which was poised to build the first offshore wind farm in the United States.  Unfortunately, New Jersey’s political climate stymied a decade of progress.  Nonetheless, in 2009, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities named Danny New Jersey’s “Clean Energy Advocate of the Year.”

Whether in aquaculture, wild harvest, processing and marketing, offshore wind development or a host of other projects spanning the globe, Danny Cohen has been a leading light for over 4 decades.

Daniel “Danny” Myer Cohen was born on March 3, 1955 in Vineland, New Jersey. He was the third and youngest child of Joseph Cohen, a trucking and commercial boat operator born in the Alliance Colony and his beloved mother, Doris Cohen nee Maier, a refugee from Nazi Germany.  Danny expressed his love of Judaism through an interest in Musar, a Jewish ethical, educational, and cultural movement whose name encapsulates Danny’s philosophy of life: Musar can be translated “as upright conduct.”

Danny is survived by his daughter Dorit with ex-wife Mindy Silver, his sister Maxi, brother Barry and sister-in-law Ronnie; his nephew, niece and cousins; companion Sharon and by the many friends he has made in the seafood industry; the captains and crew that are the company’s lifeblood  and by the nearly  500 member ACF family that Danny helped to build and nurture. The family also extends its gratitude to the home health aides from Synergy HomeCare as well as the hospice nurses and staff from Holy Redeemer Hospice.

A funeral will be held Sunday November 25th at 10:30 am at Shirat HaYam located 700 N. Swarthmore Avenue in Ventnor NJ. Shiva will be held at the home of Barry and Ronnie Cohen in Linwood NJ. In lieu of flowers, charitable contributions in Danny’s memory can be made to the Sarcoma Foundation of America to help fund research into Sarcoma cancers. Arrangements are made by Roth-Goldsteins’ Memorial Chapel.

 

Garden State Seafood Association Supports New Vessel Discharge Rules

November 16, 2018 — This week, after more than a decade of activism from the fishing industry, Congress has moved to alleviate a major regulatory burden on commercial fishermen. Part of this year’s Coast Guard reauthorization bill once again exempts fishing vessels from requiring a permit for incidental discharge from boats, in a return to a long-standing EPA practice.

“The reauthorization is a common-sense step by Congress that provides necessary relief to fishermen without compromising the environment or water quality,” said Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association. “Now commercial fishermen can focus on core environmental issues without having to deal with unnecessary, court-imposed restrictions.”

The issue dates to a 2006 court case, where the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned EPA vessel discharge rules that had been in force since the passage of the Clean Water Act. Under the ruling, fishing vessels and other boats, regardless of size, were required to get vessel discharge permits from the EPA for routine, incidental discharges. This goes so far as to potentially include water from the fish hold, rainwater washing off the boat deck, and other minor discharges.

Notably, an incidental discharge does not include any discharges related to sewage, fuel, or ballast water. Fishing vessels are still, and have always been, required to adhere to all laws that regulate these types of discharges. The court ruling simply added a new, costly, and unnecessary layer of regulations for vessels to follow.

After years of temporary exemptions as a short-term way to address the ruling, the Coast Guard reauthorization, the “Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018,” finally creates a permanent solution. Fishing vessels will return to being exempt from incidental discharge requirements, and fishermen will no longer need to deal with the added expense and bureaucratic red tape that goes along with them.

“We have worked to fix this issue for our clients since 2006,” said Rick Marks, a Principal at Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh in Reston, VA. “Despite a challenging and sustained effort it is rewarding to finally see a victory for common sense delivered by the 115th Congress. Our thanks go to those coastal Members of Congress and their staff from around the country whose persistence finally paid off for commercial fishermen everywhere.”

Learn more about the GSSA by visiting their site here

National Coalition for Fishing Communities: An Open Letter to America’s Chefs

October 31, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Members of the National Coalition for Fishing Communities have long believed that the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) is one of the great success stories in fisheries management. Originally co-sponsored in the House over 40 years ago by Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Gerry Studds (D-Massachusetts), the MSA has become a worldwide model, and is one of the reasons the U.S. has some of the best-managed and most sustainable fish stocks in the world. The bill is named for its Senate champions, Warren Magnuson (D-Washington) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

But we are concerned by a new “nationwide #ChefsForFish campaign targeted at the new 2019 Congress, to launch after the elections in early November,” being organized by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which the Aquarium calls the “next phase” of its “defense” of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Monterey Bay Aquarium described this campaign in an October 25 email sent to its “Blue Ribbon Task Force chefs.” The email asked this network of chefs to support the “Portland Pact for Sustainable Seafood” (attached).

On the surface, the Portland Pact matter-of-factly states sound principles:

  • “Requiring management decisions be science-based;
  • Avoiding overfishing with catch limits and tools that hold everyone accountable for the fish that they remove from the ocean; and
  • Ensuring the timely recovery of depleted fish stocks.”

However, in the last Congress, the Monterey Bay Aquarium used similar language to falsely characterize legitimate attempts to pass needed improvements to the MSA as betraying these principles. In fact, these changes would have made the landmark law even better.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has repeatedly called on Congress to reject efforts, such as H.R. 200, which passed the U.S. House in July, and was sponsored by the now Dean of the House Don Young, that would amend the Act to introduce needed updates for U.S. fisheries management. If the chefs being asked to sign onto the Portland Pact were to talk to our fishermen, they would know how important these reforms are for the health of our nation’s fishing communities.

Any suggestion that the original co-sponsor of the bill would, 40 years later, act to undermine America’s fisheries, is inappropriate. In fact, most of the “fishing groups” that opposed Congressman Young’s bill, are financially supported by environmental activists and their funders.

No legislation, no matter how well designed is perfect or timeless. In fact, Congress has twice made significant revisions to the MSA, first in 1996 with the passage of the Sustainable Fisheries Act and in 2007 with the MSA Reauthorization Act. Like many other valued and successful laws, the Magnuson-Stevens Act is both working well, and in need of updates.

We agree that “management decisions be science-based.” One of the most significant issues with the current MSA is that it requires that fish stocks be rebuilt according to rigid, arbitrary timeframes that have no scientific or biological basis. Bills like H.R. 200, officially the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, would instead require that stocks be rebuilt according to an appropriate biological timeframe determined by the regional councils that manage the stocks.

H.R. 200 would also introduce other important measures that would better allow the councils to adapt their management plans to fit changing ecological conditions and the needs of fishing communities, which will become increasingly important as our coastal areas experience the effects of climate change.

American fishermen, like many American chefs, are committed to sustainable fishing and healthy oceans. Our businesses need sustainable, abundant fish stocks for us to make a living, and we all want a thriving resource that we can pass down to the next generation. We would never endorse a law that would threaten the long-term survival of our environment or our industry. That is why we endorse changes to the MSA that would ensure both.

We ask that any chef who is considering signing onto the Monterey Bay Aquarium letter to Congress first consult the local fishermen who supply them with fresh, quality products to learn how this law affects their communities.

NCFC members are available to connect chefs with seafood industry leaders, who would be happy to discuss how the MSA can be updated to help both fish and fishermen.

Sincerely,

Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries
Kathy Fosmark, Co-Chair
CA

Atlantic Red Crab Company
Jon Williams, President
MA

California Wetfish Producers Association
Diane Pleschner-Steele
CA

Delmarva Fisheries Association
Capt. Rob Newberry, Chairman
MD, VA

Fishermen’s Dock Co-Op
Jim Lovgren, Board Member
NJ

Garden State Seafood Association
Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director
NJ

Hawaii Longline Association
Sean Martin, Executive Director
HI

Long Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association
Bonnie Brady, Executive Director
NY

Lunds Fisheries, Inc.
Wayne Reichle, President
CA, NJ

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance
Rich Fuka, Executive Director
RI

Seafreeze, Ltd.
Meghan Lapp, Fisheries Liaison
RI

Southeastern Fisheries Association
Bob Jones, Executive Director
FL

Viking Village
Jim Gutowski, Owner
NJ

West Coast Seafood Processors Association
Lori Steele, Executive Director
CA, WA, OR

Western Fishboat Owners Association
Wayne Heikkila, Executive Director
AK, CA, OR, WA

PRESS CONTACT

Bob Vanasse
bob@savingseafood.org 
202-333-2628

View the letter here

 

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition: Menhaden Fishing in New York, New Jersey is Sustainable, Infrequent

October 25, 2018 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

The past few months have seen an unnecessary controversy over legal and routine menhaden fishing in the federal waters off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. With the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) having met this week for its annual meeting, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) would, once again, like to unequivocally state that our members’ fishing operations in both the reduction and the bait fisheries are sustainable, and in compliance with all menhaden regulations.

The recent misleading attacks on menhaden fishermen have claimed that the fishery threatens the food supply of marine mammals and other predator species, despite there being no evidence to support this allegation. Instead, the best available science points to a thriving menhaden population that is successfully meeting its ecological roles.

Over the last three years, the ASMFC, which manages Atlantic menhaden, has repeatedly delivered good news for the stock, confirming in a stock assessment last year that the species is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. As a direct result of this news, the Commission voted to once again raise the quota, which they determined could be implemented withno risk of overfishing the resource.

Looking at the Commission’s stock assessment data, there is no evidence suggesting that menhaden fisheries are negatively impacting predator species. A MFC analysis of that data published last year found that 92 percent of Atlantic menhaden are left in the water to serve as food for predators and to meet other environmental functions.

As part of the coastwide menhaden fishery, New York’s and New Jersey’s menhaden quotas are conservatively set by the ASMFC to ensure sustainability. Most of the recent criticism of the fishery has focused on two individual days of fishing: one in late August and another in early September. Since then, activist groups have continued to push a misleading narrative to the public, ignoring the ample evidence that points to there being more than enough menhaden to support whales, fish, fishermen and fishing communities.

Members of the MFC who support a healthy menhaden fishery off New York and New Jersey include Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, New Jersey; the Garden State Seafood Association in Trenton, New Jersey; the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk, New York; and Omega Protein in Reedville, Virginia.

About the MFC
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Have bluefish changed their habits?

September 4, 2018 — A fisherman dragging a burlap sack full of 10-pound bluefish off a party boat following a night of fishing used to be a familiar sight at the Shore.

And it may be again, but the habits of the once-dependable fish seem to have changed, at least in the present.

What is causing them to change their behavior is puzzling fishermen and federal fishery managers who appear to have hit a wall trying to figure out the best way to utilize the fish.

By all indications the numbers of bluefish up and down the East Coast are not scarce, they’re just not where they’re expected to be.

“There’s an abundance of them. They’re just 80 to 100 miles offshore where the longliners can’t keep them off the hook,” said Captain Lenny Elich, who runs the Miss Barnegat Light party boat.

But they’re not the on the Barnegat Ridge, and because of that the Miss Barnegat Light, which used to fish night and day for blues, has resorted to fluke fishing.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

House Passes MSA Reauthorization with Support of NCFC Members

July 13, 2018 — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Yesterday the House passed H.R. 200, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, which modifies and reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities from around the country have been invested in improving MSA for years, and weighed in with their comments and concerns at various points in this process.

Many of these concerns were addressed during the committee process and in the discussion of amendments. Several Members of Congress cited support from NCFC members for the bill during the debate on the House floor.

From Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama:

Let me tell you, there are over 170 groups that have signed on to being supportive of this bill. I do not have time to read all the names to you, but let me just read a few: the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation…the National Coalition for Fishing Communities…and the Guy Harvey Foundation. This is a very broadly, deeply supported bill among people who are actually fishing. Now, it may not be supported by people who don’t fish and who don’t know anything about fishing, but for those of us who do fish…we like it.

From Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana:

…Mr. Chairman, this bill is bipartisan. It’s why we have bipartisan support for this legislation. We have co-sponsors. It’s why the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the National Coalition for Fishing Communities…American Scallop Association, Garden State Seafood Association, West Coast Seafood Processors Association, North Carolina Fisheries Association, Florida Keys Commercial Fishing Association, Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance, Southeastern Fisheries Association and many, many others that have a genuine stake in the sustainability of our fisheries [support this legislation].

In the debate over a proposed amendment from Reps. Jared Huffman of California and Alcee Hastings of Florida that would be detrimental to commercial fishing, Rep. Don Young of Alaska, author of the bill, quoted from a letter signed by several of our members and submitted the day before the vote. The amendment was ultimately defeated.

According to a letter authorized by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities…I want to submit for the record, if I could, the letter to the leadership of the House and to myself where they say… “We believe it will undermine the MSA, impede reforms that are desperately needed, and attack jobs in coastal communities around the country, including California and Florida,” the home states of Mr. Huffman and Mr. Hastings. I suggest this amendment is uncalled for and frankly will gut the bill and the MSA, period.