February 28, 2024 — A few local business owners in Gloucester are hoping to expand the image of who is a fisherman. Melissa and Donna Marshall are two of those women. They own Cape Ann Fresh Catch, the largest community-supported fishery in the country. Donna started working with the CSF in 2009 when it was founded. When Melissa took the reins, she expanded Cape Ann Fresh Catch to include a smokehouse, Twin Light Smokehouse. Smoking fish is another way that the CSF can reduce waste.
He’s the One Who Got Away: New Documentary Tells the Ultimate Fish Story
February 28, 2024 — As a commercial fisherman based in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Michael Packard is accustomed to bringing home the bounty of Cape Cod’s waters. One of the few remaining (if not the very last) of the area’s diving lobstermen, instead of setting traps, Packard dons a wet suit, mask, fins and oxygen tanks to pursue his quarry by hand where it lives on the ocean floor.
But in June 2021, there was a dramatic reversal of fortune when Packard, the predator, became Packard, the prey, as he was hunting for lobsters. That’s when a humpback whale came upon the fisherman and scooped him up in its massive jaws. Packard’s world suddenly turned pitch black as the whale closed its mouth around him. From the deck of Packard’s boat, the Ja’n J, Josiah Mayo, his first mate and friend, had no idea what had happened — until the moment he saw Packard get spat out by the whale and launched through the air. Though he had been inside the whale for roughly 30 seconds, for Packard, it must have felt like an eternity.
Packard’s trip inside the whale made international news. To many, it sounded like an unbelievable fish story, and the modern day Jonah had serious doubters and detractors. But Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker David Abel was not one of them. He believed Packard, and in his story, which he wrote for The Boston Globe, he also saw the makings of a documentary film.
“In the Whale,” Abel’s new documentary, recounts the fantastical events surrounding Michael Packard on that June day in 2021. But the documentary also delves into the humble seafaring life of the lobsterman and his family, detailing what they had been through, both before and since that fateful day. “In the Whale” will have its Long Island premiere at 7 p.m. this Saturday at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. Abel, a New York native, will be on hand to take part in a Q&A and discussion following the screening.
Abel has been a reporter for 25 years at The Boston Globe, where he covers climate change and environmental issues. Stories on New England’s fisheries, like the one about Michael Packard, are also firmly part of his beat. But in recent years, Abel has also become an accomplished filmmaker, and he explained in a recent interview how that part of his career came into focus.
Read the full article at 27 East
BOEM Releases Final Environmental Report as New England Wind Nears Approval
February 27, 2024 — The U.S. offshore wind energy sector continues to develop momentum as the Biden administration continues forward with its clean energy agenda. In the latest development, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its environmental review of the proposed New England Wind project offshore Massachusetts. This month, BOEM completed this review as well as approved the construction plan for Empire Wind, and defined the Oregon offshore wind area.
Today’s announcement highlights the time involved in the review process which several projects have now completed. The first lease for the site originally known as Vineyard Wind South was awarded in 2015 but in 2021 was transferred by Avangrid to Park City Wind and renamed New England Wind. The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement closed a year ago.
BOEM has completed the process and will publish the final statement at the end of this week. They note that they considered 776 comments received when developing the Final EIS for this project. The final environmental impact statement (Final EIS) analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the activities laid out in the New England Wind project’s construction and operations plan and reasonable alternatives.
MASSACHUSETTS: 31 right whales seen in shipping lanes off the Massachusetts coast
February 27, 2024 — Authorities are urging boats traveling in shipping lanes off Cape Cod to slow down after 31 North Atlantic right whales were found in the area last week, the New England Aquarium said Monday.
The right whales were discovered in two separate groups by an aerial survey of the Great South Channel, the aquarium said in a press release. The first group of whales surfaced while “feeding about 35 miles east of Nantucket,” and a second group was seen 20 miles east of Chatham.
The Great South Channel overlaps with shipping lanes to and from Boston, and NOAA Fisheries urged ships in the area to travel no faster than 10 knots until March 7 to protect the whales, the aquarium said. The restriction is voluntary.
Right whales are a critically endangered species, with an estimated population around 360.
“These protections are particularly important given the recent loss of two female right whales—one found off of Georgia after being struck by a vessel,” the aquarium said.
Right whale often seen in Cape Cod Bay spotted with newborn calf
February 24, 2024 — An endangered North Atlantic right whale that’s been frequently sighted in Cape Cod Bay was recently seen swimming with her new calf down south.
“Skittle” and her calf were spotted east of Kure Beach in North Carolina on Feb. 16. Skittle is often seen swimming in Cape Cod Bay in March.
It’s believed Skittle is at least 23 years old and gave birth to her first calf in 2010, but that calf likely did not survive. The New England Aquarium explains that Skittle gets her name from her skin pattern that resembles a bowling pin used in the British sport of Skittles.
Massachusetts lobstermen sue NOAA over restricted fishing area
February 15, 2024 — The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) has launched a new lawsuit against NOAA over proposed permanent area closures related to protecting the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, soon after the Maine lobster industry scored a court win over NOAA rules.
The MLA submitted its lawsuit on 9 February, claiming NOAA’s plan to permanently close the Massachusetts Restricted Area Wedge – and include the wedge in the Massachusetts Restricted Area annually from 1 February to 30 April – is unlawful under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2023. The MLA called the move a “continuation of NOAA’s unlawful conduct” in a press release about the issue.
MASSACHUSETTS: Mass. proposes new protections for horseshoe crabs
February 15, 2024 — The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing new regulations that would prohibit harvesting horseshoe crabs during the spring spawning season, from April 15 to June 7. Horseshoe crabs are harvested for bait and also for use in the biomedical industry.
Federal law already prohibits horseshoe crab harvest within the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge and the Cape Cod National Seashore. But stricter state rules would align Massachusetts with other states’ regulations, according to the proposal from Division of Marine Fisheries director Daniel McKiernan. Massachusetts is one of four states where horseshoe crabs can be harvested for both bait and biomedical uses, and has the weakest protections of the four.
Lawmakers demand accounting for shortchanged Blue Harvest fishermen, vendors
February 15, 2024 — Massachusetts members of Congress are demanding an explanation of Bregal Partners’ liquidation of Blue Harvest Fisheries in New Bedford, Mass., in a letter listing how the international investment firm walked away from an estimated $100 million in debts.
The Feb. 12 letter from Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Edward Markey and Rep. William Keating, all D-Mass., presented a list of itemized questions to Charles Yoon, a managing partner at Bregal’s New York City office.
“After years of putting private equity profits ahead of workers and small businesses, Bregal Partners – which owned and stripped Blue Harvest of its assets – owes the community an explanation,” the lawmakers wrote. “Your actions have harmed New England’s fishing industry and left over 1,000 independent contractors, businesses, and other creditors saddled with debt.”
MASSAHCUSETTS: USCG responds to fishing vessel that ran aground
February 5, 2024 — The United States Coast Guard responded to a fishing vessel that ran aground on Friday at Ballston Beach in Cape Cod.
The incident happened around 2:30 a.m. when USCG Sector SE New England was notified by the fishing vessel Miss Megan. There were three people onboard a the time.
USCG Station Province Town, USCG Air Station Cape Cod and USCG inspections and pollution response staff were called to the scene.
New round opens for testing pop-up lobster gear
February 3, 2024 — A new series of testing ropeless lobster gear got underway Feb. 1 in waters off Massachusetts and Rhode Island, a cooperative effort with up to 30 commercial lobster crews working with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
The fishermen are testing on-demand (also called ropeless) fishing gear in state and federal waters that are otherwise closed to lobster and Jonah crab fishing with static vertical lines, seasonal closures aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales from danger of entanglement.
“Participating vessels will fish trap trawls without any surface gear marks in the ‘potential on-demand testing areas.’ The fixed gear involved in this research will not be visible at the surface since it has no surface buoys,” according to a NEFSC advisory.
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