June 9, 2023 — A legislative committee on Wednesday approved a bill to boost offshore wind power.
The measure sets a goal for the Public Utilities Commission to contract for 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy installed by 2040.
Opinion: NOAA’s catch quotas rely on inaccurate data
June 9, 2023 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is convinced that fish stocks in New England are declining, and they’re regulating fishermen into oblivion as a result.
There’s no evidence that they’re right. In fact, NOAA doesn’t have any reliable evidence at all. The agency has not completed a full survey of New England fish stocks in four years. The government’s recent attempts to jump start the process are floundering.
I’m leading a new coalition of lobstermen, fishermen, and fishing-adjacent businesses called the New England Fishermen Stewardship Association (NEFSA). We launched this advocacy group, which is open to all industry stakeholders and friends of fishing and the marine environment, because federal regulators are grossly mismanaging our fisheries and pose a lethal threat to fishermen and the oceans. NOAA’s ham-handed effort to gauge the health of the biomass in New England is one such example.
As National Fisherman readers probably know, NOAA sets quotas for particular species based on data it collects from its research vessels. NOAA’s research vessel for the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic is the Henry B. Bigelow, homeported in Newport, R.I. The ship is currently conducting the northeast spring bottom trawl survey.
MAINE: Maine bill to pay lobstermen to test new gear gets initial Senate approval
June 8, 2023 — A bill to help Maine lobstermen test new gear in preparation for potential federal restrictions meant to protect endangered right whales gained unanimous bipartisan approval in the Senate.
The bill seeks to set aside $1 million a year for the next two years to help lobstermen comply with federal regulations that could kick-in within six years.
The industry has faced intense pressure in recent years as federal officials have instituted restrictions to try to save the whales, which are believed to number fewer than 340.
Following the Senate vote on Tuesday, bill sponsor Sen. Eloise Vitelli (D-Arrowsic) said federal regulators have “targeted Maine’s lobster industry as a scapegoat.”
North American lobster industry confronts ‘ropeless’ traps after whale entanglements
June 7, 2023 — An emerging technology to fish for lobsters virtually ropeless to prevent whale entanglements is exciting conservationists, but getting a frigid reception from harvesters worried it will drive them out of business and upend their way of life.
Injuries to endangered North Atlantic Right Whales ensnared in fishing gear have fueled a prominent campaign by environmental groups to pressure the industry to adopt on-demand equipment that only suspends ropes in the water briefly before traps are pulled from the water.
Since the start of the year, four North Atlantic Right Whales have been injured after getting entangled in fishing rope, according to government data, including one filmed in North Carolina trailing a pair of lobster traps that U.S. authorities believe came from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia hundreds of miles away.
Such entanglements have killed at least nine North Atlantic Right Whales since 2017, making it the second biggest cause of death behind strikes from boats and ships, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
That is a large number, given there are fewer than 350 North Atlantic Right Whales remaining, including just 70 breeding females, say regulators, researchers and conservationists. North Atlantic Right Whales who live off the eastern North American coast stretching from Florida to the Canadian Maritimes provinces are now on the verge of extinction
MASSACHUSETTS: Turbine blades arrive in New Bedford as second heavy load carrier navigates harbor
June 7, 2023 –A few hours after the UHL Felicity departed the Port of New Bedford to head back to Portugal, another blue-hulled heavy load carrier, RollDock Sky, eased through the hurricane barrier Tuesday morning, bringing more wind turbine parts (this time, blades) into port.
The foreign-flagged 460-foot vessel departed the Netherlands in May, and then stopped in Gaspe, Canada, to retrieve blades from General Electric’s manufacturing facility before coming to New Bedford.
A GE spokesperson said the vessel was carrying six blades. The 62-turbine project, with three bladers per tower, will require 186 in total. The carrier’s deck equipment obfuscated the 351-foot blades a bit, but four were visible atop the ship.
The movement of new parts comes a few days after the local longshoremen’s union reached a contract with Vineyard Wind. The union previously shut down work at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal — the project’s staging site — in protest of Vineyard Wind’s hiring practices. The strike started one day after the first turbine components arrived, and ended late last week.
Prior to the contract, 12 local longshoremen members had part-time positions for Vineyard Wind out of more than 300 union workers, most of which came from the Boston area. The new contract guarantees a 40-hour week for some workers and hires additional part-time longshoremen, The Light reported.
Read the full article at The New Bedford Light
MAINE: Rare orange lobster caught off coast of Maine
June 5, 2023 — A rare orange lobster was caught recently off the coast of Maine by a Scarborough fisherman.
The lobster, which has one claw, was caught in Casco Bay by Capt. Gregg Turner and his crew, Sage Blake and Mandy Cyr while fishing on the boat Deborah and Megan, according to a statement by Cyr.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen one and the second time Captain Gregg has,” Cyr said. “It’s pretty exciting.”
The orange lobster is not destined for a pot of boiling water. It has been kept at Turners Lobsters on Pine Point Road in Scarborough while awaiting transfer to its new home at the University of New England’s Arthur P. Girard Marine Science Center in Biddeford. Turner and his crew caught a Calico lobster last winter and also donated it to UNE. Students named that lobster “Sprinkles.”
Cate O’Keefe named executive director for New England council
June 5, 2023 — Catherine “Cate” O’Keefe, a scientist with more than 20 years of experience in Northeast fisheries research and management, was named executive director of the New England Fisheries Management Council to replace the retiring Thomas Nies.
A resident of South Dartmouth, Mass., O’Keefe has a deep resume reflecting two decades of working with the fishing industry on and off the water. She is the owner and principal consultant of Fishery Applications Consulting Team, a firm that has provided technical, research, and facilitation services to a wide range of clients, including the New England council for scallop and monkfish projects.
O’Keefe’s work in recent years included studies of the socioeconomic impact of offshore wind power development on the fishing industry, and compensatory mitigation for the scallop fleet and other fisheries that will be affected. Fisheries Applications has also has provided services to offshore wind energy companies, fishing industry organizations, global consulting firms, academic institutions, and research organizations. O’Keefe currently serves as vice chair of the council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee.
O’Keefe earned her doctoral degree at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST). Her dissertation was titled: “An incentive-based, collaborative approach to maximize yield by avoiding bycatch in the U.S. sea scallop fishery.” She earned a master’s degree through the Boston University Marine Program in Woods Hole and a bachelor of arts in biology and fisheries from Hampshire College.
O’Keefe replaces longtime executive director Thomas Nies, a 26-year veteran of the council staff who rose to the director’s position in 2013. With Nies announcing his retirement in January 2023, the council initiated a nationwide search for a new executive.
Nobska completes its first trip for Blue Harvest Fisheries
June 2, 2023 — Blue Harvest Fisheries’ newest vessel, the F/V Nobska, returned to port earlier this week after a successful maiden voyage.
Blue Harvest acquired the vessel, previously named the Francis Dawn, earlier this year as part of the company’s pivot to focus on growing its groundfish fishing business. Built in 2019, the vessel is equipped with state-of-the-art electronics and a slurry ice vat system for its fish hold.
MAINE: A Lasting Grudge: FDA’s Closure of the Historic Maine Smokehouse
June 1, 2023 — John McCurdy of Lubec, Maine, holds the distinction of having run the last herring smokehouse in the USA. Sit down to talk to him about it, and you’ll find that at age 92, he is still mad about the US Food and Drug Administration shutting him down in 1991. “What happened is, some people in New York City got botulism from smoked whitefish out in the Great Lakes. So, they made a law that all smoked fish had to be eviscerated before they were salted. Well, you know we bought over 100 hogsheads [120,000] at a time, and those boats wanted to unload fast and get back out fishing. There’s no way we could gut those fish.”
McCurdy’ smokehouse was already a labor-intensive business, with 24 people doing everything from brining the fish, loading the smokehouse, moving fish upward in the smokehouse over the course of an 8-week curing process, and then skinning, boning, and packing it. And it was all hand work, “Artisanal” it would be called today. The workers made the boxes for packing, carefully laid the fish in, and nailed the lids on. Nothing in the entire operation was automated; it relied on human beings using their judgment as to how much brine to soak the fish into when the fish were ready. “If they rattle when you bring them down, they’re ready,” says McCurdy. “We sold 15,000 boxes a year. We sold to Mom & Pop stores, 100 boxes here, a hundred there.
MASSACHUSETTS: Bullard’s guiding light throughout his career: Improving his ‘Hometown’
May 31, 2023 — It’s fair to say that most people hope they can make a difference in their lifetimes. John K. Bullard can safely say that he has, particularly for New Bedford and the environment.
The historic preservationist, former mayor, federal bureaucrat, fisheries manager, Sea Education Association administrator, climate activist, and renewable energy advocate has written a memoir, “Hometown,” that chronicles his life and career and delineates the principles that guide it.
As a descendant of whaling merchant Joseph Rotch, Bullard’s roots are sunk deep in New Bedford. He acknowledges in the introduction to “Hometown” that he benefited from a privileged background.
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