Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Off Cape Ann, a rescue gone wrong

January 2, 2016 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — As dusk settled Dec. 3 on stormy seas 18 miles off Cape Ann, the crew of the Orin C felt a wave of relief. The Coast Guard had just arrived to tow them home to Gloucester, where they could unload 10,000 pounds of slime eel and repair their overheated engine.

But three hours later, the relatively routine tow took a tragic turn. The 51-foot Orin C rapidly succumbed to 12-foot seas, leaving three men bobbing in the dark, 49-degree waters amid a blizzard of heavy debris. Crewmen Rick Palmer and Travis Lane swam to safety, but the Coast Guard later said Captain David “Heavy D” Sutherland could not be revived after a rescue swimmer reached him.

“Rick says, ‘How is he? How is he?’ ” Lane recalled in mid-December as he geared up for his next fishing trip. “His . . . head was already underwater. He made a few strokes and just stopped.”

For all the well-known risks of commercial fishing, riding home with the Coast Guard isn’t one that fishermen generally fear. To lose both a vessel and a life in a controlled tow situation is extremely rare.

The Coast Guard is now considering a series of policy changes that would be binding nationwide as a result of this case, said Lieutenant Karen Kutkiewicz, spokesperson for the First Coast Guard District, which covers the Northeast seaboard. Among the considerations: new requirements for Coast Guard vessels to be equipped with defibrillators; new protocols to make sure sinking vessels receive reliable pumps; and new methods to deliver lifesaving items from helicopters without endangering personnel.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

Federal government should fully fund fisherman safety programs

December 28, 2015 —  Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. Groundfishermen in the Northeast are 37 times more likely to die on the job than police officers, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics. They are 171 times more likely to die on the job than that average American worker.

As Massachusetts lawmakers noted in a joint letter to the president earlier this year, “If our school teachers died on the job at the same rate as our fishermen in Massachusetts, we would lose 400 public school teachers each year.”

Because there is no controlling the open ocean and offshore weather is difficult to impossible to consistently predict, fishing will always carry an element of danger.

It can, however, be safer. Only 10 percent of New England’s offshore fishermen have been through safety training. Raising that percentage will save lives.

Congress decided as much in 2010, when it passed the Coast Guard Authorization Act, which among other things required additional safety and survival training for those operating commercial fishing boats more than 3 nautical miles from shore.

The act established two competitive grant programs to help pay for the needed training; $3 million was to be set aside for fishing safety training, with another $3 million for fishing safety research grant programs and safety equipment.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

DAVID GOETHEL: Fishermen on the Hook to Pay for Their Own Regulators

December 28, 2015 — The following is a excerpt from an opinion piece published today in The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Goethel, a groundfish fisherman out of Hampton, N.H., writes that he is suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “to stop it from sinking New England’s groundfish industry for good.” He is represented by Cause of Action, a government watchdog group based in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Goethel writes: “The courts are the industry’s last chance. This month, along with the Northeast Fishery Sector 13, I filed a federal lawsuit- Goethel v. Pritzker. Our claim: Neither NOAA nor its subsidiary, the National Marine Fisheries Service, has the authority to charge groundfishermen for at-sea monitors. Even if Congress had granted this authority, they would have had to follow the process called for in the Administrative Procedure Act and other statutes-which they haven’t.  A bipartisan group of senators, including Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), highlighted this troubling fact in April. Writing to the assistant administrator of NOAA Fisheries, they stated NOAA ‘has chosen an interpretation of the FY15 report language that is inconsistent with congressional intent, and consequently, that very high [at-sea monitoring] costs will soon unreasonably burden already struggling members of the fishing industry in the Northeast.'”

Few professions are as significant to New England’s economy and history as fishing. Yet the ranks of groundfish fishermen have dwindled so much that we’re now an endangered species. The causes are many-but the one now threatening us with extinction is the federal government. Along with one other plaintiff, I’m suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to stop it from sinking New England’s groundfish industry for good.

Groundfish include cod, haddock and 11 other common bottom-dwelling species. After years of dwindling stocks, in 2012 the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a disaster declaration for groundfish territory off the coast of New England. Over the past four years my cod quota-my bread and butter-plummeted from 60,000 pounds to 3,700 this year. I caught my limit in four days in June.

Shifting ocean patterns have certainly contributed to our struggles, but regulators are a separate anchor altogether. Groundfish fishermen are organized into a patchwork of 15 sectors, i.e., government-designed cooperative organizations. We operate under at least seven overlapping federal and state entities and programs, all of which have their own regulatory nets.

As if warrantless searches from the Coast Guard, catch inspections upon returning to port, and satellite tracking weren’t enough, at-sea monitors also accompany us on roughly one in five randomly selected fishing trips. They are hired by three for-profit companies-one of which is led by the former NOAA official who designed the monitor program. They follow us around and take notes on everything we do. That includes measuring our nets, measuring fish we bring in and those we throw back, and recording our expenses down to how much we spent on lunch.

The program is unnecessary given the heavy regulation that exists. And last month NOAA informed us that, beginning on Jan. 1, groundfish fishermen must pay an estimated $710 a day when a monitor is present. That fee covers the monitors’ training, mileage to and from the fisherman’s boat, supervisor salaries, data processes and all other administrative costs. It also covers a set profit margin for the three companies providing the monitors. What those margins are, neither NOAA nor the companies have disclosed.

Read the full opinion piece at The Wall Street Journal

Governor Baker, Federal Delegation Urge President Obama to Fund Protections for Northeast Fishing Industry

December 21, 2015 – The following was released from the Office of Governor Charlie Baker:

In a letter sent to President Barack Obama, Governor Charlie Baker and the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation petitioned funding for the Fishing Safety Training Grants Program and Fishing Safety Research Grant Program as part of the president’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget. In the letter, Governor Baker and the delegation make the case for $6 million in matching federal funds to support the safety and survival of commercial fisherman, who perform the deadliest job in the country based on the rate of on-the-job fatalities.

“Every day in Massachusetts, our fishermen perform the harrowing tasks at sea that have made their industry a vital part of our heritage as well as our economy,” said Governor Baker. “These modest investments by the federal government would not only equip them with new life-saving technologies, but also make good fiscal sense through the reduction of costly search-and-rescue missions.” 

“Fishing families greatly appreciate that Governor Baker and the entire Massachusetts delegation are making the safety of fishermen a priority,” said J.J. Bartlett, President of Fishing Partnership Support Services. “For too long, fishermen have been forced to work without access to the information and training necessary to do their jobs safely. Access to these essential grant funds will save lives and reduce the number of risky and costly search-and-rescue missions.”

In 2015, new rules under the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 (CGGA) took effect and require commercial fishing vessels operating beyond three nautical miles to be outfitted with an updated safety and survival training program. Prior to this change, similar regulations only applied to vessels operating outside of 13 nautical miles. To date, Congress has not funded the two grant programs set aside to help absorb ancillary costs to fishing families associated with this change. 

Authorization of $3 million for both the training and research grant programs has been extended through Fiscal Year 2017, but funds have yet to be appropriated. If approved, non-federal grant applicants such as the Fishing Partnerships Support Services are prepared to provide matching funds for New England with the goal of training one hundred percent of Massachusetts fishermen within 10 years. 

The letter points to conclusive evidence that these trainings save lives, including the nation’s largest decrease in on-the-job fatalities among Alaskan fisherman between 1986 and 2012. Additionally, the letter states that preventing just one search and rescue operation – often $200,000 per day or more than $1.5 million in multiday searches by the U.S. Coast Guard – would more than pay for the cost of running the training program in New England for an entire year.

View a PDF of the letter

Sunken sanctuary: Former Omega Protein WWII-era vessel becomes artificial reef

December 15, 2015 — For much of the last decade, the MV Shearwater caught menhaden by the ton but in its new life, as part of the Del-Jersey-Land reef 26-miles off the coast, it will become a fish habitat and diving destination in the state’s artificial reef program.

The ship didn’t go easy into the deep last week. The stern sank first and the ship started to turn leaving just the bow out of the water. It took about six hours to fully sink after the seacocks opened and the interior compartments flooded.

The 176-foot-long vessel went down in 120 feet of water. It lays about one-half nautical mile from the 568-foot long USS Arthur W. Radford, a former Navy destroyer. The Radford was sunk at the artificial reef site in 2011 and has become a popular destination for divers and anglers.

“About three weeks ago, a state-record bluefish was caught there,” said Jeff Tinsman, the state artificial reef coordinator.

“These old freighters make ideal reefs because of the voids and cavities in them – they’re really the perfect sanctuary for fish,” Tinsman said. “But not long after this ship sinks, the fish will start to come ‘outside’ it to feed. Within a few weeks, blue mussels, sponges, barnacles and soft corals will attach themselves to the structure, and in about a year, the reef will be fully productive, for fish and fishermen alike.”

Read the full story at Delaware Online

Navy’s new Zumwalt destroyer rescues ailing fishing boat captain off Portland

December 12, 2015 — The Navy’s new stealth destroyer endured a real life-and-death test Saturday when crew members aboard the future USS Zumwalt helped rescue a Maine fisherman suffering a medical emergency at sea.

The Zumwalt, a 600-foot-long guided missile destroyer built at Bath Iron Works, was conducting sea trials early Saturday morning when the U.S. Coast Guard requested assistance from any boats in the vicinity of the fishing vessel Danny Boy, located about 40 nautical miles southeast of Portland at 3 a.m. The captain of the Portland-based Danny Boy, 46-year-old Dale Sparrow, was experiencing chest pains, but a Coast Guard helicopter crew determined it was too dangerous to try to hoist the captain because of the 45-foot boat’s deck configuration.

The Zumwalt responded to the scene and launched an 11-meter “rigid hull inflatable boat” – the type used by Navy SEALs and other special forces – to bring Sparrow on board the destroyer.

“After medical evaluation, the patient was transferred from Zumwalt to a Coast Guard helicopter and then to an area hospital,” a Navy spokeswoman, Capt. Thurraya Kent, said in a statement Saturday night. The Coast Guard said Sparrow was flown to Portland International Jetport and then taken to Maine Medical Center.

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

 

New England Fishermen File Lawsuit Over At-Sea Monitoring Mandate

WASHINGTON — December 9, 2015 — The following was released by Cause of Action:

Today, Cause of Action is announcing that its clients, David Goethel, owner and operator of F/V Ellen Diane, a 44-foot fishing trawler based in Hampton, N.H., and Northeast Fishery Sector 13, a nonprofit entity comprised of over 20 groundfishermen located up and down the eastern seaboard, are suing the U.S. Department of Commerce over a program that would devastate much of the East Coast’s ground fish industry.

The complaint challenges the legality of a federal mandate requiring groundfishermen in the Northeast United States to not only carry National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) enforcement contractors known as “at-sea monitors” on their vessels during fishing trips, but to soon begin paying out-of-pocket for the cost of these authorities. In addition to the complaint, the Plaintiffs have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction that would protect fishermen from having to bear the costs of the at-sea monitors.

“Fishing is my passion and its how I’ve made a living, but right now, I’m extremely fearful that I won’t be able to do what I love and provide for my family if I’m forced to pay out of pocket for at-sea monitors,” said Goethel.  “I’m doing this not only to protect myself, but to stand up for others out there like me whose livelihoods are in serious jeopardy. I’m grateful to Cause of Action for giving my industry a voice and helping us fight to preserve our way of life.”

“The fishermen in my sector are hard-working and compassionate folks who would give the shirts off of their backs to help a fellow fisherman in need,” said Northeast Fishery Sector 13 Manager John Haran. “Our sector will be effectively shut down if these fishermen are forced to pay, themselves, for the cost of at-sea monitors.”

“By the federal government’s own estimate, this unlawful regulation will be the death knell for much of what remains of a once-thriving ground fish industry that has been decimated by burdensome federal overreach,” said Cause of Action Executive Director Dan Epstein. “Americans, particularly those who enjoy good, quality seafood, should be extremely concerned that an industry that has been around since before our nation was even founded is slowly going extinct, having been left out at sea by a federal government that seems more interested in caving to special interests than protecting jobs, families and consumers everywhere.”

 

BACKGROUND: 

“Catch Shares” are a fishery management tool that dedicates a secure share of quota allowing fishermen or other entities to harvest a fixed amount of fish. Since 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has coerced New England groundfishermen like Mr. Goethel into joining a form of catch shares known as “sectors,” where they share quota, and are forced to invite federally-contracted monitors onto their boats anytime they set out to sea. 

Although the agency has claimed in Federal court that “Sector membership is voluntary; permit holders need not join a sector in order to be able to fish,” the reality is they have designed the alternative, known as the “common pool” to be so prohibitive, that fisherman are forced to join a sector to remain economically viable in the groundfish industry. 

Catch Shares were promoted heavily by environmental groups and NOAA during the first years of the Obama Administration. Former NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, asserted that “fisheries managed with catch share programs perform better than fisheries managed with traditional tools.” She promised that catch shares are “the best way for many fisheries to both meet [federal mandates] and have healthy, profitable fisheries that are sustainable.” However, the promises made by Federal appointees and environmentalists have not been fulfilled in New England.

Unfortunately, it’s about to get much worse for these struggling fishermen, who are already policed by the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Some time in “early 2016,”, NOAA will begin forcing them to pay the costs associated with having at-sea monitors watch over their shoulders.

This unlawful mandate will cost Mr. Goethel and the groundfishermen of Sector 13 hundreds of dollars per day at sea, which, for many of them, is the difference between sinking and staying afloat. In fact, according to a study produced by NOAA, nearly 60% of the industry will be rendered unprofitable if it is required to pay out of pocket for these monitors. 

NOAA has implemented the industry funding requirement for monitoring despite the fact that:

  • The Secretary of Commerce declared the groundfish fishery an economic disaster in 2012.
  • The industry continues to struggle with the precipitous decline in groundfish profitability, as evidenced by a four-year low in groundfish revenue of $55.2 million for Fishing Year 2013 – a 33.6 percent decline from Fishing Year 2010.
  • Congress has directed NOAA to use its appropriated funding to cover the cost of these at-sea monitors, which NOAA has refused to properly utilize and allocate in accordance with congressional intent.
  • NOAA is specifically required by statute to implement regulations that allow fishing communities sustainable prosperity and “minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities.”
  • As mentioned above, NOAA itself produced a study indicating that upwards of 60 percent of the groundfish industry could be rendered unprofitable if it is required to pay for at-sea monitors.

About David Goethel:

Mr. Goethel, who has been fishing for over 30 years, holds a B.S. in Biology from Boston University, and worked at the New England Aquarium as a research biologist before choosing to go back out to sea as a fisherman. Mr. Goethel served two terms on the New England Fishery Management Council, and has been an advisor to seven state and federal fishery management boards, including the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission and the governor’s commission on marine biology. Mr. Goethel has been awarded the National Fisherman’s Highliners Award for his active involvement in cooperative efforts to research and manage marine fisheries resources, and is a member of the Yankee Fishermen’s Cooperative.

About Northeast Fishery Sector 13:

Northeast Fishery Sector 13 is a nonprofit organization comprised of 20 active groundfishermen who are permitted in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia. The number of groundfishing activity within the sector has declined sharply in the past five years due to poor science and overregulation, which has resulted in quota cuts. Click here for more information about the sector.

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a government accountability organization committed to ensuring that decisions made by federal agencies are open, honest, and fair.

MEDIA CONTACT: Geoff Holtzman, geoff.holtzman@causeofaction.org, 703-405-3511

Read the Complaint here

Read the Motion here

Watch a YouTube video to learn more about the case here

‘We don’t leave our friends behind’

December 5, 2015 — The story is as chilling as it is all too familiar here in America’s oldest fishing village, where for centuries fishermen, in pursuit of the ocean’s bounty, have fallen prey to nature’s full force and elements that inexorably overwhelm all that is human.

On Thursday, in the rushing darkness of a winter twilight, the three-man crew of the 51-foot Orin C went into the water and only two emerged safely onto the deck of the U.S. Coast Guard’s 47-foot lifesaving boat out of Station Gloucester.

David Sutherland, 47, of 10 Montvale Ave. — known to all along the waterfront as Heavy D — died in the water as the Coast Guard tried to rescue him after his slime eel boat sunk about 12 miles off Thacher Island.

“At the end of the day, we managed to save two men, but we lost one and that’s heartbreaking for his family, this community and for us,” said U.S. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Robert Lepere, the commander at Station Gloucester.

The sinking is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board with assistance from the Coast Guard. No cause of death has been released.

The story began to unfold about 9:30 Thursday morning, when Phil Powell of Swampscott, captain of the groundfishing boat Foxy Lady, received word from Sutherland that the Orin C was taking on water and in trouble.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

One dead, two rescued as fishing boat sinks

December 4, 2015 — One is dead but two were rescued by the Coast Guard after their fishing boat sank 12 miles off Thacher Island on Thursday night.

The deceased is identified as fisherman David “Heavy D” Sutherland of Gloucester by witnesses and friends in mourning.

A good Samaritan aboard the Foxy Lady notified watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Boston command center about 3 p.m. that the fishing boat Orin C was disabled and needed a tow.

The Foxy Lady, captained by Phil Powell, began towing Orin C toward shore, but high wind and waves impeded the effort, according to the Coast Guard. A large wave reportedly crashed over Orin C’s bow, causing the boat to flood.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Boston, who had been monitoring the tow on VHF radio, launched a 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew from Station Gloucester.

The crew arrived on scene, passed a pump to the Orin C crew, hooked up tow, and made way toward Gloucester against 30 knot winds and 8-foot seas, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

NEW JERSEY: Fish cops issue striped bass warning

December 2, 2015 — Federal fishing officials are warning anglers and commercial fishermen it is illegal to catch striped bass in waters outside three miles.

The ban on catching stripers is in an area called the “Exclusive Economic Zone,” or EEZ, which runs from 3 to 200 miles offshore and is under federal jurisdiction. The ban, which dates back to 1990, is not in place in state waters that are inside three miles.

In recent years the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement has teamed up with the U.S. Coast Guard and state agencies to enforce the ban. NOAA Fisheries Special Agent Jeffrey Ray said in New Jersey the agency will be working with the N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife to enforce the ban.

The effort runs from November through February and could include dockside or at-sea inspections as well as aerial reconnaissance.

“There’s a lot of striped bass activity and we want to make sure the information is out there that people cannot catch striped bass in the EEZ. There will be patrols in the EEZ,” said Ray.

In the past the efforts have included putting undercover agents posing as patrons on party and charter boats to make sure they stay within three miles. There have been dozens of cases brought against captains that fished in the EEZ, including one against a charter boat operator based in Avalon several years ago.

Read the full story at Press of Atlantic City