Daily Archives: December 12, 2012

Update: Lubchenco leaving NOAA, says she ‘returned fishing to profitability’

Salazar+MMS+Director+Testify+House+Hearing+enFuUMv-6cEcStory PhotoStory PhotoHer departure from the Obama administration will end a four-year regimen that promised revitalization of the fisheries via a new economic system based on privatization known as catch shares but instead produced a declared fisheries disaster in the Northeast and a spontaneous resistance by industry all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x2120615228/Breaking-Lubchenco-leaving-NOAA

Lubchenco departure fuels hope for change in fishing rules

Seeded on Thu May 31, 2012 1:01 PM EDT (CNN)
“This is a really critical time for our fishermen’s economic situation, and I hope it’ll also be the moment when we begin a new era for our fishing communities in terms of their relationships and their dealing with NOAA,” he said in an email. “The next NOAA administrator can set a tone on Day One by proactively offering a seat at the table for our fishermen in the decision-making … .”

I’m happy for everyone here that this has transpired. It was but a few short weeks ago that Lubchenco wanted another four years as head of NOAA.

“There is so much more yet to do, and I want to do everything possible to make [it] happen,”  she tells ScienceInsider. ScienceInsider    traveled to Monterey, California, last week to attend a scientific conference on ocean acidification, where this wide-ranging interview with Lubchenco took    place.” http://news.sciencemag.org/sci…

This tells me she was cut loose, and the “Singing My Own Praise Song” that includes twenty verses of success malarkey was sung by NOAA’s Milli Vanilli.

The question for fishermen and industry is, do we let them push another destructive leader into the slot, or do we for once push for someone trustworthy and credible, as one united front?

Whom would be the one person known to this industry that would fit this criteria?

I, like many of you have read damn near everything printed, anywhere I could find it, and of all the names that meet the criteria may not, for a multitude of reasons be interested, but I’m going to throw it out there and gauge the response.

Dr.Brian Rothschild.

This man is more than qualified, and could assemble a nucleus of trustworthy team members that could restore the trust destroyed by decades of mismanagement.

Magnuson will be reauthorized in 2016.

Who do YOU want in charge.

 

Forgotten crewman in the Sea of Privatization – Shawn C. Dochtermann, Kodiak, Alaska

The Bering Sea Crab Rationalization plan has resulted in the Godzilla of all privatization programs that leaves the labor portion of the industry with the short end of the crabstick, while granting the quota holders free harvest quotas and the ability to extract hundreds of millions of dollars more in profits right out of the crews’ pockets……. This program was planted into the federal register by U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). In 2001 he asked the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to decide if the Bering Sea crab fisheries needed to be privatized and if the processors deserved some type of allocation, as well. The council in June of 2002 passed a fishery management plan that gave 97 percent of the active fishing privileges to LLP holders, a pittance of 3 percent quota shares to crab captains, nothing to crewmen and rights to processing companies that ensured they would receive 90 percent of the deliveries. Read More Here

Jane Lubchenco to leave NOAA in Feburary – Jellyfish Jane’s Heady Top Twenty List (to be discected)

We’ve ta10172769-largeckled some big challenges together. Through an emphasis on transparency,
integrity, innovation, team work and communication, we have made significant
progress on multiple fronts. As you know, NOAA’s breadth is one of our greatest
challenges, but it’s also our great strength. Both are in evidence below. Our
notable progress includes (in no particular order!):

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=b5nrgsdab&v=001FWOIEyOKRSIMH3wMajhwcmATzD9pu_8vt9sdLOd_XEbdXH79_i9ZsBzu8cqyycy1zTod_qzTc8SBqIM5kYZ6Q_j4u2EK6nDMpddnb9m48Ijmw1PL1r63zA%3D%3D

Salt of the Sea Video Trailer

Filmed aboard several independently owned/operated commercial fishing boats in the Northeast, Salt of the Sea juxtaposes the working fishermen’s perspective on regulations with key players in Federal fishery management. Topics include NOAA’s lost $48 million scandal, inaccurate Cod fish quotas, and overzealous enforcement. http://www.saltofthesea.tv/salt-of-the-sea-trailer.html   www.facebook.com/saltofthesea

Salt of the Sea

A Rising Tide of Noise Is Now Easy to See – new york times

“What quiet, what silence, what peace!” Captain Nemo  That was 1870. Today — to the dismay of whale lovers and friends of marine mammals, if not divers and submarine captains — the ocean depths have become a noisy place. The causes are human: the sonar blasts of military exercises, the booms from air guns used in oil and gas exploration, and the whine from fleets of commercial ships that relentlessly crisscross the global seas. Nature has its own undersea noises. But the new ones are loud and ubiquitous. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/science/project-seeks-to-map-and-reduce-ocean-noise-pollution.html?ref=science

NEFMC Seeks Applicants for Fishery Advisory Panel Vacancies

Currently, the Council invites applicants to fill vacant seats on its Groundfish, Recreational Fishing, Monkfish, Sea Scallop, Herring and Enforcement Panels. Anyone interested in serving as an advisor to one or more of these panels may download the application materials; call the Council office at 978.465.0492. If you have any questions or need more specific information about panel responsibilities or upcoming Council actions during 2013, please contact Pat Fiorelli at 978.465.0492, ext. 106 or  Read more here
[email protected]
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At the request of the NEFMC With industry support NOAA announces closing of Elephant Trunk Area to scalloping

At the request of the New England Fishery Management Council with the support of the scallop industry, NOAA Fisheries announced today that it is closing the Elephant Trunk Area to all scallop fishing for 180 days through emergency action, from December 12, 2012, through June 10, 2013. A revision to the Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (Framework Adjustment 24) and following actions will likely keep this area closed for up to another 2 years, once this action has expired.

 The 2012 scallop survey saw the third highest observed abundance of small scallops in the ETA since 1979. These scallops need to be protected to allow them to grow for their future harvest. The success of the entire scallop area rotation program depends on timely openings and closing of access areas in order to protect scallop recruitment and optimize yield. Click here for more information and to view a chart of the ETA area.

Pew Environment continues biased menhaden campaign with latest video – UPDATED More Menhaden News

Union, NAACP Oppose Job-Killing Cuts to Menhaden Fishery

Statement of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400 and the Maryland State Conference NAACP on Menhaden Fisheries Management

Congressmen Sarbanes & Carney ask colleagues to back severe menhaden cuts

Analysis: As part of its continuing campaign to impose new catch limits on Atlantic menhaden, the Pew Environment Group’s recent video, “Help Save Menhaden: Quite Possibly the Most Important Fish in the Sea,” is filled with half-truths and distortions regarding the state of the menhaden fishery. Rather than present a balanced portrayal of the fishery and the debate over fishery management, Pew uses selectively edited facts to push its preferred agenda.

 

 

Editorial: IG’s NOAA report puts onus on the White House

Let’s face it, NOAA chief administrator Jane Lubchenco has shown nothing but contempt for Congress and for America’s fishermen since President Obama plopped her into the top NOAA seat in 2009 to do the bidding of the Environmental Defense Fund and other nonprofit giants. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x2120614248/Editorial-IGs-NOAA-report-puts-onus-on-the-White-House