Tag Archives: Northeast Seafood Coalition

Susanne Altenburger — The only way out that’s left, Combining groundfish ecology with fleet economics

unloading crab, new bedfordYou’d figure that this is just another colorful waterfront tale, here of improbable schemes hatched by folks of grand ambitions fiercely pursuing 50 percent visions — to never quite succeed, despite rich claims of “institutional authority,” “legitimate interest-representation,” defining “industrial policies” under whatever fractured grasp of “ecology.” And it would be a fine yarn, indeed — had not our Resource-Ecology and our Fleet-&-Port Economics been damaged to the great cost to businesses, too many families, our communities. Read the rest here 08:18

Editorial: Get federal fisheries aid to those who need it

cashThe talk of scuttling or at least pushing back any buyback program surfaced through a meeting held a week ago today among NOAA representatives, New England state fishery directors, and a number of stakeholders within the fishing industry, whose input rightfully seems to be playing a role once again in a key decision. Those include the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, which is on board with the potential change. Read the rest here  09:35

Letter: NOAA’s action still leaves out smaller boats

100_1726To the editor: With regard to NOAA’s accepting parts of a proposal of the Northeast Seafood Coalition and Gloucester fishermen: I still fail to see how this will help the small boat and fisherman who cannot go out to Georges Bank. How can this help them? It seems the larger boats have a better chance to make a living and that can be good, but what about the small guy? Is NOAA going to help them? I think it’s about time that NOAA think about the entire fleet, and not just cater to the bigger vessels. SAM PARISI Gloucester @GDT 07:35

Fishing stakeholders rejoin the battle on Gulf of Maine cod

Atlantic-Cod-Dieter-CraasmannThe NSC, in a statement of its opposition to retaining the original interim actions, said that rather than saving cod, the emergency measures will increase cod discards by almost 500 percent. “We’ve shut down the redfish fishery, crippled the pollock fishery, bankrupted the entire inshore fleet and knowingly implemented a management plan that increases discards from 2 percent to 500 percent in the hope we may conserve 200 metric tons of cod that are already accounted for in the recent cod assessment? All to benefit a nation?” the NSC said. Read the rest here 19:09

Gloucester to take brunt of new NOAA fishing hits

manatthewheelThe port of Gloucester and its sector-based commercial fishermen could be crushed under emergency measures NOAA Fisheries is considering for Gulf of Maine cod, potentially losing as much as one-quarter of all groundfish revenues, according to a NOAA economic report. The ultimate revenue loss will be contingent on how far NOAA cuts the Gulf of Maine cod quota as part of the emergency measures to combat what the agency has described as the continued decimation of the area’s cod stock. Read the rest here 12:52

NEFMC Executive Director Tom Nies warns of deeper cod cuts if NOAA data holds

gdt iconThe New England Fisheries Management Council expects to move to reduce the annual catch limit for Gulf of Maine cod in 2015 if an impending peer review process shows the dire conclusions of recently completed, if are accurate. “This is BS,” Vito Giacalone, the policy director for the Northeast Seafood Coalition, told the members of the NEFMC’s groundfish committee at the DoubleTree Hotel. “This is not the way it’s supposed to work.” <Read more here> (no need for 2nd page view) 22:29

US aid not enough, Gloucester fishermen say

421238_367823369911134_2112714610_nDespite last week’s announcement of a $14.5 million federal disaster grant to the Massachusetts fishing industry, area fishermen and marine analysts believe that the funds will only serve as a stopgap for an industry that has nearly collapsed because of declining groundfish stocks. Read more here 07:36  F/V Lady Jane info here

Push is on to speed aid to fishermen

gdt iconFishing advocates are questioning why the direct assistance contained in the federal fishery disaster aid plan is going to take so long to get to eligible fishermen and permit holders. “The long-term programs like the buyback and the state grants are going to take more time and we understand that,” Jackie Odell, executive director of the , said Monday. “But the idea was to get the direct assistance money out the door sooner rather than later.” Read more here 06:35

The “Proposed Permit Buy Back” – Disaster Relief That Eliminates More Jobs.

golden towersOH HELL NO. 12:31

NSC Pushes PERMIT Buy Back, Re Allocation?? Governor presses for fed fish aid

gdt icon966382_576848379002335_599159690_oPatrick’s letter comes to light on the same day as the Northeast Seafood Coalition’s final poll of its 300 members on the recommended industry spending plan and the final draft of the plan, both of which were forwarded to the New England congressional delegation and the fishery directors of the eligible states.  Read more here  11:31

Proposed NSC & Associates Groundfish Disaster Aid Spending Plan: My vote is NO – Dick Grachek Read more here

The Northeast Seafood Coalition eyes spending plan for fed fishing aid

gdt iconThe Northeast Seafood Coalition’s spending plan for the approximately $33 million in federal disaster relief headed to coastal New England and New York would provide $11 million in immediate direct cash assistance to permit and vessel owners, with the remainder of the funds allocated for cash assistance to crews and a buyback program for fishing permits, but not vessels. Read more here  03:39

Proposed NSC & Associates Groundfish Disaster Aid Spending Plan: My vote is NO – Dick Grachek

Anne KathrynDear Dick, We need you to review and vote with a YES or NO on the consensus spending plan and respond to us in writing by 10 am on Monday March 17, 2014. If you vote NO – we would greatly appreciate a brief explanation.  Groundfish Disaster Aid Spending Plan here

My vote is NO.

It’s difficult to give a “brief” explanation because there are so many things so terribly wrong with this proposal.  In fact most of it is insulting and infuriating! First of all,,,  Read more here  19:02

 

Groundfish Disaster Aid Spending Plan: NSC, Assoc.Fisheries of Me., CCCFA and Maine Coast Fishermen’s Assoc.

This proposal is meant to accomplish the following: (1) Offer a regional spending plan to ensure consistency in the treatment of fishing businesses affected by the disaster. (2) Mitigate the economic injury incurred to those commercial fishing businesses that have been impacted by the groundfish disaster. (3) Improve the future viability of the commercial groundfish fishery.  .  Read more here  02:27

Gillnet fishermen benefit thanks to a special purchase brokered by the Northeast Seafood Coalition

Pingers emit a high-frequency sound that harbor porpoises in particular do not like. Gillnet fishermen attach these devices, about the size of a closed fist, to the rope of the nets they suspend vertically in the water from buoys, like sheets on a clothesline, to catch fish. more@capecodtimes  17:08

MSA Re-Auth Roadshow: Northeast Seafood Coalition Policy Director Vito Giacalone Testifies

966382_576848379002335_599159690_oGiacalone testified about the immediate reality affecting small groundfish fishing businesses in the Northeast region. He said long-term policy improvements will not matter if there are no fishermen left when policies are implemented. “We are in the midst of a crisis that needs immediate attention,” Giacalone said emphatically. more@NESC  Written testimony here 13:46

Northeast Seafood Coalition policy director to testify at MSA Reauthorization Listening Session

966382_576848379002335_599159690_oNortheast Seafood Coalition (NSC) Policy Director Vito Giacalone will testify on Monday, November 4, 2013 at the Massachusetts State House for a Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) Reauthorization Listening Session hosted by United States Senators Elizabeth Warren and Mark Begich, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard. [email protected] 12:04

Letter: Coalition keeps up fight for fishermen

gdt iconFor over the past five years, the Northeast Seafood Coalition has actively participated in the New England Fishery Management Council process surrounding the Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (commonly referred to as the Habitat Omnibus Amendment) to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. more@GDT 02:18

The Northeast Seafood Coalition digs in vs. fed ‘habitat’ plans

gdt icon“It’s all about habitat,” NSC executive director Jackie Odell said when asked what’s next on the coalition’s agenda. And with good reason. It is an extraordinarily complex process, now moving into its sixth year. It is heavily driven by science and varying perspective — and thus often rife with the contention and disagreement that have emerged as the hallmarks of the effort to sustain and govern the American commercial fishing industry. more@GDT  07:54

NSC grateful to Gov. Patrick for certifying severe economic injury to Mass groundfish industry

966382_576848379002335_599159690_oThe Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC) expresses sincere appreciation to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and the Governor’s office for their leadership in certifying to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that the Massachusetts groundfish industry has suffered substantial economic injury as a result of a fishery resource failure. [email protected]  12:15

National Research Council’s Fisheries report boosts both sides

gdt icon“As we continue to digest the report, we are very pleased to see a variety of third-party findings that mirror what our organization and our fishermen have been saying for a number of years,” Northeast Seafood Coalition executive director Jackie Odell said in a statement. Most specifically, according to Odell, the report trumpeted the coalition’s and fishermen’s long-held position that there is a greater need for management flexibility in the Northeast groundfish fishery to account for shifting environmental and ecological conditions, as well as “the inherent limitations of science and a mismatch between policymakers’ expectations for scientific precision and the complex dynamics of the ecosystem.” more@GDT  04:14

Northeast Seafood Coalition and its members express gratitude to U.S. Senators for their support

966382_576848379002335_599159690_oTwo hundred thirty commercial groundfish fishing industry members of the Northeast Seafood Coalition wrote to Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and Senator Richard C. Shelby, Raking Member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations to express sincere thanks for their efforts to secure $150 million in fishery disaster assistance in the FY2014 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriations bill.   continued here 08:51

Press release: News Release: NSC and NSC members express gratitude to U.S. Senators for supporting the NE groundfish fishery

Letter from Executive Director Jackie Odell

NOAA step won’t aid local boats – “The area they want us to fish does absolutely no good to the Gloucester and New England fleet,”

A proposal to open portions of at least two areas previously closed to fishing in the waters off Cape Cod and Nantucket, with tight restrictions, would hold no benefit for Gloucester’s fishermen casting nets from smaller vessels and little for the few working larger off-shore boats, fishermen and others said Thursday. continued@GDTgdt icon

Editorial: Mayor undercutting fishermen with bogus ‘bridge’ plan

It’s curious that, when Mayor Carolyn Kirk began touting a “bridge plan” purported to be a transition course for Gloucester’s fishing industry and waterfront, she didn’t bother discussing the approach with her own city fisheries commission — to whom she’s deferred in the past. And it’s troubling that she’s pushing this so-called plan without also speaking with leaders of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition,,,,continued

Gov. gets deaf ear from White House on fisheries as Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama Dummies Up!

gdt iconValerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama, has declined to explain why the White House turned a deaf ear to the pleas of Gov. Deval Patrick for relief from what Patrick told her were “impending drastic cuts” in landings allowed the groundfishing fleet concentrated in his state. continued

Jackie Odell, Northeast Seafood Coalition @ “Managing our Nation’s Fisheries” conference – timelines should be replaced with fishing mortality rate-based strategies,

Odell Wednesday offered an alternative to 10-year, or any rebuilding timelines. They “should be replaced with fishing mortality rate-based strategies, which on average over the long term will rebuild a stock to biomass (that will produce)gdt icon maximum sustainable yield. Such a strategy would achieve the core objective of fisheries management, to sustain commercial and recreational ‘fisheries’ while preventing overfishing. continued

Fishermen challenge stats in limit cuts – calling out the number fudging opportunists!

gdt iconNOAA Regional Administrator John Bullard and Peter Shelley, the senior counsel for the Conservation Law Foundation, point to the table from the NOAA Science Center showing participants in the Northeast groundfishery failed last year to catch anything close to their allocation in virtually every one of the 20 stocks as a sign that the ecosystem was so weak the fishermen could not find enough fish to catch. Both Bullard and Shelley ascribed special significance to the fact that fishermen were able to take about two thirds of the allocation in Gulf of Maine cod, the most important fish for the inshore fleet of day boats. continued

Interview: Fishing Season Begins -Vito Giacalone – Tom Dempsey on WGBH

John Bullard Attends Fishermen’s Rally to Show His Support for the Groundfish Industry

On Monday, April 29, the Northeast Seafood Coalition held a rally in Boston, MA to mobilize support for efforts to help the groundfish industry weather what they have called “The Perfect Storm of Circumstances.”  Northeast Region cbrownwebAdministrator John Bullard attended the rally to show NOAA Fisheries support for fishermen, fishing families and fishing communities. continued

“day of reckoning”? the fishing community “can’t take its foot off the pedal. This is a fight that has to continue,”

paul vitaleBut Bullard was the person who made the official decision to slash quotas to rebuild stocks, and there were many in the crowd who are angry at him for that. Finally, after the speeches had ended, Paul Vitale, of Gloucester, owner of thsct logoe 50-foot trawler Angela and Rose out of Gloucester, broke the silence over Bullard, angrily challenging Bullard to explain himself, but Bullard said nothing. Vitale told The Standard-Times that with the new quotas, he will be fishing “one or two times a month” and is looking for outside work. continued

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Hundreds Gather Today in Boston to Demand Federal Action on New England Groundfish Disaster