Tag Archives: Pew Environment Group
Wind farms: Where are all of the ocean saviors?
The precautionary principle has deep roots finding expression in sayings such as ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ or ‘better safe than sorry’. The use of the precautionary principle in ecosystem management is especially important,,, Repeated failures of management highlighted by the collapse of northern cod off Canada, the California sardine fishery, and herring, sandeels, blue whiting and capelin stocks in the North Sea have demonstrated the need for this approach in order to help address scientific uncertainty. Yet when it comes to protecting huge swaths of ocean,,, Clog 
our near shore and offshore waters with hulking (approaching 1,000 feet tall today, who knows what’s in store for tomorrow?) structures supporting huge rotors with tips moving through the air at velocities approaching 200 miles per hour? So what? Festoon our sea beds with electrical cables carrying huge amounts of electricity, And what of undersea server farms,,, >click to read< 15:43 Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet USA. © 2021 Nils E. Stolpe, July 31
Fishery Council Sends Letters to Obama on Impacts of Marine National Monuments
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is hopeful that when President Obama arrives in Honolulu tomorrow, he will acknowledge the $100 million commercial fishing industry in Hawai‘i and the impacts on that fishery by his expansions of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (MNM) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and the Pacific Remote Islands MNM, which includes nearby Johnston Atoll. The value of the Hawaii longline fishery is excess of $300 million when factoring in retail markets and support industries and their employees. “The push for the monuments was driven not by popular demand but by a Washington, DC-based environmental organization, the Pew Environment Group, which has had the ear of successive presidents,” explains Council Chair Edwin Ebisui Jr. Now there is talk about overlaying the monument status with a National Marine Sanctuary designation.” Read the WPFMC press release here 09:41
Deep-pocketed environmental advocacy groups simply tell the president what they want. Screw everyone else!
In a statement yesterday, Saipan resident and environmentalist John Gourley said the U.S. government is “handicapping” its own fishing fleet and forcing U.S. fishermen to fish in smaller and smaller areas. Gourley said creating marine monuments takes minimal effort and it does not cost anything as it is an unfunded mandate. “It also takes no planning on the U.S. administration’s part as deep-pocketed environmental advocacy groups simply tell the president what they want. What could be simpler?” Read the rest here 18:23
Recreational Fishing Alliance supports “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act.”
“Groups like Environmental Defense Fund, Pew Environment Group, Oceana and Ocean Conservancy hate this bill because it would allow America’s fishermen to continue fishing as stocks rebound, but that’s precisely what the Magnuson Stevens Act was originally designed to do,” Donofrio said. “Having healthy fish stocks without being allowed sustainable access does not make for a successful law.” Read more here 16:34
Editorial: Fish panels’ united Magnuson stand sends powerful message
The relatively rare, unified stand by all eight U.S. fishery management councils calling for more flexibility within the Magnuson-Stevens Act may not make a whit’s bit of difference for fishermen and waterfront businesses in Gloucester and elsewhere. continued
All eight of the nation’s regional fishery management councils back Magnuson flexibility
All eight of the nation’s regional fishery management councils, the grassroots panels that work with NOAA in fishery management and on regulatory rules, put themselves on record Tuesday in favor of Congress’ writing flexibility for rebuilding timelines for overfished stocks in the Magnuson-Stevens Act. continued
Group gathers support for Fisheries Investment and Regulatory Relief Act
“How stupid was I?” Still, it was too rough to fish on Monday so he met with a representative of the Pew Environment Group, which supports the bill, for the first of a series of meetings to gather information and support in South Carolina. The Pew Environment Group opposes amending Magnuson-Stevens, he noted. continued
Lubchenco leaves NOAA, ‘disaster’ behind
Jane Lubchenco’s provocative tenure as NOAA administrator ended Thursday, three years, 11 months and nine days after it began, with the groundfishery she promised to save in an apparent death spiral – Read more here
Pew on retailers using MSC logo: We’d prefer they didn’t use word ‘sustainable’
“We would prefer they didn’t use the word sustainable,” said Gerry Leape, an oceans specialist at the Pew Environment Group, one of the major foundations working on oceans policies. Leape has supported the MSC for more than a decade as a member of its advisory Stakeholder Council. But he and other said the MSC system has been certifying some fisheries despite evidence that the target fish are in trouble, or that the fishing industry is harming the environment. Link is here
Insight: Comeback cod lessens gloom over emptying oceans
Just over six years ago, an article in the U.S. journal Science projected that all fish and seafood species, on current trends, would collapse by 2048. Read more here
Pacific Tuna Stocks Have Plummeted, Scientists Warn – fished relentlessly for decades, in trouble.
A report issued this week by fisheries scientists on behalf of fishing nations, including the United States and Japan, shows that decades of uncontrolled overfishing have left stocks vulnerable, with conservationists warning that there is a real possibility of their collapse. The fisheries scientists, working for an organization known as the International Scientific Committee to Study the Tuna and Tuna-Like Species of the North Pacific Ocean, spell out the crisis in unusually stark language. Read more!
Dick Grachek- Pew laboring overtime on Tuna, in the Biblical sense. Read more
Saving Menhaden spanks the Pew Shrews
I was surprised to see PolitiFact, a non-partisan political fact-checking website, address this issue. I’ve checked PolitiFact pretty regularly for years, and I’ve never seen them cover a topic like this before. They focused on a claim by the Pew Environment Group that “In recent years, menhaden numbers along our coast have plummeted by 90 percent.” While I admit I am not familiar with specific details of menhaden population trends, anyone who has paid any attention at all to the ocean knows that we’re overfishing at alarming rates. yaddayadda Read more
Saving Menhaden’s analysis, and comment at Southern Fried Science here
Scientists fear Canada will fish bluefin tuna and other species to extinction
Top marine scientists are denouncing Canada’s management of fish stocks as a commercially driven approach threatening to wipe out species at risk. Read more
Rhode Island PolitiFact Meter Shows The Pew Environment Group “Facts” are MOSTLY FALSE!
“In recent years, menhaden numbers along our coast have plummeted by 90 percent.”
Pew Environment Group on Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 in a newspaper advertisement
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is scheduled to vote today, Dec. 14, on whether to cut the catch limit for Atlantic menhaden.
Environmentalists say the menhaden population, a crucial part of the Atlantic ecosystem, has dropped to dangerous levels. Menhaden are an important food source for tuna, cod, striped bass, whales, dolphins, ospreys and eagles.
“Governor Chafee: When this little fish disappears we’re in big trouble.”
Our ruling
The Pew Environment Group said that “in recent years, menhaden numbers along our coasts have plummeted by 90 percent,” a very specific number. It says overfishing must be halted to rebuild the population.
The estimated number of menhaden is clearly well below the estimated population for the late 1980s. But it’s currently at levels seen in the 1960s.
If you want to claim a 90-percent drop, you have to compare the 2008 population to a very specific — and very exceptional — year, 1982.
We don’t consider a 30-year-old benchmark to be “recent.”
Because the statement contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we rate it Mostly False.
http://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/statements/2012/dec/14/pew-environment-group/pew-environment-group-says-atlantic-menhaden-popul/ About PolitiFact Rhode Island
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
Guest View: Strong action on menhaden best for coastal economy and ecology – Peter Baker – Pew Environment Group.
Unfortunately, a recent guest commentary in this paper (“Guest View: Menhaden fishery needs reasonable — not drastic — action,” Nov. 7) presented an outdated picture of the science about this fish and a false choice between protecting menhaden and jobs. In fact, sound science supports bold action on menhaden to benefit both our coastal ecosystem and economy.http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121203/OPINION/212030322
Fishermen hope legislation benefits industry. Charlston Huckster wearing a cheap rug strokes’ em with Pew Lotion!
Locals in the fishing industry, including Baumann, hope the research could lead to further regulatory change to the Magnuson-Stevens Act which sets catch limits designed to prevent overfishing, but also has fishermen stuck at the docks.J. Dean Foster, with Foster Associates, a marketing group based in Charleston, said the congressional committee likely will debate the bill early next year. Foster is working with Pew Environment Group to drum up support for the bill http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/11/26/3190554/fishermen-hope-legislation-benefits.html
or the bill http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/11/26/3190554/fishermen-hope-legislation-benefits.html
Bringing the ocean back into the Earth Summit Briefing and Recommendations to the First Intersessional Meeting of UNCSD (Rio+20) The Pew Environment Group
75% of global fisheries are either fully utilized or overutilized; 10 and it was reported a few years ago that 90% of the large marine predators have already vanished due to unsustainable fishing,11
11 Worm et al., ―Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services.‖, 314 Science (3 November 2006), 787-790.
The Conference is to result in a focused political document, 4 and both the Conference and the preparatory process are5 to carry out an overall appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Protecting_ocean_life/Pew_Rio20_brief.pdf
Crisis highlights running dispute over US fish law
Jay Lindsey once again tells us a portion of the story, and shame on Peter Baker for capitalizing on it, as is the usual for Peter Baker!
But Peter Baker of the Pew Environment Group said the law is not to blame for fish populations that have dwindled over decades, exactly what the law can fix. The law is pointed in the right direction, he said.
Have the stocks dwindled Peter Baker? And what would you base that assumption upon? The reliable trawl data of the NESC? You have the information that everyone else has that pays attention to these issue. Of course, you wouldn’t recognize the weaknesses when they conveniently favor your ENGO crusade. If there actually is plausibility to the data, and I say that with doubt, would you also recognize that herring would be included as a predator, along with an exploding population of seals, dogfish and skates, hindering any recovery? No you would not! I base that on your narrow-minded herring campaign which can’t seem to be capable of connecting any dots! Isn’t it convenient to say the 2008 trawl data was flawed, while the revelations of the NESC that they are not using the industry designed equipment for the trawl survey as was specified during the creation of it?
I am disappointed with another Jay Lindsey half story again, and am disgusted with the Pew network.
httphttp://www.berkshireeagle.com/northeastnews/ci_21717557/crisis-highlights-fish-law-dispute
