Tag Archives: Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance

Rescuers hold safety practice at offshore wind farm.

Offshore rescuers are sharpening their skills at and near the Block Island Wind Farm,,, But a Rhode Island commercial fishing group has said practicing on five turbines, all in a row, can’t be considered a real test for what is expected to be hundreds of wind turbines in grid patterns offshore south of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the coming decade. “It’s not really a farm,” said Richard Fuka of the Rhode Island Fishermens Alliance. The U.S. Coast Guard has completed a case study on the Jan. 1 sinking of the F/V Mistress 3 or 4 miles from the Block Island wind farm to determine if the presence of the five turbines had any impact on the agency’s search and rescue operation. >click to read< 18:09

Vineyard Wind and R.I. strike bargain. R.I. Fishery Advisory Board chairman doesn’t like settlement. Nobody does.

“I just think it was a [expletive] deal for the industry, but it’s the deal that we got,” Newport, R.I. lobsterman Lanny Dellinger, chairman of the Rhode Island Fisheries Advisory Board, told The Times.
“I just don’t think the negotiations were set up fairly,” he said.,, Richard Fuka, Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance president, said squid fishermen, who comprise the most lucrative part of the Rhode Island fishing industry, weren’t represented on the board and were therefore cut out of negotiations. When asked if Vineyard Wind was aware squid fishermen may have not had a seat at the table for negotiations, Vineyard Wind spokesman Scott Farmelant declined to talk about any part of the deal and referred The Times to the Vineyard Wind release. >click to read<16:20

Head of Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance upset with Vineyard Wind plan

Vineyard Wind wants to build an 84 turbine offshore wind farm, fifteen miles from the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, and right in the heart of squid ground. “It will chase pretty much every species out of that area which is an extremely large area,” Richard Fuka said. On Saturday, the Fisheries Advisory Board voted unanimously to move forward with the project, accepting a nearly 17-million dollar compensation package from Vineyard Wind. That money would be aimed at mitigating any negative impacts the project would have on the fishing industry. But Fuka says the majority of the state’s fishermen do not support the deal and are not represented on the advisory board. “Nobody from those three fish houses is on that board,” Fuka said. Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Management Council is now set to vote on the project on Tuesday. >click to read<16:17

Vineyard Wind project in RI moves forward

The future of the Rhode Island commercial fishing industry is hanging in the balance, as the proposal to build the massive Vineyard Wind project moved forward. The media was kicked out of a meeting between the Fisheries Advisory Board Thursday afternoon in Galilee that was presenting the proposed deal with Vineyard Wind to local fisherman that would mitigate the impacts of constructing the offshore $2 billion wind farm. “The clock is ticking,” said Rich Fuka. “They’re trying to expedite this project, and the fishing industry is going to be on the receiving end of a failure.”>click to read<10:50

Lost trawler Mistress found on sea floor

The Point Judith, R.I., trawler Mistress, which sank in foul weather on New Year’s Day morning and triggered a large Coast Guard search for two of its crew, has been located, according to Richard Fuka, Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance president. Fuka said he’s been in regular contact with Michael Ansay, uncle of John Ansay, who along with the Mistress’s owner, Oscar Diaz, went missing when the trawler sank; both are presumed not to have survived. Diaz’s son, Tim, was the only member of the Mistress crew to be rescued.,, >click to read<16:24

Deepwater Wind Offers Offshore Information, Fishermen Want Compensation

The Providence-based company recently announced a program to inform fishermen of where and when construction and other work occurs at the site of three wind facilities and their electric cables. The offshore wind developer hired liaisons to offer dockside information to fishermen at main fishing ports such as New Bedford, Mass., Point Judith, and Montauk, N.Y. Daily activity will be posted online about surveys, construction, and maintenance work. The updates will also be broadcast twice daily on boating radio channels, according to Deepwater Wind. Bonnie Brady, president of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said the outreach by Deepwater Wind is window dressing. Deepwater Wind is “not doing anything at all. it’s a big, giant schmooze,” she said.,, Richard Fuka, president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance, said he speaks with fishermen daily in Point Judith and he’s hearing the fishing stocks are down around the Block Island Wind Farm. >click to read<19:53

The High-Stakes Battle Over Obama’s Atlantic Ocean National Monument

Mining and drilling for oil are already banned in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, established by former president Barack Obama in 2016 as the first marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean, 150 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. Within five years, too, all commercial fishing will be phased out – or, at least that was the plan. A federal judge is now weighing the fate of those protections in a lawsuit originally filed in March 2017 by a coalition of New England fishing groups – and it has led to a rare case of President Donald Trump defending his predecessor’s authority.  >click to read<10:27

The Future Of Offshore Wind Farms In The Atlantic

Fishermen are worried about an offshore wind farm proposed 30 miles out in the Atlantic from Montauk, New York, the largest fishing port in the state. They say those wind turbines – and many others that have been proposed – will impact the livelihood of fishermen in New York and New England. Scallop fisherman Chris Scola pulls out of a Montauk marina at 2 a.m. and spends the next two-and-a-half hours motoring to an area about 14 miles out into the Atlantic. Then, with the help of his two-man crew, spends about 10 hours dredging the sea floor for scallops before heading back to port.,,, “It’s not just us in New York. It’s all down the Seaboard. They want projects from Maine all the way down to South Carolina.” click here to read the story 14:57

Storm brews over Maine’s monument offshore, too

Zinke has recommended that the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument – a 4,913-square-mile area of underwater canyons, thousand-year-old coral forests, and volcanic mountains on and beyond the southern edge of Georges Bank at the mouth of the Gulf of Maine – be opened to commercial fishing, a move proponents say would defeat its purpose.,, The heads of eight of the nation’s fisheries management councils – the industry-led bodies that implement fisheries regulations in federal waters – were already on record against the commercial fishing restrictions.,, Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental attorney who is watching the case closely, strongly disagrees. click here to read the story 08:35

Fishing Industry Takes More Action Against New York Offshore Wind Lease

A group of fishing organizations, businesses and communities, led by the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), has taken more action to halt the lease of Statoil’s planned wind farm off the coast of New York. The suit, filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), is seeking summary judgment and requesting the court to invalidate the lease, which was awarded to Norwegian firm Statoil to develop the New York Wind Energy Area (NY WEA) late last year. click here to read the story 13:23

Squid fishery shutdown won’t affect local calamari

The federal government is limiting squid fishing in certain areas, so what does this mean for Southern New England? As of this Friday, a short fin squid fishery, much of which sits offshore from Rhode Island, will shut down until Dec. 31. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says this is because 95 percent of the quota for that type of squid has been caught, so this is actually standard procedure. Richard Fuka of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance says it’s a sign that squid fishing has been hot this year, so it’s actually a good thing. “The Illex fishery, or the fishery in question that just closed, was a very large number and we actually had a very robust season to be able to meet the benchmark,” Fuka said. video, click here to read the story 09:06

Fishermen support reversing marine monument designation

There’s a rich fishing ground a couple of hundred miles offshore used by fishermen from all over the East Coast called the Northeast Canyons. All kinds of commercial fish gather in the plankton-rich waters — from tuna to butterfish, from lobster to squid. “We have probably half our fleet that does all kinds of fishing out there,” said Rich Fuka of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance. It’s also a distinctive marine environment, with ancient coral and steep canyons.,,, Fuka said nets don’t go deep enough to affect coral and that “the fishermen are well-schooled and well-rehearsed and always participate in anything that has to do with migratory species like mammals, whales, they avoid them.”He pointed out the competition for fishing grounds now also includes offshore wind farms,, click here to read the story 10:34

Commercial fishermen plan flotilla for Trump’s graduation speech at Coast Guard Academy

A group of fishermen will greet President Trump and send congratulations to graduating cadets from a flotilla on the Thames River during the United States Coast Guard Academy commencement today. “Our message is ‘make commercial fishing great again’ and it’s a congratulatory effort to say thank you to the Coast Guard class of 2017,” said Joel Hovanesian, of Wakefield, who is a member of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance.  The purpose of the flotilla is also to raise the President’s awareness of regulatory issues in the fishing industry, especially since one of the platforms he ran on was over-regulation and its burdensome effects on small businesses, said Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., of North Kingstown. “Every single fishing vessel is a small, mobile corporation, so if he’s seeing 15 or 20 boats, he’s seeing 15 or 20 small businesses right there and there’s thousands of them along the East Coast,” she said. “In the fishing industry, we’re dealing with a lot of over regulation and we believe there’s a lot of things that could be done to make the industry thrive again.” click here to read the story 07:28

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Video, click here Local fishermen hope President Trump will help commercial fishing industry

We will be getting live updates, and will be posting photo’s on this page, Click here

Scallop & Fishing Industry, Municipalities, Sue Feds to Ensure Seafood Interests Are Considered in NY Bight Wind Energy Project

new-york-wind-energy-area-boem-webThe Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), which represents the majority of the limited access Atlantic scallop fleet, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to delay an anticipated lease sale for the development of a 26-mile long wind farm project approximately 11 miles off the coast of Long Island, scheduled for December 15, 2016. The story was broken today by the Associated Press.,, The filing alleges that the leasing process for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) did not adequately consider the impact the proposed New York Wind Energy Area would have on the region’s fishermen. The site chosen for the 127 square mile wind farm is in the waters of the New York Bight on vital, documented scallop and squid fishing grounds,,,The lawsuit argues that fishermen’s concerns regarding the location of the lease area received “virtually no attention or analysis” from government officials ahead of the planned December 15 lease sale, despite fishing stakeholders repeatedly making their concerns known. Read the story here 11:40

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, December 20, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 10:53

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, December 13, 2015

rifa2The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 12:08

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, November 29, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 12:18

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, November 8, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 11:52

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, OCT 25, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 12:12

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, OCT 11, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 11:30

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, October 4, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 12:01

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, September 27, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 13:06

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, September 6, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 19:34

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, Aug 30, 2015

rifa logoThe Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 11:04

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, Aug 23, 2015

rifa2The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here To read all the updates, click here 11:41

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, Aug 9, 2015

rifa2The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here  To read all the updates, click here 11:33

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, July 19, 2015

The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here rifa2 To read all the updates, click here 11:50

The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Go Fund Me Campaign for Arson Struck Fishermen

On Friday, July 10, 2015 three fishing vessels were destroyed in a senseless act of vandalism . Two of the vessel owners will have great difficulty recouping from this tragic loss and may be on the brink of losing their businesses. Both men have been in the Rhode Island commercial fishing community for a very long time and have worked very hard for others in order to start their own dream of their own business. Please click here to donate for this worthy cause. 13:08

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, July 12, 2015

The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here rifa2 To read all the updates, click here 11:13

Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance Weekly Update, July 5, 2015

rifa2The Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance is dedicated to its mission of continuing to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business.” Read the update here  To read all the updates, click here 11:39