Category Archives: Mid Atlantic
Watermen take to the streets to protest
About 100 members of the Talbot Waterman’s Association lined up in front of the Easton Shore Land Conservancy to protest in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Feb. 26. The group is taking issue with the conservancy’s and Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s lack of effort to work with the watermen in a way that allows them to make a living, they said. The evening before the protest, a group of about 200 watermen gathered in Annapolis to address Senate Bill 948, sponsored by state Sen. Paul G. Pnsky, D-22-Prince George’s, that would reduce unlimited tidal fishery license holders’ ability to harvest oysters. >click to read< 21:23
Managing A Lucrative Resource In The Face Of Climate Change
Conservationists and commercial fishing industry leaders came together on the need to restructure the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to adequately consider climate impacts during a panel discussion in Honolulu. But that was about it for the common ground they found during the last stop on U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman’s nationwide “listening tour” on reforming the MSA. The panelists, which also included state and federal officials, had diverging views on the effectiveness of marine national monuments like Papahanaumokuakea and whether the eight regional councils that the law set up to manage fishery resources nationally should have designated seats to ensure representation from environmental, indigenous and scientific interests as well as the commercial fishing industry. >click to read< 10:38
What ever happened to HR-200? I have no interest in these people reauthorizing anything.
New Bedford Remains Top Money Port in the United States
Scallops continue to be king in the Port of New Bedford. The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday released its 2018 report on commercial fishing. For the 19th consecutive year, the Port of New Bedford was the most lucrative port in the nation, with its total catch of seafood valued at $431 million. Dutch Harbor, Alaska landed the most fish for the 22nd consecutive year, more than 763 million pounds. >click to read< 10:10
Fisheries of the U.S. Report for 2018 Shows Strong Year for Fishermen – According to the Fisheries of the United States report, which is compiled by NOAA using data and analysis not immediately available at the same end of a fishing year, U.S. highest value species groups in 2018 included lobster ($684 million), crabs ($645 million), salmon ($598 million), scallops ($541 million), and shrimp ($496 million). >click to read<
F/V New Age: How Coast Guard saved a Montauk fishing crew
Mike Havens was asleep in the galley of Montauk fishing trawler, New Age, around 20 miles south of Fire Island Inlet when a mate woke him with a line that is every fisherman’s nightmare. “Mike, the boat is sinking,” he was told. It was shortly before 3:45 a.m. on Feb. 12, and the three-man crew had fished for fluke most of the previous day, packing more than 1,500 pounds of fish in the hold until 10 p.m., and were steaming to New Jersey to unload their catch. Now, the sky was black, the wind was up around 30 knots and swells were level with the stern, a sign of trouble. Deck lights lit the scene phosphorescent white. photos, >click to read< 19:37
Know your ENGO History! Pew’s Conquest Of The Ocean
This is the story of how a handful of scientists set out from Oregon with an unshakable belief that they knew what was best for the rest of us. They ended up conquering the world (or at least the watery portions of it) and got rich along the way, while the fishermen and their families only worked harder and got poorer. When their scientific dogma connected with nearly unlimited resources, the earth quaked and the resulting tidal wave swept aside all the usual checks and balances. It carried along the media, the politicians, the government agencies and the non-governmental organizations with such force that seemingly no one could stand against the tide. By David Lincoln, >click to read< 15:25
F/V New Age: Fluke Run From Montauk Turns Into Close Encounter With Hypothermia
Capt. Bill Carman was on a routine fluke run with Mitchell Lester of East Hampton and Mike Havens of Springs, all experienced fishermen, when the seas came up in the early morning hours of Feb. 12. Their boat, the New Age, a Montauk-based 50-foot fishing vessel owned by Chris Winkler, stayed afloat, but listed to one side so much they feared it would roll over. The men refuted an early report from the Coast Guard last week that they were in the water when help arrived. >click to read< 08:48
Council passes legislation ending zoning dispute between watermen and a neighbor
When boys in the Whitehall Beach neighborhood reach teenage years, they go and work for the watermen. Some stay for a long time, some don’t, but Pat Donoho, who has lived across the street from the creek for 51 years, said the length of time is not as important as what they learn: a good work ethic. Donoho’s son was one of them — which is why she turned up to the Anne Arundel County Council chambers Tuesday night to testify in support of a bill that allows for watermen’s commercial use in certain residential areas, which were at risk due to zoning challenges. The council unanimously passed the bill following public comments. >click to read< 13:28
Orsted and Eversource Wind Farm Plan Is Paused. What about those jobs promised by the mult-national wind farmers?!!
Orsted, the Danish energy company that acquired Deepwater Wind of Providence, R.I., in 2018 and then joined with the Connecticut energy company Eversource on the South Fork Wind Farm and other offshore wind projects, has set a timeline that would have the wind farm operational by December 2022. The federal government’s pause on it and on Vineyard Wind, a proposed wind farm jointly under development by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables, have put their respective timelines in doubt. Vineyard Wind, based in New Bedford, Mass., issued a statement last week in which Lars Pedersen, its chief executive officer, said that its 2022 target date for completion “is no longer expected.” >click to read< 09:48
Scots offshore wind farm revolution has created just 6% of jobs forecast by ministers – At the time of the 2010 strategy, it was said that Scotland had the natural resources to become the “green energy powerhouse of Europe” and said: “It is critical that Scotland exploits the opportunities being made available by the offshore wind industry.” Sound like the crap todays carnival barking politicians are spewing today! >click to read< 09:50
Family Fishermen Challenge Illegal, Industry-Killing At-Sea Monitoring Rule from Department of Commerce
Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) today filed a lawsuit on behalf of a group of New Jersey family fishermen to block a new regulation that would force them to pay for third-party “at-sea monitors.” The industry-killing rule—which was designed by the New England Fishery Management Council and promulgated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Department of Commerce—will require certain boats in the Atlantic herring fishery to carry “at-sea monitors” and at their own cost. >click to read< 14:40
A fowl wind blows offshore
With the increased science available, showing a variety of impacts, The BOEM (Bureau Of Ocean Energy Management) Lease schedule through 2024 within the Department of Interior should be reevaluated. Since there is no official BOEM Atlantic, director, or administrator that has ever been permanently appointed, the request for a Atlantic review has not been initiated. A reliance on the bidders financial review of the lease sites is how BOEM is determining the viability for development. ( A buyer beware mentality ). This policy is a mistake and is costing the taxpayers millions. Brick Wenzel >click to read< 21:17
Climate Change Is Sending This Fluke Fight to Court
Disputes over fish quotas are not new, and the $25.2 million East Coast market for fluke—although a reliable bread-and-butter fish—is not particularly lucrative. And New York has sued to alter the quota before. But this lawsuit is being watched closely because it introduces a new factor into the decades-old quota system: the impact of climate change. Quickly warming waters have reshaped the entire fishing industry on the East Coast, moving the fluke dramatically to the north. The lawsuit argues that now 80% of all fluke catches occur within 150 miles of Long Island and that state allocations need to be updated to reflect the fishes’ evolving location. >click to read< 08:17
Menhaden regulations have plagued lawmakers for decades.
Every year, the drama has followed the same lines. Some lawmakers and environmentalists concerned about the health of the valuable fishery, the only one managed by the legislature rather than regulators, push to transfer its management to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. The industry and its unionized fishermen, concerned that regulators will cramp their business, push back. It’s been perhaps the state’s dullest political tug-of-war. But then, this winter, it ended when Omega Protein, the Reedville-based Canadian company that is the largest single player in the U.S. menhaden industry, told a Senate panel that it supported legislation to hand over fishery management to the VMRC. >click to read< 07:39
F/V New Age: Captain lands vessel at Belford Seafood Co-op after salvage operation, including the fish!
Chris Winkler was not on his boat the New Age when it became distressed off the coast of Fire Island Wednesday morning. The boat began to take on water and the crew radioed for help,,, “First thing, you know, ‘Hey, are my guys all right?’ And that’s all I needed to hear was that they were all right. That changed everything from that point on,” Winkler says. “ But with the crew present and accounted for – Winkler realized that he could salvage the New Age. So, with the help of his brother-in-law Matt Fabrizio, Video, >click to read< Archives: F/V New Age, >click< 05:44
F/V New Age Owner Desperately Trying to Save Sinking Boat
The owner of the New Age, a commercial fishing vessel from Montauk that took on water Wednesday morning, forcing its crew to evacuate the boat 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island, raced to his boat and is now aboard, heading for a New Jersey port in an effort to save it. Chris Winkler of Montauk, the boat’s owner, had just landed at J.F.K. Airport after a two-week vacation with his girlfriend, Tracy Stoloff, when he received a call from the Coast Guard that his crew had been forced overboard. “The first question out of Chris’s mouth when he was talking to the Coast Guard is ‘How is my crew? Where is my crew?’ ” >click to read< 06:03
Three rescued from sinking Montauk fishing vessel taking on water
Three crew members were rescued from a Montauk-based fishing vessel that took on water early Wednesday off Fire Island, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The spokesman, P.O. 3rd Class John Hightower, identified the vessel as the 45-foot New Age, based in Montauk, and said its crew sent a distress call at 4:35 a.m., saying they were taking on water about 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island Inlet.>click to read< 17:06
Coronavirus: With China’s Borders Closed to Imported Live Seafood, Local Fishermen Feel the Pinch
As the number of the sick and the dead continue to rise alarmingly in China, the economic effects of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak were felt in the Santa Barbara Harbor.,,, “Santa Barbara brings in $4 million to $5 million a season,” said Chris Voss, president of Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara. The prized crustacean had been stockpiled for China’s late January Lunar New Year festivities, he said, from New England to Australia. When China closed its borders to live-animal foodstuffs about 10 days ago, everyone was hit. >click to read< 10:21
Dewey Hemilright: U.S.Fishermen in desperate need to level playing field in U.S. marketplace
The U.S.A is a member of ICCAT, which is the International body with 53 contracting party countries {CPC}with additional 6 countries having cooperating status that manages Highly Migratory species in the Atlantic Ocean,, ICCAT has a {SCRS}, which stands for {standing committee on research statistics},,, I attended as a member of U.S.A. delegation in November 15-25 ,2019 the 26th annual meeting of ICCAT in Mallorca, Spain. >click to read< 17:35
Cuomo’s Curse: New York Governor’s $47,000,000,000 Wind & Solar Boondoggle
A decade from now, New Yorkers will rue the day that Andrew Cuomo determined to run their state on chaotically intermittent wind and solar. Like everywhere else that’s attempted to run on sunshine and breezes, New York’s power prices are bound to rocket out of control and its enviable grid reliability will soon become a thing of the past. ,, One of the recently awarded off-shore wind project proposes to use 10.2 MW turbines and that means that 1,604 wind turbines >click to read< 09:49
NEFMC Roundup – Herring, EBFM, Skates, Red Hake, January 2020 Meeting
Here are several timely management actions that directly relate to the work of the New England Fishery Management Council. Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, Atlantic herring assessment, Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management, Skates, Red Hake,,, >click to read, details, and links< 21:16
Marine Biologist Doubts Parasite Was Only Cause of Bay Scallop Collapse
A parasite that the New York State commissioner of environmental conservation called “a significant threat” to the Peconic Bay scallop fishery has been detected in a sample of bay scallops from Shelter Island — and may have been a factor in the near total collapse of the adult scallop population throughout the estuary last year. A type of single-cell protozoan from a group known as coccidia, the parasite found,, >click to read< 17:17
So! What’s the Big Rush to Offshore Wind?!! Part 1 and Part 2
The U.S. is currently in a mad rush to build offshore wind farms on every square inch of the ocean on the east coast, despite the fact that there is presently little known about the environmental effects of so many structures on the marine ecosystem. The surveying, construction, operation and maintenance of these huge, up to 900 foot tall structures, will create a cacophony of sound never before heard in these ocean waters.,, So, why must we ignore all semblances of concern to the possible effects of thousands of huge off shore wind turbines on the marine environment? By Commercial Fisherman Jim Lovgren. This is a two part series, >click to read< Part 1, >click to read< Part 2 23:04
Science Center for Marine Fisheries Releases Evaluation and Summary of Latest Atlantic Menhaden Assessments
Dr. Steve Cadrin, Professor at the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and past President of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists, has completed an evaluation and summary of the latest Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) Atlantic menhaden stock assessments. >click to read< 15:58
Summer founder, sea bass and scup are on the docket for upcoming public hearings focused on allocation percentages
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) have scheduled a series of scoping hearings to gather public input on the range of issues and information to be considered in the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Commercial/Recreational Allocation Amendment. Hearings will be held February 13 – March 3. Written comments will be accepted through March 17, 2020. All comments provided at public hearings or in writing will be presented to the Council and Commission. Lots of info, >click to read< 14:03
Peconic Bay scallops die-off tied to newly detected parasite
The catastrophic die-off of Peconic Bay scallops in eastern Long Island waters may be tied to a previously undetected parasite that can infect the kidneys of adult and juvenile scallops, state regulators reported Friday. The specific parasitic organism, known as coccidian parasite, was discovered in kidney tissue of all 32 scallops collected and sampled from Shelter Island’s Hay Beach last November, >click to read< 16:28
Coast Guard medevacs F/V Enterprise crew member off Manasquan Inlet
A crew member from the F/V Enterprise, a fishing vessel located 50 miles off the Manasquan Inlet on Thursday afternoon, suffered a medical emergency and needed to be airlifted by the Coast Guard. The Enterprise’s captain had radioed Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay to request a medevac for a crew member who was experiencing severe abdominal pain, the Coast Guard said in a prepared statement. >click to read< 08:19
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 42′ High Sheer Provincial Lobster Boat, 750HP John Deere, Price Reduced
Specifications, information and 30 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 14:11
NOAA Announces 2020 At-Sea Monitoring Coverage Levels for Groundfish Sector Fishery
NOAA announces that for fishing year 2020, the total target at-sea monitoring coverage level is 40 percent of all groundfish sector trips subject to the at-sea monitoring program. For more information, please read our letter to the New England Fishery Management Council and the Summary of Analysis Conducted to Determine At-Sea Monitoring Requirements for Multispecies Sectors FY 2020. >click to read< 15:27
New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Portsmouth, N.H. January 28-30. 2020
The New England Fishery Management Council will be meeting at the Portsmouth Event Center, 100 Deer Street at 22 Portwalk Place, Portsmouth, N.H. To read the final agenda, >click here< Register for webinar >click here< to listen live. 12:48
Ventless trap survey seeks industry participants
The Maine Department of Marine Resources, in cooperation with the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, is seeking industry participants for the Regional Ventless Trap Program through a competitive bid process. The cooperative research project between industry and scientists from Maine to New York seeks data on relative lobster abundance and size distribution. All traps, line and buoys will be supplied to participating fishermen, >click to read< 10:14
Federal review of offshore wind projects raises concerns over delays
The Trump administration’s unexpected review of “potential impacts” of offshore wind-energy projects could be published early this year, but it remains unclear whether publication will clear a logjam that has stalled one of the country’s first large-scale projects, and the dozen to follow.,,, Last year, when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced an analysis of offshore wind projects slated for construction in U.S. waters, Vineyard Wind, the first affected by it, was caught off guard. Vineyard Wind is proposing a project off the Massachusetts coast. >click to read< 07:31
