A U.S. appeals court on Monday appeared open to upholding a federal rule requiring commercial fishermen to fund a program to monitor for overfishing of herring off New England’s coast even after the U.S. Supreme Court in that same case issued a landmark ruling curbing agencies’ regulatory power. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, during oral arguments, weighed the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision, opens new tab to scrap a 40-year-old legal doctrine that had required courts to defer to agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws they administer. The 6-3 conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court nixed the doctrine, known as “Chevron deference,” after taking up an appeal by several commercial fishing companies of the D.C. Circuit panel’s 2-1 ruling in August 2022, opens new tab that had relied on the doctrine to uphold the fishing rule. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:03Category Archives: New England
New Marine Patrol Vessel to be Stationed in Jonesport
The Maine Marine Patrol has added a new patrol vessel to its fleet. The P/V Sentinel II, a 42-foot Calvin Beal designed hull, was launched recently in South Bristol and will be stationed in Jonesport. The vessel’s hull and top were provided by SW Boatworks in Lamoine, the engine was provided by Billings Diesel and Marine in Stonington, and the vessel was built and finished by Farrin’s Boat Shop in Walpole. This is the second 42-foot Calvin Beal vessel Marine Patrol has been able to build in recent years; both vessels replaced existing patrol boats. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:48
Salvage Begins on Sunken Fishing Boat in Point Pleasant Beach
Salvage efforts were set to get underway off Point Pleasant Beach this week to remove a commercial fishing vessel that sank in November 2023. The Susan Rose, a 77-foot trawler out of Port Judith, Rhode Island, ran aground on Nov. 16 in Point Pleasant Beach not far from Manasquan Inlet. It had four crew members and had been fishing for black sea bass and flounder at the time. There were no injuries in the incident. The boat then sank three days later as a marine salvage company tried to pull it off the beach. Authorities with local, state and federal agencies overseeing the salvage operation said it was set to begin this week. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:55
Trump Defeats Harris to Win a Second White House Term
Former President Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday, mounting one of the greatest political comebacks of all time – a convicted felon who was twice impeached and left the presidency in disgrace just four years ago, only to win it back decisively in one of the most fraught elections in modern history. In defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump stitched together an improbable coalition of supporters, including people of color and young voters, while promising to unfurl an America-first vision. With his victory all but assured early Wednesday morning, Trump told cheering supporters at a convention center in West Palm Beach, Florida, that “this was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:41
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 62′ Turnkey Fiberglass Dragger, Cat 3408
To review specifications, information, with 25 photos’,>click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here<. 06:24
Court open to upholding US fishing monitor rule even without ‘Chevron’ doctrine
A U.S. appeals court on Monday appeared open to upholding a federal rule requiring commercial fishermen to fund a program to monitor for overfishing of herring off New England’s coast even after the U.S. Supreme Court in that same case issued a landmark ruling curbing agencies’ regulatory power. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, during oral arguments, weighed the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision, opens new tab to scrap a 40-year-old legal doctrine that had required courts to defer to agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws they administer. The 6-3 conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court nixed the doctrine, known as “Chevron deference,” after taking up an appeal by several commercial fishing companies of the D.C. Circuit panel’s 2-1 ruling in August 2022, opens new tab that had relied on the doctrine to uphold the fishing rule. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:03Loughlin: Cases against Geno Marconi and Justice Marconi appear to be grave injustices
In mid-April, the entire Pease Development Authority Board was summoned to Concord for a closed-door meeting with Gov. Chris Sununu and his attorney general. On April 18 representatives of the attorney general appeared at a PDA meeting where they held a “consultation with counsel” with the board. Immediately thereafter, without any explanation, Captain Marconi was escorted out of the meeting, relieved of his duties, barred from his office and communication with Port employees; and had his phone, computer and related materials impounded. In addition, his texts, phone records and financial records were seized and a grand jury impaneled. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:22
Scallop Boat Virtual Tour
New Bedford, home to fishing of nearly all types, is the most valuable commercial fishing port in the United States, and the world’s sea scallop capital. The two largest fisheries in the harbor are divided between the ground-fishermen and those who scallop, with hundreds of vessels of each type operating out of the port. F/V Huntress, built in 1979, is typical in both size and layout for the scalloping fleet in the area, and her trips to sea last between five and fourteen days. Take the tour! more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:19
Nantucket Commercial Scalloping Season Opens; Fisherman Getting $12 Per Pound
Nantucket’s commercial scalloping season opened Friday morning with roughly 20 boats returning to the water as temperatures hovered in the 60s. But how was the scalloping itself on opening day? Naturally, it depends on who you ask. “It wasn’t that great,” said Marty Mack as he was unloading his catch at Straight Wharf. “I thought it would be a lot better because of the seed we had last year. I’ve seen a lot worse. But I’ve seen a lot better. It’s below average I’d say, I’ve been doing it 41 years and it’s nothing great right now. Where’d all that seed go? I don’t know if some of it died.” Kona Hosier and Ron Janes were getting back to the Boat Basin with their limit around the same time. “I’d say it was great,” Hosier said. “The efforts that were put forth (referring to the seed), we’re reaping the benefits now.” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:49
New Report Suggests “Whale Psychiatrist” Trump May be Right About Wind Farms and Whales
US Bureau of Ocean Management report says whales, dolphins, birds and bats can all be injured by wind turbine construction, and offshore fishing harmed. Trump has been an advocate for keeping America clean and healthy. He has not advocated for the anti-carbon push based on pseudoscience and the rush into green energy projects put forth by environmentalists. Admittedly. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has officials saying they have found no evidence linking offshore wind turbines to whale deaths. However, a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has just released a new report that said whales, dolphins, birds and more can be exposed to “unavoidable adverse impacts” by the construction of offshore wind farms. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:50
New Federal Report: Offshore Wind Farm Construction Can Harm Whales, Birds, Fisheries – >>CLICK TO READ<<
Maine lobstermen worried about cuts to how much herring they can catch for bait
Fishermen in Maine say they’re dealing with a new setback: a nearly 90 percent cut in how much herring they can bring in to bait lobster. Congressman Jared Golden says he’s opposed to the limit, which would reduce the herring catch by 89 percent over three years. “What was troubling with this decision is there was no impact study done to us as fishermen, just an environmental study that was based on essentially one year of a proper study, to have implications to destroy an entire economic sector of Maine,” fisherman Ryan Raber said. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:19
Fishermen, fleet owners hope Trump helps their industry
New Bedford fishermen fly many flags. There is the American flag, the skull and crossbones flag. There are flags expressing resistance to offshore wind development. And there are many — many — flags for former President Donald Trump. But one flag is rarely hoisted on the New Bedford waterfront. “I have yet to see a Harris-Walz flag on a fishing vessel,” said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney representing the industry’s Sustainable Scalloping Fund. The vast support for Trump among fishermen boils down to a few main points, some specific to the fishing industry, some not. Trump has said that he would overturn the ban on commercial fishing in Marine National Monuments, which was first enacted by the Obama administration, repealed by Trump and then re-established under President Joe Biden. There are frustrations with immigration policy and with inflation, especially with gas and food, which have an acute impact on the profits of a fishing trip. But no issue has swayed the politics of the fishing industry more than offshore wind development. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:50
Four offshore wind-power sites in Gulf of Maine auctioned for $22M
Two energy companies have won leases for 327,096 acres of federal waters off Maine and Massachusetts and hope to install floating wind-power turbines there. On Tuesday, four of eight available lease areas were sold to provisional winners in an auction by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The sales resulted in winning bids of over $21.9 million. The leases include commitments to workforce training and building a domestic supply chain, which would include an offshore wind port and supply chain facilities, according to a separate news release. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:56
WHALES DECLARE BOEM IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION COMMITTING GENOCIDE By Jim Lovgren
In a press release issued today by the AAA, an aquatic coalition of many different marine creatures, it was declared that the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management was a terrorist organization intent on the extermination of all marine mammals and other sea life. The National Marine Fishery Service was named as a co-conspirator, for standing by and watching, instead of doing their legally required job of protecting endangered species. The AAA, Aquatic Animals Association, is a newly formed coalition of different marine species including Whales, Dolphins, Turtles, fish, clams, and scallops. Despite the vast disparity in their abilities to communicate with each other, they have combined each other’s unique communication forms into one voice in hopes of saving themselves from extinction. From Harvey Haddock, President, Aquatic Animal Association. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 17:14
‘It’s in Our Blood!’ Blount Boats Celebrates 75 Years
Seventy-five years in business is no small feat, especially in an industry that is tougher than most: shipbuilding. Blount Boats is celebrating the impressive milestone this year. Established in 1949, the Warren, R.I. shipbuilder is led today by founder Luther H. Blount’s daughters: president and CFO Marcia Blount and executive vice president / human resources Julie Blount, who see their roles as more than a career. “It’s our vocation,” Julie said. “It’s in our blood!” the sisters said nearly simultaneously. An entrepreneur and inventor by nature, Luther H. Blount formed Blount Boats after building a small twin hull raft built of 55-gallon drums used for transporting oyster and clam shells across Narragansett Bay, prompting requests to build larger steel vessels. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:43
Election Jitters, Industry Headwinds Undermine Biden’s Final Offshore Wind Auction
A U.S. auction of offshore wind development rights in the Gulf of Maine on Tuesday drew bids for only half of the eight offered leases, for a total of just $21.9 million in high bids, in the latest sign of deep industry malaise. The sale was a stark display of the lack of industry appetite for new investment after a year of high-profile setbacks that include canceled projects, two shelved lease sales in Oregon and the Gulf of Mexico and a construction accident at the nation’s first major offshore wind project. The auction was the last before President Joe Biden, a Democrat, leaves office in January. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:25
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 45’x20′ Novi Lobster Boat, John Deere Diesel with Permit
To review specifications, information, and 25 photos’,>click here< To see all the boats in this series, >click here<. 06:19
Fishermen Fight Bureaucrats to Defend Their Way of Life
Fishermen are going to court in Portland, Maine, on Tuesday to protect their businesses and communities from an unconstitutional regulatory commission that is a menace to our iconic industry. Overregulation has taken the joy out of fishing, and the prosperity too. That inevitably follows when powerful bureaucrats aren’t accountable to anyone, as is the case with the unconstitutional regional management councils that set policy for our fisheries. America’s fishing fleet is steadily retracting. Fishing is a generational trade passed within families. Many fishermen I know are vectoring their sons and daughters away from the family business. There are many reasons for that, but overregulation is one of them. By Jerry Leeman. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:21
How a death spurred change for a SouthCoast fleet
In the summer of 2021, a Mayday call went out from the captain aboard a fishing vessel who needed Narcan to help save a life due to an overdose on board. There happened to be another vessel in the vicinity that was able to respond, and they tossed a box of the over-the-counter drug on board. The captain administered one dose, but nothing happened. He gets back on the radio. A second vessel was carrying Narcan and tossed it on board. The captain, after the fourth dose, sent his crew member back onshore alive. “That day there were three fishermen first responders that saved a life at sea,” said Debra Kelsey, with Fishing Partnership Support Services. photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:53
Could offshore wind plan hurt scallop fishermen? New Bedford official has ‘grave concerns’
New Bedford Port Authority Executive Director Gordon Carr has “grave concern” for the scallop fishing industry in the face of a potential new call area to be leased out to offshore wind projects. The 13,476,805-acre area off of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, dubbed the “Central Atlantic 2” call area, encompasses a large portion of key scalloping grounds, Carr wrote. Scalloper Keith Uzzell, who’s fished out of New Bedford and Fairhaven for 16 years, says he and others that frequent fishing grounds around the northeast started noticing “more survey boats, more offshore wind vessel activity” around the same time they noticed an uptick in things like dead whale sightings and empty scallop shells. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:46
2024 Maine Scallop License Lottery Winners Announced
The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) has announced the latest winners of the state’s scallop license lotteries. Each winner is responsible for applying for a license within 30 days of notification. The new licenses are the result of a limited entry system established by the legislature and implemented through regulation in June 2018 that allows someone who did not hold a scallop license in the previous year to be eligible for one. This year there were 74 entries for dive licenses and 1,095 entries for drag licenses. With $35 of each lottery entry fee deposited into DMR’s Scallop Research Fund, a total of $40,915 was raised to support scallop research and management. The winners include the following. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:24
New Federal Report: Offshore Wind Farm Construction Can Harm Whales, Birds, Fisheries
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Monday released a new report that said whales, dolphins, birds and more can indeed be harmed — and killed —by offshore wind farms. BOEM also warned commercial fishing could be disrupted by wind farms. The report is an environmental impact statement BOEM was required to conduct of these six existing wind farm sites that were previously approved off New Jersey/Long Island. Wind turbine construction actually does increase the risk of injury to whales, particularly the underwater noise from pile-driving during construction, the federal report found. Turbine construction can permanently damage whales’ hearing. Turbines can also lead to an “increased risk of individual injury and mortality due to vessel strikes” and entanglement in fishing gear. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:36
Right whale population grows 4%, but extinction remains a threat
Conservationists are calling on the government, shipping and fishing industries to save the North Atlantic right whale from extinction despite an increase in its population. Researchers studying the whales said this week that the population increased to an estimated 372 in 2023. That’s an increase of about four percent from 2020, and “heartening news” after the whale’s population fell by about 25 percent from 2010 to 2020. The population of the right whale, which can weigh up to 150,000 pounds (68,039 kilograms) and lives off the East Coast, plummeted in the 2010s. Stressed by global warming and vulnerable to ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear, their numbers fell to fewer than 360 by the early 2020s. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:29
New Bedford Port Authority Expresses “Grave Concerns” Over BOEM’s Proposed Central Atlantic Offshore Wind Development Area
The New Bedford Port Authority (NBPA) has submitted a formal response to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regarding the recently proposed Central Atlantic 2 Call Area (Docket No. BOEM-2024-0040), raising significant concerns about its potential impact on the commercial fishing industry. As the nation’s most profitable fishing port and home to the first large-scale offshore wind marshaling port, New Bedford is deeply invested in both renewable energy development and the preservation of vital fishing grounds. “BOEM has painted with too broad a brush. As the port where the fishing and offshore wind industry intersect more than anywhere else, New Bedford is committed to the successful coexistence of both industries. We believe that the new Mid-Atlantic call areas must be cut back from existing scallop and other fishery access areas, which still would leave ample room for nearby states to achieve their offshore wind capacity goals,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:39
It’s Time to Abandon UMaine’s Offshore Wind Scheme in Favor of Cheaper Alternatives
The federal government this week blocked a proposal that would have allowed the Mills Administration and labor unions to bulldoze Sears Island into an industrial wind power port. Although this hard-fought victory is good news for fishermen, ratepayers, taxpayers, and the environment, it’s only temporary. The Mills Administration has given no indication that it will stop its relentless pursuit of expensive and unworkable offshore wind schemes. Depending on how Election Day turns out, the Legislature could be back at the drawing board devising other ways to enrich the wind turbine industry and destroy pristine ocean environments. So it’s worth remembering how we got here, and how Maine’s institutions and media became witting and unwitting pawns in an expensive game of crony capitalism. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:35
Groundfish: Council Signs off on Amendment 25; Prepares for December Final Action on Framework 69 Under Cod Phase 1
The New England Fishery Management Council took final action on Amendment 25 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) when it met September 24-26, 2024 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The Council is now focused on Framework Adjustment 69 to the FMP. The framework is being developed to establish measures for the 2025 groundfish fishing year and, for certain stocks, 2026 and 2027 as well. The Council is scheduled to take final action on the framework at its December 3-5, 2024 meeting in Newport, Rhode Island. The 2025 groundfish fishing year begins on May 1. Charts, links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:32
More Vineyard Wind blades must be removed, repaired
Vineyard Wind must remove an unknown number of blades that have already been installed south of Martha’s Vineyard while it repairs others, the company announced Wednesday. The project also received permission from the federal government this week to resume blade installation after it removes and repairs the components in the coming weeks. The latest announcement suggests investigations found more defective blades similar to the blade that failed in July and comes after the project quietly delivered at least four turbine blades from New Bedford to Cherbourg, France, where GE Vernova operates a blade manufacturing plant. >more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:48
Poll Finds Offshore Wind Projects Not a High Priority for N.J. Voters
Offshore wind projects are not a high priority for New Jersey voters, including those who support wind turbines, according to a Stockton University poll released Tuesday. Cape May County mounted a legal battle to oppose a wind farm project that would have included nearly 100 giant turbines 15 miles off the coast stretching from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor. Elected officials representing Cape May County and its beach communities asserted that the project would have caused devastating economic and environmental damage to the tourism industry, commercial fishing, migratory birds and marine life such as whales and dolphins. The developer, the Danish energy company Orsted, scrapped the project last year, blaming inflation, rising interest rates and supply-chain disruptions. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:42
Feds deny Maine’s request for $456M to help build offshore wind port
The federal government turned down Maine’s request for a $456 million grant that would cover most of the cost of building an offshore wind port on Sears Island, officials confirmed Tuesday. The Maine Department of Transportation had applied in May for $456 million from a competitive federal fund focused on multimodal transportation. Following protests from environmentalists, tribes and Republicans, the state picked Sears Island over nearby Mack Point earlier this year for the staging area of the offshore wind port and said the project will cost $760 million. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:05
Cassie Canastras is the second generation and first woman to run the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction
Meet the woman running New Bedford’s Seafood Auction, the only scallop auction site in the world. Tens of millions of pounds of groundfish and scallops come through its dock each year. Owner Cassie Canastras says unpredictable catches and government management make it a challenging business, so she decided the company needed to be on both sides of the industry and started buying fishing boats. In late 2023, she landed a big haul and a great deal, grabbing eight boats and 48 fishing permits from a competitor at their bankruptcy auction. Vieo, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:14
Another festival caught selling imported shrimp as ‘Gulf’ shrimp
The Morgan City Shrimp and Petroleum Festival was recently in the spotlight for selling imported shrimp. The same consultant group who genetically tested the shrimp continued their investigation at the National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores and found the same situation. SeaD Consulting tested five vendors at the National Shrimp Festival that advertised to have Gulf shrimp. Of the five, only one had authentic Gulf shrimp: Rouse’s Supermarket. SeaD Consulting recently found similar results for the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City, with only one of the five vendors sampled actually serving shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. Video, links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:39
