Monthly Archives: December 2012
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE SPECIAL MASTER CONCERNING APPLICATIONS FOR REVIEW OF NOAA ENFORCEMENT ACTION
Click for The Report
Somethin’ just ain’t right! Fisheries institute revamp removes Rothschild
DARTMOUTH — A revamp of the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute will mean that acclaimed marine scientist Dr. Brian Rothschild at UMass Dartmouth will be out as co-director after 10 years. UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Divina Grossman on Wednesday announced the changes, which were proposed by the UMass President’s Office. It will consolidate the institute at the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology in New Bedford. It is now part of the president’s office…..The new arrangement would place the SMAST dean, Dr. Steve Lohrenz, as co-director along with Paul Diodati from Marine Fisheries. Lohrenz will be the conduit between the state and the UMass campuses.
Rothschild would be out, and that has some of his colleagues angry.
“I don’t understand the argument,” said Dr. Dan Georgianna, a professor of economics who has worked closely with Rothschild at UMass Dartmouth. “The MFI has published 200 review publications. The MFI has been very successful in the scallop fishery and in groundfish. It’s been very successful.” Now, “the person who caused the success is being replaced. I think it’s going to result in a decline in fisheries science. It’s going to affect the fishing community. Brian’s got a zillion awards.”……. When contacted, Rothschild said he would not comment for now.
Rothschild has been especially high-profile in public in recent years. He serves as chairman of the mayor’s Fishery Advisory Council, and was deeply involved in the fight against the switch to catch shares and sector management in the Northeast fishery.
He has also been highly critical of government-sponsored fishery research methods.
He has published five books and more than 100 papers and has affiliations with researchers at institutions around the world.
In addition, he has been suggested as a replacement for outgoing NOAA administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121214/NEWS/212140357/-1/NEWS
BREAKING NEWS Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank To Release Swartwood II Today Updates as they arrive.
Senator John Kerry stated “The release of this second report is an important step. I’d heard so many horror stories from our fishermen which is why I requested this investigation three years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an investigatory process like this go back eighteen years to right wrongs and dig into the history of multiple Administrations. Obviously it’s again confirmed and exposed the stories so many fishermen brought to me in the first place, and while it can’t undo the damage that was done to peoples’ livelihoods, I still believe that getting the truth out and providing economic relief and reparations is key to repairing the damage in the relationship between our fishermen and enforcement authorities.
“Special Master Swartwood has done a great service by shedding light on what happened in a very dark chapter in New England. It would’ve been inexcusable to just sweep it under the carpet. Secretary Blank’s ongoing efforts to provide reparations to fishermen who were abused is very important, as is her determination to make sure that the culture at NOAA has changed and never, ever reverts back to the ugliness of this period.”
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
Predator, prey balance needed in fisheries management Carmine Gorga, Ph.D.
To the editor:
Congratulations to Matt Mullin, deputy regional director, New England Oceans Program, Environmental Defense Fund! He is the first member of the fisheries “establishment” who has publicly admitted to the need to account for the “predator and prey balance” (Letter, the Times, Nov, 14). This is a very important communication.
There is now hope that sooner or later even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Marine Fisheries Service will eventually look at stocks of fish as existing in a web of interrelationships with each other, rather than in linear formation as they were depicted in ancient biology books. There is now hope that overfishing will no longer be attributed to the pitiful family fishing fleet!
Just imagine a world in which NOAA and NMFS acknowledge their boundaries, a world in which they leave the family fishing fleet alone. A world in which they get up the gumption to go after the large, often subsidized, national and international corporations, at times culprits for the devastation of the fisheries. Just imagine a world in which NOAA and NMFS call for a balanced management of pelagics (mid-water fish) and bottom fish!
Carmine Gorga, Ph.D.
Middle Street,
Gloucester
U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee-$64 billion disaster assistance bill-includes $150 million-Northeast groundfishery and three other states
The bill’s impetus was relief for the superstorm Sandy disaster, but lawmakers have added a variety of other disaster relief measures, including farm drought relief. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x1839366712/Some-Sandy-relief-for-fishermen
Cape Fear coast in Obama administration’s offshore energy plans-Interior Secretary Salazar’s Smart From the Start? Lol!
“Today’s announcement represents a significant step forward in facilitating the responsible development of renewable, clean energy offshore the United States,” said BOEM Director Tommy P. Beaudreau. http://www.wwaytv3.com/2012/12/12/cape-fear-coast-obama-administrations-offshore-energy-plans#comment-195734
Report: Dispersants Used After Blowout Had Few Ill Effects
Lead author of the report, Doctor Jane Lubchenko, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was a key advisor to Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson when she made the decision, shortly after the blowout, to allow them to use dispersants underwater. “It was our judgment that use of dispersants would help the oil be naturally biodegraded more naturally, and that certainly seems to have been the case” Lubchenko said. http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/12/12/report-dispersants-used-after-blowout-had-few-ill-effects/
Commercial Fisherman to Pay Damages for Taking Crabs From Protected Marine Area
Licensed commercial fisherman, Mark Russo, who owns and operates the fishing vessel ‘Freeland,’ allegedly engaged in unlawful business practices by fishing for crab in the protected Montara State Marine Reserve, and now he has to pay for it.
BREAKING!!: FISCAL YEAR 2013 DISASTER ASSISTANCE Includes Fisheries Assistance in Disaster Assistance Supplemental
Summary: FY13 Disaster Assistance Supplemental COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE CHAPTER: $513 million
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): $482 million
$57 million for NOAA to locate, map, identify, track and clean up marine debris.
$63 million to repair and improve hurricane and severe weather forecasting capabilities.
$15 million to repair NOAA facilities and ocean observing and coastal monitoring equipment damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
$150 million for fishery disasters declared by the Secretary of Commerce in 2012.
$197 million to evaluate, stabilize, restore, and protect coastal ecosystems and habitat impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
Channel Fish Co’s LOUIS SILVESTRO AND ADAM HOLBROOK Discect Pew Environment Group’s Peter Baker’s Phoney Menhaden Campaign
Update: Lubchenco leaving NOAA, says she ‘returned fishing to profitability’
Her departure from the Obama administration will end a four-year regimen that promised revitalization of the fisheries via a new economic system based on privatization known as catch shares but instead produced a declared fisheries disaster in the Northeast and a spontaneous resistance by industry all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x2120615228/Breaking-Lubchenco-leaving-NOAA
Lubchenco departure fuels hope for change in fishing rules
I’m happy for everyone here that this has transpired. It was but a few short weeks ago that Lubchenco wanted another four years as head of NOAA.
“There is so much more yet to do, and I want to do everything possible to make [it] happen,” she tells ScienceInsider. ScienceInsider traveled to Monterey, California, last week to attend a scientific conference on ocean acidification, where this wide-ranging interview with Lubchenco took place.” http://news.sciencemag.org/sci…
This tells me she was cut loose, and the “Singing My Own Praise Song” that includes twenty verses of success malarkey was sung by NOAA’s Milli Vanilli.
The question for fishermen and industry is, do we let them push another destructive leader into the slot, or do we for once push for someone trustworthy and credible, as one united front?
Whom would be the one person known to this industry that would fit this criteria?
I, like many of you have read damn near everything printed, anywhere I could find it, and of all the names that meet the criteria may not, for a multitude of reasons be interested, but I’m going to throw it out there and gauge the response.
Dr.Brian Rothschild.
This man is more than qualified, and could assemble a nucleus of trustworthy team members that could restore the trust destroyed by decades of mismanagement.
Magnuson will be reauthorized in 2016.
Who do YOU want in charge.
Jane Lubchenco to leave NOAA in Feburary – Jellyfish Jane’s Heady Top Twenty List (to be discected)
We’ve ta
ckled some big challenges together. Through an emphasis on transparency,
integrity, innovation, team work and communication, we have made significant
progress on multiple fronts. As you know, NOAA’s breadth is one of our greatest
challenges, but it’s also our great strength. Both are in evidence below. Our
notable progress includes (in no particular order!):
Salt of the Sea Video Trailer
Filmed aboard several independently owned/operated commercial fishing boats in the Northeast, Salt of the Sea juxtaposes the working fishermen’s perspective on regulations with key players in Federal fishery management. Topics include NOAA’s lost $48 million scandal, inaccurate Cod fish quotas, and overzealous enforcement. http://www.saltofthesea.tv/salt-of-the-sea-trailer.html www.facebook.com/saltofthesea
A Rising Tide of Noise Is Now Easy to See – new york times
“What quiet, what silence, what peace!” Captain Nemo That was 1870. Today — to the dismay of whale lovers and friends of marine mammals, if not divers and submarine captains — the ocean depths have become a noisy place. The causes are human: the sonar blasts of military exercises, the booms from air guns used in oil and gas exploration, and the whine from fleets of commercial ships that relentlessly crisscross the global seas. Nature has its own undersea noises. But the new ones are loud and ubiquitous. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/science/project-seeks-to-map-and-reduce-ocean-noise-pollution.html?ref=science
NEFMC Seeks Applicants for Fishery Advisory Panel Vacancies
Currently, the Council invites applicants to fill vacant seats on its Groundfish, Recreational Fishing, Monkfish, Sea Scallop, Herring and Enforcement Panels. Anyone interested in serving as an advisor to one or more of these panels may download the application materials; call the Council office at 978.465.0492. If you have any questions or need more specific information about panel responsibilities or upcoming Council actions during 2013, please contact Pat Fiorelli at 978.465.0492, ext. 106 or Read more here
[email protected]
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At the request of the NEFMC With industry support NOAA announces closing of Elephant Trunk Area to scalloping
At the request of the New England Fishery Management Council with the support of the scallop industry, NOAA Fisheries announced today that it is closing the Elephant Trunk Area to all scallop fishing for 180 days through emergency action, from December 12, 2012, through June 10, 2013. A revision to the Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (Framework Adjustment 24) and following actions will likely keep this area closed for up to another 2 years, once this action has expired.
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
Editorial: IG’s NOAA report puts onus on the White House
Let’s face it, NOAA chief administrator Jane Lubchenco has shown nothing but contempt for Congress and for America’s fishermen since President Obama plopped her into the top NOAA seat in 2009 to do the bidding of the Environmental Defense Fund and other nonprofit giants. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x2120614248/Editorial-IGs-NOAA-report-puts-onus-on-the-White-House
Delegation to Commerce: Observer Program Unfair to Alaska Fishermen MondayDecember10,2012
Small vessels in Alaska’s fishing fleet are being subjected to an expensive and poorly devised program for monitoring their take of groundfish and a delay in implementation is needed, according to a letter sent by Alaska’s Congressional delegation today to Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank of the Department of Commerce.http://www.murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=de876165-a278-40e3-9f5b-8bf72bff9c44
My my my! What a pretty boat F/V Caitlin & Mairead is!
F/V Caitlin & Mairead gets new paint. She looks so pretty, I couldn’t resist!
photo credit, October Rose
I intend to put this in the featured module but a tech glitch is hindering the process. I will get it fixed!
New York Summer Flounder Fishery for Federal Fishery Permit Holders to Reopen Tomorrow
NOAA Fisheries today announced that it is reopening the New York Summer Flounder Fishery for federal permit holders on December 12. This reopening is concurrent with the State of New York’s reopening of its commercial summer flounder fishery to state permitted vessels and dealers effective December 12, 2012.
Menhaden Pro and Con saving-menhaden- UPDATED
On November 18, 2012, we lost Captain Jean Frottier – beloved husband, father, and grandfather – About the Jean Frottier Family Fund
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Frottier Family Fund at Seaman’s Bank – information can be found here. All donations will go toward assisting Jean’s daughter Annalise, a freshman at UMass Amherst, in continuing her college education.
If you have a remembrance or anecdote about Jean, we invite you to share it in our guestbook here.
We also hope you’ll join Jean’s friends and family in remembering and celebrating his life at his memorial service at the HOT L bar and grille on December 16, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. More information can be found here.
Letter: Remembering a hero, and the F/V Little Flower
To the editor: One summer morning, in June 1981, our fishing vessel, Madonna deLagrasse, was 100 miles at sea when we received a distress call from Mike, the captain of the fishing vessel Little Flower: The boat was sinking. My brother Tony Tocco, the captain, sounded the alarm so as to hall back the net. As we reached the Little Flower, all the crew was in safety suits and ready to jump overboard, but then climbed aboard our ship. Read More. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x520558931/Letter-Remembering-a-hero-and-the-Little-Flower
Shrimpers praise new bill The Customs Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2012 (H.R. 6642)
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) has hailed the act, commending “the efforts and leadership” of Representative Charles Boustany (R-LA) for shepherding the “Preventing Recurring Trade Evasion and Circumvention Act” or the “PROTECT Act,” which is also designed to combat the fraudulent circumvention of antidumping duties by importers of foreign shrimp. Read More http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?monthyear=12-2012&day=11&id=57453&l=e&country=0&special=&ndb=1&df=0
Galesburg fishing start-up catches Forbes’ eye
The president of one of Galesburg’s most successful start-up companies was as surprised as anyone to find his company featured on the Forbes magazine website. Sitka Salmon Shares was included in an article titled ‘Seven Sustainable Foodie Holiday Gifts.’ Company President Nic Mink said he began wondering what was going on when he noticed a huge spike in traffic on the Sitka website Wednesday. He said it took him a while to figure out what was going on. http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1781242594/Galesburg-fishing-start-up-catches-Forbes-eyeSenator seeks $15M for tsunami debris – Begich – “We have that option right now to do something,”
Sen. Mark Begich said it’s embarrassing that the government of Japan has put more funding toward the debris cleanup than the U.S. government has. He said the impact of debris from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan reaching U.S. shores is as much a natural disaster as a hurricane, drought or wildfire — it’s just unfolding in slow motion. Read more: http://www.alaskajournal.com/Alaska-Journal-of-Commerce/December-Issue-2-2012/Senator-seeks-15M-for-tsunami-debris/
