Tag Archives: Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association
Lawsuit challenges new limits on offshore lobster traps
A New Hampshire lobster boat and a lobstermen’s association have filed a federal lawsuit to stop changes that would decrease the number of traps that can be used. The changes are for Area 3, which is about 30 miles offshore and runs up to the Canadian border down to the Carolinas. “That’s what this is supposed to be about, conservation of the resource,” Arthur “Sooky” Sawyer, president of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said. Video, >>click to read<< 07:02
Big Story: Lobstermen fear disaster as new gear regulations take effect
Doug McLennan isn’t worried about the state of the fishery. What worries McLennan and thousands of other Maine lobstermen is the latest round of federal regulations designed to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, and additional measures being planned for the next decade. The newest regulations took effect Sunday, though their enforcement has been delayed until supply chain issues for some of the required gear are resolved. This is just the latest in gear regulation change required by the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan,,, Many lobstermen have raised concerns about safety and the potential for gear failure and loss of expensive traps under the new rules, and they worry about what is coming next. >click to read< 09:16
Lifejackets for Lobstermen Project works to get PFDs on every fisherman
From 2000-2016, the Centers for Disease Control charted 204 commercial fishing fatalities from falls overboard. None of the fishermen recovered were wearing a lifejacket, and 108 of the fishermen’s bodies were never found, according to a report of the Lifejacket Project, which was launched to identify solutions and increase fishermen’s interest in wearing lifejackets. In its recently published, 20-page summary report, the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing chronicles stories from the Lifejackets for Lobstermen Project and provides examples of the fishing community’s interest and engagement with the project. >click to read< 05:46
A legal war, a Biden win: What’s next for Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Marine Monument?
Lobstering groups say they aren’t opposed to protecting the natural habitats that sustain their industry. But they question whether the 5,000-square-mile monument is consistent with the Antiquities Act’s provision that designations be limited to the “smallest area compatible” with protecting the rich supply of marine life and corals that populate the Atlantic site. They also questioned the Obama administration’s position, which Trump officials have defended in court,,, Blocking off industry’s access to thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean should require a little more public input, the fishing groups argue. Trump instead chose to preserve the site, although he traveled this summer to Maine to announce that he would lift all fishing restrictions in the monument.,, And in a matter of weeks, President-elect Joe Biden, who was vice president when Obama created the Atlantic monument, will be sitting in the White House. >click to read< 08:05
Marine Mammal Protection Act: Incidental Harassment Authorization Regulatory “Takes” – Take a Close Look
An IHA is a legal and enforceable document presenting the terms and conditions with which a company must adhere in order to protect wildlife. In this case, the draft IHA was for Vineyard Wind, the wind energy company ready to start construction on an 800 MW offshore wind farm in the Atlantic, covering about 675 square kilometers, starting 14 miles from the coastline of Martha’s Vineyard.,,, An IHA is required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) because, obviously, a huge project like this has impacts and it’s likely that “take” of marine mammals will occur during construction. >click to read< 08:26
Sandwich lobsterman raises concerns about offshore wind farms
After 40 years in the business, Sandwich commercial lobsterman Marc Palombo foresees the presence of fog in the summer months as his biggest worry as he considers whether or not to navigate through the proposed swath of offshore wind turbines south of the Islands.,,,The Coast Guard has begun a study of vessel traffic — a Port Access Route Study, or PARS — in and around the seven offshore energy lease areas south of the Islands, off both Massachusetts and Rhode Island, to determine if any new vessel travel routes are necessary to improve navigational safety,,, >click to read<22:17
Rhode Island Approves Vineyard Wind Project, but, the fishing industry sure don’t like it.
The offer to compensate Rhode Island fishermen harmed by the latest offshore wind project was disliked by just about everyone in the packed auditorium, but the deal was ultimately approved for fear it might slip away. “We’ve been backed into a corner. Is there a way out of it? No,” said Grant Moore, fisherman and president of the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association.,, Meghan Lapp from fish processor Seafreeze Ltd. of North Kingstown and Point Judith submitted a petition signed by 170 workers in the commercial fishing industry who oppose the compensation plan. Various video’s, >click to read<13:54
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
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
New England fishermen challenge Obama’s Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument designation
A coalition of New England fishermen organizations filed suit today over former President Barack Obama’s designation of a vast area of ocean as a national monument — a dictate that could sink commercial fishing in New England. The organizations filing the lawsuit are the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, Rhode Island Fisherman’s Alliance, and Garden State Seafood Association. They are represented, free of charge, by Pacific Legal Foundation, a watchdog organization that litigates nationwide for limited government, property rights, and a balanced approach to environmental regulations. The lawsuit challenges President Obama’s September 15, 2016, creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. continue reading the story here 14:28
Marine monument designation of Canyons & Seamounts: Gov. Baker says it undermines Mass. fishermen
“The Baker-Polito Administration is deeply disappointed by the federal government’s unilateral decision to undermine the Commonwealth’s commercial and recreational fishermen with this designation,” Baker spokesman Brendan Moss said in an email. “The Commonwealth is committed to working with members of the fishing industry and environmental stakeholders through existing management programs to utilize the best science available in order to continue our advocacy for the responsible protection of our state’s fishing industry while ensuring the preservation of important ecological areas. The Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association condemned the declaration, accusing the president of abusing his power and “indiscriminately” drawing a border “without taking into account the complexity of the marine ecosystem and domestic fishing fleet.” Read the story here 19:02
If you find a crab with a green t-bar tag and/or orange knuckle tag marked with “AOLA” You could win money!
Massachusetts’s Division of Marine Fisheries, in collaboration with the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association, is tagging Jonah crabs to investigate migration patterns and growth. Information will be used for Jonah crab stock assessment. WHAT TO REPORT: date, location, tag #, crab sex, egg status and whether you kept or released the animal. For green tags only, if you have a way to measure carapace width in millimeters, we would appreciate that information as well. REWARDS: Every tag report will qualify as one raffle entry. Rewards will be drawn July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018: 1st place – $500, 2nd place – $300, 3rd place $200. Green tag reports with width measurement will be additionally entered into high value cash raffles drawn July 1, 2017 and 2018: 1st place – $1,000, 2nd place $500 If you haul a tagged crab, please release it and contact (774) 251-9454 or [email protected] Click here 08:37
