Tag Archives: Chris Brown
This board advises the state on offshore wind’s impacts on fisheries. They all just resigned.
All the members of the panel that advises state coastal regulators on the impacts of offshore wind on fisheries have resigned in protest of what they charge is a process that unfairly favors developers. A resignation letter signed by the nine members of the Fishermen’s Advisory Board was sent to the Coastal Resources Management Council Thursday night. “It has become abundantly clear that the Rhode Island CRMC has made deference to offshore wind developers its top priority regardless of the requirements of the Ocean SAMP, the cost to the environment, or the impacts to Rhode Island’s fishing industry,” they wrote, referring to the Ocean Special Area Management Plan, the state document that guides offshore wind permitting. >>click to read<< 07:47
Warming waters spark marine migration, fish wars
The warming waters associated with climate change are creating big ripple effects across fishing communities, including in this picturesque seaside town with a long fishing history. Take Joel Hovanesian, who last fall docked his 40-foot trawler at the Port of Galilee, calling it quits after a 42-year career of chasing fish.,,, Up and down the Atlantic coast, commercial fishermen are heading for the exits these days, irked by government rules and regulations that they say haven’t kept pace with the changes. Fishermen have long battled over fish allocations, but the fights have become more intense and complicated due to climate change. As more fish head north in search of cooler waters, fishermen complain that quotas have not kept pace with shifting stocks, making it harder for them to make a living and bring fish to market. >click to read<15:46
State officials to vote Tuesday on Vineyard Wind project
The R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council is scheduled Tuesday to vote whether Vineyard Wind’s proposed 84-turbine offshore wind energy farm – the first large-scale project of its kind in the nation – is consistent with state policy. The council’s decision – called a federal consistency determination – is needed as part of the federal permitting process. Much of the vote is expected to rest on a newly agreed upon $16.7 million “financial mitigation package” between New Bedford-based Vineyard Wind and the Rhode Island Fisheries Advisory Board to provide compensation for anticipated impacts of the project on the state’s commercial fishing businesses. >click to read<12:54
Tuesday’s council meeting is open to the public. It is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. at the Corless Auditorium at the University of Rhode Island’s Bay Campus on South Ferry Road in Narragansett.
R.I. fishermen, Vineyard Wind reach deal on compensation
A Rhode Island fishing board on Saturday voted in favor of a revised compensation offer from offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind in a decision that boosts the New Bedford company’s chances of securing a key approval from state coastal regulators later this week. In a unanimous vote at the special meeting, the Fishermen’s Advisory Board accepted the new offer that includes $4.2 million in payments over 30 years for direct impacts to commercial fishermen from Vineyard Wind’s 84-turbine wind farm proposed in Rhode Island Sound, as well as the creation of a $12.5-million trust set up over five years that could be used to cover additional costs to fishermen resulting from the project The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council is now set to vote Tuesday night on whether it believes the $2-billion project is consistent with state coastal activities, including fishing. >click to read<19:25
Vineyard Wind, R.I. fishermen still at odds over turbines
At issue is minimizing impacts to fishing grounds for squid, lobster and other species that are critical to Rhode Island fishermen. Nearly four months into a review of its proposal by Rhode Island coastal regulators, Vineyard Wind has been unable to allay fears that its proposed offshore wind farm of up to 100 turbines would harm the state’s fishing industry. With a key approval from the Coastal Resources Management Council at stake, the New Bedford-based company has agreed to a two-month extension in an attempt to bridge the divide with agency staff and Rhode Island fishermen over the $2-billion project that would be built in 250 square miles of ocean south of Martha’s Vineyard. >click to read<23:54
Whitehouse asks Narragansett fisherman to join him at State of the Union
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s guest of honor at the State of the Union Tuesday will be a Narragansett fisherman with four decades fishing out of Point Judith. Whitehouse on Saturday announced his choice to join him Tuesday night in Washington as Chris Brown, president of the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association. In a news release, Whitehouse said his pick comes weeks after President Donald Trump moved to expand oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic Coast — a move that the senator says will imperil the Rhode Island commercial fishing industry and its coastal economy. >click here to read<15:28
At Sea, Under the Eyes of Cameras
Chris Brown has grown used to the five video cameras that record every move he and his two crew members make aboard the Proud Mary. Since installing the equipment in January on the 45-foot otter trawler, whenever Brown steams out of Galilee in search of flounder and other groundfish in the Atlantic Ocean waters off Rhode Island, the electronic monitoring system kicks on. Brown is one of three Rhode Island fishermen who have signed on to a program that is testing out electronic surveillance as an alternative to human monitors that the federal government requires to be on board one in every seven fishing trips in the Northeast in an effort to stamp out overfishing. The new program being led by The Nature Conservancy offers the potential for closer observation of commercial fishing, enhancing compliance with quotas and deterring misreporting. But not everyone has embraced electronic monitoring. Click here to read the story 10:51
Electronic Monitoring — Straight talk about New England’s fisheries, Chris Brown, Bob Dooley
In any relationship, uncertainty and mistrust tend to circle back and magnify themselves over time. In the case of New England fishermen and federal regulators, the result is what we see today. These two parties — who can and should be working together to ensure the economic and environmental health of our fisheries — are deadlocked in mistrust while the fishing industry lurches between federal bailouts and major criminal busts. As fishing industry leaders with a combined seven-plus decades on the water, we know it doesn’t have to be this way. Chris Brown is president of both the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association and the Seafood Harvesters of America. Bob Dooley is a lifelong commercial fisherman and former president of the United Catcher Boats, an association of Alaska pollock and whiting trawlers. Read the op-ed here 10:40
Charter captain refutes red snapper commentary
The “scheme” discussed in the commentary by Mr. Brown (4-15-15 issue) is not that the five state plan will destroy the commercial fishery -far from it, as all the states fully understand the importance of the commercial fishery providing safe local seafood to the consumer. The “scheme” is from the many commercial red snapper IFQ (Individual Fishing Quota) owners who mislead the consumers, the seafood houses and restaurants about what they want to do with their commercially harvested red snapper. Read the rest here 08:16
Red Snapper scheme could destroy fishery
If this scheme becomes law, it could soon become difficult or impossible to legally buy American Red Snapper. Retailers, restaurants and grocery stores will be simply unable to provide consumers with the genuine American Red Snapper that is increasingly popular across the country. Read the rest here 09:40
