Tag Archives: Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo
Nearly $12 million headed to Alaska in latest infusion of fishery-disaster aid
The aid money is for disasters declared for the 2022 chum salmon failure on the Kuskokwim River and the 2021-2022 sockeye salmon failure that affected Upper Cook Inlet setnet fishers. Aid for the Kuskokwim River disaster totaled $331,920, while aid for the Upper Cook Inlet sockeye disaster totaled nearly $11.5 million, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is a branch of the Commerce Department. Alaska is not the only state affected by poor salmon returns. Along with Friday’s announcement of aid for those affected by the Alaska salmon disasters, the Commerce Department announced $403,978 in aid for the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s 2021 Puget Sound fall chum and coho salmon fisheries in Washington state. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:50
Raimondo, state leaders celebrate work on new NOAA center in Newport. Why it’s coming to RI
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was back in her home state Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking for the new headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Ocean research fleet. “Here in the Ocean State, climate change is real,” Raimondo said. “We know the risks – but also the opportunities – that come with living and working along the coast.” She spoke as construction crews in the background drove piles for the pier that will become the homeport for four NOAA research ships. The facility, which is expected to be completed in 2027, will also include a floating dock for smaller vessels, repair space and a building for shoreside support and storage. About 150 NOAA personnel will be based at the center. Photos, Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:09
NOAA Fisheries Denies Request for Emergency Action on Bering Sea Chinook Salmon Bycatch
NOAA Fisheries denied a request for emergency action to institute a cap of zero on Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. The request was submitted on January 17, 2024. It effectively asked Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to close the Bering Sea pollock fishery, which opened on January 20, 2024. It was submitted by: Association of Village Council Presidents, Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association, Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The petition also requested that the Department of Commerce urge the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to evaluate and update current Chinook salmon bycatch management. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:08
$20M+ in federal funds to California fisheries for disaster relief, $7M+ Oregon
More than $7,000,000 is going to Oregon fisheries as part of $42,000,000 in federal fishery disaster funding. Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced allocation of those funds for recovery from fishery disasters in Oregon, Alaska, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and Yurok Tribe fisheries from 2017 to 2022. The federal funding will help ocean commercial fishermen in Oregon recover from significant economic losses in 2018, 2019, and 2020 from declining salmon populations. For California, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced allocation of $20.6-million to address a fishery resource disaster that occurred in the 2023 Sacramento River Fall Chinook and Klamath River Fall Chinook Ocean and inland salmon fisheries. more, >>click to read<< 10:00
‘Catastrophic crisis’: Imported shrimp flood US market
Foreign shrimp imports are overwhelming the country’s inventories of shrimp and driving market prices for locally sourced shrimp to record lows, prompting widespread calls from elected officials and organizations throughout southern Atlantic and Gulf Coast states for the federal government to declare a fishery resource disaster. Governors of coastal states from North Carolina to Florida to Texas are being pressed to ask U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to determine a fishery resource disaster for the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery. In what one North Carolina coastal county’s board of commissioners refer to as an “unprecedented catastrophic crisis,” shrimpers are struggling to maintain operations because they’re making substantially less for their catch while paying historically high fuel prices and other inflation-driven costs. Shrimpers are also being forced to dock their freezer boats, or vessels with onboard freezers, because they can’t move their product in a market flooded with frozen shrimp from overseas. >>click to read<< 09:40
Disaster declaration unlocks potential federal aid for Alaska crabbers
A Commerce Department disaster declaration for Bering Sea crab and some Alaska and Washington salmon fisheries sets the stage for an end-of-the-year push to secure federal funds to help fleets and communities. The declaration announced Friday covers the Bristol Bay king crab harvests suspended for the past two years, and the snow crab harvest that next year will be canceled for the first time ever. Other fisheries covered by the declaration include the 2021 western Alaska Kuskokwim River salmon harvests as well as 2019 salmon fisheries in the Puget Sound and the 2020 Washington ocean salmon fisheries. >click to read< 08:04
The fight to protect right whale, lobsters roils Maine politics
In a state where few things matter more than lobster, it’s no surprise that Mainers are getting a hefty portion of crustacean politics as part of the campaigning for the 2022 midterm elections. What is surprising, however, is the high level of anger and frustration pointed squarely at Washington regulators, with many arguing that NOAA’s new rules are unfair and will hit the prized lobster industry far too hard. Rule backers say they’ll help protect a dwindling population of whales that’s at grave risk from fishing gear. “The men and women who make up Maine’s iconic lobster fishery are facing a terrible crisis, a crisis not of their making, a crisis that is due to this administration’s onerous regulations,” photos, >click to read< 12:11
Maine lobster industry fights lawsuit that aims to shut down fishery
While Maine’s lobster industry has been fighting an offensive legal battle against impending rules to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, it also is playing defense in a case brought by environmentalists that seeks to shut down the lobster fishery entirely. Lobster industry groups are intervening in a case brought in Washington, D.C.’s U.S. District Court by the Center for Biological Diversity and other plaintiffs that argues the new federal restrictions aren’t adequate, and that the fishery’s continued operation poses an existential threat to the whales. >click to read< 19:15
Maine wants whale protections delayed
Maine’s governor and congressional delegation are calling on the federal government to push back new fishing rules designed to protect whales so fishermen can comply with them. New lobster fishing rules require fishermen to start using weakened rope or special inserts to weaken existing rope beginning in May in some waters. They said a lack of compliant gear is making it hard for harvesters to comply with the rules. >click to read< 07:27
Collins criticizes onerous, unfair regulations on lobster industry
At a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senator Susan Collins questioned Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo about several important issues facing the State of Maine, including the unfair right whale rule as well as the implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure bill’s broadband provisions to expand high-speed Internet. Senator Collins has been steadfastly opposed to NOAA’s flawed Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Rule, which is harming Maine’s lobster industry without meaningfully protecting whales. Even though NOAA’s own data show Maine’s lobster industry has never been linked to the death of a right whale, NOAA proceeded to close more than 950 square miles of productive ocean area to lobster fishing this winter. Video, >click to read< 18:29
Delegation, Mills Urge Commerce Secretary to Rescind Right Whale Rule and Protect Lobster Fishery
Following the U.S. District Court of Maine’s order blocking the Lobster Management Area (LMA) 1 restricted area closure, which is a component of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s flawed and unfair Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Rule, U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, and Governor Janet Mills sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. In their bipartisan letter, the Maine Delegation and Governor Mills applauded the U.S. District Court of Maine’s decision halting the enforcement of the LMA 1 closure and urged Secretary Raimondo to use her authorities to immediately resolve the rule’s many shortcomings. >click to read< 09:16
Feds botched the review of Vineyard Wind, lawsuit alleges – Concern over right whales in lawsuit
A group of Nantucket residents opposed to an offshore wind farm planned for waters south of the island filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop its construction, arguing that several federal agencies violated laws intended to protect endangered species. BOEM and NOAA, which are named in the suit, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. Vineyard Wind, a joint project of a Danish company and a U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola, also declined to comment. Vallorie Oliver, another Nantucket resident and group member, argues federal officials haven’t provided adequate research to back up their claims that the wind project will have minimal impact on the right whales and other marine life. >click to read< – Concern about endangered right whales cited in lawsuit over Nantucket Wind Farm – ACK Residents Against Turbines said Vineyard 
Wind’s proposed project of some 60 turbines 22 kilometres south of the island is in a crucial area for foraging and nursing for the species, which researchers estimate number less than 400. Mary Chalke, a Nantucket resident and member of the opposition group, said the lawsuit isn’t just about Vineyard Wind, but other turbine projects also in the pipeline up and down the Eastern Seaboard. >click to read< 17:35
Held Hostage For Ropeless? Reject the Pew Petition for 3 lobster area closures that protect no Right Whale!
Maine Delegation Calls on Commerce Secretary to Reject Petition for Seasonal and Dynamic Closures in Parts of Maine’s Lobster Fishery – Maine’s congressional delegation today pressed Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to reject a petition by the Pew Charitable Trusts to impose seasonal and dynamic closures on parts of Maine’s lobster fishery. The lawmakers’ objections centered on the limited effects the closures would have on protecting right whales at significant economic cost on lobstering communities up and down the state’s coast. The rulemaking proposed in the petition would close three different areas of Lobster Management Area 1 to vertical line trap fishing. Pew proposed opening those areas to ropeless fishing, ignoring the reality that ropeless technology is not commercially available, financially viable for lobstermen, or proven safe and effective. >click to read<. Read a copy of the letter here.
Maine’s leaders seek more time on whale protection rules
Maine Gov. Janet Mills is seeking to delay new federal whale protection rules, citing fears the state’s commercial lobstermen won’t be able to comply. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Mills urges federal fisheries regulators to extend the period for collecting public comment on the new regulations, which are aimed at protecting critically endangered north Atlantic right whales by setting a seasonal closure and requiring modifications to gear. Mills said she believes it is “unconscionable” that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration only plans to hold one remote public hearing on the new regulations, which call for reducing by 90% the number of Atlantic Coast fixed gear fisheries, including lobster industry. >click to read< 15:14
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