Tag Archives: Connecticut
70 years and counting: Stonington Blessing of the Fleet returns this weekend
Born in the Azores, an island in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal, Manuel Raymond Rezendes’ grandfather and father came to the U.S. more than a century ago. Members of his family have worked in the fishing industry ever since. A third-generation fisherman, Rezendes said it is difficult to attract younger workers. It is a taxing career with early mornings and long trips, hard labor and extreme danger at times. He’s been struck in the chest with ropes, knocked overboard and has lived to tell the tale. Others, including his grandfather, Manuel “Fayal” Perry Rezendes, have not been so fortunate. “Fishing has been part of our family since as long as I can remember, and it is important to honor the traditions and sacrifices that came with that,” said Rezendes, who will serve as the grand marshal for the 70th annual Blessing of the Fleet this weekend. >click to read< 17:20
Lobster barges have anchored in Greenwich’s Mianus River since the ’70s. The state says they must go.
The dock owners are fighting back. Gus Bertolf Jr., one of the two owners identified by the state, said the docks have been there since the 1970s and that he had not received the removal order when reached by phone on June 30. “The town of Greenwich wants to push me out of my business of commercial lobstering that has been going on for over 50 years,” he said this week. “I make a living off the water and just because I’m not a multimillionaire, they don’t want me to do my business and that’s just not right.” Robert Vissa, the second dock owner identified by the state, also said on June 26 he had not received the removal order. Vissa said he has been a lobsterman on Long Island Sound since 1972. >click to read< 12:01
NC joins pact to cover offshore wind farm related fisheries losses
North Carolina has joined nearly a dozen other East Coast states to create a financial compensation program that would cover economic losses within the fisheries industry caused by Atlantic offshore wind development. The Fisheries Mitigation Project aims to establish a regional administrator to oversee the process of reviewing claims and making payouts collected through a fund paid for by wind developers to commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries industries to mitigate financial loss associated with offshore wind farms. The goal first and foremost of the states is to ensure wind energy areas and the cable systems that will run from wind farms to land are developed in way that would result in minimal impacts to the fisheries industry. >click to read< 10:22
North Carolina Joins Effort to Establish Regional Fisheries Mitigation for Offshore Wind Development
Governor Roy Cooper announced that North Carolina has joined other Atlantic Coast states involved with the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind on a coordinated project to support fisheries mitigation in the development of offshore wind along the East Coast. “It is important that we work to meet our state’s offshore wind energy goals while still protecting our marine fishery industry,” said Governor Cooper. “We are committed to collaborating with other states in this effort to make sure we achieve both goals.” Currently, the Initiative is focused on establishing a framework to compensate commercial and for-hire fishermen in the event of economic impact related to offshore wind development. The goal is to develop a regional approach for administration of any financial compensation paid by developers. Economic impacts from coastal fishing in North Carolina top $4.5 billion annually. >click to read< 08:26
New London: Does Orsted/Eversource charter of NL fishing boats violate city lease?
Many fishermen resent the interference in the waters they regularly use and suggest still-unknown harm will be done to undersea environments and marine life. But I didn’t realize until recently that wind partners Orsted and Eversource actually have a fishing fleet strategy, chartering some fishing boats to “scout” for their wind turbine work in offshore fishing waters. One fisherman I met recently, Rob Morsch, claims the big utilities are driving a wedge between fishermen by “buying off” some of them with thousands of dollars in daily charter fees. Morsch raises the interesting point that the mooring of the boats being used for offshore wind, he calls them “windmill boats”, is a violation of the city’s intent, with its low-cost rent, to have a fishing fleet based there. >click to read< 08:10
Bond Commission grant would provide aid for repairs at Stonington Town Dock
Members of the State Bond Commission have tentatively approved a $250,000 grant to aid with renovations of the North Pier at Stonington Town Dock. The commission voted unanimously to approve the request, which augments the $900,000 federal grant already provided to the town, will cover the entire remaining cost of the project and provides the community with money for needed rehabilitation work and upgrades at the Stonington Town Dock. “This is a huge win for Stonington because the money will support the continued operations of Connecticut’s Last Fishing Fleet. >click to read< 09:01
EXCLUSIVE: Federal Regulator Acknowledges Danger to Wildlife Caused by Offshore Wind Farms
Captain Jerry Leeman, who heads the fishing vessel F/V Teresa Marie IV, sent a copy of the Norwegian haddock study to Nies in a January 9 letter. “Thank you for your January 9 letter … A federal fisheries council acknowledged that some power cables for offshore wind turbines could harm certain fish, according to a letter seen by the DCNF. Multiple recent studies have demonstrated that a variety of commercially popular fish can be negatively impacted by their exposure to magnetic fields emitted by high voltage direct current cables, which can confuse their ability to navigate and, in some cases, leave them exposed to predators. “We were previously aware of this study and agree that it has concerning implications for the possible effects of high voltage direct current cabling on larval behavior and resulting predation rates,” Thomas Nies, executive director of the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), said in a January 18 letter. >click to read< 20:01
Stonington Fisherman’s Dock to Receive Federal Funding for Infrastructure Upgrades
Stonington is home to the Connecticut’s last commercial fishing fleet and, now, its aging dock will undergo much needed upgrades. Included in the 2023 federal budget is $900,000 to support major maintenance and upgrades to the dock’s North Pier. Rep. Joe Courtney requested the targeting funding. “This project, which made it all the way through last year’s congressional appropriations process, really stood out as a smart one-time investment that can really result in years of good jobs and economic activity,” Courtney said during a visit to the Town Dock Wednesday. Video, >click to read< 11:12
Proposed bill would make offshore wind developers create compensation fund
The fund would provide compensation if construction or operation of a facility damages fisheries or the marine environment, and if the developer creates fewer jobs than promised in an agreement. Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, co-introduced House Bill 5223 with four Democratic state representatives, while three Republicans and two Democrats are co-sponsors. “This is new territory,” Somers said. “It’s an industrialization underneath the ocean that we have not seen before, and we do not have the data.” Somers’ district has the last commercial fishing fleet in the state, in Stonington, and she said “if the impact is such that they can no longer fish or their career is not viable, it was important for us on the committee to not prioritize one industry over another.” >click to read< 08:02
Stonington Tradition: Blessing Of The Last Commercial CT Fishing Fleet
This year will mark the 70th Blessing of the Fleet. A tradition for decades, the blessing of Stonington fishing fleet is also a memorial to those who have died at sea. A fisherman’s mass, parade, and procession of decorated fishing vessels are part of the annual July event in Stonington Borough. The blessing, given for many years by The Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, has him walk the line of quays conferring the blessing on every fishing vessel and their captains and crews. After boarding the flagship, they will put to sea and once outside the harbor entrance, past the breakwater in Long Island Sound, the Stonington Fishermen’s Association will place a wreath in the shape of an anchor on the water in remembrance of those gone before. As of 2022, 40 members of the Stonington Fishermen Association have perished at sea. >click to read< 19:05
In Connecticut, frustration grows over lack of access to Canadian hydropower
State Sen. Norm Needleman, co-chair of the legislative Energy and Technology Committee, recently said in a radio interview that efforts to diversify the regional grid’s energy supply by importing more hydropower from Canada have been scuttled by New Hampshire and Maine, which turned down plans for more transmission lines through their states. Needleman said his comments about the northern states were made in the context of his general frustration with energy policy, which he finds “mind-numbingly complicated” and frequently contentious. “People are going to find fault with solar on farmland; there is consternation around offshore wind because it may impact the fisheries,” he said. >click to read< 10:16
N.J., N.E., to Consider Fund to Compensate Fishermen for Revenue Lost to Offshore Wind Development
New Jersey is one of nine states that will consider a plan to establish a fund that would compensate commercial fishermen for losses that could be sustained due to impending offshore wind development. The states – Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia – on Monday released a Request for Information (RFI) aimed at receiving input from impacted members of the fishing industry, offshore wind developers, corporate and financial management entities, as well as interested members of the public, to inform efforts to establish a regional fisheries compensatory mitigation fund administrator. “Mark off the area and then compensate us,” commercial fisherman Jim Lovgren, of Point Pleasant, said at a meeting on the topic five years ago,,, Photos, >click to read< 07:38
Connecticut: New ‘Stonington Fresh’ campaign aimed to bring awareness to Stonington fishermen
Empire Fisheries is among the first fishermen to get on board the new branding campaign. The campaign also wants to bring awareness about what fishermen do and what they have to offer. “The idea for us is to highlight and showcase our products, which are sustainable and fresh, fishermen [who] are hardworking and dedicated to their business, and the port of Stonington which is historic and beautiful,” said Joe Gilbert, owner of Empire Fisheries. Video, >click to read< 07:35
Stonington, Connecticut celebrates 69th annual Blessing of the Fleet
A procession of commercial fishing vessels head out through Stonington Harbor as visitors look on from the Fisherman’s Memorial at the Stonington Town Docks on Sunday afternoon, July 31. The event is a yearly rite of passage and an integral part of the Annual St. Mary’s Church Blessing of the Fleet event, now in its 69th year. >click to view 19 photos< 10:09
Stonington: Bringing back tradition: Fallen fishermen to be honored at 69th Blessing of the Fleet
For the past two years, organizers of the annual Blessing of Fleet have kept long-standing traditions alive in a less social sense, hosting more abbreviated events and forgoing large crowds and booklet ad sales to be a good, safe community partner amid a global pandemic. The community pride and selfless efforts did not go unrecognized, and as the town prepares for the 69th annual Blessing of the Fleet in Stonington Borough on Sunday, organizers Georgia and Mike Crowley said the outpouring of support has been tremendous, leading to what is expected to be one of the largest and most attended programs ever. Photos, >click to read< 13:27
Senators Demand Federal Scrutiny of Private Equity’s Incursion Into Fishing
Three U.S. senators, including two members of a Senate subcommittee that oversees the fishing industry, are calling for greater federal scrutiny of private equity’s incursion into East Coast commercial fishing. The ProPublica/New Bedford Light investigation found that a federal regulatory system known as “catch shares,” which was adopted in 2010 to reduce overfishing, has fostered private equity’s consolidation of the industry at the expense of independent fishermen. The single largest permit holder in the New England groundfish industry is Blue Harvest Fisheries, which has rights to catch 12% of groundfish, approaching the antitrust cap of 15.5%. The current antitrust cap “fails to prevent excessive consolidation in the fishery,” said Geoff Smith, one of 18 members of the New England Fishery Management Council, which advises NOAA. >click to read< 10:23
NEFMC to hold first scallop leasing meeting in Gloucester
Scallopers, Gloucester will be the scene of the first of seven in-person meetings and two webinars over the next two months as the New England Fishery Management Council conducts scoping for a limited access Atlantic Sea scallop program. The meeting will take place Wednesday, April 27, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Cruiseport Gloucester, 6 Rowe Square. The Newburyport-based council “is charged with conserving and managing fishery resources from 3 to 200 miles off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut,” with major ports Gloucester, New Bedford, and including Portland, Maine, according to its website. >click to read< 10:48
Lobster prices on the rise
If you want lobster for dinner tonight, you’re going to pay dearly for it. The prices for lobster are right through the roof. “A year and a half ago fuel was about $1.60 a gallon. Now we’re paying almost 5 dollars.” Mike Theiler’s been lobster fishing these waters for 33 years. “No matter what we do with our fish and lobsters its predicated-on Diesel fuel,” Theiler said. A lobster fisherman’s daily cost includes fuel at 20 gallons per hour or $100 an hour, then add the cost of bait for the pots, and crew. Video, >click to read< 10:05
Digging out at the Stonington Town Dock
Fishing boats tied up at Town Dock are blanketed in snow after the blizzard that buried the region over the weekend. A deckhand aboard the F/V Heritage clears snow from the decks on Sunday, January 30, 2022. Area residents began the process of digging out from the blizzard that buried the region on Saturday. four photos, >click to view< 07:43
Electronic Monitoring: Hearings set for new electronic lobster boat tracking rules
An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering implementing the tracking requirements for lobster and Jonah crab boats that have federal permits. A Jan. 19 hearing will be held via webinar and in person at the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The other hearings will be held virtually. Others are slated for mid-Atlantic states, Maine and Massachusetts and Rhode Island. >click to read< 16:15
Connecticut Port Authority obtains final permit for State Pier work
Offshore wind partners Ørsted and Eversource have partnered with the state to fund the $235 million overhaul of State Pier as a staging area for several planned offshore wind farms along the East Coast. Ørsted has said the project is projected to produce 460 construction jobs and 100 offshore wind-related jobs and provide a boost to the local economy. Critics of the project have said that most of the jobs are temporary and the lease of the pier by the offshore wind industry will serve to block traditional cargo vessels and a diversity of economic opportunities there. >click to read< 14:27
Vineyard Wind turbine farm draws CT fishing industry concern
During a meeting Thursday of the Connecticut Commission on Environmental Standards, a collection of regulators, fisherman and politicians, some members suggested that pledged research funding be directed toward protecting fishermen. State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton and a commission member, said she was particularly concerned about fisherman based in New London and Stonington. “One of my biggest concerns is the impact on local fishing fleets,” Somers said. “We don’t need a university studying something that does not help our local fishing communities,” Somers noted, referencing the University of Connecticut’s role in the project. >click to read< 08:41
New Regulations for Whelk and Horseshoe Crabs a Challenge for Commercial Fisheries
New state regulations intended to rebuild the whelk and horseshoe crab populations in the Long Island Sound could substantially limit the catches of local fisherman. Davis said that the department had done surveys trawling different areas of the Long Island Sound each year. Asked about the proposed regulations, Bob Guzzo, a commercial fisherman out of Stonington who catches whelk, said he thought the regulations were unnecessary, and that the department shouldn’t be involved in making them. He said that the whelks come and go in cycles. Guzzo said he believed the trawl surveys were inaccurate. >click to read< 14:16
CT DEEP Proposing New Rules For Lobster, Striped Bass, Others – The proposed regulatory changes are intended to address the “depleted state of these ecologically and economically important species in Long Island Sound,” according to DEEP officials. >click to read< 17:02
Connecticut: Stonington celebrates 68th Blessing of the Fleet
During Sunday morning’s Fishermen’s Mass at St. Mary Church, the Rev. Dennis Perkins read the names of the 41 fishermen from the Town Dock fleet who have died at sea. “If that doesn’t touch you, I don’t know what will,” said Cris Cruz, a Knights of Columbus member from Groton, who has attended the Mass for the past decade. The Mass marked the traditional beginning to the 68th Blessing of the Fleet, which remembers the local fishermen lost at sea and prays for the success and safety of current fleet members. photos, >click to read< 08:20
Fishing fleet lives a productive but unstable existence in New London
The 96-foot trawler Mystic Way is back home from a four-day stint at sea and its crew is unloading a 35,000-pound haul, using a crane to swing to shore containers overflowing with whiting and a variety of other fish species. The crew members join with dock workers to move the fish, shovel ice and pack the fish into hundreds of wax-coated boxes. A teen on a forklift hauls the pallets of boxes into an awaiting refrigerated truck headed to a fish market in New York. Workers are tired and sweating but focused on moving the fish out of the summer heat before too much of the ice melts. Overseeing the operations at Fisherman’s Landing is Gary Yerman, 71, owner and president of New London Seafood Distributors and one of the two men credited with bringing this modern-day fishing fleet to New London. >click to read< 08:20
I liked Mayor Passero’s State Pier comments before he signed a gag order
I am sorry to say that not only did New London Mayor Michael Passero sell out the other victims of Gov. Ned Lamont’s $200 million remake of State Pier from road salt contractors and longshoremen to local fishermen when he signed a deal with the rich utilities that will profit from the project. But he settled cheaply. We all know that Eversource has legions of Connecticut politicians in its back pocket. I assume the utilities have prepared a T-shirt for Mayor Passero, with a big “E” for Eversource on the front and an “O” for Orsted on the back, and he might be expected to wear it whenever they call a news conference, jerk on his leash and demand a performance, as they are enabled to do by the host community agreement. >click to read< 09:53
Lobster fisherman ruined financially by the Long Island Sound lobster die-off, escapes a prison sentence
Carlos Santos of Westbrook was described in federal court as a successful lobster fisherman until the total collapse in the Long Island Sound lobster population,,, Santos, 58, agreed to work off some of his debt by taking an offer from the owner of a Bridgeport marina to secretly sink boats that had been abandoned by the owners on marina property. Santos was charged with obstruction of navigable waters by sinking vessels The cause of the collapse of the lobster fishery, by some estimates, lobster landings fell 100% in 1999-2000, is still a subject of debate; explanations have run from an increase in water temperature to pesticide use. But there is no question that Santos and the 1,300 other Long Island Sound lobstermen were out of work. >click to read< 18:58
Hot Air And The Offshore Wind Industry – Claims it will invigorate these state economies are thin gruel
Seven Atlantic Coast states—Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Virginia have enacted mandates to subsidize the development of thousands of megawatts of offshore wind turbines. In addition to making bold claims about environmental benefits, proponents promise the mandates will create new offshore wind manufacturing and service industries that will create jobs, and lots of them, along the eastern seaboard.,, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority claims that developing 2,400 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind will create 5,000 new jobs and $6.3 billion in infrastructure spending. Similar claims of economic grandeur have been made in New Jersey and Virginia. Not to be outdone, the American Wind Energy Association claims the offshore wind industry will create between 45,000 and 83,000 new jobs by 2030. >click to read< 12:05
As Wind Farm Proceeds, So Does Pushback – Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource Energy, which are developing the proposed South Fork Wind farm, filed a joint proposal with the New York State Public Service Commission,, Commercial fishermen are almost universally opposed to the wind farm, fearing an impact on their livelihood, >click to read< 13:47
The Blessing of the Fleet in Stonington, Connecticut
The tradition of the annual Blessing of the Fleet in Stonington continued this year, albeit with a much smaller crowd and scaled-back ceremonies. The blessing remembers local fishermen who have died at sea and honors the vessels — along with their captains, owners, crews and families — that will go out to sea in the year ahead. The gathering took place July 26 after a Fishermen’s Mass in St. Mary Church in Stonington Borough. >click to read<, and >click here for a photo gallery< 11:28
Bob Guzzo Talks Quotas, Offshore Wind, Coronavirus, and Fishing out of Stonington, Connecticut
“We’re giving up traditional fishing grounds that we’ve had for hundreds of years, that have fed the country, that are now going to light a light bulb and it’s not going to be worthwhile,” Guzzo said of the proposed wind farms located in federal waters. The location of the wind farms also destroys longtime fisheries, said Guzzo. “They’re taking away places that we’ve fished for this country over hundreds of years and we’re losing that ground,” he said.,, Quotas and Coronavirus, “I got tired of throwing fish overboard, I could never stand it. I started too long ago and never had to do this. The way they make you fish today is a crime,” >click to read< 08:01
