Tag Archives: economic-disaster
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!):
Editorial: Fishery appeals ruling put onus on capping catch shares
Yet no o
ne should believe that this ruling marks the end of the fight over catch shares, or other aspects of the gross mismanagment of New England’s and America’s fisheries by the administrator Jane Lubchenco and her National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as we know it. For in standing by Amendment 16 and catch shares, Chief Judge Sandra Lynch — who wrote the decision or the court – cited a December 2011 announcement by the regional fishery council that it is developing rules aimed at “reduc(ing) the likelihood that groundfish permit holders will acquire or control excessive shares or fishing privileges.”http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x520555400/Editorial-Fishery-appeals-ruling-put-onus-on-capping-catch-shares
Fish quota limits spark debate GloucesterTimes.com
In May 20
10, just at the moment NOAA put into operation a free trading commodity market for groundfishermen who were given an allocation and joined into a fishing cooperative, a perfect storm of constrictions began strangling the industry. The New England Fishery Management Council last week came to a consensus that the “disaster” made of the groundfishery required belated intervention — an attempt to preserve fleet diversity between big and little boats and regulate the free market to bar more of the $80 million industry from falling into a small number of big hands and external investors.
Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral-Fishing industry needs research money as well as disaster relief
The elections may be over, but the current Congress still has work to do…..We need reliable, independent science. And Massachusetts is best equipped to provide it….That’s because there has not been adequate, sustained funding for independent research centers…..environment using scientific evidence that is, by its own scientists’ admission, often unspecific, unproven and unreliable. NOAA has been put in the position of acting not only as judge and jury, but as prosecution, defense and expert witness…..In particular, the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at UMass Dartmouth is uniquely suited to provide this research. SMAST has an ideal location as well as a history of fostering positive collaboration between all fishing stakeholders. SMAST can also boast a proven record of success in fishery research. In the 1990s the scallop industry was on the verge of collapse when SMAST pioneered new research on a very tight budget that proved the scallop population wasn’t devastated, http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121118/OPINION/211180303
FLASHBACK! John Kerry – “Lubchenco is your friend,” February 2010 To leave the Fish Wars as Secretary of Defense?
Kerry released the following statement to the Times yesterday in response to a request about his position on Magnuson. “The status quo isn’t working, and I say that as someone who is passionate about the environment, but who can see plainly that people are hurting and there are legitimate issues that have to be fixed. “I’m going to be talking with fishing and environmental experts at the state and federal level to develop sustainable fisheries in New England and work with the New England delegation, as I always have, to keep federal assistance flowing into Massachusetts for our fishing families and to rebuild the fisheries.” http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x966804462/Kerry-to-fishermen-Lubchenco-your-friend
No offense Senator,,,,,,,,,,screw it, Senator Kerry, you thought then, as you do now, that its all about frittering out a few bucks to to the victims of President Obama’s US Commerce Department, the New England Fishing Industry. You have been ineffective Senator, and I’m done beating the drum for you. You have not delivered, Senator.
Please, John Kerry, just go away! http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1061174640
Fishing aid tied to fed budget talks Gloucester Daily Times
Overshadowed by the scale of the pieces in play on the national chess board — trillions in budget cuts, tens if not hundreds of billions in potential tax cuts lost and gained, and unspecified help for Hurricane Sandy’s victims and farm victims of drought — is a unified effort by the New England and New York congressional delegations to place a marker for $100 million for disaster assistance for fishermen and fishing communities.http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x257827572/Fishing-aid-tied-to-fed-budget-talks
“The fishing industry, in general, is in a very negative mood,” The Controversial Science of Counting Fish
At the meeting in Portsmouth on Friday, scientists detailed the complexities and uncertainties of counting fish that live out of sight. They also took questions from fishing industry advocates frustrated over what they say are shifting and incorrect population estimates that have led to lower catch limits and damaged their businesses http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121112-NEWS-211120323
Election alters fishing’s landscape GDT.- Barney’s Gone. Scott’s Gone. Huge Ramification’s, and they ain’t good.
“Elizabeth Warren will be the champion of the fishing industry,” Ferrante predicted in an interview Wednesday. “She has experience up against Wall Street, big oil, and lost the chance to open the consumer financial protection bureau because of her feuding with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner when Obama refused to submit her name for Senate confirmation.http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x1499661062/Election-alters-fishings-landscape
millionaires and billionaires…beep…..millionaires and billionaires…beep…..
SMAST professor Brian Rothschild, and the SMAST Team are coming to the rescue! (There is a God!) It ain’t NOAA either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHSkMwUa2i4
I’m willing to bet my sou’wester that the SMAST Team will get some real results that the industry can believe.
SMAST plans independent groundfish survey to assist groundfishermen By DON CUDDY
DARTMOUTH — Frustrated by doubts surrounding the accuracy of fish stock assessments conducted by NOAA and with the groundfish industry in crisis, UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology plans to launch an independent survey of groundfish stocks. “(NOAA Fisheries) is saying they don’t have time to review the assessments that are on the table,” said SMAST professor Brian Rothschild. “But this is really high stakes and we need to do something before May 1.” The new fishing year, with cuts of 50-70 percent projected for key stocks, begins May 1. Such drastic cuts threaten to force many independent fishermen out of business.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121017/NEWS/210170334
Fight the Big Box Boats; Save Family Fishermen and the Fish – Sign this petition Sponsored by Ron Borjeson
My name is Ron Borjeson. I’m a second generation fisherman and I’ve fished for 42 years. Over the past 15 years, together with my fellow fishermen, we have taken conservation measures to bring back the fish. Now, new policies are allowing the biggest boats to take it all away and, in the process, the stocks are decimated.
A policy called Catch Shares is squeezing out family fishermen like myself who have spent years taking conservation measures to restore overfished species, ensure a more healthy ocean, and provide access to a healthy source of food from the ocean. http://www.change.org/petitions/fight-the-big-box-boats-save-family-fishermen-and-the-fish?utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=11927086
Fish council eyes lifting of closures- Conservation Law Foundation,Earthjustice, Nature Conservancy Will Sue
Fishery council member David Goethel, a Hampton, N.H., groundfisherman, said mortality closures have had enough time — 16 years — to prove themselves a wellspring for the stocks.
“We should be overflowing with groundfish; instead we have a disaster,” said Goethel, who said the closed areas should be opened.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1684126854/Fish-council-eyes-lifting-of-closures
Ripples from disruptions in the fishing industry will reach a long way By DON CUDDY
They say bad news comes in threes, and that seems to be the case in the New Bedford fishing industry these days. On top of a recent declaration from the secretary of commerce that the groundifsh industry in New England is a national disaster, the scallop fleet is looking at catch reductions of 30 percent for the next two years. And groudfishermen are resigned to more drastic cuts to their quota for the next fishing year, which begins on May 1.
Frustration over the cuts is mounting on the waterfront because fishermen have their doubts about the accuracy of NOAA’s stock assessments.
“There’s more yellowtail now than there were in the ’60s,” said Reidar Bendiksen of Reidar’s Manufacturing in Fairhaven, a family business that makes trawl gear. “But the fishermen can’t go where they are, and they are not allowed to catch them.”
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121014/NEWS/210140346
Letter: Trip limits would make fisheries worse Captain PAUL COHAN F.V. Sasquatch, Gloucester
To the editor: Wasn’t one of the big selling points for catch shares — or as I call it, catch scams — the elimination of trip limits and their inherent discards?
So now NOAA and the enviros are talking about re-instating “inshore” trip limits to solve a problem of their own making,
when they can’t even differentiate between George’s Bank cod and Gulf of Maine cod when it comes down to where they were landed or caught.
This represents a giant step backwards. It is the worst of both worlds. and once again the smaller day boats will pay the bill.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x674146257/Letter-Trip-limits-would-make-fisheries-worse
Kim Smith – Fishery Activist
One of the videos currently featured at Fisherynation.com is making the rounds and having an impact. Usually they are exposed for a short time, then forgotten.
JoeyC of GoodmorningGloucester posted an article The Problem with Catch Shares which includes a video being featured here . One of his regular followers (he has so many!) watched the video,
and read the the anecdotal words of some wise men passed youger men aout the future. ” I remember my dad telling me when I graduated from college and was at the crossroads of either coming down the dock or continuing my education to become an Economics professor. He said- “Joey if you come down the dock, there’s always gonna be fish and they’re always gonna need a place to offload them.” Never back then could he or I imagine how much they would have hyper-consolidated the industry and reduce the number of fishermen in our harbor by 80%. So in the middle of composing this post Pete Mondello pulled up to load bait to go lobstering. Pete doesn’t have any fishing permits any,,,,,,” Read more.
A GMG regular, a lady named Kim Smith read the post, and watched the video. It made enough of an impact for her to write a post on her blog, and become active. There is a petition linked at her blog.
This is grass roots activism at its finest! I welcome Kim Smith – Fishery Activist!
Yellowtail flounder giveaway will not harm scallopers this year
The scallop fleet heaved a collective sigh of relief Friday when NOAA Fisheries announced the industry would not suffer for a good deed. Every year, groundfishermen and scallopers share the allowable catch of yellowtail flounder on Georges Bank. In June, to help groundfishermen struggling with low catch limits, the scallopers gave the dragger fleet 150 metric tons of yellowtail quota, half of their 2102 allocation. That equals more than 800,000 pounds of fish. Alarm bells began to ring when figures emerged showing the scallop fleet had taken about 136 metric tons of its remaining 150-ton allotment as of Wednesday — more than 90 percent — with five months remaining in the current fishing year. However, a NOAA Fisheries release Thursday eased fishermen’s concerns. The scallop fishery is exempted “from accountability measures for any Georges Bank yellowtail flounder catch below their initially allocated 2012 catch limit of 307.5 metric tons,” the press release said. Scallop boat captain Tom Quintin on the Patience said the news came as a relief to him. “I was just telling my boss we shouldn’t have given the yellowtail away when I heard we’d caught almost all of the quota,” he said. Boat owner Dan Eilertsen said the news was reassuring. “I have 13 trips left that I could have lost if they had shut us down. So I am glad to hear that,” he said. But Eilertsen, who owns the Liberty, Justice and Freedom, said scallopers would not have agreed to the transfer initially without assurances that it would not hurt them. “That’s what eased the deal,” he said. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120929/NEWS05/209290325/-1/SPECIAL77
Paul Cohan – F/V Sasquatch Shift of fishing closure gives hope
To the editor:
Hats off to John Bullard and the Northeast Seafood Coalition (“NOAA backs off gillnet closure,” Page 1, Gloucester Daily Times, Sept. 27).
How is it that the coalition, with far fewer resources and access to data, devised an acceptable alternative that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grudgingly accepted with less than 96 hours to go before the closure went into effect? http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x708369977/Letter-Shift-of-fishing-closure-gives-hope
Socio Economic Studies and the Piss Poor Science of Fishery Mismanagement.
Listening to the NEFMC meeting over the past three days, I’ve noticed some blatant flaws of connectivity on a number of issues. Where to begin? Thats as confusing as the information was.
I’m just going to ramble my way into it with something that has me scratching my thin haired head. The socio economic information issue. NOAA has decided that there must be a socio economic study, and they apparently decided the survey was important, but not so much important enough to include the fishermen. For clarity, I will be using that term for the guys that actually go to sea http://bore-head007.newsvine.com/_news/2012/09/28/14127887-socio-economic-studies-and-the-piss-poor-science-of-fishery-mismanagement
NEFMC Considers New Rules That Could Allow Fishing in the NE Groundfish Closed Areas
PLYMOUTH, Mass. – Sept 27, The New England Fishery Management Council today took a step in the process to approve measures that could allow groundfish fishermen to harvest healthy stocks of fish 
from areas that have been closed to this fishery for decades.
Explicitly, the 18-member Council voted unanimously to support further analysis of a measure that calls for groundfish sectors, a type of harvesting cooperative established in 2010, to request exemptions from the longstanding prohibition on fishing in three year-round groundfish closed areas on a limited basis. These restrictions provide that:
Long-closed fishing areas may be reopened
PLYMOUTH — New England fishery managers have agreed to consider allowing fishermen back into areas that have been closed to them for decades. Such a move would give fishermen more access to healthy fish stocks and boost their businesses next year, when they face cuts in their catch so severe that it threatens the industry. The unanimous vote Thursday at a meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council came amid concerns about the environmental effects of reopening the three closed areas, located in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. The year-round closures are intended to protect species of bottom-dwelling groundfish, such as cod, haddock and flounder. Some environmental groups vowed to vigorously oppose any re-openings. The council will consider giving final approval to measures to reopen the closed areas during its November meeting.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061163717&srvc=news&position=recent
The environ kooks are pissed! Peter Shelly threatened a lawsuit! The rest of them chimed right in! National Standard 8, fellas.
EDF actually approves! Is this the beginning of an eco nut civil war? Getting my can of combustible fuel and bellows ready!
Everybody’s Happy About the Harbor Porpoise Decision! Well, Except the Enviros. Here’s a bunch of link’s!
Senator Kerry Welcomes Changes to Gillnet Fishery Closure
New Bedford fishermen hail feds’ change of heart on porpoise closure
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120926/NEWS/120929902
Northeast Seafood Coalition thanks NOAA for “win-win” decision on Harbor Porpoise Closure
NOAA Offers No Immediate Action on Flawed Yellowtail Assessment. (They ain’t in a rush address it, either!)
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) Sept. 25, 2012 — Responding to a request by the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) to reject the most recent yellowtail flounder stock assessment and adopt alternative measures for setting yellowtail quotas, NOAA officials offered a workshop sometime next year to examine the chronic problems present in a number of fisheries assessments, but offered no immediate remedies to the scientific and management issues raised by FSF. The 2013 quota is expected to be as much as 50 percent less than the quota for 2012. The letter, sent signed by Deputy Science and Research Director Russell Brown for Acting Science and Research Director William Karp, was sent last month. FSF did not immediately release the response. “We had several conversations with Director Karp, and hoped to negotiate an outcome resulting in action sooner than next year.” said FSF attorney Drew Minkiewicz. “Ultimately, that proved impossible.”
New Bedford Mayor asks Council to Consider Economic Ramifications of Groundfish Cuts; Lauds SSC for Including 1,150mt Upper Range in Yellowtail ACL
New Bedford Mayor John Mitchell urged the NEFMC to “forestall or mitigate” upcoming cuts in the Annual Catch Limits (ACL) for the Northeast Multispecies Groundfish Fishery.
http://www.savingseafood.org/images//mitchell%20letter%20to%20nefmc%20sept.%2026%202012.pdf
ISSUE BRIEF on HADDOCK: Mitigation Options and Underfishing our U.S. Quota – savingseafood.org
United States Georges Bank haddock, especially when compared to Canadian haddock from the same stock, is underfished. By “underfished,” we refer to the fact that US fishermen routinely fish significantly less than the scientifically determined total allowable catch.
Several regulatory barriers are preventing the successful exploitation of haddock, ultimately resulting in fishermen leaving hundred of millions of dollars in the ocean and the continuation of pressure on unhealthy stocks. There are a variety of precipitant factors influencing underfishing in the US:
