Tag Archives: Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership
Fishing advocates alarmed at offshore wind development
The Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership is urging lawmakers to reconsider the Gulf of Maine Offshore Wind Lease because of its effect on marine life, ecosystems and fishing communities. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a lease sale in the fall and selected nearly $22 million in winning bids from two businesses to develop wind power in four lease areas off the coast of New England. Gloucester’s Angela Sanfilippo, executive director of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership and president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, wants to sound the alarm not only among lawmakers but the public as well, questioning who really benefits from this move. “It is with a broken heart that I am sending this message,” she said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:49
Ferrante urges state officials to ‘step up’ advocacy for fishing
As the Beacon Hill political crowd munched on ceviches and chowders in the Great Hall on Wednesday, they heard a message from the seafood industry aimed more at Washington, D.C., than the halls of the State House. Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, the daughter of a fisherman and a 30-year advocate for the fishing industry, spoke at the annual Seafood Day in the state capitol about “what the federal government does to us.” The Gloucester Democrat found fault with how the feds survey fishery resources and shrink local fishing quotas, saying that the industry will perish unless a new course is charted. She wasn’t alone: Roger Berkowitz, formerly of Legal Sea Foods, told the crowd about NOAA’s past use of “boats with broken gear” to formulate their stock assessments. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:30
Massachusetts fishermen say feds are hypocritical in Gulf of Maine wind energy designation
A move to designate two million acres in the Gulf of Maine as a hub for wind energy is snagging a sharp hook from Massachusetts fishermen who say the development overlooks risks to the North Atlantic right whale. A handful of Bay State fishermen advocacy groups are teaming with counterparts from across New England in criticizing the Biden administration’s plans to industrialize the area off the coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Fishermen, however, say the industrialization of the two-million-acre area is “flatly inconsistent with a policy of endangered species protection.” “Fishermen are disheartened that the WEA designation favors foreign energy developers over marine mammal protection,” the Gulf of Maine Fishing Associations said in a statement last week. “This preferential treatment is in stark contrast to the federal government’s aggressive campaign to burden commercial fishing needlessly with crushing restrictions to protect whales.” more, >>click to read<< 08:43
Massachusetts fishermen question impact offshore wind farms will have on their industry
The federal government has established seven wind lease areas for developments, and Vineyard Wind is already under construction, set to be producing energy by late next year or early 2024. And development won’t stop there, said state Rep. Jeffrey Roy, D-Franklin, with Commonwealth Wind and Mayflower Wind joining Vineyard Wind south of Martha’s Vineyard. “We really don’t have a choice,” Roy said. But Edward Barrett, president of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, who’s been in the industry for more than 45 years, said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a federal government agency that determines the wind leases, has “a deaf ear” to the concerns of fishermen. “What impact will that have? Well, no one’s really figured that one out and if it has a negative impact,” Barrett said, “then I’m the one who’s gonna have to pay for that through reductions in my catch allocations.” >click to read< 09:14
Massachusetts lobstermen back in water facing new challenges
Lobstermen in Massachusetts are back in the water and facing a variety of challenges. Fishermen were grounded due to right whale protections. The battle now is a combination of high fuel costs and lower prices at fisheries, raising the cost of fishing operations. “If the fuel price doesn’t get lower and the price of lobster doesn’t get into a stable – I’m not even going to say high price but a stable price – things are going to be tough,” >click to read< 21:10
Mass commercial fishermen fear offshore wind farm ‘dead zones’, while some do the science for money thing
The 62 wind turbines will be located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and generate enough electricity to power approximately 400,000 homes by the time the project is completed in 2023, Vineyard Wind CEO Lars Pedersen said. He also said it also will create about 3,600 jobs — half of them permanent, the other half construction jobs. (Lars is pulling,,,) But what worries Ed Barrett of Marshfield is what it might do to his livelihood.,, while New Bedford Lobsterman Jarrett Drake supports renewable energy sources like wind energy, if it’s done correctly (yes,,, of course!). Drake uses his 47-foot lobster boat to work for Vineyard Wind and with University of Massachusetts marine biologists,,, >click to read< 12:46
Here comes that “tracking your activity science”! URI researcher to map commercial fishing activity to help reduce conflict between fishing, wind industries
“I’m exploring a new way of improving spatial planning for offshore wind,” said URI Associate Professor Thomas Sproul. “One of the biggest sources of delay in the regulatory process for offshore wind has been because of the conflicts with commercial fishing.” Sproul said. Partners include the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, and the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island. Julia Livermore, a supervising marine biologist for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, is also collaborating on the project. >click to read< 09:30
Mass. commercial fishermen decry offshore wind projects’ pace
If fully built out, the offshore wind farms would cover a 1,400-square-mile area larger than the Ocean State and would negatively impact marine life and fishing grounds, the group said. “Commercial fishing families, as stewards of the ocean, are concerned that a new industry is developing at a rapid pace without adequate science and risk management,” the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership stated in a release Wednesday. The fishermen’s group said Vineyard Wind is rushing the project to ensure it receives federal tax credits before they expire.,,, Wednesday’s statement from Massachusetts fishermen came as they try to reach an agreement with Vineyard Wind on a compensation package,>click to read<15:37
Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership says wind farm lacks scientific support
The Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership claims that the 84-turbine offshore wind project soon to be developed by Vineyard Wind lacks scientific backing and will inevitably harm the local ecology and way of life for fishermen and boaters. The release states that the growing wind energy industry is developing at a “rapid pace without adequate science and risk management.”Executive director of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership Angela Sanfilippo told The Times the partnership’s comments are based in part on the response of NOAA to the draft environmental impact statement released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).>click to read<20:38
Letters signal preventative strike against NOAA fishing measures
NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard has conceded the emergency measures, which will be announced around the middle of this month, likely will include quota cuts and area closures and will have a “disproportionate” negative impact on small-boat groundfish ports such as Gloucester and Portsmouth, N.H. Read the rest here 08:01
Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership is organizing a health-care forum next Thursday at 6 p.m. in Gloucester
Angela Sanfillipo – “Because we’re in the fishing community, and fishing affects everyone else in the community, the meeting is a public meeting for anyone who wants to come,” “Even if people are not in the industry and they need assistance, we’ll be happy to give it to them.” Health-care forum next Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library more@GDT 08:30
Free Safety and Survival Training for Fishermen – April 26, from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM at the University of Massachusetts SMAST building , 706 Rodney French Blvd. in New Bedford
Free Safety and Survival Training for Fishermen
New Bedford – April 26, 2013
Burlington, MA – (For Immediate Release) — On Friday, April 26, Fishing Partnership Support Services (FPSS) will provide free safety and survival training for commercial fishermen at the University of Massachusetts SMAST building , 706 Rodney French Blvd. in New Bedford from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM. The daylong training is conducted by US Coast Guard certified fishing vessel safety instructors. continued
