Tag Archives: Massachusetts Lobstermen
Judge declaws key part of Massachusetts lobstermen’s libel lawsuit against California aquarium
A federal judge in Louisiana ruled this week there’s no rational reason for Massachusetts lobstermen to sue a California aquarium for libel in Louisiana, which has a law against disparaging seafood, and so ordered the case moved to California, where you’re free to say what you want about harvested sea creatures. Aa group of lobstermen from Gloucester, Marion, North Truro and Plymouth had sued the Monterey Bay Aquarium earlier this year for a press release in which the aquarium said the way lobsters are caught off New England endangers the increasingly rare Atlantic right whale and urged companies and consumers to consider other briny alternatives. >>click to read<< 09:28
NOAA wants to expand ‘ropeless’ fishing gear pilot to include some Maine lobstermen
Last winter as part of a pilot project, some Massachusetts lobstermen were allowed to fish in areas that are seasonally closed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. But they had to use so-called “on-demand” or “ropeless” fishing gear and work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to share their feedback. Now NOAA wants to expand the program to include lobster and other fixed-gear fishermen throughout New England. Federal officials have proposed issuing permits to more than 200 people, with priority given to those who fish closed areas during the winter. More than 100 people in Maine fish those closed areas. And fishermen aren’t thrilled with the idea of opening access to only some of them, said Patrice McCarron of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association — unless there’s enough on-demand gear to go around to everyone. >click to read< 10:00
Biden Administration sued by Massachusetts lobstermen for closing waters to protect endangered whales
Massachusetts lobster fishermen have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its closure of fishing grounds done with the intention of protecting an endangered species of whale. The lawsuit stems from the February 1 closure of 200 square miles of the Massachusetts Bay that will prevent lobster fishing until the end of April in a move that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says was necessary to protect the North Atlantic right whales from being tangled in fishing ropes. Video, >click to read< 08:02
Ban on trap fishing lifted, Massachusetts Lobstermen start setting gear
When last we saw Joe Mondello in early April, he was standing in front of a mountain of 550 traps,,, Mondello, as with many lobstermen at docks around Gloucester and the rest of Cape Ann, wasted little time getting back to work. The 71-year-old, flying solo on Friday, was on the water by 6:30 a.m. By 10 a.m., Mondello, using frozen redfish heads, had baited the first load of about 30 traps and set them off the Back Shore from his 37-foot Tully IV. Then it was back in to the Everett R. Jodrey State Fish Pier,,, Tied up behind him, Sam Harrington was similarly engaged on the Lady Marie. >click to read< 10:34
Massachusetts Lobstermen fear end of their livelihood
Dan Pronk is worried a new set of proposed NOAA and NMFS restrictions aimed at saving the North Atlantic right whale could be the nail in the coffin for the lobstering industry on Nantucket. “We’ve got five years left of lobstering down here,” said Pronk, the only commercial lobsterman on Nantucket, and one of only a handful of lobstermen around the region with traps south of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. “It’s career ending if they get their way. We’re bending over backwards to appease these people. >click to read< 13:28
Livelihoods Threatened: Massachusetts lobstermen concerned about proposed regulations to protect whales
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing multiple amendments to current rules regulating fixed gear fisheries in an effort to protect an the North Atlantic right whale. Two local lobstermen say the proposed regulations threaten their livelihoods. “It’s gonna take roughly 30% of my income away from me,” said Dave Magee,,, Tom Tomkiewicz, a Fairhaven lobsterman, was not sold on the regulation, the regulations could cut 30% of his catch and up to 50% of his income,,, “All the bait guys, the marine supply guys, the shipyards, down to the restaurants we go to once or twice a week. We’re not going to be able to go because we won’t have the money. It’s going to affect a lot of people not even involved.” >click to read< 13:07
District Court judge denies injunction that would shut down lobster and gillnet fishing in Massachusetts
In a hearing Thursday in United States District Court, Judge Indira Talwani denied an injunction that would have shut down lobster and gillnet fishing in Massachusetts to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales until a trial seeking that closure takes place. Richard “Max” Strahan, who identifies himself in court documents as a lobster fishermen, whale watcher and “protector of endangered wildlife species,” sued the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs last April under the federal Endangered Species Act. >click to read< 11:41
Gloucester: Lobstermen push against whale rules – ‘We’ve borne the brunt’ – >click to read<
Long a lifeblood, South Shore fishing industry faces numerous challenges
Over his more than five decades fishing commercially, Frank Mirarchi has watched the business evolve from thriving and straightforward to complicated and diminished, with skyrocketing costs, foreign competition and changing regulations choking an industry synonymous with the South Shore. In the late 1960s, when he purchased his first of three successive boats, fish was abundant enough to make a solid living off of. “By 1985 or so, fishing was pretty bad,” Mirachi said. With profits dropping, he switched from having two other crew members to one. In 1994, the federal government stared limiting the number of days fishermen can be on the water to combat overfishing. Before, some spent 200 or more days fishing each year. Over the years, it was gradually reduced to 30. Mirarchi said this “wasn’t particularly successful”,,, >click to read< 08:54
Massachusetts Lobstermen Test Ropeless Fishing Gear to Save Right Whales
Researchers say conservationists and the fishing industry must work together to save the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. Only about 400 of these whales are left living in the wild, and scientists say human activity is to blame. Proposed federal regulations,,, But these measures drastically reduce the number of lines lobstermen are allowed to have in the water. That’s why Massachusetts lobstermen are eager to try new technology that would enable them to set their traps without a vertical line. Patrick Ramage is director of marine conservation for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.,,, >click to read<10:33
Ropeless Fishing Gear Could Aid Maine’s Lobster Industry, Endangered Whales – >click to read<
A Life-Long Lobsterman Also Works Hard On Ways To Avoid Whales
Rob Martin was five miles out on his boat, Resolve, lobstering with his crew, and made a call on his way back to port. Martin wasn’t calling his buyer. He was joining a conference call for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, of which he is a member.,, The conversation revolved around installing breakaway sleeves in vertical lines from traps to buoys so whales can snap them on contact and not become entangled. Martin wasn’t required to make those changes, but he already had. He has been working for years ,,, >click to read< 14:20
Losing hope for lobster south of Cape Cod
Tom Tomkiewicz remembers when there were so many lobster traps in Buzzards Bay it looked as if he could walk across the water on their buoys. Now, the 42-year-old lobsterman and his dwindling number of colleagues have to set their traps far out to sea, well beyond view of the coast, to catch the few lobsters that remain. “There’s nothing here,” said Tomkiewicz, one of only 35 Massachusetts lobstermen who still have permits to fish in the state and federal waters that stretch from Nantucket Sound to Long Island Sound. “It’s crazy.”,,, The steep decline has left regulators in a quandary click here to read the story 21:20
Massachusetts lobstermen want to create in-state processing industry
With two of the top five lobster ports in the state, the South Shore could see newly created jobs and increased income for its local fisherman if legislators pass a law clearing the way for lobster parts to be processed in Massachusetts. The bill to allow shell-on lobster parts to be processed, transported and sold in the state passed the State Senate in January and is waiting on action by the House, possibly before April, said co-sponsor Rep. James Cantwell, D-Marshfield. Approval would allow Massachusetts to compete with Maine lobster processors that are going up against the dominant players globally – lobster meat processors based in Canada’s Maritime Provinces. Read the rest here 10:18
Massachusetts lobstermen are pissed off over NOAA’s Fisheries Observer Program, and I don’t blame ’em.
The specter of increased observer coverage on the decks of their boats is not sitting well with Massachusetts lobstermen, whose resistance to the NOAA Fisheries plan was in full flower at a public meeting Thursday night in Gloucester. Regulator’s plan to expand its Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP) in the New England lobstering industry and as far down the East Coast as Maryland. The lobstermen also were not happy with answers they received on why they are being targeted for expanded observer coverage. Read the rest here 13:59
Massachusetts Lobstermen go back to work after three-month closure
Just a few weeks ago, Green Harbor was mostly empty just a few weeks – aside from the unoccupied mooring balls dotting the water. But the harbor has suddenly come back alive. Lobster boats teeming with traps and buoys sit ready to go, while captains prepare their equipment on the pier. After a three-month closure, the lobstermen are finally back in business. “We’re just ready to get back out and work,” said lobsterman Scott Leddin, who keeps his boat Decisive in Green Harbor. Read the rest here
New regulations rankle lobstermen
Outer Cape lobster fishermen say that new federal regulations protecting whales don’t just threaten their livelihood, they threaten their lives. “This is the first (lobster) regulation where you will have wholesale civil disobedience,” predicted Orleans lobsterman Steve Smith, while transferring totes of lobsters from his skiff to his pickup truck at Snowshore Landing recently. “People just aren’t going to do it.” Read more here 08:53
Massachusetts Lobstermen oppose gear changes – “Fishermen are willing to help,” “We have helped. But does it ever end?
Along the Massachusetts coast, the idea favored so far by federal regulators would close waters along the Outer Cape and east of Chatham to trap/pot fishing from Jan. 1 through April 30. The favored approach would require more than one trap/pot on a single vertical rope, called a trawl, depending on region and distance to shore, and fishermen would have to put more and bigger identifying tags on both trap/pot and gillnet gear. more@capecodtimes
