Tag Archives: Michael Pentony
Big Story: Lobstermen fear disaster as new gear regulations take effect
Doug McLennan isn’t worried about the state of the fishery. What worries McLennan and thousands of other Maine lobstermen is the latest round of federal regulations designed to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, and additional measures being planned for the next decade. The newest regulations took effect Sunday, though their enforcement has been delayed until supply chain issues for some of the required gear are resolved. This is just the latest in gear regulation change required by the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan,,, Many lobstermen have raised concerns about safety and the potential for gear failure and loss of expensive traps under the new rules, and they worry about what is coming next. >click to read< 09:16
Federal government to increase at-sea monitoring to 100%.
At-sea monitors are workers who collect data on board commercial fishing boats to help inform regulations and management of species. The government approved the new, higher percentage of trip cover on Tuesday, said Michael Pentony, regional administrator with NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester. The rules apply to valuable species that are harvested in the Northeast such as cod, haddock and flounder. Pentony said the new rules will replace the old process of calculating a target for the level of monitoring coverage every year. The coverage target will instead be 100% for four years as long as federal funding can support agency and industry costs, he wrote in a letter to fishery managers. >click to read< 16:24
Regulators say newer new Right whale rules are coming for Maine’s lobster fleet/fixed gear fisheries
Federal regulators said they will soon start a process to create new whale-protection rules for Maine’s lobster fleet that will go beyond the controversial regulations going into effect on May 1. Michael Pentony, the regional administrator for NOAA, spoke to an online meeting of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum today. He said that the initial rules were designed to reduce the risk to whales by 60%, but recent evidence shows that the agency must act more quickly than planned to reduce that risk even more. “But as we got new information late last fall… for the right whale population, we now know that we need a 90% risk reduction,” >click to read< 11:50
Update on Fishery Observer Program Restart, Which Resumes July 1st
On May 29, NOAA Fisheries announced that on July 1, the waiver of fishery monitoring will expire, and we will begin deploying observers and at-sea monitors on vessels fishing in northeast fisheries. In a letter released today, Northeast Fisheries Science Center Director Jon Hare is providing an update on preparations for a safe and efficient redeployment. For more details and to download the letter, >click to read< 18:30
NMFS: Maine’s proposal to keep right whales from getting entangled in lobstering gear doesn’t go far enough
The National Marine Fisheries Service has concluded that Maine’s plan to use a combination of weak rope and a 25 percent reduction in the number of buoy lines in state waters achieves, at best, a 52 percent risk reduction, while federal regulators are demanding a 60 percent reduction. “Because your proposal does not meet the 60 percent risk reduction target, we will be obligated to consider additional measures through our federal rulemaking,” said Michael Pentony, regional administrator of NMFS’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. includes letter, >click to read< 08:09
“This is our line in the sand,”: Facing new threats, lobstermen take hard line against right whale protections
“My administration will not allow any bureaucrat to undermine our lobster industry or our economy with foolish, unsupported, and ill-advised regulations,” Governor Janet Mills told a crowd of cheering lobstermen at a protest this summer at a protest this summer in Stonington. The backlash started shortly after a government-appointed team of scientists, fishermen, and others urged the agency to require lobstermen to reduce their buoy lines, among other measures.,, But with increasingly vocal protests across Maine’s rugged coast from rank-and-file lobstermen, the state’s leaders — including their entire congressional delegation,,, >click to read< 12:17
Final stretch for herring protections
“After 10 years of debate, the New England Fishery Management Council has finally accepted the proposals favored by Cape communities and what would keep midwater trawls off our coast year round. It will have benefits for all our commercial and recreational fisheries and the nearshore ecosystem,” said John Pappalardo, chief executive officer of the Chatham-based Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, which has worked to advance the rules. “This is it,” said Pappalardo. “We need people to speak out for herring one more time to make sure these important rules become a reality.” >click to read< 19:55
Exclusive: First big U.S. offshore wind project hits snag due to fishing-industry concerns
Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Inc (AGR.N), was scheduled to begin,,, Documents seen by Reuters, which have not previously been made public, show the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) triggered the delays by declining to sign off on the project’s design, as proposed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the lead agency on offshore wind projects.,,, In an April 16 letter to BOEM, Michael Pentony, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic office, said his agency could not support the environmental permit for Vineyard Wind because the project failed to fully address the concerns of the fishing industry.,,, >click to read< 08:26
NOAA questions BOEM’s Vineyard Wind environmental impact study
Michael Pentony, the head of NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, warned in a March 15 letter that the report on Vineyard Wind completed by the U.S Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in December included conclusions that were not well supported by data and needed additional analysis of several key angles of impact. “We determined that many of the conclusory statements relating to the scale of impacts for biological and socioeconomic resources are not well supported in the document,” Pentony wrote in his letter to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. “Specifically, impacts categorized as major appear under-inclusive, while impacts designated as moderate seem overly inclusive.” >click to read<18:36
Vineyard Wind impact on fish under scrutiny – NOAA Fisheries criticises several aspects of BOEM’s draft environmental impact statement of 800MW project >click to read<
Government Officials Ignore Public Comment, Create New Financial Burden on Fisherman
In a letter acquired by Cause of Action Institute (CoA Institute), it appears that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Department of Commerce have approved a controversial fishery management proposal while ignoring public comments critical of the plan. This approval also seems to have been issued before the close of a second public comment period for implementing regulations. The NOAA rulemaking is expected to seriously impact commercial fishing on the Eastern seaboard by applying costly new burdens on fishermen. >click to read<19:23
Feds say few commercial fishing trips are monitored
Federal officials revealed Wednesday that most of the New England fishing cooperatives that catch cod, haddock, flounder and other groundfish failed to meet the minimum standards for having observers on their boats. National Marine Fisheries Service regional administrator Michael Pentony sent letters to 14 of 19 sectors informing them that they were below the required 15 percent of their trips accompanied by fishery monitors and federal observers. Ten sectors were below 10 percent. Observers count and identify the fish caught and discarded, which helps scientists estimate impacts on fish populations. “We are not trying to point fingers or lay blame,” Pentony told the New England Fishery Management Council at their meeting Wednesday, calling it a systemic problem. >click to read<08:57
The ‘Codfather’ is behind bars, and New Bedford’s economy is paying the price
From the icehouse to the auction house, a pall hangs over the fabled wharves in New Bedford. As the new fishing season begins, many of the city’s fishermen are unemployed, their suppliers stuck with excess inventory, and local officials are questioning whether the millions of dollars in lost revenue will cost the port its ranking as the nation’s most valuable, as it has been for the past 17 years. “It’s devastating what’s happened to us, and other businesses here,” said Tor Bendiksen, the manager of Reidar’s, a marine supply company. >click to read< 08:25
NOAA Names Michael Pentony new Regional Administrator of Greater Atlantic Region
Today, NOAA Fisheries announced that Mr. Michael Pentony is the new Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He will assume his new duties on January 22, 2018. Mr. Pentony has been with the agency since 2002, serving in a series of positions including as the Assistant Regional Administrator for the Sustainable Fisheries Division since 2014. He succeeds retiring Regional Administrator John Bullard who had been in the position since 2012. >click here to read< 15:04
