Tag Archives: Northeast Seafood Coalition
WHY WE RALLY – NORTHEAST SEAFOOD COALITION – A PERFECT STORM OF CIRCUMSTANCES
Who are we and why are we rallying? Read it here
Fishing group set to rally in Boston
With fishermen in Gloucester and elsewhere in New England staring at extreme and nearly across-the-board federally mandated cuts in landings of groundfish, the Northeast Seafood Coalition, the region’s largest industry group, is leading a major rally for the industry Monday on the Boston Fish Pier beginning at 11 a.m. The rally will feature U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Attorney General Martha Coakley and Congressman John Tierney among the speakers, all of whom are Democrats, but have failed, like their fellow partisans, to reach President Obama to change administration policy. continued
Seafood group plans major Boston march
he Northeast Seafood Coalition, the region’s largest industry group, has announced plans to host a public rally at the Boston Fish Pier next Monday at 11 a.m. to build support for the government to provide disaster assistance to the groundfishing industry and communities from which home-port the fleet. continued
Fishermen look to White House – John Bullard, NOAA’s Northeast regional administrator based at Gloucester’s Blackburn Industrial Park, scoffed at that idea.
By default and past experience, what slim hope remains to relieve the declared federal fisheries disaster before it consumes the surviving core of the groundfishing fleet in Gloucester and other New England ports has shifted from le
adership at the Commerce Department to the White House. ”I have not heard one word about fisheries from the president,”said Paul “Sasquatch” Cohan, the Gloucester fisherman who announced at the Warren meeting in Gloucester that he had nothing left to fight with. “I wouldn’t give up, but now I have to give up,” said Cohan, who operated a gillnet day boat. Read more
New England groundfishermen are taking the gloves off in the fight for survival
175 Fishermen to Congress: Failed Government Policies Caused the Fishing Crisis, We’ve Done Nothing Wrong
– “The forced transition of our New England groundfish fishery to catch share management and hard TACs came with all sorts of rosy promises of resource abundance and economic stability,” they write. They also noted that many businesses were unable to survive the transition.
– Rather than producing the promised benefits, the transfer of the groundfishery to sector management has led to a prolonged period of economic instability. “There is no stability. There are only repeated, record reductions in catch limits. Prosperity is a discarded dream.”
– They blame the current state of the groundfishery on failed government management, writing: “Three weeks ago, NMFS Regional Administrator John Bullard told us at the Council meeting that this was our day of reckoning. This is not our day of reckoning – we’ve done nothing wrong to reckon. We didn’t cause this problem.” Instead, they maintain that the government does not have the science and data necessary to properly manage the fishery. “For too long we’ve been subjected to the volatility and futility of pretending to know the unknowable.”
“For nearly a decade now our fishery has fished at or below every catch limit set by the government on every stock. We lived within their quotas, but it is now our businesses, our families and our communities that will be paying the price.”
“Government cannot expect our industry to continue to be subjected to drastic cuts in allowable catches while placing additional, government-imposed expenses upon us.”
– They noted that, as the current catch share management system was being implemented, the Northeast Seafood Coalition publicly made clear that adequate federal funding and catch allocations would be needed for the system to properly function. They added: “Sure enough, here we are – less than 3 years after sector implementation – and the agency is telling us there is not enough money to monitor or enough fish to sustain our fishery. It’s difficult for many of us to believe that this was just a coincidence.” Read more and read the original letters with the signing fishermen
Gloucester fishermen’s leader cleared, but shocked by allegations
Vito Giacalone, president of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, has been cleared of any wrongdoing by former attorney general L. Scott Harshbarger after a three-month investigation. But that does not mean Giacalone is happy with what he found in Harshbarger’s report. In fact, he said, he was astonished to read — for the first time — details of the allegations against him, such as charges of misappropriation of funds and exerting improper influence on fishermen. Read more here
Our view: Bay State’s ‘Sacred Cod’ has become NOAA’s sacred cow
Yes, NOAA can show “scientific” data suggesting that these dire cuts — up to 77 percent for the Gulf of Maine cod catch — may be necessary. Yet NOAA also had 2008 survey data that showed many of the cod stocks were already rebuilt. And NOAA’s latest data is off an assessment model that did not include any input from fishermen, meaning it’s no more credible than the admittedly bogus data used in the “Trawlgate” fiasco of 1999-2000, when NOAA conceded its statistics were hopelessly flawed, yet still used them to set stock limits. Read more here
Editorial: Ex-AG’s report, hardly independent, needs further review
But it was clear from the start that the Preservation Fund, which paid for Harshbarger’s services, essentially had the probe and the report right under its own thumb. And instead of answering questions, the report itself — released through selected public presentations last week, yet still protected under attorney-client privilege, as its own pages note — has unfortunately raised new ones. Read more here
Former state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger defends probe of fish fund
Former state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger says he was aware that he cited a disbarred lawyer as a character witness for Vito Giacalone’s altruism in an investigative report that cleared Giacalone — fisherman, shoreside Gloucester businessman, head of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund and policy head of the Northeast Seafood Coalition — of abusing his influence in collusion with other powerful industry figures. And Harshbarger conceded Friday that he had uncovered evidence similar to one second-hand allegation —Read more here
Regional NOAA head won’t ease limits: Richard Gaines
Claiming his hands are tied legally, NOAA regional administrator John Bullard has rejected a nearly unanimous request by the New England Regional Fishery Management Council to give the inshore cod fishery centered on Gloucester a second year of interim relief from extreme cuts in landings. The interim action on Gulf of Maine cod for the 2012 fishing cycle, which ends April 30, reduced landing limits by 22 percent compared to the prior year, and the seafood coalition — later backed by the regional council — had hoped to extend that limit rate for another year, in part while questions are answered regarding the assessments. Read more
GloucesterTimes.com Editorial: NOAA leaders should extend current cod rules
Indeed, it’s time that NOAA officials realize that, until there is true cooperative research and stock assessments involving both the government and the industry, there will be dire credibility questions about science from an agency that admittedly used the wrong-sized nets and other gear in the infamous “Trawlgate” scandal at the turn of the new century, and from an agency led by a “scientist” — outgoing NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco — who was a major signer to the alarmist “Oceans of Abundance” report that was corporately funded by the Walton Foundation of Walmart fame, and has been widely refuted across the marine science community. Read more
Closed Areas need fed’s OK to open
The New England Fishery Management Council has voted to recommend giving commercial groundfishermen access to parts of five areas that have been closed to them for many years. The request to open closed areas to commercial fishing came days before the NOAA Science Center issued a report on the 2011 fishing year that contained the revelation that only 41 percent of allocated fish were landed in 2011. Read More
NOAA N.E. chief eyes delay on limits
The New England Fishery Management Council approved the proposal from the Gloucester-based coalition at its special meeting Wednesday in Wakefield. The move came in conjunction with a decision to defer setting catch limits for the groundfishery until the regularly scheduled January meeting – a time frae tha would benefit from a benchmark Gulf of Maine stock assessment and the vetting of it by the council’s Science and Statistical Committee. The coalition wrote last Monday to the council laying out a legal theory derived from an interpretation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act by NOAA last year that became the basis of a one-year interim emergency action on inshore cod that kept the reduction in landings to 22 percent. Read more
Fish panel holds off on limit cuts – “I say if you’re going to take 1 damn percent (more), shut the whole God damn thing down!”
New England fishing regulators Thursday delayed voting on a series of significant cuts to fishermen’s 2013 allowable catch in groundfishing stocks after repeated and emotional warnings that the reductions would finish off an industry already grappling with a federally recognized economic “disaster.” The New England Fishery Management Council voted 15-2 to put off deciding on new catch limits for various bottom-dwelling groundfish species until their next meeting, scheduled for the end of January. Read More
NOAA region chief Bullard hedges on interim limits
The coalition theory was based on an interpretation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act for building a second year of relief — “reducing” rather than “ending” overfishing — while a plan to bring the stock to maximum sustainable yield is crafted.,“I’m not going to opine on whether you can squeeze another year out of (the Magnuson regulations),” Bullard said in a Thursday interview at the Times. “We’re willing to take a look at this at the meeting.” Read More
NSC Statement Clarifying Position On Amendment 18
The Northeast Seafood Coalition is pleased to provide the following comments on the Amendment 18 scoping document. This cites 2 objectives identified by the Council for Amendment 18:
http://www.savingseafood.org/images/nsc%20comments%20a18%20scoping.pdf
Gillnet Fishermen Committed to Reduce Harbor Porpoise Interaction
Preliminary data shows a low number of takes in OctoberThe following was released by the Northeast Seafood Coalition. GLOUCESTER, Mass. — November 20, 2012 — Gillnet fishermen in the Northeast region of the U.S. are making strident efforts to reduce harbor porpoise interactions and preliminary data shows a low number of takes in the month of October. http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=b5nrgsdab&v=001a8Hy8I3nCiSqK_sIjgm-aYyGxnMZkGoQtuVzL2bHeuoHqE1rqPTxOVVdO66EOmP4U6rQJmzHjYNvL6ylOJu81k1O9QvfX84-P5W-gq2i0GSWRNslIUmlYg%3D%3D
Presidential race radar never hit fishing crises
The crisis threatening the survival of Gloucester and other East Coast fishing communities — which have declined into officially declared disaster during the last four years — has not registered a blip during the 2012 national election campaign, even as voters go to the polls today. Neither Mitt Romney nor President Obama has paid a whit’s attention to an $331 million industry, though Obama has given silent support to his team at NOAA Fisheries, headed by Jane Lubchenco, over calls for her ouster from several fedral lawmakers. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x121541642/Presidential-race-radar-never-hit-fishing-crises
Northeast Seafood Coalition issues statement on Accumulation Caps, Fleet Diversity, and “Amendment 18” – savingseafood.org
NSC believes any and all groundfish management measures must be highly sensitive to the potential for unintended consequences to all segments of this fragile fishery.
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) October 12, 2012 — On Wednesday, October 10, the Gloucester Daily Times reported that “NOAA’s regional administrator, joined by the Environmental Defense Fund,
the Pew Environment Group, the North Atlantic Marine Alliance and Food & Water Watch, is supporting a belated effort by the federal government to limit the accumulation of catch shares and thus provide
safeguards to smaller independent boats in the Northeast groundfishery…”
NOAA regional chief, EDF back catch quota caps
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1618664521/NOAA-regional-chief-EDF-back-catch-quota-caps
Once again, the cart before the horse.
This should have been addressed before amendment 16 was rammed through. The EDF goal of Herr Lubchenco.
Yes, consolidation was occuring pre a-16, but then it really was free market driven consolidation.
Of course, the NSC syndicate likes it the way it is now, and why would’t they?
As far as “crossing the border” skirting the referendum vote, that has already taken place, the reason for the lawsuit.
For the syndicate to be concerned, is like Walmart saying they care about their employees, and they are looking out for their best interests! Why the parallel?
There are a whole bunch of fishermen not represented by the syndicate, that work within the syndicate. Crewmen that rely on the owners to do the right thing for them, as they share the expenses in the free enterprise lay/share arraingement of compensation, along with the owners. Crewmen now pay for leased quota with no representation, along with the regular expenses. They have become poorer and marginalized.
Only now is there a half assed effort to understand the system of compensation through a “socio economic survey” that should have been considered pre a-16.
I’m sure Johanna Thompson is a nice lady, but to read about EDFs concerns about fishermen? I find them amusing, and diingenuous following the history of EDFs actions, and knowing they recieve multi millions year in, year out from the Walton Foundation to privatize the resource.
Funny thing about the “socio” survey. All the current data collected already includes people like Johanna, regulators, and “stakeholders” involved in fishery issues.
Everyone except the fishermen!
ABOLISH CATCH SHARES NOW!
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
Editorial: Ex-AG’s ‘probe’ of fishing fund hardly independent – Gloucester Daily Times
The Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund’s naming of former state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger to carry out an investigation into its own “governance, policies and operations” might seem like a good move — one that could clear up the clouds raised last winter by fishermen who voiced conflict-of-interest and concerns to Gloucester’s two state lawmakers.
Harshbarger, after all, has extensive experience both as attorney general and private attorney dealing with regulatory and fiscal issues involving nonprofit organizations. And that fits the fishing preservation fund, which largely serves as a commercial fishing permit bank handling the $12 million in mitigation money granted to fishermen as compensation for having a liquified natural gas terminal plunked down in the middle of some of the regional’s most lucrative fishings grounds five years ago.
But it doesn’t take much looking beneath the surface to find all sorts of red flags and questions marks regarding a purported “investigation” that is not at all as it seems.
Fishing fund hires ex-AG for probe
Former state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger is under contract to — and has already begun an assessment of — the “governance,
policies and operations” of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, the locally-based nonprofit corporation announced.
Fund President Vito Giacalone declined comment Wednesday, a day after the fund announced the hiring of Harshbarger
who agreed to take on the task last month, the former attorney general said in a telephone interview. Instead,
Giacalone referred questions to the fund’s newly hired spokesman, David Guarino.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x550074880/Fishing-fund-hires-ex-AG-for-probe
ASSOCIATED / CONSOLIDATED / AMALGAMATED Issue Statements on Industry Destroying Fishing Aid Plan
Seems as though the architect’s vision of the fishing policy initiatives they prefer have made separate statements regarding the “out of the blue” proposal delivered to Senator John Kerry’s office, which arrived in a plain brown wrapper with no signatures!
Fishing aid letter ignores catch share impact
A draft letter to congressional leaders from the office of Sen. John Kerry, circulating within the New England delegation in connection with a proposed and controversial fisheries aid package, blames the decline of the groundfishery on weakened fish stocks — and nothing else.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1011133727/Fishing-aid-letter-ignores-catch-share-impact
