Tag Archives: U.S. Commerce Department
New England Fishermen Fear NOAA Retaliation as Feds Pin Dead Whale on Maine Lobstermen
For the first time in twenty years, the death of a North Atlantic Right Whale has been linked to Maine fishing gear, according to a federal environmental agency. Found dead off of Martha’s Vineyard on January 28 near Joseph Sylvia State Beach, the juvenile, female whale was described as having been entangled in a rope that was “deeply embedded in the tail.” According to the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — parent agency of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) — the rope found on the whale contained purple markings that are consistent with water trap and pot buoy lines used by lobstermen in Maine. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 07:22
Disaster aid has arrived, but Western Alaska’s salmon and crab problems continue
The Alaska congressional delegation announced on Friday that the U.S. Commerce Department released the disaster aid. The money is to go to harvesters, processors and communities affected by designated disasters in salmon and crab fisheries that occurred between 2020 and 2022. For Bering Sea snow crab, signs are that the problems that led to the first-ever harvest closure, which was announced last October, will last for years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service 2022 survey found that despite the emergence of cooler and more normal temperatures, mature male snow crab abundance was the lowest on record and mature female snow crab abundance was the third lowest on record. >click to read< 10:12
At-Sea-Monitoring: U.S. Supreme Court takes up fishermen’s fight over US conservation funding
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether the government can require commercial fishermen to help fund a program monitoring herring catches off New England’s coast in a case that could undercut the regulatory power of federal agencies. The justices took up an appeal by New Jersey-based fishing companies of a lower court’s ruling in favor of the U.S. government in a challenge to a conservation program overseen by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The case is the latest bid asking the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to rein in the authority of federal agencies. The companies are asking the Supreme Court to overturn its own decades-old precedent calling for judges to defer to federal agency interpretation of U.S. laws, a doctrine called “Chevron deference.” >click to read< 14:09
No federal fishing disaster decision
FEMA has given out more than five billion dollars to help people recover from Hurricane Ian, but none of that money has gone specifically to the fishing industry. Last week the federal government sent a letter saying “It still hasn’t decided if it’s going to declare a federal fishery disaster.” Ian devastated the fishing industry in southwest Florida. Fort Myers Beach the shrimping fleet went from 50 vessels to just 3 after the storm. On Pine Island, 80 percent of fish houses suffered damage. Read the letter, video, >click to read< 10:06
Louisiana denounces federal rule for shrimp boats at Fifth Circuit
The small shellfish are big business in Louisiana with 15,000 residents employed in the industry, which has an annual economic impact of $1.3 billion for the state, according to its Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. But Louisiana shrimpers who followed their fathers and grandfathers into the trade say it is dying as wild-caught and farm-raised imports from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and India into the U.S. have exceeded 1 billion pounds annually in recent years. Since 1987, the National Marine Fisheries Service has required shrimp trawlers in some circumstances to install turtle excluder devices, which separate sea turtles, sharks and other large bycatch so they can escape through an opening in the netting. >click to read< 09:52
Lobster industry and lawmakers await court decision to determine legality of new restrictions
Maine and Massachusetts harvest more than 90% of the American lobsters sold in the U.S. and most lobstermen and New England lawmakers want to keep it that way. Over the past year, a dispute over new federal regulations on Maine’s lobster industry, intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale,,, Mike Sargent became the captain of his own boat at 15. The 29-year-old is worried, however, that if regulations adopted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2021 are ruled lawful by the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, that more expensive and stricter regulations could follow. “There’s talks of ropeless fishing and so on, and those are astronomically expensive and quite frankly could bankrupt this industry at the stroke of a pen,” Sargent said. Massachusetts lobsterman Dave Casoni said that it would cost lobstermen between $500,000-$600,000 to make the switch to ropeless traps, and if passed Casoni believes it could bankrupt the industry. Video, >click to read< 09:16
Nearly $132 million allocated for Alaska fishery disasters
The U.S. Commerce Department announced on Thursday that several Alaska fisheries are eligible to share in almost $132 million of federal disaster relief. The Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers are included after a chum and king salmon collapse last year. Impacted fishermen can share in $55 million, but that is also set to be split between fishermen from Southeast Alaska, Prince William Sound and Chignik. Gov. Mike Dunleavy submitted the disaster declaration to the federal government when applying for relief. >click to read< 10:53
New Bedford Port Authority Probed by Feds Over Grant Application
A federal grant application submitted by the New Bedford Port Authority is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Office of the Inspector General. The probe was initiated in October of 2020, according to Port Authority General Counsel Blair S. Bailey. Bailey did not say if the investigation is continuing, or what findings, if any were rendered by the OIG. Another source confirmed that the probe is ongoing. >click to read< 09:37
U.S. Commerce Department Announces Appointments to Regional Fishery Management Councils for 2018
The U.S. Commerce Department announced the appointment of 30 members to the eight regional fishery management councils that partner with NOAA Fisheries to manage ocean fish stocks. Twenty-nine of the new and reappointed council members will serve three-year terms from August 11, 2018 through August 10, 2021. One appointed member is filling an at-large seat recently vacated on the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council and this member will serve through August 10, 2020. >click to read<17:02
Money fish rule
Once more trawlers in the Bering Sea have gone to court in an effort to stop the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) from billing them for the costs of managing Chinook salmon in the Bering Sea.,,, U.S. Commerce Department “cost recovery regulations, as applied to catcher-processor sector participants violate the (Magnuson-Stevens Act) MSA and (Administrative Procedures Act) APA, are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law, and are in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority or limitations and short of statutory right,” the trawlers charged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Alaska. click here to read the story 08:25
Report on U.S. Marine Sanctuary Oil Drilling Sent to White House, Not Released to Public
U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross sent a report to the White House on Wednesday containing recommendations on whether to change the boundaries of 11 marine sanctuaries to allow more oil and gas drilling, but the report was not made public. Commerce reviewed sanctuaries containing 425 million acres of coral reefs, marine mammal habitats and pristine beaches, as part of an administration strategy to open new areas to oil and gas drilling. click here to read the story 07:18
The American Fisheries Advisory Committee Act: S-1322 – Sam Parisi, Gloucester
Last year I served on a panel to review applicants for S-K Grant money in Saint Petersburg, 
along with ten other experienced fisherman thru out the USA. After two days of reviews we graded those and our mission was done. We had no idea who was awarded the grant money at the end of the two days. After a month the ones that were chosen were published. I notice one recipient from the East Coast was awarded $375,000 dollars yet I never saw come before the panel. I called the head man in Saint Pete and ask why I never saw it, and he said it was on a different panel. I was on both panels and it never came up. I believe that NOAA decides who gets the funds and the panel is there to appease the public. A Senator from Alaska heard my story and told me he was putting in a bill to go back to an advisory panel like it had in 1954. Bear in mind, this a year in the making and he asked for my help by contacting our Politian’s in the North East which I did. Two days ago Commerce Department approved his bill S-1322. The vote was 26 to one. What this means is NOAA will no longer receive the SKG money. A panel will be chosen by the Secretary of Commerce. Perhaps our fisherman will now see some of this money. Thank You, Sam Parisi, Gloucester Mass. click here to read the bill Commerce Approves Eight Bills and 10 Nominees – click here Thank you, Sam! 10:46
Our View: New England Fishery Management Council needs to take a new tack
A New Hampshire cod fisherman has sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric and Administration over the hardship looming when he is required to pay for at-sea monitors. Monitors are required on a certain percentage of fishing vessels to satisfy regulations meant to reduce waste of the resource at sea and protect the fishery. David Goethel’s suit is appropriate mainly because he puts his boat into a fishery that was declared a disaster in 2012 by the Commerce Department, NOAA’s parent. Fish biomass for several species, including cod and some flounders, has rapidly eroded the opportunity for success for groundfishermen like him. Read the op-ed here 11:10
Department of Commerce announces 2015 regional fishery council appointments
The U.S. Commerce Department today announced the appointment of 30 new and returning members to the eight regional fishery management councils that partner with NOAA, and National Marine Fisheries Service to manage ocean fish stocks. The new and reappointed council members begin their three-year terms on August 11. Read the rest here 15:25
U.S. Commerce Department announces 2014 regional fishery council appointments
The U.S. Commerce Department today announced the appointment of 22 new and returning members to the eight regional fishery management councils that partner with NOAA’s Fisheries Service to manage ocean fish stocks. The new and reappointed council members begin their three-year terms on August 11. Click here to read the full announcement. 16:10
$1.6 million in disaster aid split among 50 Maine fishermen
“The fishermen have been regulated so tightly they can’t earn a livelihood anymore,” he said. Maine fishermen have stayed within their catch limits for years but have suffered the consequences of “inflexible federal regulations,” Gov. Paul LePage said in a prepared statement. “I am glad that this economic relief will give Maine fishermen the flexibility to make an investment in their future, because our fishermen want a hand up, not a handout,” LePage said. Read more here 21:10
Gulf of Maine – Planned fisheries closure leaves locals reeling
Yankee Fisherman Cooperative said the pending “consequence closure” of a section of the Gulf of Maine starting Oct. 1 will significantly impact the co-op and could potentially put it out of business,,,,,,,,,,,,,,U.S. Commerce Department has declared a “disaster” in the Northeast groundfishing industry,,,,, Hampton fisherman David Goethel said the closure will be devastating for the Yankee Fisherman Cooperative and the fishermen of New Hampshire, as the majority of the fleet are gillnetters.
“This is the biggest time a year for them,” said Goethel. “This is when they catch their pollock. There is no other time in the year they can get them.”
BREAKING – Northeast, two other U.S. fishing areas declared disasters. Including Alaska, and Mississippi
“Fishermen in the Northeast are facing financial hardships because of the unexpe,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,also declared in Alaska, because of low returns of Chinook salmon in some key regions, and Mississippi Read More
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-usa-fishing-disasters-idUSBRE88C17P20120913
Fed probe of NOAA rules due in November – By Richard Gaines GloucesterTimes.com
The U.S. Commerce Department’s inspector general expects to make public in November a procedural review of how NOAA and its regional fishery management councils make rules governing the fishing industry. 
The review of procedures that go into the setting rules and regulations for fisheries was undertaken in January at the request of Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, and amid concerns that non-governmental environmental organizations were given undue influence over fisheries mandates and limits.
“Our review of fishery management councils and rulemaking will be conducted in phases and result in interim reports produced at several intervals,” said Ann C. Eilers, the principal assistant inspector general for audit and evaluation, in a release dated Jan. 10. “In this phase of the review, we will evaluate the role of NOAA and the fishery management councils in the fishery rulemaking process and the transparency of the rulemaking process.”
”We are anticipating having a report ready for the public in November,” Clark Reed, spokesman for the inspector general, said Friday in a telephone interview.
The impetus for the request by Tierney and Frank, they said in a letter to Inspector General Todd Zinser dated Aug. 17, 2011, was the “high degree of mistrust” that existed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its subsidiary agencies by the fishing industry. Read more http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1709876008/Fed-probe-of-NOAA-rules-due-in-November
