Search Results for: ropeless fishing
Extended Closure of CA Dungeness Crab Fishing Season Will Hurt Working Families, Eliminate Holiday Crab Traditions
For Immediate Release
November 24, 2020
Crescent City, CA – The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) today delayed the state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishing season an additional two weeks until at least Dec. 16 due to the continuing presence of whales.
“Since mid-November, fishermen have had to sit idle at the dock and accept delays in the opening of their crab season due to the new, highly restrictive and unfair RAMP rules. “And now the season is being postponed for a full month,” said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association (CCCA). “We have basically been forced to accept these delays because according to the new rules, we risk losing the entire season if even one or two whales interact with crab lines. Meanwhile, Californians are being denied access to fresh, delicious holiday crab.”
Called the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP), the new CDFW rules are more restrictive than even the strictest fishery laws in the nation, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
But Humpback whales, the only ESA listed marine mammal which has any potential co-occurrence with the crab fishery, are a robust and thriving population. The only significant non- naturally occurring mortality to whales off the CA coast is caused by large ship strikes. These cruise and cargo ships kill between 50-150 whales a year, yet humpback whale population is still expanding at a rate of 7.5 percent annually, according to the Cascadia Research Collective (CRC), a highly respected marine mammal study center.
“When the Center for Biological Diversity first sued CDFW in 2018 over the interaction issue, there was thought to be 2,900 Humpback whales, but recent official revisions to the population count shows more than 7,200 migrating off the West Coast,” said Platt. “The California Dungeness crab fishery had only one confirmed interaction with a whale last crab season, and that whale was released unharmed. Our fishery is having zero impact on the species, and in fact, we are hopeful Humpbacks will soon be removed from the Endangered Species List.
“This is a huge success story, and in light of it, the new regulations constitute a solution in the absence of any real problem,” continued Platt. “The new RAMP rules will likely shorten the average season from seven to as little as two months, and because the crab fishery is the most widely shared and economically important fishery on our coast, the new regulations threaten the continuation of the entire West Coast commercial fishing industry. Most fishermen and seafood buyers will not be able to stay in business without a viable crab season. The long-term effects on
the rural coastal communities of California, which rely heavily on the fishing industry, will likely be
devastating.”
Meanwhile, and inexplicably, the recreational crab fishery was allowed to start on time in early November, even though CDFW determined there were too many whales present in the crab fishing grounds to allow the commercial fishery.
“It’s absurd that CDFW continues to delay the commercial fishery, which thousands of families depend upon for their fall and winter income, and also continues to deny access to millions of Californians who wish to buy our crab, when the recreational fishery poses the same potential risk of entanglements,” said Platt. “If the commercial fishery is sidelined due to potential whale interactions, then the recreational fishery, with thousands of traps now deployed in Central California waters, should also be stopped.”
The profit-driven environmental NGO's continue to overstate the need for the new RAMP rules based on higher interaction numbers from the anomalous 2015-16 season, which were driven by warm water which drove forage feed and whales close to shore. And that season started much later than usual in late March due to domoic acid delays. Since 2016, the fishing industry has adopted numerous proactive measures, including a Safe Gear Practice guide to reduce excessive slack line and extra surface buoys and a statewide Lost Gear Retrieval Program which has successfully reduced the number of interactions between crab fishing gear and marine mammals to nearly zero.
The CCCA and the crab industry continue to strive to reduce interactions between fishing gear and all marine mammals, and have proposed simple, practical, affordable gear modifications which can be used during times of higher whale presence, as we are currently experiencing during the height of the holiday crab market, but instead fishermen are tied to the dock without a paycheck to feed their families.
“Unfortunately, CDFW has not yet shown any real interest in any of our proposals: the only alternative gear type they have seriously considered is ‘pop-up’ or ‘ropeless’ gear, which has proven to be extremely cost prohibitive, impractical, and ineffective, and would actually result in more lost crab lines and more entanglements, not fewer,” said Platt. “It’s obvious that this complete non-starter of ‘alternative gear’ has gotten so much traction because it has been aggressively promoted by the powerful NGO Oceana and a host of outside gear manufacturers with no previous experience with our fishery.”
About the California Coast Crab Association
The CCCA is a non-profit 501(c)(6) trade organization composed of individual crab boat owners, hired captains and Dungeness crab buyers. The CCCA board of directors is made up of nine member fishermen and crab buyers with a combined 240 years of experience in the crab fishery. Our diverse membership includes the smallest operators with skiffs up to the largest crab boats on the West Coast, and our member-buyers range from small live crab peddlers to the largest distributor of seafood on the West Coast.
The CCCA was formed in May of 2019 after the disastrous out-of-court settlement agreement in CBD vs Bonham, which created new, highly restrictive, and unfair restrictions for the California Dungeness crab fishery. Dungeness crab is the most widely shared and economically important fishery to the West Coast commercial fishing industry, but the new ESA mandates created by CBD vs Bonham are threatening the viability of the fishery and the economic health of California’s coastal communities.
Since formation, the CCCA has been working hard with the crab fishing industry and the CDFW to find workable solutions to meet the mutually shared goals of protecting our most valuable fishery and minimizing interaction between marine mammals and our fishing gear. In recent years, the commercial fishing fleet has been proactive in addressing important issues by initiating legislation through our Dungeness Crab Task Force to create new rules, including tiered trap limits, a Whale Entanglement Working Group, a statewide Lost Gear Retrieval Program and Safe Practice Guidelines for fishermen. More information at www.cacoastcrabassociation.org.
Media Contacts:
Ray Young
Razor Sharp PR
916-505-4245
[email protected]
Ben Platt
President, CCCA
707-367-0385
[email protected]
Punitive New Rules Will Crush CA Dungeness Crab Fishing Families, Threaten Holiday Crab Traditions
For Immediate Release
November 2, 2020
Punitive New Rules Will Crush CA Dungeness Crab Fishing Families, Threaten Holiday Crab Traditions
State Ignoring Whale Population Growth, Practical Solutions in Favor of Extremist Politics Crescent City, CA – This week, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) put into effect onerous new regulations that among other things, could delay or close the state’s iconic crab fishery if whales are present near the crab grounds and could economically devastate our coastal communities that rely on the fishing and seafood industry.
Called the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP), these punitive rules also include triggers for crab fishery closures that are more restrictive than even the strictest fishery laws in the nation, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
“Regulators seem to be more concerned about the optics in the media of the rare occurrence of an entangled whale than the fact that the populations of these marine mammals, which migrate off our coast, are skyrocketing, and may soon be eligible for removal from the Endangered Species List,” said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association (CCCA).
Immediately after the disastrous settlement agreement in March of 2019 in CBD vs Bonham, which mandated the new rules, CCCA began working to help CDFW craft regulations which would not unfairly penalize the fishery, while meeting the requirements of protecting ESA listed marine mammals.
But unfortunately, throughout the regulatory process, the powerful NGO’s lobbying for these extreme measures have largely succeeded in convincing CDFW to disregard the needs of the fishery. CCCA is instead arguing for the balance of common sense marine life protection with the economic and cultural importance of the historical fishing communities of coastal California.
“Despite the best efforts of the CCCA to contribute revisions to RAMP, which would fall in line with ESA guidelines and achieve more workable regulations for the fishery, regulators have moved ahead without any substantive changes,” continued Platt. “Essentially the state has ignored the advice of the people who know the ocean best and ESA legal experts who have been helping other fisheries survive NGO lawsuits for years.”
Recently revised numbers for Humpback whales, the only species with any real co-occurrence with the crab fishery, show a robust and rapidly growing population, with more than 7,200 whales and an annual population growth rate of 7.5 percent. Meanwhile, since whale interactions with Dungeness crab gear first became a concern to CDFW in 2015, the fishery has reduced the occurrence of these interactions with fishing gear to practically zero. The industry has been proactive in implementing measures to successfully reduce interactions and today poses no threat to whales or leatherback turtles.
“The RAMP rules will punitively devastate the state’s most widely shared and economically important fishery for no reason other than CDFW having to answer to legal attacks and constant lobbying pressure from profit-driven environmental NGO’s whose primary motives are not to save whales but to increase their status and budgets. These groups care even less about our iconic, sustainable fishing industry and coastal economies,” said Platt.
So how unfair are the RAMP rules? Even if there are only a few confirmed interactions with unknown gear during a crab season, the California fishery can be closed. That means the commercial Dungeness crab fishery is being held accountable for interactions with gear that are not part of the crab fishery!
That’s why the CCCA has repeatedly, during the RAMP development and review process, suggested a simple, low cost and practical solution which CDFW has not yet adopted: line marking. It would be easy to identify whether or not a line tangled with a whale was California commercial crab gear by simply spraying the equipment with painted lines with a designated color. Instead, state regulators are willing to shut down the whole season if there are unknown gear type entanglements instead of adopting this easily implemented solution.
“Regulators should have to answer for what they are doing to working fishing families. There was only one confirmed interaction with California Commercial crab gear during the 2020 season,” said Platt. “One. All the others were either recorded as “unknown” or from other fisheries.”
Fishermen who serve on the Whale Working Group and those who represent the CCCA have repeatedly proposed other simple, effective and affordable adjustments to existing crab gear. Some of these ideas include reducing slack buoy line and surface buoys and have already proven to help drastically reduce interactions with whales. Unfortunately, the powerful NGO Oceana has so far convinced regulators that the only option is to get fishermen to adopt highly impractical, ridiculously expensive and ineffective “pop-up”, so called “ropeless” gear, which is being aggressively pushed by outside gear manufacturing interests. The California Ocean Protection Council recently gave the Monterey Bay Sanctuary a large grant of $500,000 to test this gear type which fishermen from both coasts have consistently pointed out is unworkable and will lead to even more marine mammal interactions.
“We’ve already reduced interactions between marine mammals and our crab gear to practically zero,” said Platt. “That’s why the CCCA is encouraging and working with CDFW to prioritize the testing and implementation of common sense, practical solutions which will actually help mitigate whale interactions and also maintain a viable crab fishery.”
While there has never been a confirmed entanglement between a leatherback turtle and commercial Dungeness crab gear, RAMP includes rules that say the presence of even one turtle in a huge area around the San Francisco Bay Area, the most important crab grounds for the holiday Fall fishery, could delay the Fall opening or close the spring season there.
“The RAMP rules include provisions which will make it unlikely for the Bay Area tradition of Thanksgiving holiday crab to be available on any given year, as the presence of even a few whales spotted in Central California will prevent the season from opening before December. The rules could also limit access to fresh Dungeness crab to the rest of California’s seafood lovers throughout the Fall, Winter and especially in the Spring,” concluded Platt.
About the California Coast Crab Association
The CCCA is a non-profit 501(c)(6) trade organization composed of individual crab boat owners, hired captains and Dungeness crab buyers. The CCCA board of directors is made up of nine member fishermen and crab buyers with a combined 240 years of experience in the crab fishery. Our diverse membership includes the smallest operators with skiffs up to the largest crab boats on the West Coast, and our member-buyers range from small live crab peddlers to the largest distributor of seafood on the West Coast.
The CCCA was formed in May of 2019 after the disastrous out-of-court settlement agreement in CBD vs Bonham, which created new, highly restrictive, and unfair restrictions for the California Dungeness crab fishery. Dungeness crab is the most widely shared and economically important fishery to the West Coast commercial fishing industry, but the new ESA mandates created by CBD vs Bonham are threatening the viability of the fishery and the economic health of California coastal communities.
Since formation, the CCCA has been working hard with the crab fishing industry and the CDFW to find workable solutions to meet the mutually shared goals of protecting our most valuable fishery and minimizing interaction between marine mammals and our fishing gear. In recent years, the commercial fishing fleet has been proactive in addressing important issues by initiating legislation through our Dungeness Crab Task Force to create new rules, including tiered trap limits, a Whale Entanglement Working Group, a statewide Lost Gear Retrieval Program and Safe Practice Guidelines for fishermen. More information at www.cacoastcrabassociation.org.
Media Contacts:
Ray Young
Razor Sharp PR
916-505-4245 [email protected]
Ben Platt
President, CCCA
707-367-0385
[email protected]
Con groups propose total lobster fishing ban
According to the Center for Biological Diversity and several other plaintiff conservation groups, the area “has increasingly become important right whale foraging and socializing habitat in recent years.” The conservation groups filed their request last Friday, three weeks after the judge ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the federal Endangered Species Act when it continued to allow lobster fishing with gear that used fixed vertical buoy lines in which whales could become entangled. As a practical matter, a ban on the vertical lines that connect traps on the sea floor to marker buoys on the surface would amount to a total prohibition against lobster fishing in the area south of the two Massachusetts islands. While scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a few others have experimented with “ropeless” lobster trap gear (laughter and scorn, erupts from the crowd),,, >click to read< 09:18
Maine Lobstermen Skeptical Of Proposal To Tie ‘Whale-Safe’ Seafood Label To Use Of New Fishing Gear. They should be.
A movement is emerging among conservation groups to create a “whale-safe” seal of approval for lobster caught with new types of gear designed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. But it could be a tough sell in Maine, where some say the iconic fishery is already sustainable.,, “That’s really important, that fishermen willing to test this gear, and certainly those fishermen fishing with ropeless gear should be rewarded,” says Erica Fuller, a lawyer at the Conservation Law Foundation, one of several organizations suing the federal government for stronger protections of the roughly 400 North Atlantic right whales remaining on the planet. >click to read< 10:36
At the Ropeless Consortium’s second annual meeting
Scientists, fishermen and policy makers met on Wednesday in Maine to discuss this issue at the Ropeless Consortium’s second annual meeting. The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium will continue the discussion of right whale conservation at their annual meeting Thursday and Friday.,,, “We here at the aquarium have been working hard on looking at reducing rope strengths and trying to get rope-less fishing as an option to reduce risk,” said Amy Knowlton, a Ropeless Consortium board member and senior scientist at the New England Aquarium. >click to read< 10:35
SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund Commits $900,000 to Protect Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales – The announcement was made by Dr. Michael Moore of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, during yesterday’s 2019 Ropeless Consortium meeting, >click to read<
California crab fishermen are testing “ropeless” gear
This is not a new concept. It is currently being tested by snow crab fishermen in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada, whose MSC certification—one of the seafood industry’s most important sustainability certifications—was suspended in 2017 for entangling imperiled North Atlantic right whales. In fact, California’s court settlement incentivizes the use of ropeless gear by allowing Dungeness crab fishermen to fish in areas otherwise closed to fishing as of 2021, explains Kristen Monsell, a senior CBD attorney. (there’s a lot to unpack, as damn near all the lobstermen in NE, and Eastern Canada, are generally opposed. Will the CBD settlement affect your fisheries?) >click to read< 13:29
Like chasing unicorns?!! – Ropeless traps not easy for crabbers testing them in whale-protection effort
New Brunswick snow crab fishermen have been testing a ropeless trap system to reduce the use of fishing rope, which has been blamed in some of the deaths of endangered North Atlantic right whales. “The main problem with the ropeless gear … is that it was given way too much credit for what it can, at this time, achieve for the snow crab fishery,” Robert Haché, director general of the Acadian Crabbers Association, said in an interview.,, The ropeless traps, developed by California-based Desert Star System, are already used by fishermen in New Zealand and Australia. >click to read< 08:18
The Pew Charitable Trusts Urge Fishing-Industry Changes to Protect Right Whales
Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Katharine Deuel, an officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, said action can’t come soon enough for the dwindling right whale population, but she understands the plight of the fishing industry too.,,, The Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered Right Whales, or SAVE Right Whales Act, was introduced by Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts (supports ropeless gear development),,, Charles “Stormy” Mayo directs the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies. He said he feels for the fishermen,,, >click to read< 16:31
Ashored Innovations creates ropeless trap to help with marine animal entanglement
According to The United Nations Environment Programme, an estimated 640,000 tons of ghost gear is lost each year. It’s a problem that in 2017, caused the death of 12 North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species that live primarily off the Eastern coast of Canada. Ghost gear—various nets, traps, and rope that are lost from fishing vessels—make up for a large chunk of marine animal entanglement. Add in the amount of plastic that animals choke on and that number skyrockets. It’s here, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that Ashored Innovations is quietly working away on a solution. Some cute action video’s! >click to read<21:31
An Unacceptable Solution – Ropless fishing gear is dangerous to fishermen
Oct 14, 2018
We spend a crazy amount of time looking for information on the internet that we think is of interest to the general public at large that read about the fishing industry, and is hopefully interesting to the thousands of fishermen that visit the website regarding the issues of the day. It is a running snapshot of the industry posted daily, and has been continuously for over seven years.
When we do start our day, we don’t know which direction we will be taken, but we go wherever we need to go.
Its not always exciting, and can be quite mundane at times.
One story we’ve followed extensively is the right whale entanglement issue which has the potential to derail a sustainable fishery, the lobster fishery in New England and Canada.
There is such irony at times, such as the articles trumpeting climate change as a cause for decline, and shifting populations caused by rising ocean temperatures, usually accompanied by the subline, warming faster than anywhere on the planet, as far as the storied Gulf of Maine is concerned.
There are a lot of special interests that support themselves on this talking point, and they capitalize on that for funding and grant funding. We all have to make a living, right?
One of the benefits of doing this, and sharing these stories on social media is making friends and reading the commentary of fishermen on the various subjects of interest.
The media has been especially busy writing stories about the troubled Right Whale population, and the large hit the whales took in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence last year, NOAA declaring it an declared the die-off an “unusual mortality event,” or UME. This declaration demands a significant response.
There were plenty of those, from third party lawsuits to US Senators threatening action against Canada, which triggered the reaction of Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
New measures coming to protect right whales in Gulf of St. Lawrence: LeBlanc August 12, 2017 – which led to rolling closures as whales were spotted from the air.
As an outside observer I was skeptical.
It is hard to ignore the success that there were no entanglement deaths this past year, and fishermen were cooperative to avoid another fiasco. It was a success.
As with another successful avoidance program in another fishery that was looking at closure when they hit their by catch limit, the NE Scallop fishery working with SMAST, and cooperating with each other, the solution was successful also.
One would think this would be the way forward for the lobster fishery, and other fixed gear fishery’s within the range of the Atlantic Right Whale, but, like so many other issues, its never enough, as the entrenched bureaucrats state that the only solution is ropeless fishing.
The various discussions about Rope less fishing preferred by regulators and possibly every whale group, the commentary can be quite colorful! It can be downright crude, actually, and why would anyone expect it to not be?We have working people being attacked and sometimes vilified by the talking heads of regulators, and Aquarium people thinking they have all the answers, expecting others that are affected to roll over and do what they’re told.
During discussion a fisherman brought up entanglement, it the comment wasn’t about the whales.
It was about fishermen being entangled in fishing gear being set.
We know this to be a reality of the job. Fishermen do get fouled in fishing gear, and are helplessly swept into the water during fishing operations, and rarely is there a positive outcome for them. Many die.
For the fortunate, the only reason they would be saved would be a determined skipper and crew that would retrieve the buoy line, and feverishly haul back the gear, hopefully with the unfortunate fisherman having a spark of life left in him to restart him through super human effort and shear luck.
Rope less fishing gear eliminates that last chance.
I find that absolutely unacceptable.
“It has to be tested” – Massachusetts Lobsterman to test ropeless buoy equipment
Sonar technology used is Australia for southern rock lobster commercial fishing will be tested in July, possibly in Cape Cod Bay, as a method to better protect “imperiled” Northern Right Whales from rope entanglements.,,, IFAW will pay $30,000 to provide the equipment, a trainer and onboard support for what is expected to be a test by one member of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association of the acoustic release equipment manufactured by Desert Star Systems, a company based in Marina, California, and founded by Marco Flagg. >click to read<18:23
Ropeless traps could help mitigate right whale deaths, says U.S. scientist
A U.S. scientist is working on trying to stop right whale entanglements with fishing gear, which garnered increased attention after a spate of deaths this past summer. Mark Baumgartner, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., has been studying North Atlantic right whales since 1999.,, One of the problems is that modern ropes are much stronger and last longer than they used to be and don’t break as easily when they come into contact with large sea animals. click here to read the story 13:49
Whale-safe Fishing Gear – New buoy for lobster traps could prevent entanglements click here to read the story
WHOI scientists/engineers secure funds to help commercialize their ropeless lobster pot to the public
Jim Partan and Keenan Ball had an idea for a way to deploy deep-water lobster traps that could help prevent whale entanglements and potentially reopen closed fishing areas off the New England coast. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution engineers even had a prototype in hand: a 340-pound, 42-inch-high spindle that would attach to lobster traps and keep fishing line underwater until the gear was ready to be retrieved. What they didn’t have was any funding to bring the spindle out of their their cramped Smith Laboratory workspace to do field testing, a vital step before they could put it on a fishing boat for a trial run. A few years ago, that might have been where their story ended. But thanks to a new initiative within the world-renowned oceanographic research nonprofit, the duo have not only some funding but some logistical support to help their vision for a so-called ropeless lobster trap get to sea. Read the story here, with two more images 11:53
Natural Resources Defense Council Announces STATE OF EMERGENCY for Atlantic Whales By Jim Lovgren
The National Resources Defense Council [NRDC] in a press release has declared a state of emergency for Atlantic Whales. Here are some excerpts from a piece written by Francine Kershaw, NRDC’s leading east coast Marine mammal expert. “Something is happening off our Atlantic coast. Unprecedented numbers of great Whales are washing up dead on our shores.” After a paragraph noting the recent Whale strandings and the National Marine Fishery Service announcement of three different unusual mortality events {UME] in the past year, the release states, “The North Atlantic Right Whale has suffered serious losses since 2010. Scientists recently estimated that, at this rate of decline, they may become functionally extinct in less than twenty years, [meaning there would be no individuals capable of reproducing left in the population]. The loss of a young female therefore represents a particularly devastating blow.”
The release then points to Ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements as the leading cause of marine mammal strandings, and that climate change has caused a change in the migratory paths of Whales closer to shore where they encounter more ship and fishing activity. From its operational playbook, NRDC then offers mitigation idea’s to help reduce the Mortality of said mammals. “What can be done to reduce these strandings? Whale habitat is shifting in a way that is heightening the conflict between these much-loved animals and the ways in which we use our ocean, possibly for the long term. We therefore need lasting and timely protections from the stressors that are causing the most harm, such as more expansive regulations to reduce vessel speeds and a concerted effort towards ropeless fishing technology. NRDC is actively working with other environmental groups to advocate for these improved protections. It is also essential to minimize other stressors facing our great Whales to give them the best possible chance of survival.”
Here is where it gets interesting; “To protect our Whales, we must stop seismic. We must stop drilling. And we must protect the marine mammal protection act. As part of its atrocious giveaway to oil companies, the Trump administration has proposed permitting five large scale seismic surveys that, if approved, would crisscross the Mid Atlantic and south east coasts, blasting every 10 to 12 seconds for months at a time, with noise as intense as dynamite. Impacts to many types of marine life would be severe. For our Atlantic Whales already struggling to survive, seismic blasting would drown out the sounds they rely on to survive over vast swaths of ocean, making it impossible to communicate with one another, to find food, to detect predators. The stress of all that noise could also have long lasting impacts on their health, making them less likely to be able to successfully rear young. The North Atlantic Right Whale, already teetering on the brink of extinction, simply will not be able to withstand this assault. And of course, seismic testing is simply the first step down a path towards oil drilling off our coasts, placing marine life and our coastal communities at serious risk.”
“It is also crucial for us to defend the Marine Mammal protection act [MMPA], the bipartisan bedrock legislation that has successfully protected our nations for over 45 years. The act requires that industry act in a manner that minimizes harm to marine mammals. It will come as no surprise that special interests in Congress are actively lobbying to gut the act.”
NRDC has been the leading opponent of military sonar usage, its lawsuits successfully targeted the loud noises produced by military grade Sonar and even forced the US Navy to admit to killing hundreds of dolphins and Whales. This press release which was dated February 23, 2018 was in response to the proposed use of seismic testing off the US East coast for oil exploration using seismic air gun arrays that operate in the 240 to 250 DBs range of underwater sound. Military Sonar typically operates in 230 to 240 DBs range. Marine creatures of any size, in the direct path and close proximity to a sound source of that level will die a horrible death. Since the NRDC has been such a vocal critic of, seismic testing, [and manmade oceanic noise in general] due to its fatal effects on marine creatures, one would think that the recent upsurge in Whale deaths this past year, coincidental with a bunch of survey vessels using seismic and sonar apparatuses to map the seabed for offshore wind sites in close proximity to the stranding site events would have NRDC up in arms. But apparently, they do not care. Could this be because of the generous gift of one hundred million dollars from Jeff Bozo’s, who is, just coincidentally, the biggest investor in wind-power in the US, if not the entire world?
Conflicts of interest arise everywhere you look, in concern to offshore wind projects on the east coast. Formerly conservative minded entities have blindly accepted millions of dollars of hush money to go along with the green mafia’s attempt to destroy the United States energy independence and force reliance on Chinese manufactured goods for the benefit of Wall street investors. Here are a few of the infamous Vichy collaborators that have taken money from offshore wind companies, Woods Hole Oceanographic institute, New England Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife fund, etc. The Etc. is needed because the amount of bribery involved in this massive swindle of what will be tax payer owed debt is enormous and a threat to national security.
Over the last few decades the NRDC has successfully challenged the US Military in regard to sonar effects on marine organisms, while also challenging seismic activity related to oil exploration. Both of these issues have national security implications that require a more robust examination of the possible causes of the legal actions taken, and why they were taken. What’s NRDC’s excuse for ignoring the growing amount of dead Whale carcasses that keep washing up on east coast beaches, while the
same research vessels that would have been doing the seismic and sonar research for the oil companies are doing it for the wind factories? They will argue that the vessels are not using a seismic air gun array, and that there is no proof that the lower powered Sonar and Seismic, [Sparkers are seismic and can operate above 200 DBs noise level] have killed any marine mammals. This is the scoundrels crutch, they know it is near impossible to prove that sonar and seismic killed a particular animal, so they ignore the dead carcasses, and their previously accumulated mountain of evidence that they used against the US Navy, and continue to save the planet for the good of Wall Street, I mean mankind.
So, the most relevant question, to NRDC, NMFS and BOEM is this; Why has the NMFS issued over 63,000 incidental harassment authorizations for level B takes [with over 100,000 more pending] which also includes 332 level A takes, which is death, if the sonar and seismic research does no harm? If Sonar and seismic has not killed the Whales, then why do the wind factories need to have incidental take authorizations, [which are simply a government issued license to kill]? I want to see someone from NMFS explain this seeming contradiction about no evidence that the research has caused the deaths of the Whales, yet the agency feels compelled to issue incidental takes to these vessels. If they are not causing any harm, what are you issuing permits for? How are those 332 marine mammals going to die?
And yes, the level A takes include at least one Northern Right Whale, of which NRDC expresses its regret, despite its previous concern about the death of any Northern Right Whale. Can’t stop progress.
NRDC insists that we must protect the Marine Mammal Protection Act at all costs, yet the wind companies have been allowed to thumb their noses at its provisions aided all along by a complaint NMFS that now appears toothless after years of ripping the commercial fishing industry a new A-hole. Attention NMFS, there are, and have been research vessels performing sonar and seismic activity before they have been issued proper authorizations. But they already know this, they’re just busy trying to hide it. This is a clear breaking of the law but no one is doing anything about it. The wind research vessels would rather pay a fine for breaking the law then have to pause their work due to the enormous daily operating costs of such vessels that can reach over $500,000 per day. But they have not even been charged. Do you think this would be allowed if the vessels were working for oil exploration?
From NRDC’s Joel Reynolds paper, “Submarines, Sonar, and the death of Whales” he writes; “The endangered species act, {ESA] requires federal agencies to obtain an incidental take permit beforethey engage in an activity that may “take” any threatened marine mammal or an endangered species. These permits must be obtained through formal consultation with NMFS or the Fish and Wildlife Service and apply additionally to any adverse modification of critical habitat. Under NMFS regulations, formal consultation MUST be requested and reinitiated where an agency discovers unforeseen effects on any listed species or critical habitat.”
I don’t think its hard to argue that turning the waters off the US east coast into an enormous electric factory doesn’t constitute an adverse modification to critical habitat. Likewise, the recent stranding events [of unknown cause] should cause a reconsultation of the permits since unforeseen events on listed species have taken place. Repeatedly.
Reynolds goes on in his paper in regard to NEPA; “The National Environmental Policy Act, [NEPA] establishes mandatory procedures for objective disclosure and analysis of a project’s individual and cumulative environmental impacts, consideration of alternatives, and identification of feasible mitigation to ensure that the project will not needlessly or carelessly destroy or harm the affected environment or species. This act also applies extraterritorially when federal agencies are taking actions
with a significant environmental impact.” Here’s one ripe for a legal challenge. The NMFS and BOEMhave both ignored the cumulative effects of having thousands of huge wind turbines placed throughout the whole range of the US east coast. They have been issuing incidental take permits in a vacuum oneproject at a time, and never considering what the cumulative effects of all the noise, and construction will have on the effected species. This is an absolutely unforgivable dereliction of legally required investigative work and is definitely cause for a suit. If it was the oil companies getting away with this, NRDC would have had them in court in a minute. Here’s an idea, use some of Bozo’s 100 million dollars to sue NMFS over NEPA, while there are still a few Whales left alive.
One last issue that came from NRDC’s Naval lawsuits is the recognition that not even national defense is exempt from environmental rules and regulations, so any claim that the wind factories must be installed as quickly as possible to save the planet have no basis in fact.
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
Shortened Dungeness crab season reflects industry uncertainty
Commercial crabbers have made quick work of this year’s Dungeness crab harvest, bringing substantially fewer crustaceans ashore with each lift. The haul has been so meager that even those who ply the waters south of Mendocino County,,, Closures and major catch restrictions in Alaskan crab fisheries, where king and snow crab stocks have plummeted, has heightened demand this winter for the Dungeness crab caught off Central and Northern California. “The thing that’s saving us is the price,” said Dick Ogg, “We’re down to two or three crabs per pot,” said Bodega Bay fisherman Tony Anello, one of many getting ready to pack it in. (Then the conversation of ropeless fishing begins,,,) >Click to read< – Campaigners say ropeless technology could spare whales in the Firth of Forth >click to read< 09:28
Pot/Trap Fisheries Regulations to Help Save North Atlantic Right Whales Announced
NOAA Fisheries and our partners are dedicated to conserving and rebuilding the North Atlantic right whale population, which is endangered, declining, and experiencing an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event.
Entanglement in commercial fishing gear is a primary cause of mortalities and serious injuries of North Atlantic right whales. Working with the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team—a group of advisors consisting of fishermen, scientists, conservationists, and state and federal officials—we have completed Phase 1 of the modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to continue to reduce whale entanglements.
Today, we are announcing the final rule to modify the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. The gear modifications required by the rule will go into effect May 1, 2022, which is the start of the American lobster/Jonah crab fishing year. The changes to the seasonally restricted areas will go into effect 30 days after the publication of this rule.
We would like to thank the many stakeholders who submitted more than 200,000 public comments on the proposed rule. The comments guided us in modifying the final rule to allow more flexibility for fishermen, while still achieving the necessary risk reduction to make a real difference for right whales. These measures will reduce the deaths and serious injuries to North Atlantic right whales due to entanglements in U.S. commercial fishing gear, and will contribute to the recovery of this endangered population.
Final Rule Measures
The rule modifies regulations for the Northeast lobster and Jonah crab trap/pot fisheries as follows:
- Modify gear marking to introduce state-specific colors for gear marks and increase the number of gear markings and areas requiring marked lines.
- Modify gear configurations to reduce the number of vertical lines by requiring more traps between buoy lines.
- Require weak insertions or weak rope in buoy lines.
- Modify existing seasonal closure/restricted areas to allow ropeless fishing.
- Add two new seasonal restricted areas.
- Following changes made by Massachusetts, extend the Massachusetts Restricted Area (MRA) to add state waters north to the New Hampshire border.
- For more information on the rule’s specific measures and to see outreach guides and videos please visit the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan website, or read our web story.
- Questions?
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Industry: Contact Marisa Trego, Take Reduction Team Coordinator, 978-282-8484
Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103
Fishermen, DMR: New North Atlantic Right Whale regulations could cripple lobster industry
The proposal, released in late December 2020, includes measures like regional gear marking, breakaway rope, extra traps per trawl line and restrictions on certain fishing areas. But it is the emphasis placed on ropeless fishing traps that has officials at the Maine Department of Marine Resources most concerned. In its Biological Opinion regarding right whales and the fishing industry, NMFS identifies ropeless fishing as a solution, among others, to reduce whale entanglements that cause death or serious injury. DMR argues that ropeless gear is largely under-researched and unaffordable. DMR used EdgeTech traps to estimate cost increases associated with converting to ropeless fishing,,, An EdgeTech fishing unit costs $3,750, >click to read< 19:36
Enviro’s Lukewarm Reception For Canada Modifying Right Whale Protections
The Animal Welfare Institute has responded to the Canadian government’s recent decision to modify right whale protections, specifically concerning how they affect lobster and crab fishers. On the one hand, the institute welcomes and applauds the government commitment to “Whale Safe” ropeless fishing gear. However, it does not accept the promotion of weaker rope lines as a long-term solution for entanglement. >click to read< , with a link to the policy they oppose, unreasonably. 18:06
New Protected Species Regulations Finalized for Fixed Gear Fisheries
New Protected Species Regulations Finalized for Fixed Gear Fisheries and Industry Outreach on Required Gear Modifications
This advisory serves to provide you with information regarding new protected species regulations. This includes a description of the new regulatory requirements, resources available to assist commercial trap fishermen in complying with the new gear modification and weak rope rules, and additional information germane to DMF’s ongoing efforts to protect the North Atlantic right whale.
New Regulations Enacted
The Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission approved several new regulatory measures at their January 28, 2021 business meeting affecting protected species and fixed gear fishing in Massachusetts (Advisory). These regulations have been filed with the Secretary of State and will be implemented as of March 5, 2021. The seasonal closure rules will be effective March 5, 2021, whereas the gear modification rules will not go into effect until May 2021 to provide fishermen with time to alter their gear configuration. More details on each new regulatory provision are provided in the bullets below.
- Seasonal Commercial Trap Gear Closure. A new commercial trap gear closure goes into effect on March 5, 2021. This new regulation extends the prior seasonal state waters commercial trap gear closure in both space and time. The prior closure occurred from February 1 – April 30 within Cape Cod Bay, Stellwagen Bank, and the Outer Cape Cod Lobster Management Area. The new closure area extends north in state waters from Scituate Harbor to the New Hampshire maritime border (see map) and the closure duration is extended through May 15. However, during the May 1 – May 15 period, the closure will occur on a dynamic basis allowing DMF to lift the closure (or parts thereof) if whales no longer remain in state waters. The closure does not extend into those southern state waters in Lobster Conservation Management Area 2. As this closure extension is being implemented in-season this year, all trap gear must be removed from the new closure area by March 5, 2021.
- Seasonal Commercial Gillnet Closure. A new commercial gillnet closure goes into effect on March 5, 2021. This new regulation spatially extends the January 15 – May 15 commercial gillnet closure in Cape Cod Bay to include a discrete area along the South Shore between Plymouth and Scituate. The northern boundary of this closure is now 42°12’N (see map).
- Weak Rope Requirements for Commercial Trap Gear. Effective May 1, 2021, this new regulation will require all commercial trap fishermen to fish buoy lines that break when exposed to 1,700 pounds of tension. This may be achieved by fishing specially manufactured buoy lines with a custom 1,700 pound breaking strength or by inserting NOAA Fisheries approved contrivances into the top 75% of the buoy line every 60’. Currently, the only approved contrivance is the so-called “South Shore Sleeve.” For more information on how to comply with this measure, please review the section on approved weak rope and contrivances below and visit DMF’s new Trap Gear Modification webpage (https://www.mass.gov/service-details/buoyline-trap-gear-modifications).
- Maximum Buoy Line Diameter for Commercial Trap Gear. Effective May 1, 2021, all commercial trap fishermen are to fish buoy lines with a maximum diameter of 3/8”.
- Recreational Lobster and Crab Gear Closure. DMF has established an annual November 1 – May 15 recreational lobster and crab trap gear closure. This requires recreational lobster and crab trap fishermen to remove their gear from the water by November 1 and not resent the gear until after May 15. This new rule goes into effect this year on March 5, 2021; this corrects the prior advisory that indicates the rule would not be effective until November 1, 2021. As this is being implemented in-season, recreational trap fishermen are advised to not set trap gear until after May 15, 2021. If gear is currently in the water, then it may be removed and returned to the owner by the DMF or the Massachusetts Environmental Police. This closure period applies only to buoyed recreational lobster and crab trap gear and not unbuoyed gear that is fished and retrieved from the shoreline.
- Maximum Buoy Line Diameter for Recreational Trap Gear. Effective May 15, 2021, all recreational trap fishermen are to fish buoy lines with a maximum diameter of 5/16”.
Approved Weak Rope and Contrivances
To assist commercial trap fishermen in complying with the new 1,700 pound weak rope rules, the DMF is developing a list of NOAA Fisheries approved ropes or contrivances. At present, only three options are available: (1) Rocky Mount Cordage Company’s fully formed 1,700 pound weak rope – Red – 3/8” diameter (runs slightly smaller than true diameter); (2) Rocky Mount Cordage Company’s fully formed 1,700 lb weak rope – “Candy Cane” – 3/8” diameter; (3) Novabraid break-away “South Shore” sleeve.
DMF is supplying samples of the weak rope and Novabraid sleeves at no cost to industry. At present, we can provide every coastal lobster permit holder with 2 coils of weak rope and up to 20 of the Novabraid sleeves. In the coming weeks DMF will be setting up several gear distribution events throughout the state where fishermen can meet a DMF staff member and pick up the free coils and sleeves. We will send out notice of these events to all permit holders once the dates and locations have been established. This information will also be posted on the Trap Gear Modification webpage. Stay tuned for more details.
There is opportunity for additional ropes or contrivances to be approved by NOAA Fisheries. For a weak rope or contrivance to be approved, samples must be tested on a rope breaking machine and the results reviewed by NMFS. With the assistance of several commercial lobstermen, DMF is in the process of developing additional contrivances. These include several options that use small sections of the approved weak rope and use different splices, “lazy splices” and tucks inserted into standard buoy lines. DMF is in the process of having these tested and hopes to have them approved by NOAA Fisheries by mid-March. As more options are tested and approved, DMF will post these on its Trap Gear Modifications webpage.
For more information on gear modifications, please email us at [email protected].
Additional Information
Please note that DMF did not enact a proposal that would have prohibited lobster trap fishermen from fishing single traps if fishing from a vessel with an overall length of 29’ or larger beginning in 2022. Instead the MFAC will convene a subcommittee to address options to reduce buoy lines in state waters. DMF anticipates the sub-committee will meet this spring to further address the potential risk of entanglement posed by vertical buoy lines. Additionally, and as previously announced, DMF has launched a “ropeless” fishing gear feasibility study. More information about this project can be found here. DMF has also set aside a “reserved” section of regulations and will be working with NOAA Fisheries to consider how to move forward with research into the efficacy of ropeless fishing technology.
Shortsighted Petition about whale regulations in Mass draws response from Maine
Enviro groups have filed a petition with the NMFS seeking immediate emergency action requiring the commercial fishing industry to protect endangered right whales from entanglement off the coast of Massachusetts. Members of Maine’s Congressional delegation responded in opposition to that petition with a letter to the Department of Commerce, calling it shortsighted. The petition suggests ropeless fishing could be used, and even though it targets Massachusetts, Maine’s commercial fishing industry is watching, according to Mike Dassatt, who is on the board of the Downeast Lobsterman’s Association,, “We need to be supporting Massachusetts because here in Maine, it would put way too many people out of business,”,, >click to read< 07:15
Moulton praises local lobsterers for staying at whale rule table at a teleconference they were’nt invited to
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton on Monday called the Maine Lobstermen’s Association shortsighted for stepping away,,, “It limits their involvement in the solution going forward,” Moulton said on a teleconference organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.,,, Monday’s teleconference was billed as an opportunity,,, The sole discussion on technology Monday centered on ropeless fishing gear. The panel, included two IFAW staffers and Rob Morris, a sales engineer with EdgeTech, a company that has developed a ropeless gear fishing system. No fishermen were represented. “We did not extend an invitation,” Ramage said. >click to read< 08:08
Lobstermen threatened with the extinction of their way of life
The word “extinction” has been thrown around a lot lately by environmental groups,,, Large, well-funded, out-of-state environmental groups would have you believe that these whales are going extinct and that Maine fishing gear entanglement is a major reason why. These groups have proposed things like ropeless fishing and refuse to believe that ideas like this are not practical in Maine. Can you imagine how a fisherman could set his 20- to 30-trap trawl into water 300 to 400 feet deep, not knowing where any of his competitors’ trawls might have been set days before? >click to read< 11:37
Notice from Commissioner Keliher: Update on Federal Whale Rules
As many of you know, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) met last week and recommended broad measures that included a target to remove 50 percent of endlines from the Gulf of Maine. The remaining endlines will also need to be made safer so that, if a whale does come in contact with a line, the rope will break. The outcome for Maine’s lobster industry could have been far worse. Many TRT participants did push for a phase-in of ropeless fishing over five or ten years, large scale closed areas (including two in Maine), and weak rope across the entire fishery. In the end, Maine delegates were successful in pushing back on those proposals,,, Click to read<10:12
Lobstermen pack meeting concerning right whales, possible gear changes at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum
Lobstermen from all over the state packed the Rockport Room at the Samoset Resort to overflowing Friday to hear about the potential for ropeless fishing and use of break-away lines to help save the endangered right whale. The panel discussion March 2 at the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum brought fishermen together with several experts including scientist Mark Baumgartner of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Amy Knowlton of the New England Aquarium and Mike Asaro of NOAA Fisheries. >click to read< 10:06
Cape Cod environmentalists plan to wreck their lobster Industry to save the whales
Scientists trying to convince New England lobstermen to invest in “ropeless fishing” to cut the risk current fishing methods pose to northern right whales, The Boston Globe reported. Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution say ropeless fishing will allow lobstermen to continue in their livelihood, but without long ropes running from buoys on the ocean’s surface to lobster traps on the ocean floor.,,, Scientists warn if this technology is not pursued, the only other option to save the whales is government regulation of fishing seasons and areas, which would devastate the industry much more than ropeless fishing. >click to read< 09:07
P.E.I.’s snow crab season wrapping up as right whale protection begins
An early start to the season is paying off for many P.E.I. snow crab fishers, with good catches and better prices than last year. An added bonus: for the second straight year, most will have caught their quota before endangered North Atlantic right whales move into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, prompting protective measures to prevent entanglement in fishing gear. Alden Gaudet said fishers are much better prepared this year than they were two years ago in case of closures due to right whales. “This year, we’ve lobbied to be able to immediately remove our buoys from these traps and use this ropeless, on-demand [system, without having to wait 48 hours to reset back in these areas. So it will make things a lot easier,” he said. Photos, Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:42
‘Enough is enough’: Midcoast lobsterman decries regulations to protect whales
Jason Lord, a second-generation Midcoast said he understands the effort to save critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. The problem, he contends, is lawmakers, government agencies and conservation groups have it wrong by targeting the Maine lobster industry, which has been forced to use breakaway trap lines and observe a seasonal no-fishing zone to protect the whales. “I’ve never seen a right whale off the coast of Maine,” said Lord, 50, who has been in the industry for 30 years. An Arizona congressman recently proposed a bill that could lead to further regulations like ropeless lobster traps. Last week, Maine Lobstering Union Local 207 Executive Liaison and Political Director Virginia Olsen testified against the bill on Capitol Hill. >click to read< 18:23