Washington Governor Jay Inslee to Deliver "State of the Blue" Keynote at Pacific Marine Expo
Published onThis years Pacific Marine Expo will feature the State of the Blue Annual Gathering: Innovation, Impact, and Investment in the Blue Economy. This addresses headlines of an event full of programming that will outline updated major initiatives such as sustainable maritime fuels, Quiet Sound, workforce development, green technologies, fast ferries, and others. These updates are part of Maritime Blueseffort to develop cutting-edge strategies to ensure that Washington State is home to a world-class, thriving, sustainable maritime industry through accelerating innovation for a Blue Economy. Pacific Marine Expo (PME) will present a forum that will showcase innovations that will shape the future of the entire maritime industry. Governor Jay Inslee takes part in a keel-laying ceremony at Vigor Industrials Seattle shipyard. Washington State Dept of Transportation photo. The "State of the Blue" program will bring together experts from across the industry to hear updates on innovation in maritime ...
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Canada's cod fishery reopens, yet quickly paused
Published onCanadas Federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier made the decision to reopen the commercial cod fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador in June after a 32-year moratorium on cod fishing that put thousands of locals out of work. The newly restored fishery was opened in late July and, a little over a month later was paused due to landings approaching the seasonal limit. According to sources, northern cod used to be vital to the provinces 400-year-old fishing industry; however, this has changed due to overfishing, poor fisheries management, and environmental changes, causing the population to crash in the early 1990s. Minister Lebouthillier had reportedly ignored briefing notes from May that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) recommended maintaining the longtime moratorium based on scientific evidence. Political advisors within the ministers office had argued that reopening the commercial fishery and raising quotas would be a political victory. Its important ...
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Commercial lobstermen sue to end unregulated lobster fishery in St. Marys Bay
Published onThe Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFCA) is an alliance of commercial fishery stakeholders who call on the Canadian government to establish regulatory oversight for all fisheries. The group filed a lawsuit against Sipenknekatik First Nation and the Canadian attorney general. The group wants a judge to declare that the First Nations summer and fall lobster fishery in St. Marys Bay is unlawful and that they have no treaty right to it. The commercial season for the Bay area begins in late November. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Marshall case, which involved the catch of adult eels and Mikmaq having a treaty right to fish, hunt, and gather for a moderate livelihood. However, the court never defined the term and said that the government could regulate under certain circumstances. Under the Fisheries Act rules, indigenous and non-indigenous fishermen have worked together in the past within ...
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Fishermen oppose plan to revive Chevron doctrine
Published onAmericas seafood leaders are pushing back on new plans from Democrats on Capitol Hill to revive a legal doctrine that fishermen say threatens to "silence" them. Read more
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Farm Bill progress to support fishing and seafood industries
Published onOn Tuesday, June 11, Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Ranking Member John Boozman released a Farm Bill framework that includes several provisions advancing significant and meaningful benefits to fishing and seafood businesses and communities. The first Farm Bill was the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, part of the New Deal, in response to the drop in U.S. crop prices after the First World War. In 2013, the Farm Bill emerged from the U.S. Senate with two amendments to help the fishing industry, introduced by Mass. Senator Cowan. One amendment called for catch insurance similar to crop insurance and low-interest loans available for the fishing industry to cope with the economic disaster, which was declared in 2012 by Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank. Similarly, in June 2023, Senator Murkowski and Senator King introduced bipartisan legislation called the Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act to expand financial support to Americas ...
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New poll reveals support to ban industrial pollock trawlers
Published onRepresentative Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) introduced two new bills last week that raised conflicts among the industrial trawler fleets and an uproar of support from other fishing groups and Alaskans alike. The Bottom Trawl Clarity Act and the Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act have been implemented to reduce the incidental bycatch of chinooks, chums, and other salmon destined for the western part of the state's watershed. The region has experienced a devasting return of salmon in recent years, which has led the public to want trawlers to improve their bycatch reduction efforts. According to a recent poll, 70% of Alaskans would approve a total ban on industrial pollock trawlers off the states coasts. Though the legislation introduced by Rep. Peltola isnt a ban, it is a nationwide bipartisan effort responding to the decline of marine species. The Data for Progress poll showed that two-thirds of Alaskans would support ...
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Trump promises to block offshore wind ‘on day one’ if elected
Published onFormer President Donald Trump said he would immediately block offshore wind power projects if elected at a May 11 beachfront campaign rally on the New Jersey coast. We are going to make sure that ends on day one; Im going to write it out as an executive order, Trump said during the event at Wildwood, N.J., a popular boardwalk and beach resort. Wildwood is in Cape May County in southern New Jersey, a center of resistance by local activists fighting plans for offshore wind turbine arrays. Commercial fishermen warned for years that building turbine towers and cable laying would imperil their industry, but the prospect of the projects being visible from resort towns has alarmed homeowners and the tourism industry. Former president Donald Trump and Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ, speak at a May 11 campaign rally at Wildwood, N.J. Real America's Voice video image. Those ...
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Second bill introduced to expedite fishery disaster payments
Published onU.S. lawmakers from numerous coastal states have introduced legislation in the capital to speed up the process of distributing fishery disaster payments to affected fishermen and processors. The Fishery Improvement to Streamline Untimely Regulatory Hurdles Post Emergency Situation Act (FISHES Act), known as S. 4262, would require the White Houses Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve or deny a states spending plan for fishery disasters within 30 days, among other proposed fixes. U.S. Senator Rick Scott introduced the bill on May 2, which was cosponsored by a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators including Marco Rubio, Dan Sullivan, and Lisa Murkowski. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, demonstrating the shared responsibility and unity in addressing this issue. Senator Scott shared, When disaster strikes, families and small businesses cant be left wondering whether the federal government is going to ...
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Revealing the controversial Gloucester harbormaster scandal
Published onGloucester, Mass., residents and city officials find themselves embroiled in a heated debate over the firing of a harbormaster. TJ Ciarametaro was dismissed over a forgery incident involving paperwork for a state fisheries grant. He told GBH that Major Greg Verga unfairly terminated him after discovering that his deputy harbormaster had forged a signature on the grant form. Ciarametaro, undeterred by his removal, has vowed to challenge the decision. In his words, Its city hall politics. But I am going to fight it. In the meantime, the mayor has appointed former Gloucester police chief John McCarthy to take over the department. In a statement to Good Morning Gloucester, Ciaramitaro expressed his deep respect for the position of harbormaster, which he considered a delicate balancing act. He stated, I have been unjustly dismissed following baseless accusations of misconduct, which have since been proven to be false. The events leading to my ...
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Federal Subsistence Board to get more Tribal members
Published onThe Federal Subsistence Board of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) manages the subsistence priority program on federal public lands and waters within the state of Alaska. Current membership comprises the regional directors of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and U.S. Forest Service and three public representatives. According to the Federal Register, the Biden Administration's proposal would revise the regulations concerning the composition of the Federal Subsistence Board (Board) by adding three public members nominated or recommended by federally recognized Tribal governments, requiring that those nominees have personal knowledge of and direct experience with subsistence uses in rural Alaska, including Alaska Native subsistence uses. The proposed rule would also require the boards chair to have some personal experience with and knowledge of subsistence practices. Subsistence management in Alaska is one of the top ...
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Maine groups support $50 million in aid for working waterfronts
Published onSen. Craig Hickman (D-Winthrop) proposed a bill that affected central Maine inland communities following the Dec. 18 storm. Following coastal storms in January, hundreds of businesses were added to the list of those needing help in the state. Lawmakers from coastal and inland communities have come together to back a bipartisan bill that would create a fund of $50 million to support the small businesses facing devastation after these three storms. Gov. Mills has also sponsored separate legislation that would also implement $50 million in state funds toward city and town infrastructure. Hickman told Spectrum Local News that he hopes his bill will create an ongoing fund that will be ready when severe weather strikes local businesses again. It can almost stand as the states insurance for businesses that may need relief when these storms happen in the future, and while we await money coming in from other places ...
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Bottom trawling experiment delayed in Northern Bering Sea
Published onNOAA postponed the Northern Bering Sea Effects of Trawling Study (NETS), a controversial bottom trawling experiment. Tribal and environmental groups, determined to sue to block the project's progress, accepted the decision to postpone the study this year. NETS was set to be an experiment to examine the impacts of commercial bottom trawling in a banned area in the Bering Sea. According to the official study, shifts in fish populations due to climate change may increase the need for bottom trawling in the future. Bottom trawling, also known as dragging on the seafloor, produces about one-half as much food as global beef production, according to a 2022 NF article. The study was designed to be a multi-year project conducted by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, part of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The decision to postpone came in a letter from the director of NOAA Fisheries, Janet ...
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Fishermen voice opposition to electronic monitoring bill
Published onAlaska fishermen and industry representatives have been concerned with the cost of electronic monitoring. Senate Bill 209 put in place would allow the Board of Fisheries in AK to require electronic monitoring within state fisheries. Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced the bills last month, making it possible to use electronic monitoring instead of mandatory observers aboard fishing vessels. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game would manage the program. According to KFSK, commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang told the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee that the bill is meant to create another tool for fisheries enforcement. I think the question comes down to right now, the only tool that the board has, when theyre concerned about a fishery, and the potential for some violation occurring in that fishery, is to put an observer on board. They dont have any other options. I think adding this tool to the toolbox gives the board ...
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Assembly introduces bill to further restrict commercial fishing in California
Published onA new bill introduced in the California state Assembly would substantially limit gillnet fishing in the state, and end hauls of certain species of fish. The Department of Fish and Wildlife would need to adopt and enforce regulations that would require any commercial fishing vessel operating with a validly issued permit from the state to carry an independent third-party observer onboard the vessel while operating within state fisheries. The bill also states that all incidental take exceptions to catching giant sea bass and great white sharks would also end. A total ban would be placed on catching these two species commercially. Lastly, the use of gill nets and trammel nets would be banned entirely from all California ocean waters beginning Jan. 1, 2025. Assembly Bill 2220 (AB 2220) was introduced by Assemblyman Steve Bennett (D-Ojai), who wrote the bill claiming that gillnet fishing is generally seen as destructive ...
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State reacts to proposed management of Cook Inlet EEZ
Published onAccording to a letter addressed to NMFS, the State of Alaska has substantial concerns with the proposed federal management of the Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Doug Vincent-Lang, Department of Fish and Game commissioner, signed the letter. He stated that he submitted on behalf of the state in response to a request for public comments NOAA opened regarding the proposed rule. The rule would implement federal management on commercial and recreational salmon fishing in the Cook Inlet EEZ, previously subject to state regulation. Public comments on the proposal were accepted through Dec. 18. The letter will be included in the Alaska Board of Fisheries' upcoming meeting on Upper Cook Inlet Finfish. The meeting will be held in Anchorage from Feb. 23 to March 6, and a discussion of the proposed federal management plan is scheduled for the first day of the meeting, according to Homer News. Upper Cook ...
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Alaska senator introduces new bill to strengthen coastal workforce, fisheries, and infrastructure
Published onAlaska Senator Lisa Murkowski introduced the Working Waterfront Act, legislation that includes more than a dozen provisions aimed at boosting the workforce, energy and shoreside infrastructure, food security, and economies of coastal communities in Alaska and across the country. The bill will also support efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change on coastal communities and strengthen federal conservation research projects. Murkowski began accepting feedback from Alaskan people to help draft the Working Waterfront legislation. The blue economy continues to be a growing and thriving industry full of opportunity for coastal communities in Alaska- and thats why Im focused on bolstering the workforce and strengthening shoreside and coastal infrastructure through the Working Waterfronts Act. I want to thank the many Alaskans who engaged with my team and me to craft this legislation. You shared thoughts and ideas with me, and we have a strong product, shared Murkowski in a February ...
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