News Summary: March 9, 2010
Today's Main Story: Very impressive New England fisheries summit makes case that NOAA has failed the region
A very impressive fisheries summit took place in New Bedford yesterday, with both Cong. Barney Frank and Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick in attendance, along with Eric Schwaab of NMFS, and about 300 fishing industry stakeholders. Representatives of eight New England Senators were present also. Frank said he will convene a bi-partisan congressional group to propose changes in Magnuson in the next few weeks. Person after person testified or spoke to how NOAA's inflexibility on interpreting Magnuson, along with limits in the law itself, were destroying the New England industry, even as stocks were strongly rebounding. Many felt the IG's report slamming NOAA law enforcement was just the tip of the iceberg, and problems permeated deeply into the region. This movement to amend Magnuson is not a flash in the pan, and given the economy, the election year, and the build up grievances on the East Coast, a powerful political coalition is building to gain flexibility, led by the richest landing port in the U. S. - New Bedford.
At the ASMI meeting in Juneau last week, major customers like Darden, Kroger, and Waitrose all expressed varying levels of support for the group's decision to hire Global Trust to audit Alaska fisheries to the FAO standards. 'This is not a plan to create an ecolabel', said ASMI head Ray Riutta, but gives customers assurances that Alaska fisheries meet world class sustainability standards.
Also in Juneau, Peter Pan's head Barry Collier warned that customers were worried that permitting the Pebble mine could jeopardize the market perception of Alaska salmon as coming from pristine waters. 'The permit process is not stringent enough to create a safety net for us,' said Collier at a meeting of packers with the Governor's 'Fish Cabinet'.
We run a Boston Seafood Show roundup, highlighting some of the efforts companies will be making at their booths this year. The show begins on Sunday. We will repeat this once or twice more this week, as more companies send us material.
Finally, the film makers behind the Cove, which won an oscar for best documentary, also worked with the feds to create a sting on an upscale sushi restaurant in LA that they found selling whale meat. Now the Dept. of Justice is involved. The sting involved the producers of the film using tiny cameras and dna analysis to document the whale meat, and then repeating the whole process with federal authorities listening in outside. Selling whale meat, which in this case came from Sei whales, is totally illegal in the U. S., and the restaurant faces possible charges.
John Sackton, Editor And Publisher, Lexington, Massachusetts Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441 Email comments to jsackton@seafood.com
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