Over the Bar

People across the nation – the world actually – are considering how President Trump’s dramatic new strategies and priorities will impact their lives and what they care about. We’re no different.
One example: Every year I join fisheries regulators from the United States and Canada to hammer out how the two countries should split up shared fish stocks (cod and haddock of major importance) that range across our maritime border on Georges Bank. The idea is to make sure a division is fair, and that in combination we don’t overfish.
This year we’ve been told that we will not be meeting. How that will affect our fishermen’s ability to harvest is unclear so far.

When the executive committee of New England Fishery Management Council, which I serve on, sends a 17-page letter to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center saying they need to get their act together and make profound improvements for the sake of American fishermen, that’s a big deal.
The Management Council is at the top of the regional pyramid when it comes to creating fishery policies and regulations, though what we propose still needs to be approved in Washington.
The Science Center out of Woods Hole does all the fieldwork and scientific studies to define what our fishermen can catch and still keep stocks healthy. Their survey work and analysis is crucial to defining most decisions.

As 2024 recedes in our wake, here’s the word that best sums up my state of mind going into the new year:
Pensive.
Environmental changes we have been seeing for awhile now, even sometimes trying to ignore, seem to be manifesting faster than we expected, in ways no one could have anticipated.

An anchoring principle of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, which has held fast for more than three decades, is this basic belief:
The more that fishermen are involved in ocean science, helping define questions, seeking out answers, the better that science becomes. And science that people on the water believe is credible is the crucial element we need to make our fisheries sustainable, our habitat protection successful.

Costs keep climbing, less rapidly in recent months but never to subside back to where they were just a few years ago. We are in the new normal.
When it comes to the fishing fleet, these cost hikes are close to catastrophic. Fuel, equipment, maintenance, repairs, insurance, even basics like gear and ice have shot the cost of doing business to another level.
What has not kept pace is what fishermen are paid for their hard work, for the great food they bring to port.

By unanimous vote, the Fishermen’s Alliance board directed me to join a committed group of Cape Codders and file legal notice that we oppose dumping radioactive wastewater into Cape Cod Bay.
The Alliance to Preserve Cape Cod is spearheading the action. It comes after the Commonwealth of Massachusetts denied Holtec, the company now responsible for cleanup and decommissioning the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, a permit to do the dumping. Holtec has appealed. We’re adding our voice to those who say the Commonwealth is right.
There’s an Alice in Wonderland, through the looking glass element to this. After all, who in their right mind would think that releasing radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay would be a good idea?

They call it the “Farm Bill,” and the name alone gives a pretty good indication of focus for one of the most important pieces of legislation Congress produces, meant to drive and fund the nation’s food production.

This is a huge piece of legislation, full of everything from price supports for farmers to big purchase programs for meat and poultry producers, guarantees and subsidies for ranchers. It impacts the economy of every state in the Union, the health of millions of people, subject to intense lobbying and scrutiny in places like the Agriculture Committees of the House and Senate, the halls and offices of the United States Department of Agriculture, the White House.

When BOEM issued a 259-page EA in the FR last month, kind of like an initial EIS, it was all about a PSN and SAP in the WEA.
Got it?
Too bad there’s not a phone app that translates government acronyms the way they translate languages. It would send back the following:

Every port has a personality. This weekend, Provincetown’s is on display.

The Blessing of the Fleet on June 30, within a three-day Portuguese Festival, will be the 77th incarnation. In 1947, a couple of Provincetown fishermen went up to Gloucester for that port’s annual Blessing and came home wanting to celebrate their own; as each port has a personality, they can be inspired by each other and be competitive too.