This week on TalkingFish.org, the third post in the All About Aquaculture series discusses the environmental risks; new confidentiality rules under the Magnuson-Stevens Act would harm fisheries science and management; Fish Talk in the News checks in on the closed areas, unusually warm New England waters, and an independent groundfish stock assessment. read more..

I love rivers.  In fact, I love all things water. And so today I’m celebrating the 40th birthday of the Clean Water Act, perhaps America’s most effective and far-reaching environmental law. I grew up on a farm in upstate New York and spent a lot of time stomping around in our ponds, streams, and wetlands catching frogs, listening to spring peepers, watching birds and muskrats and ermine. We fished whenever we could and had a family challenge about who would be the first in the water after ice-out in the spring and last out before (or after) the frost in the fall. We marked the seasons by the coming and going of the ice, by the water temperature in the ponds, and, in some years, watched anxiously as drought lowered read more…

Officials from Portsmouth, Dover and Rochester – in their continuing campaign to delay critically important pollution reductions in the Great Bay estuary – have put the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on notice that they intend to file suit over the nitrogen discharge levels being proposed in their wastewater treatment permits. As part of this campaign of delay, these municipalities have already sued the NH Department of Environmental Services, claiming regulators cannot proceed with requiring certain nitrogen pollution reductions unless and until the State has first engaged in a formal rule-making process. Now, they intend to pursue a similar theory in federal court in a lawsuit against EPA. This latest move comes on the heels of claims from these same officials that conditions in the Great Bay estuary are improving. Extracting read more…

Cranberries. Fall is the season for the sweet-tart fruit from this New England crop, grown and enjoyed across the region for generations. According to a recent story in the Portland Press Herald, this year’s crop looks especially abundant due to unusually warm weather. But these changes could come at a cost that’s greater than the price of cranberries to accompany your holiday turkey. According to a Cooperative Extension cranberry specialist quoted in the Press Herald, the reason for the bumper crop may be warmer weather related to climate change. What’s more, this trend could make it possible to successfully grow other crops not usually found in northern New England, like peaches. One farmer has already decided to plant kiwi. CLF is partnering with the American Farmland Trust and the New read more…

Note: This blog was originally posted on One World One Ocean as part of their National Sustainable Seafood Month Campaign.  When you buy a piece of cod, do you wonder how many are left in the ocean? Are you curious about what kind of gear was used to catch the fish? Gillnets? Hooks? Or, maybe it was a bottom trawler? Do you consider a different choice – maybe there is a more sustainable fish to buy? These are important questions to ask, but there’s something more basic to consider as well. Where do these fish live? What essential requirements do these animals have to survive and thrive in the ocean? Figuring out what “sustainable seafood” means is a familiar dilemma for New Englanders. We have some of the most productive fisheries in the world, read more…

This week on Talking Fish, WHOI scientist Sarah Cooley discusses the effects of ocean acidification on fisheries, the All About Aquaculture series continues with an explanation of the various types and methods of aquaculture, and a weekly update checks in on New England's Fish Talk in the News. read more..

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Northern Pass Transmission LLC (NPT) reacted in the media (here and here) to news stories reporting that the federal review of the Northern Pass project has been tainted by DOE’s abdication of critical responsibilities to the project developer and permit applicant, NPT. It is frustrating, but not unexpected given what the document trail revealed, that DOE and NPT don’t see any problems with the permitting process to date. DOE says that it exercised independent judgment in selecting the contractor team and considered other contractors for the job (while it won’t say which ones or how many, apparently absent a FOIA request, which – if CLF’s last request is an indication – could take as long as a year). While it is clear read more…

On Tuesday the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced plans of tripling the share of travel by modes other than automobiles by 2030. Known in the transportation industry as “mode shift goals,” Massachusetts is one of the first states to unfold such a plan, as far as we know, Rhode Island is the only other state that also has such a goal. This is a big step (pedal stroke or Charlie Card swipe) in the right direction! We all know that reducing the number of crazy Massachusetts drivers is a goal in itself but it also improves our environment and strengthens our communities, not to mention decreases traffic and street congestion. As Rafael Mares, staff attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, told the Boston Globe, “[i]f you don’t ­reduce the read more…

Cod swim through the kelp forest on Cashes Ledge   The beauty, health, and wealth provided by the productivity of New England’s ocean is illustrated in the diversity of ocean and coastal habitat found in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, southern New England waters, and the far edge of the Outer Continental Shelf. New England’s ocean habitats provide a huge economic service, but only if the underlying ecological foundation is healthy and sustained. Pushing our ocean waters to produce more fish and seafood than is sustainable can lead to a severe decline in goods and services – as we are seeing with the most recent groundfish depletion crisis – or even to an unrecoverable collapse as has happened in eastern Canada. There are really two major components to a read more…

The new revelations of unfairness and bias in the federal environmental review of Northern Pass have struck a chord, garnering front-page coverage in the Union Leader and a story on New Hampshire Public Radio. You can join our fight for a fair review of Northern Pass. We have made it easy for you to take action and tell the United States Department of Energy (DOE) that New Hampshire deserves an unbiased process that follows the law – it will only take a couple of seconds. You can submit your comment to DOE here. To understand what’s at stake in the wake of these developments, it’s important to take a look back at the history of where we’ve been and what we’ve been fighting for. This week marks the second anniversary of the read more…