April 24 - Squelching the People’s Voice - So despite a confusing public process and a paltry 15-day comment period, enough people to fill Fenway Park twice over took time out to participate in the public process. And by a ratio of 12 thousand to one they told NOAA to keep the closed areas closed. But you wouldn’t know this from visiting the official public record for the proposal on the internet.

April 26 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, April 26 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, NOAA repeats its refusal of interim measures after a request from Governor Patrick; NEFMC meets and discusses climate change; a bill to allow Maine fishermen to sell lobsterbycatch fails; NMFS authorizes smaller mesh size for redfish; a bill to reintroduce alewives to the St. Croix River comes into effect; federal budget cuts mean NOAA furloughs.

Many of you have been waiting for the next opportunity to voice your concern over the BU Biolab. Your time is coming – the state’s public comment process will begin soon, and the Patrick Administration needs to hear from you.

The proponents of Boston University’s proposed National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) – known as the BU Biolab – in the densely populated urban environmental justice community of Roxbury/ South End are in the process of submitting the risk analysis of their project for environmental review. Having failed at this twice before – in the view of the Massachusetts courts and the National Research Council, among others – this is the third time  the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and BU have attempted to adequately explain how the risks associated with placing a a high-level biocontainment laboratory that would test pathogens like ebola and the plague are acceptable for this community.

The latest Risk Assessment, which was recently completed by NIH, is now under final consideration by that same agency pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). CLF has reviewed the final Risk Assessment and, like NIH and BU’s past attempts, it still falls extremely short of addressing concerns about the lab raised by community members.

In particular, NIH’s final Risk Assessment  does not meaningfully address the fact that the Boston location selected for siting the NEIDL comes with substantially more risk potential than rural or suburban alternative sites. The final Risk Assessment also fails to fully analyze the ways in which the environmental justice community living near the NEIDL site, which already battles disproportionately compromised health, would be unfairly affected by proximity to the facility – which unfortunately has great potential for disaster in the event of an accident or malevolent attack. For a copy of the written comments submitted to NIH by CLF and its legal partners last Friday explaining why the latest Risk Assessment is still insufficient, click here.

BU will soon submit its Risk Assessment for review by the state pursuant to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), at which point the public will have the opportunity to comment. Public input is the heart of the environmental review process. It is essential that the Patrick administration hear why this facility presents too much risk, and not enough benefit, for this already overburdened environmental justice community. CLF will provide updated information here on how you can submit public comment as soon as those details become available. Check back here soon for how you can get involved!

You’ve probably never seen Atlantic menhaden on a restaurant menu, and maybe you’ve never even heard of this little fish. But Atlantic menhaden, which have been called the “most important fish in the sea,” need your help.

Atlantic menhaden (Photo credit: Phillip Jones, courtsey of South Carolina Department of Natural Resources)

Atlantic menhaden are small, oily fish that are an important food for striped bass, bluefish, tuna, whales, porpoises, seabirds, and many other wildlife – but they are also caught for use as lobster bait or in a variety of consumer products such as pet food and fish oil supplements. While menhaden used to be abundant along the east coast of the United States, overfishing has resulted in the population dropping to a historic low. A declining menhaden population is detrimental to the marine ecosystems and predators that depend on this fish and to New England’s coastal economies, whose commercial and recreational businesses rely on the fish that prey on menhaden.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), a deliberative body made up of representatives from the coastal Atlantic states that coordinates the conservation and management of the states’ shared fishery resources (including menhaden), recently took an important first step to protect the menhaden population by laying out a plan to increase the number left in the ocean and preserve the marine ecosystems that depend upon this important fish. The ASMFC will meet in November to vote on the plan – so the time to make your voice heard in support of protection for menhaden is now. Click here to send a message to the ASMFC urging it to approve actions to protect menhaden from overfishing and restore the population to healthy levels.

Make your voice heard, and help us save the “most important fish in the sea.”