01 August 2008
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edgar3 (
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Published on August 1st, 2008 @ 09:44:14 pm, using 121 words, 20 views
IMPORTANT PLEASE ATTEND!
The SMB Committee also meets on Tuesday morning (8:30 to 10) to “review and
consider qualifying criteria to be used in mackerel limited entry system (Amendment 11).”
Mid-Atlantic Council Squid, Mackerel, Butterfish Committee meeting
The Mid-Atlantic Council meeting is at the Renaissance Philadelphia Hotel (500 Stevens Dr., telephone 610-521-5900) next week. The Squid, Mackerel, Butterfish Committee is meeting on Monday morning (August 4) from 8:00 am until noon. The two agenda items are “review public comments regarding Amendment 10″ and “develop preferred alternatives regarding Amendment 10 for Council consideration and action.” It’s critical that squid fishermen attend this Committee meeting.
The full Council will take action on Amendment 10 on Tuesday from 1:00 to 2:30.
Depending on what the Committee decides, be prepared to return for this session.
01 July 2008
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edgar3 (
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Published on July 1st, 2008 @ 09:01:04 am, using 167 words, 43 views
GSSA is asking you to please call Governor Corzine’s office in support of bill S1553 Marina Access Legislation and bill 1390 Abandoned Vessel Bill.
The Governor’s office phone is (609) 292-6000.
You can respectfully request he sign both bills.
Below is a brief description of the legislation
Thank you for your support.
Greg DiDomenico
GSSA
Waterfront Access Legislation S1553- The Senate and the Assembly passed this legislation and will impose a two year moratorium on the NJDEP Public Access requirements pertaining to 24-hour access for the public at waterfront properties in New Jersey. This legislation is on the Governor’s desk waiting his signature.
Abandoned Vessel Bill S-1390/A1796- This legislation was successfully passed by both the Senate and Assembly and went to the Governor’s desk for his signature. This legislation would revise statutes concerning abandoned vessels to include sunken vessels and authorize municipalities to remove abandoned vessels from municipal waterways. This would apply to all boats including New Jersey registered recreational boats and USCG Documented vessels.
18 April 2008
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edgar3 (
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Published on April 18th, 2008 @ 11:29:03 am, using 482 words, 58 views
Trenton, NJ - In a recent opinion piece in the Asbury Park Press, Coastal Ocean Coalition Director Benson Chiles has once again demonstrated his organization’s willingness to stretch credulity far beyond normal bounds.
In an assault on the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council (Council), he first attacks it for supporting the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) horseshoe crab management plan allowing a severely restricted commercial harvest. He then attacks it for not supporting the Commission’s tautog management plan.
He goes on to list what he terms “overfished” New Jersey fisheries, including monkfish, lobster, summer flounder, scup, and tautog, as further justification for removing or revamping the Council. The Council does not manage any of those species. While it determines how New Jersey’s share of the final three species will be caught (i.e. closed seasons, trip limits, etc.), that’s as far as its authority extends. Of the remaining two, the Council is not involved in managing either, and neither the monkfish nor the lobster fishery is considered overfished. While we agree with Mr. Chiles’ conclusion that these fisheries are not being managed as they should be, his attempt to attribute the responsibility for that to the Council and the fishermen on it is sadly misinformed if not purposely misleading.
While New Jersey was found to be out of compliance with the Commission (not the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council, as Mr. Chiles called it) in tautog management, this wasn’t because the Council determined that effective management measures weren’t necessary, only that the measures proposed by New Jersey weren’t acceptable to the Commission. The issue wasn’t whether New Jersey was going to comply or not, it was how New Jersey proposed to do so.
As far as his claim of imminent peril for the red knot, a migratory shorebird that feeds, among other things, on horseshoe crab eggs, he failed to mention that the species is not on any “endangered” list, and in spite of his implication to the contrary, not all scientists feel that the species is in imminent threat of extinction. Regardless of the species’ status, measures have been taken to protect it, including the Commission’s recommendation for a limited male horseshoe crab harvest for New Jersey and Delaware. This prudent recommendation is what caused the commercial fishing members of the Council to vote against the moratorium, not a disregard for the red knot.
Mr. Chiles and his foundation-supported cronies want to replace the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council with their own bureaucratic creation heavily weighted with environmental activists who, we have no doubt, share his biases. Any evaluation of such a move should be based on realities, not misinformation.
Garden State Seafood Association represents New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry and associated businesses. For more information, please contact Greg DiDomenico (gregdi@voicenet.com) at 609 675 0202 or Scot Mackey at 609-392-3100.
11 March 2008
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edgar3 (
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Published on March 11th, 2008 @ 05:40:22 pm, using 495 words, 56 views
1/27/08
Tuna Troubles
Center for Consumer Science says NY Times sushi article full of errors
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX]
January 23, 2008 - NEW YORK, Today in a New York Times story claiming sushi-grade tuna is ‘tainted’ with ‘high mercury levels,’ health reporter Marian Burros omitted critical information about government standards for mercury levels in fish and seriously misinterpreted their meaning. These errors are significant enough, according to the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom, to warrant a complete retraction.
‘The Times has published a completely irresponsible piece of ’science’ journalism,’ said Center for Consumer Freedom Research Director David Martosko. ‘The mistakes are too serious to paper over with a series of quiet corrections. The Times should do the responsible thing and retract the whole article.’
The Times neglected to inform readers that the Food and Drug Administration’s methylmercury ‘Action Level’ (1.0 part per million) includes a generous ten-fold safety cushion. FDA has written that the Action Level ‘was established to limit consumers’ methylmercury exposure to levels 10 times lower than the lowest levels associated with adverse effects.’
In reality, the highest-mercury sample reported by the Times (1.4 ppm) contains less than one-seventh the amount of mercury that might be a cause for health concern.
The Times mistakenly claimed that consumers eating a fixed number of pieces of sushi tuna will ‘reach what the Environmental Protection Agency calls its weekly reference dose.’ In fact, EPA writes that ‘reference doses’ are meant to identify levels that are ‘likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime.’
By definition, it’s not possible for anyone to exceed a reference dose with a single week’s worth of exposure.
The Times also omitted information about safety margins built into theEPA’s mercury reference dose. Like the FDA’s Action Level, thatreference dose incorporates a ten-fold safety factor. In the example ofthe highest-mercury sample identified by the Times, a consumer wouldactually have to eat 26 pieces per week
– over an entire lifetime –before accumulating the lowest level of mercury in his or her bodyassociated with adverse health effects in scientific studies.
The Times wr ote that ‘mercury enters the environment as an industrialpollutant.’ In fact, virtually all the mercury in tuna (an ocean fish)enters the environment naturally through undersea volcanic activity.
The Times wrote that ‘methylmercury [is] the form of mercury found infish tied to health problems.’ In reality, the medical literaturecontains no documented cases of mercury toxicity from eating fish inthe United States; the only cases recorded anywhere occurred more than40 years ago in Japan as the result of an industrial spill.
‘Yellow(fin) journalism like this does a great disservice to ordinary consumers,’ added Martosko. ‘Study after study shows that the documented health benefits of eating fish far outweigh any hypothetical risks. I know the Times is losing money and cutting costs, but maybe they shouldn’t have cut back on their scientific research budget.’
Copyright © 2008 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved
Posted by
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Published on March 11th, 2008 @ 05:38:19 pm, using 193 words, 76 views
NEW JERSEY REGISTER
VOLUME 40, NUMBER 4
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2008
PUBLIC NOTICE
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
OFFICE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS
NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF PETITION FOR RULEMAKING
Division of Fish and Wildlife Rules
Horseshoe Crabs
N.J.A.C. 7:25-18.16
Petitioner: Michael Litchko
Take notice that on January 17, 2008, the Department of EnvironmentalProtection (Department) received a petition for rulemaking pursuant toN.J.S.A. 52:14B-4(f) and N.J.A.C. 7:1D-1.1 from Michael Litchko(petitioner). The petitioner requests that the Department amend its Fish andWildlife Rules to make changes related to the taking of horseshoe crabs asdescribed below.
The petitioner asserts that, under the present regulations, the Division ofFish and Wildlife is out of compliance with the Atlantic States MarineFisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board’s recommendations, whichthe petitioner indicates call for harvest of 100,000 male horseshoe crabs for2008. Therefore, petitioner, as a New Jersey licensed horseshoe crab harvester,requests that the Department propose and adopt amendments that would allow amale only harvest of 100,000 horseshoe crabs for 2008. In accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:1D-1.1, the Department will subsequently mailto the petitioner and file with the Office of Administrative Law a notice ofaction on the petition.
40 N.J.R. 893(a)
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