2.      Opening of Maryland East Coast Office: The Commercial Fishermen of America is expanding offices, and will now have a West Coast Office and East Coast Office. The East Coast Office will be located within the Maryland Watermen’s Association (MWA) office in Annapolis, Maryland. The CFA East Coast Office will be responsible for managing membership. The contact information for the East Coast Office is 1805A Virginia St, Annapolis, MD 21401, phone 410-268-7722, fax 410-269-6635. All other CFA operations will continue to be held at the West Coast Office under the direction of Sara Randall. Contact information for the West Coast Office is PO Box 29196, San Francisco, CA 94129, phone (415)561-FISH x222, fax (415)561-KING.

3. Health Care for Fishing Families: Due to a grassroots letter writing campaign mounted by CFA last year, the health care language of HR 4940 section 4(e) gained bipartisan support from key allies in 109^th Congress. Unfortunately, because of some jurisdictional issues, the Health Care for Fishing Families language did not get inserted into the Magnuson Stevens Act Reauthorization as CFA had hoped. This year, with the changed political landscape, the prospect of getting Health Care legislation signed into law is much better. In the 110^th Congress some of our key allies on this issue are at the forefront of the political spectrum, while some of our detractors are no longer in office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is committed to making health care a priority; Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) and Senator Kennedy (D-MA) continue to be strong supporters of health care for fishermen especially in light of their successful health care program in Massachusetts. Additionally, Representative Don Young (R-AK) continues to be an advocate on this issue on behalf of fishermen. This issue will develop quickly in the next few months, so please stay tuned for more updates! In the meantime please continue to contact your congressional representatives and tell them you support Health Care for Fishing Families. For more information on Health Care for Fishing Families see http://www.cfafish.org.  For information on the Massachusetts program, the Fishing Partnership Health Plan, see: http://www.fphp.org/.

5.      Membership Continues to Grow! The Commercial Fishermen of America welcomes new Organizational Members, including the Maryland Watermen’s Association (http://www.marylandwatermen.com), The Baltimore County Watermen’s Association, the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association, The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, and the Crab Boat Owners Association of San Francisco. 

6.      Letter to NMFS Regarding Ten Year Aquaculture Plan: The CFA sent a letter to the Aquaculture Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asking for an extension of the comment period for the Interim Final 10-Year Plan of the NOAA Aquaculture Program.  NOAA did not extend the comment period, but is now accepting comments informally. If you would like to read a copy of the Interim Final 10 Year Plan on Aquaculture and for information on where to send informal comments, see: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mediacenter/aquaculture/plan.htm.

7.   Loran C Support Letter: CFA sent a letter detailing CFA’s support of the continuation of the existing Loran C Radio Navigation System. The Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are considering discontinuing funding of the program after 2007. This program is still widely used by fishermen and other maritime enthusiasts around the country. At this time the public comment period has ended, DOT and DHS are continuing with their decision making process, and it is unknown at this time what their final decision will be on the Loran C.

8.  Grant to Improve our Website! The CFA is the proud recipient of a technology grant from the Taproot Foundation for technical improvement of the CFA website. Over the next 6 months, a team of website experts will work with the CFA’s West Coast Office to rework the CFA website, ultimately making it more user friendly. It is the vision of the CFA to provide a safe place online where fishermen can communicate across geographical divides to share information and resources, thereby strengthening and unifying the industry. For more information on the services provided by the Taproot Foundation to the non-profit community, please see: http://www.taprootfoundation.org.

7.      Outreach: Besides the Pacific Marine Expo, the CFA also attended the East Coast Commercial Fishermen's & Aquaculture Trade Exposition and the New Orleans International Work Boat Show, where they were able to talk to fishermen and distribute CFA information. At all outreach events CFA also held board meetings. The East Coast Commercial Fishermen's & Aquaculture Trade Exposition, was held January 26-28, 2007 at the Ocean City Convention Center, Ocean City, Maryland. The New Orleans International Work Boat show was held at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, November 29-December 1, 2006.

8.      US Fishermen Delegates at World Forum on Food Sovereignty: Two of the CFA’s Board members, Margaret Bryan Curole and Jeremy Brown, along with CFA’s National Organizer Sara Randall, were invited to participate in Nyeleni, the World Forum for Food Sovereignty. Nyeleni took place February 23-27 in the small West African village of Selingue, Mali. The Forum was made up of 500 delegates-mostly food producers-from 88 different countries, who came together to discuss a global action plan for food sovereignty. The CFA delegation was able to interject the US fisheries perspective into discussions, while connecting and learning from fishermen from around the world. The product of the forum was the Declaration of Nyeleni, a document that will continue to be used in people’s struggles around the world for food sovereignty. Curole, Brown, and Randall were sponsored on this trip by Food and Water Watch (http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/) and National Family Farm Coalition (http://www.nffc.net/).  To read the full Declaration of Nyeleni and more information on Nyeleni see: http://www.nyeleni2007.org.

9.      Documentaries: Although not sponsored by CFA, there were couple of documentaries that were produced this year of note for their depiction of the complex issues facing fishermen of this country. One called, “Wild Caught: The Life and Struggles of an America Fishing Town”, which was produced, directed and written by Matthew Barr of the Unheard Voices Project. The documentary illustrated the struggles  faced by the fishermen in Snead’s Ferry, North Carolina, including forces of globalization, imports, rising fuel prices, and explosive coastal sprawl. For more information on this documentary please contact www.unheardvoicesproject.org.

Another documentary, called “A Fish Story”, was produced by Courtney Hayes and Tim Gallagher. The film explores the life of two Massachusetts fisherwomen and fisheries activists as they deal with the 2000 groundfish lawsuit and subsequent Amendment 13 management plan. PBS aired the documentary this past winter. For more information on this documentary, please see: http://www.afishstory.com.

    For more updates please visit www.cfafish.org.