Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Lobstermen Would Rather Wait Than Switch

March 23, 2o23 — A 21-year-old North Atlantic right whale known as Porcia was observed in Cape Cod Bay on March 18. The whale was seen swimming with her 2023 calf by her side. And last week, before this first mother-calf pair of the season was spotted, Scott Landry, director of the disentanglement team at the Center for Coastal Studies, estimated there were already between 30 and 40 right whales in the bay.

That means Cape Cod lobstermen are on land, waiting out the whales.

Elsewhere in Massachusetts waters, however, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is running an experiment that gives lobster fishermen exempted fishing permits to work in areas that are otherwise restricted. What they are testing is something called on-demand fishing gear — gear operated via an app to minimize the time that lengths of rope stay in the water.

Landry wants to see “our absolute reliance on rope to harvest our food” go away. But for the time being Cape Cod Bay is not the site of any on-demand gear experiments.

Lobsterman Mike Rego, who lives in Truro, is glad about the cautious approach. He sees the strict closures, though they shorten his season, as too important. “I don’t want to lose four months of my fishing season, but I don’t want to kill a whale either,” he said. “The whales are protected while they’re here. Why jeopardize any of that?”

The North Atlantic right whale is a critically endangered species with only some 340 animals remaining in the world. The majority of those whales feed in Cape Cod Bay during their thousand-mile spring migration from their calving grounds off the coasts of Georgia and Florida to Canada, where they summer.

Read the full article at The Provincetown Independent

MAINE: Maine lobstermen brought in less money than year before

March 30, 2023 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources released new lobster industry statistics.

After a year of historically high sales in 2021, last year’s numbers dropped.

In 2021, the average price per pound of lobster was $6.71. That fell to $3.97 in 2022.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said lobstermen brought in just under 98 million pounds in 2022. That was much lower than the year before due to a few different economic reasons.

Read the full article at CBS 4 News

Crustacean defamation? Maine lobstermen sue aquarium over do-not-eat list.

March 19, 2023 — A group of lobstermen is heading to court in the hope of resolving an issue that they claim has endangered their American market: lobster defamation.

Months after a California aquarium and conservation group recommended that seafood consumers avoid buying and eating American lobster, Maine industry groups are arguing that lobster, which is mostly harvested in that state, should not have been boycotted.

A coalition of organizations, including the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, filed the defamation suit Monday against the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation after it placed the American lobster, a species found on the Atlantic coast that makes up most of the U.S. market, on its “red list” of seafood for consumers to avoid in September.

Seafood Watch, the conservation group operated by the aquarium, made the move because of the threat posed to right whales by fishing gear entanglement used to harvest lobster. Only an estimated 340 right whales are left in the North Atlantic.

Read the full article at the Washington Post

Lobster Fisherman File Defamation Suit Against Environmentalists for Lying About Fishing Practices

March 16, 2023 — A powerful environmentalist group in California is being sued by Maine lobstermen and industry groups for lying about the impact that lobstermen have on right whale populations offshore.

The California-based Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation makes recommendations for seafood buyers and restaurant chains on where to purchase products. Last year, the foundation downgraded Maine lobster from “good alternative” to “avoid” because of the impact Maine lobster fisherman have on right whale populations.

“They conducted this inquiry, this analysis, based on what they characterized as all scientific data and a rigorous and transparent science-based process. But the facts are just the opposite,” Kevin Lipson, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “The facts are that Maine lobster fishing practices have actually contributed to the sustainability not only of the lobster fishery, but of North Atlantic right whales.”

Right whales are menaced with extinction by far bigger threats than a few hundred lobster fishermen. Nevertheless, the Maine lobstermen have taken pains to be responsible stewards of the sea.

Read the full article at PJ Media

Maine lobstermen sue California-based aquarium for recent ‘red listing’

March 14, 2023 — Maine lobstermen are suing the California-based Monterey Bay Aquarium over its decision to strip U-S lobster fisheries of their sustainability certification.

The aquarium’s Seafood Watch program “red-listed” lobster last fall, arguing that the fisheries pose a threat to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The new rating means that the aquarium is urging businesses and consumers to avoid buying lobster.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal district court, Maine lobstermen argue that the aquarium has ignored the scientific data on right whale entanglements and that it made defamatory statements causing them economic harm.

“The aquarium leveraged its significant influence over public opinion and the commercial decisions of major lobster purchasers, using its public platform to pressure those parties into cutting off business with plaintiffs,” the complaint reads.

The plaintiffs include the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association and three lobster producers and sellers. All say they’ve suffered monetary damages worth at least $75,000 each because of the aquarium’s new rating.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Officials consider new lobster size limits in Maine to protect young population

March 9, 2023 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering tighter rules on the minimum and maximum sizes of lobster that fishermen in Maine are allowed to catch.

Recent assessments show a troubling decline in young lobsters, commission and Maine Department of Marine Resources officials say, and because the state’s lobster catch is by far the largest and most valuable of any New England fishery, proactive measures might be necessary to protect the spawning stock.

Read the full article at CAI

MAINE: Maine Lobstermen’s Association takes stock at annual meeting

March 8, 2023 — Offshore wind energy and the legal fight against federal lobster fishing regulations led the agenda for the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) in 2022, two big issues that remain in the forefront for 2023, Executive Director Patrice McCarron told a packed room Mar. 3 at the Maine Fisherman’s Forum in Rockport.

Between increased fishing restrictions, significantly lower lobster landings in 2022 than in 2021, spiraling fishing costs, offshore wind development and juvenile stocks reportedly in decline, “we’re not exaggerating our concern about the future of the fishery,” McCarron said. “The fight is real.”

But with federal offshore wind energy in development on the outer continental shelf, including the Gulf of Maine, she acknowledged that the push is a national initiative. “The Gulf of Maine is actually the slowest [to be developed] on the list,” she said.

That offshore wind energy looms over the fishing industry is evident by the Forum opening Mar. 2 with a slate of seminars dedicated to the issue, with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials on hand.

Read the full article at Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: Maine lobstermen land $389M haul last year, the lowest in a decade

March 6, 2023 — Maine fishermen brought in nearly $389 million dollars worth of lobster last year, the lowest in a decade. It’s an almost 48% drop from 2021’s record-breaking catch, according to preliminary data that the Maine Department of Marine Resources released Friday.

Kristan Porter, a Cutler fisherman and president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said 2021 was an exceptional year.

Read the full article at Maine Public

MAINE: Maine lobstermen have slower year amid industry challenges

March 3, 2023 — Fishers of Maine lobster, one of the most lucrative seafood species in the U.S., had a smaller haul during a year in which the industry battled surging fuel and bait prices, rebukes from key retailers and the looming possibility of new fishing restrictions.

Maine lobster has exploded in value in recent years in part due to growing international demand from countries such as China. The industry brought about 98 million pounds of lobster to the docks worth about $389 million in 2022, Maine regulators said Friday. That was more than 11% less than the previous year, in which they harvested more than 110 million pounds of lobster worth more than $740 million.

The value of lobsters also fell to a little less than $4 per pound at the docks, the lowest since 2017, a year after setting a record of more than $6.70 in 2021.

The industry has experienced growth in recent years, as fishermen have caught more than 96 million pounds of lobster per year for 13 years in a row after never previously reaching that mark. But it is also wrangling with threats such as proposed rules to protect rare North Atlantic right whales, which are vulnerable to entanglement in gear.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

In class action lawsuit, lobstermen fight efforts to ‘red list’ their catch

March 3, 2023 — Four Massachusetts lobstermen have filed a class action suit against the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Marine Stewardship Council, groups that urged distributors and grocery stores to avoid purchasing lobster because of the fishery’s impact on North Atlantic right whales.

“We’ve always been like the punching bag for, like, the whale people. So I’m glad we’re finally striking back,” said plaintiff Jarrett Drake, a lobsterman who fishes out of New Bedford, “because it gives us a chance to try to at least defend ourselves.”

In September, the seafood watch groups argued that “red listing” American lobster is necessary because entanglement in trap pot gear used for lobster fishing is a leading cause of death for the critically endangered whales. Their population now stands around 340.

The “Red List” is used by more than 25,000 restaurants, stores, and distributors to help guide purchasing and menu choices.

Read the full article at CAI