Saving Seafood

American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment Finds GOM/GBK Stock Not Overfished nor Experiencing Overfishing & SNE Stock Significantly Depleted: Assessment Introduces Regime Shift Methodology to Address Changing Environmental Conditions

October 22, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The 2020 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment presents contrasting results for the two American lobster stock units, with record high abundance and recruitment in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank stock (GOM/GBK) and record low abundance and recruitment in the Southern New England stock (SNE) in recent years. The GOM/GBK stock is not overfished nor experiencing overfishing. Conversely, the SNE stock is significantly depleted with poor prospects of recovery. Stock status was assessed using the University of Maine Stock Assessment Model for American Lobster (UMM, Chen et al. 2005), a statistical catch-at-length model that tracks the population of lobster by sex, size and season over time.

“On behalf of the American Lobster Board, I want to applaud the members of the Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Subcommittee for their exceptional work on the 2020 Benchmark Stock Assessment Report,” stated Board Chair Dan McKiernan from Massachusetts. “This assessment made a notable advancement in considering the impact of changing environmental conditions on lobster population dynamics.”

Extensive research has highlighted the influence of the environment on American lobster life history and population dynamics. Among the critical environmental variables, temperature stands out as the primary influence. Further, its range is experiencing changing environmental conditions at some of the fastest rates in the world. Therefore, considering these environmental influences is vital when assessing the lobster stocks and was a focal point of this stock assessment. Environmental data time series included water temperatures at several fixed monitoring stations throughout the lobster’s range, average water temperatures over large areas such as those sampled by fishery-independent surveys, oceanographic processes affecting the environment, and other environmental indicators such as lobster prey abundance.

Environmental time series were analyzed for regime shifts, which indicate a significant difference in the lobster’s environment and population dynamics from one time period to another. Regime shifts can change a stock’s productivity, impacting the stock’s level of recruitment and its ability to support different levels of catch. Temperature time series were also analyzed to quantify the effect of temperature on survey catchability of lobster and correct trends in abundance estimated from surveys by accounting for temperature-driven changes in catchability through time.

Read the full release here

ASMFC 79th Annual Meeting Webinar Final Agenda and Materials Now Available

October 7, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The final agenda and meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 79th Annual Meeting Webinar (October 19-22, 2020) are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2020-annual-meeting-webinar; click on the relevant Board/Committee name to access the documents for that Board/Committee. For ease of access, all meeting documents, with the exception of the 2020 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report (which is available as a separate link under American Lobster Management Board), have been combined into one document: Main Meeting Materials.

Supplemental materials will be posted to the website on Wednesday, October 14th. For those Boards that have FMP Reviews and Compliance Reports on their agendas, the compliance reports are not posted due to their large file sizes. If you would like a copy of a specific state’s or jurisdiction’s compliance report, please contact the respective FMP Coordinator.

The agenda is subject to change. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled Board meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of Board meetings. It is our intent to begin at the scheduled start time for each meeting, however, if meetings run late the next meeting may start later than originally planned.

Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, October 19 at 9 a.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 1:45 p.m.) on Thursday, October 22. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. Meeting participants and attendees can register for the webinar athttps://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1878402776294803471 (Webinar ID: 796-314-395).

Each day, the webinar will begin 30 minutes prior to the start of the first meeting so that people can troubleshoot any connectivity or audio issues they may encounter.  If you are having issues with the webinar (connecting to or audio-related issues), please contact Chris Jacobs at 703.842.0790.

If you are joining the webinar but will not be using VoIP, you can also call in at 562.247.8422 (a pin will be provided to you after joining the webinar); see webinar instructions  for details on how to receive the pin. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, you can do so by dialing 562.247.8422 (access code: 225-820-088).

Public Comment Guidelines

With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings. Please note these guidelines have been modified to adapt to meetings via webinar.

The following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action).

  1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of the webinar (September 28) will be included in the briefing materials.
  2. Comments received by 5 PM on the Tuesday, October 13 will be included in the supplemental materials.
  3. Comments received by 10 AM on Friday, October 16 will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting.

Comments should be submitted via email at comments@asmfc.org. All comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.

Maine scientists get boost for lobster reproduction study

September 10, 2020 — Marine officials in Maine are going to try to find a more efficient way to examine the size at which female lobsters reach maturity.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said the work will be funded by a grant of about $100,000 from the 2020 National Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative. The department said the work is important because regulators use the information to predict the growth of female lobsters and estimate egg production.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

NOAA’s Sea Grant program announced USD 2 million in support of US lobster

September 8, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries’ Sea Grant has announced a grant of USD 2 million (EUR 1.68 million) to support the Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative.

The grant is intended, according to a release from NOAA, to “address scientific and stakeholder needs associated with this important fishery.” The nine research projects earning funding are focused gaps in scientific knowledge about how the American lobster is being impacted by environmental changes.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ASMFC Schedules Peer Review for American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment for August 10-14, 202

July 27, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment will be peer-reviewed on August 10-14, 2020 via webinar. The assessment will evaluate the status of American lobster stocks along the U.S. Atlantic coast and inform the management of this species. The peer review is open to the public, except for discussion of confidential commercial landings data and the Peer Review Panel’s final deliberations, when the public and all other workshop participants will be asked to exit the webinar. Webinar space is limited to 25 participants, so please contact Tina Berger at tberger@asmfc.org if you are interested in listening in on the webinar.

Please note the draft assessment report and the peer review report will not be made publically available until mid-October as part of the American Lobster Management Board’s meeting materials, since neither report is considered final until they are accepted by the Board for management use.

It’s anticipated that the benchmark assessment and peer review report will be considered by the American Lobster Management Board in October. A copy of the peer review agenda can be found at – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AmLobsterAssessmentReviewWorkshopAgenda_August2020_1.pdf.

For more information, please contact Tina Berger, Director of Communications, at tberger@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Generations of Maine fishermen keep shuckin’ in the cold

February 22, 2019 — The salt water of Casco Bay is in Alex Todd’s blood.

“I can’t imagine doing anything else,” he said as he headed out off Chebeague Island with the sun just starting to peak above the horizon.

His boat, the Jacob & Joshua, named after his sons are out on these waters year-round.

Todd’s 17-year-old son Joshua was spending his February school vacation out on the boat fishing for scallops.

Joshua and sternman Levi Gloden pulled in shellfish in subzero temperatures as ice started to build up on the deck.

“It’s harder on them than it is on me,” Alex Todd said.

As the boat’s captain, Todd careful picks locations to drag the ocean floor for the prized shellfish, all from the comfort of the heated cabin where he sips his morning coffee.

“Every once in a while I’ll open the door and say, ‘Now do you think I should take a shirt off or? You know what I’m getting a little hot,’” Todd said. “I get a kick out of it but they don’t see the humor as much.”

That sense of humor is what keeps the crew going through the harsh winter months.

With every catch, Joshua and Levi alternate jobs, then sort and measure every shellfish by hand and throwing them in baskets.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

We’ll take your lobsters, eh? Canadian imports from US soar

November 30, 2018 — Trade hostility from across the ocean was supposed to take a snip out of the U.S. lobster business, but the industry is getting a lifeline from its northern neighbor.

Heavy demand from Canada is buoying American lobster as both countries head into the busy holiday export season, according to federal statistics and members of the industry. It’s a positive sign for U.S. seafood dealers and fishermen, even as the industry struggles with Chinese tariffs.

China emerged as a major consumer of American lobster earlier this decade, but the country slapped heavy tariffs on exports in July amid its trade kerfuffle with President Donald Trump’s administration. Lobster exports slowed to a crawl.

Industry watchers forecast the move as a potential calamity for U.S. seafood, but Canada has boosted the value of its lobster imports from America by more than a third so far this year, up to more than $180 million through September.

Canada has its own lobster fishing industry, which harvests the same species as U.S. fishermen, and the country sells lobsters domestically as well as to Europe and Asia. The country’s importing so many from the U.S. this year because it needs enough supply to send to China, said members of the lobster industry on both sides of the border.

“They go there to go to China, to avoid the tariffs,” said Spiros Tourkakis, executive vice president of East Coast Seafood, a dealer in Topsfield, Massachusetts.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Seattle Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester hopes catch can claw its way to top

August 20, 2018 — Building on the success of its Gloucester Fresh seafood branding campaign, the city of Gloucester plans to apply the same formula to help brand and market Massachusetts lobsters to lobster lovers the world over.

Couldn’t happen in a better place.

If you go by the numbers, there is no better Bay State lobster port to take up the banner for distinguishing Massachusetts lobsters from those hauled from the waters of neighboring states.

Gloucester has dominated the lobster trade in Massachusetts and the industry’s high profile here has helped mitigate some of the misery foisted upon the community by the continuing groundfish crisis.

It is the state’s No. 1 port in both number of active lobstermen — an average of 136 annually during the past five years — and amount of lobster annually landed. Gloucester has averaged 2.94 million pounds per year over the past five years, according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

During that period, no other Massachusetts lobster port ever claimed more than 60 active lobstermen in any given year, and none but Gloucester ever cracked double-digits in the percentage of statewide landings.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD: Maine lobster fishery doesn’t need a lecture on ethics from PETA

August 2, 2018 — One of the most interesting things about living in Maine is seeing all the people who come to visit us every summer.

But one group’s annual appearance is something that we don’t look forward to much – it’s the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and its annual attack on the lobster fishery.

This year, PETA has tried to make a splash by buying advertising at the Portland International Jetport, hoping to dissuade visitors from eating lobster while they’re here. It features a picture of a lobster that says: “I’m ME, not Meat! See the individual. Go Vegan.”

The question of whether lobsters see themselves as individuals separate from all other beings on the planet with a life that has a beginning and an end – in other words, whether they have consciousness – is too much to answer in this space. Let’s just say we strongly doubt it.

But as to the question of whether eating Maine lobsters can be considered ethical, we do have an opinion. It is.

The Maine lobster fishery is one of the most sustainable in the world. The men and women who bait traps have a history of self-imposed conservation measures and are governed by thoughtful regulations going back to 1879.

Read the full opinion piece at the Portland Press Herald

CFRF Lobster & Jonah Crab Research Session 8/30/18

August 2, 2018 — The following was released by the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation:

Please join the CFRF and its collaborators for a Lobster and Jonah Crab Research Session on Thursday, August 30, 2018 from 4-6 PM at the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island. The Research Session will include:

  • Discussion of the Lobster and Jonah Crab Research Fleet, including reflections from participant fishermen, data summaries, plans for the future, and viewing of the project documentary video.
  • Presentations from collaborators at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries on Jonah crab size at sexual maturity and the sustainability of the Jonah crab fishery.
  • Presentations from lobster and Jonah crab stock assessment scientists at the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center focusing on the use of the Research Fleet’s data in the lobster stock assessment and Jonah crab management plan.

To read more about the project and for project updates visit the project web page here.

RSVP to Aubrey at (401) 515-4892 or aellertson@cfrfoundation.org .

The research session is being held at the Commercial Fisheries Center of RI, Building 61B, URI East Farm Campus, Kingston, RI  (click here for directions).