Saving Seafood

Federal bill would undo six-year right whale regulatory pause championed by Maine delegation

March 2, 2023 — The bill has a long name: The Restoring Effective Science-based Conservation Under Environmental Laws Protecting Whales, or the RESCUE Whales Act.

But the legislation, introduced earlier this week by Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, would have a simple outcome. It would eliminate a provision that pauses the development of new federal right whale regulations on the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries for the next six years, a measure that Maine’s congressional delegation slipped into the latest federal spending bill during the final days of 2022.

In joint statement, all four members of the Maine delegation defended the provision, which they described as a “lifeline” to the state’s lobster industry that provides “time to pinpoint the true cause of the decline in the right whale population.”

The Rescue Whales Act, they said, would “unfairly target Maine’s lobster industry without any data or taking into account the reality in the Gulf of Maine.”

Read the full article at Maine Public

Maine Lobstermen’s court appeal heard; new attempt to rescind gear delay

March 1, 2023 — A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. is considering the Maine Lobstermen’s Association appeal of the government’s fishing gear restrictions aimed at saving endangered whales.

In arguments Feb. 24, the MLA’s lead attorney Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general during the Bush administration, laid out the fishermen’s case, arguing the National Marine Fisheries Service went overboard in making worst-case assumptions about the danger of Maine lobster gear entangling whales.

The North Atlantic right whale is highly endangered, with fewer than 350 animals believed to be surviving, with ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement leading causes of mortality. Clement made the MLA’s case that none in recent years have been documented to involve Maine lobster gear.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Biden admin scientist raised alarm on offshore wind harming whales months ago

February 28, 2023 — A senior Biden administration scientist authored an internal memo warning of the impacts offshore wind development may have on marine life months before the recent spate of whale deaths along the East Coast.

Sean Hayes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) chief of protected species, penned the memo in May 2022 and sent it to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) lead biologist Brian Hooker, also copying more than a dozen other scientists from the two agencies. The memo highlighted Hayes’ concerns about how offshore wind construction and surveying could disrupt the endangered Atlantic right whale.

“The development of offshore wind poses risks to these species, which is magnified in southern New England waters due to species abundance and distribution,” Hayes wrote in the letter dated May 13. “These risks occur at varying stages, including construction and development, and include increased noise, vessel traffic, habitat modifications, water withdrawals associated with certain substations.”

Read the full article at Fox News

Federal court hears arguments from Maine lobstermen appealing right whale regulations

February 27, 2023 — A federal appeals court heard arguments Friday from the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, which is challenging a government plan to regulate the fishery and conserve endangered right whales.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association had promised to take its latest appeal of federal fishing regulations all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

But lobstermen hope they’ll avoid that prospect, especially with Paul Clement, an attorney with more than 100 past Supreme Court appearances, representing Maine.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

2 more whales found dead along Atlantic Coast. NOAA says they were likely hit by boats.

February 16, 2023 — Necropsies on two whales found dead along the Atlantic coast this week revealed that both marine mammals showed evidence of vessel strikes.

Both whales, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and a humpback, were already beginning to decompose, but preliminary results show internal injuries consistent with the blunt force trauma of a vessel strike, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.

The deaths are among a flurry of 21 whale deaths along the length of the Atlantic coast since Dec. 3.

While several politicians who previously expressed opposition to — or concerns about — offshore wind energy projects have called for a moratorium on wind activities and an investigation into the whale deaths, preliminary exams show at least five of the 21 whales were likely killed in vessel collisions. Several were too decomposed to be examined.

Read the full article at USA Today

VRIGINIA: Endangered North Atlantic right whale washes ashore in Virginia Beach

February 15, 2023 — A 43-foot North Atlantic right whale washed ashore Sunday near Aeires on the Bay Park.

A necropsy was slated for today by the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center Stranding Response Program and NOAA. Officials estimate the whale was 20 years old.

Last week, the Virginia Beach Marine Patrol pulled a dead 36-foot humpback whale ashore near First Landing State Park. In the humpback’s necropsy, the stranding team used a technique they call “peeling the banana,” in which they split the whale from mouth to tail, catalog and take samples. The samples help researchers determine the mammal’s diet, the health of its organs and potential cause of death.

“It is helpful to know that, even though it has passed away, we can still learn something from it,” said Caryl Thompson, chief operating officer at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center.

The whale was then buried on the beach.

Read the full article at The Virginian-Pilot

Lobster fishers sued federal government over closure to help whales

February 13, 2023 — A group of Massachusetts lobster fishers has sued the federal government over an emergency closure of fishing grounds that are designed to protect a vanishing species of whale.

The closure, enacted Feb. 1, blocked off about 200 square miles (518 square kilometers) of Massachusetts Bay from lobster fishing until the end of April. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the closure was necessary to protect North Atlantic right whales from dangerous entanglement in fishing ropes.

Read the full article News Center Maine

MAINE: Wave of changes hitting Maine’s lobster industry all at once

February 8, 2023 — Even with congressionally-approved six-year reprieve from economically restrictive rules related to preserving the remaining population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, the lobster fishery in the U.S. Northeast is facing an inflection point.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is continuing to battle the National Marine Fisheries Service in court, challenging the agency’s May 2022 biological opinion for right whales.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Despite a pause on new regulations, U.S. and Canadian lobstermen see big challenges ahead

February 7, 2023 — After a two-year hiatus, members of the U.S. and Canadian lobster fisheries met in Portland over the weekend to discuss challenges facing their industry. Top of mind is how the industry will prepare before new federal regulations designed to protect endangered right whales begin in six years.

Fisheries in Maine had late last year expressed relief about the years-long delay in the rules change included in a federal spending bill, as it bought the industry more time to research and test new fishing techniques and other measures aimed at protecting North Atlantic right whales.

Read the full article at wbur

NMFS, Massachusetts order gear removal for right whales on the move

February 3, 2023 — An unusual winter concentration of endangered North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay prompted Massachusetts state officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service to order a three-month removal of trap and pot fishing gear in the region through April 30.

The emergency rule announced NMFS this week covers the Massachusetts Restricted Area Wedge where the gear closure is intended to reduce the risk of gear entanglement “when large numbers of whales are exiting Cape Cod Bay at the same time and place where fishermen are either fishing or may be staging their trap/pot fishing gear in preparation for the May 1 opening of federal waters in the Massachusetts Restricted Area,” according to the agency.

NMFS last imposed an similar emergency rule for the Massachusetts wedge area in April 2022. The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries requested the NMFS action, as the state imposed its own state-waters seasonal restrictions effective Feb. 1.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman