October 27, 2022 — Machias Savings Bank announced Wednesday they are donating $250,000 to the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.
The donation is for their Save Maine Lobstermen campaign.
They say it comes after a federal appeals court granted a motion to expedite the association’s appeal of a decision in their lawsuit against National Marine Fisheries Service.
October 26, 2022 — Federal agencies have put out a new plan to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whales, as the government promotes aggressive development of offshore wind energy projects.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and National Marine Fisheries Service released their joint strategy Oct. 21 “to protect and promote the recovery of North Atlantic right whales while responsibly developing offshore wind energy.”
The announcement initiated a 45-day public review and comment period on the draft strategy. Comments on the guidance can be submitted online via regulations.gov from October 21 to December 4, under Docket Number BOEM-2022-0066.
The plan comes out amid turmoil in the commercial fishing industry over NMFS plans for gear and area restrictions in the Northeast lobster fishery to reduce the danger of entanglement with whales. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is challenging the plans in federal appeals court, as NMFS looks toward potential restrictions on other East Coast fisheries that use fixed gear like fish pots and gill nets.
Meanwhile opponents of offshore wind projects have set their sights on the right whales’ predicament as a strategy to use for challenging wind developers and federal agencies in court. Activists and lawyers organized by the Heartland Institute, a frequent critic of renewable energy programs, say right whales could be key to a challenge of Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.
October 25, 2022 — A proposal of expanded speed limit areas along the East Coast to protect right whales and their calves had Ocean City fishermen crying foul in a Thursday meeting with Rep. Andy Harris, R-1st-Md.
The National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is proposing a federal rule that would expand the current 10 knot speed restrictions on boats 65 feet and longer to include all boats 35 feet and longer.
The rule would also expand the speed restriction zone from current right whale calving areas to the entire East Coast, from Massachusetts to Florida.
“Instead of decision makers getting educated on (our job), we’re just told to do something with no steps in place to explain why,” said Jacob Wainglass, a charter fisherman in Ocean City. “Where we fish is no short trip. It’s anywhere from 50 to 90 miles where we’re going. So when you add in those (speed limits), that is three quarters of a day just in transit and it’s not practical for us. Our days as fishermen are already long enough.”
October 25, 2022 — The decline of an endangered species of whale slowed last year, as it lost about 2% of its population, but scientists warn the animal still faces existential threats and is losing breeding females too fast.
The North Atlantic right whale’s population was more than 480 in 2010 and fell by more than 25% over the following decade. The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, a group of scientists, government officials and industry members, said Monday that the population fell to an estimated 340 last year.
That is a decline of eight animals from the previous year, when the population was initially thought to be even fewer. The whales are vulnerable to ship collisions and entanglement in commercial fishing gear, and they have suffered from poor reproduction and high mortality in recent years.
“The reality is we are still seeing unsustainable levels of human impacts on the species,” said Heather Pettis, research scientist in the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life and executive administrator of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. “We’re still injuring these animals to a point where it’s not just about survival. It’s about health, it’s about reproduction.”
October 25, 2022 — Maine lobstermen may get a temporary break on new rules aimed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. But it will be up to a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to decide.
The lobster industry, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) are involved in federal court negotiations over imposing new and tougher restrictions on fishing.
October 25, 2022 — The number of North Atlantic right whales has dropped to 340, down from 348 in 2020, according to numbers released today. The population has been shrinking for a decade, though the rate of decline might be slowing slightly.
The report from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium also notes that there were only 15 calves born in 2022 — fewer than the 18 born in 2021.
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“Females aren’t having calves until they’re much older, if at all,” said Heather Pettis, research scientist in the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life and executive administrator of the Consortium.
She blames the low birth rate, at least in part, on the stress and injury whales experience when tangled in fishing gear. Entanglements and ship strikes are the leading causes of death for right whales.
October 25, 2022 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a joint draft strategy to protect and promote the recovery of North Atlantic right whales while responsibly developing offshore wind energy. The draft strategy is now available for public comment no later than December 4, 2022. It outlines how the agencies will collaborate and improve science and information to support the Administration’s goal of developing offshore wind while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use. The draft strategy will also provide offshore wind developers with guidance on mitigation measures that will assist them in navigating the regulatory process.
“As we face the ongoing challenges of climate change, this strategy provides a strong foundation to help us advance renewable energy while also working to protect and recover North Atlantic right whales, and the ecosystem they depend on,” said Janet Coit, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries and Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere at NOAA. “Responsible development of renewable energy sources and protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales are priorities both agencies share.”
NOAA Fisheries and our partners are dedicated to protecting and recovering North Atlantic right whales. Their population includes fewer than 350 individuals and fewer than 70 reproductively active females and has been experiencing an Unusual Mortality Event since 2017. Climate change is affecting every aspect of right whales’ survival—changing their habitat, their migratory patterns, and the location and availability of their prey. It is even increasing their risk of becoming entangled in fishing gear or being struck by vessels.
Offshore wind development is also rapidly expanding along the Atlantic coast of the United States, especially from Massachusetts to North Carolina. North Atlantic right whales’ habitat and migration routes are primarily in Atlantic coastal waters on the continental shelf where offshore wind leases exist or are planned. Working together on this draft strategy leverages the resources and expertise of both agencies and allows the agencies. It will allow us to collect, apply, and use the best available scientific information to inform offshore wind management decisions.
“This draft strategy focuses on improving the science and integrating past, present, and future efforts related to North Atlantic right whales and offshore wind development,” said Dr. Jon Hare, the Director of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and one of the lead authors of the draft strategy. “We also identify preliminary mitigation measures related to offshore wind energy project planning, leasing, and siting, site characterization, and unexploded ordnance surveys, construction and operation, and project-specific monitoring, and are looking for public comment on these measures and on the strategy overall.”
The draft strategy also identifies project-specific and regional preliminary monitoring measures. These mitigation measures include the types of requirements that regulatory agencies and project proponents consider for individual projects, thereby assisting offshore wind developers to navigate the permitting process. The list of measures is not comprehensive and does not supersede measures that may be required by the agencies during regulatory processes such as construction and operations plan approvals, Endangered Species Act consultations, or incidental take authorizations.
Following review of public comments, the draft strategy will be finalized. The final strategy will be a living document, periodically evaluated and updated as new information becomes available.
View the draft strategy and information on how to submit comments
The ambitious deployment of offshore wind energy is a critical component of U.S. efforts to combat the climate crisis and build a clean energy economy. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to addressing the nation’s climate crisis by deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.
BOEM is the lead federal agency responsible for offshore energy exploration and development in the United States. To date, BOEM has leased approximately 1.7 million acres in the northeast and Mid-Atlantic U.S. Outer Continental Shelf for offshore wind development. There are 25 active leases in the Atlantic from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras.
NOAA Fisheries works with BOEM, other federal agencies, tribes, state agencies, and stakeholders to assess how offshore wind projects affect endangered and threatened species, marine mammals, fisheries, marine habitats, and fishing communities, and protect these important resources.
October 25, 2022 — The population of North Atlantic right whales dropped 2.3 percent over the past year to an estimated 340 individuals, according to a report released Monday, 24 October by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.
The downward trend was influenced by “ongoing human impacts that are hindering the critically endangered species’ ability to survive and reproduce,” according to the consortium, which was founded in 1986 by the New England Aquarium and partners from the University of Rhode Island, the Center for Coastal Studies, Marineland of Florida, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a collaborative means to better understand and protect the species. The group now has approximately 100 members that are engaged in right whale conservation efforts.
October 25, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries and the Interior Department released a draft strategy Friday to protect the endangered right whale amid an imminent boom of offshore wind development.
The draft lays out a plan for both agencies to engage with the public and ocean users. It also spells out several primary goals for raising wind turbines while trying to recover the whale’s population, such as prioritizing mitigation, new research and monitoring, and improving communication.
“BOEM is deeply committed to ensuring responsible offshore wind energy development while protecting and promoting the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale,” said Amanda Lefton, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a subagency of Interior.
October 22, 2022 — Maine’s lobster industry is renowned for harvesting the sweetest, most tender lobster meat in the world. Our rocky coastline, craggy ocean bottoms and water that is neither too warm nor too cold set us up perfectly for the Homarus americanus, or American lobster, species we harvest. They are the most sought after in the world, and even inspired the name of a restaurant chain.
Maine’s iconic crustacean is not only a billion-dollar industry, but also a part of our state’s ethos and heritage. We’ve been fishing for these “bugs” since the 1800s, and the industry was one of the first to self-regulate when fishermen adopted a rule 150 years ago to protect the fishery by returning egg-bearing females. Size and other limitations have been put in place since to ensure the population’s sustainability.
Lobstering can be a hazardous profession, too. The typical season for most of Maine’s lobstermen is June to October when lobsters are closer to shore in their preferred habitat of up to 164 feet of water. When the water gets cold, however, they can move as far as 30 miles offshore where conditions are more challenging and dangerous for fishermen.