Saving Seafood

Disease resistance gene pinpointed in farmed salmon, trout

September 24, 2021 — Using a combination of genomics and gene-editing technologies, a team of scientists has identified a gene that has a major role in the resistance of salmonids to Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus (IPNV), a disease that can cause high mortality levels in farmed salmon and trout.

The study, carried out by the Roslin Institute and Hendrix Genetics – together with the University of Stirling; the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science; and Uppsala University – identified the gene Nedd8 Activating Enzyme E1 (Nae1) in Atlantic salmon using CRISPR gene-editing technology.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Maine groups receive $900K to help restore Atlantic salmon populations

September 8, 2021 — Continuing efforts to help restore Atlantic salmon populations in Maine are receiving a boost thanks to $900,000 in funding awarded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced Tuesday that four organizations in Maine have been selected to receive money from the distribution to assist their efforts.

“Atlantic salmon are a critical part of our state’s marine ecosystem, but they are endangered and at risk of extinction,” Collins and King said in a joint statement. “These fish help to ensure the health of our rivers and oceans that Mainers and wildlife depend on. We welcome this funding, which will help to conserve and restore wild Atlantic salmon and their ecosystems across the state.”

The Atlantic salmon, specifically the Gulf of Maine distinct population that has been protected since 2000 under the Endangered Species Act, is one of the most at-risk endangered species, NOAA reported. Only approximately 1,200 fish return each year, although as of Aug. 30 only 522 salmon have been counted so far this year at the Milford and Orono dams.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

MAINE: Penobscot River is on track to see fewest Atlantic salmon in recent years

August 30, 2021 — As the species continues to struggle to reproduce and re-establish historic populations, there have been considerably fewer Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot River this year.

As of the latest trap count report provided Aug. 23 by the Maine Department of Marine Resources, only 520 salmon have passed through the Milford and Orono dams this year.

That is fewer fish than were counted, as of the same date, in each of the previous four years and represents the fourth lowest total since 2000.

But one down year doesn’t spell disaster for the species.

Last year, 1,458 Atlantic salmon made their way through the Penobscot River dams, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. It was the highest return since 2011.

“There are many factors that might contribute to the lower run this year, the most significant likely being low survival at sea and poor freshwater survival and passage at dams for juveniles in prior years,” said Sean Ledwin, the sea run fisheries and habitat division director for the Department of Marine Resources.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

$900,000 in Funding Recommended for Atlantic Salmon Habitat Restoration

July 30, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is recommending nearly $900,000 in funding for four partners to implement projects that restore habitat for Atlantic salmon in the Gulf of Maine watershed. The Gulf of Maine distinct population segment of Atlantic salmon is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. It’s also one of nine NOAA Species in the Spotlight.

Atlantic salmon are an iconic species of the Northeast. They once returned by the hundreds of thousands to most major rivers along the northeastern United States. Now, they only return in small numbers to rivers in central and eastern Maine. These populations comprise the Gulf of Maine distinct population segment.

Proposed projects funded under these partnerships will improve fish passage. They will remove or modify dams, culverts, and other barriers blocking Atlantic salmon from reaching their habitats. They will also restore the structure and function of streams used by Atlantic salmon for spawning and rearing.

We’re recommending nearly $900,000 to fund the first year of four multi-year efforts:

  • The Atlantic Salmon Federation will implement five projects to restore access to Atlantic salmon spawning and rearing habitats in the Kennebec River watershed. They will also conduct a fish passage feasibility study at the Chesterville Wildlife Management Area Dam on Little Norridgewock Stream. ($213,854)
  • Project SHARE will replace undersized culverts at 13 sites, connecting habitat for Atlantic salmon across the Dennys, Machias, Pleasant, Union, and Narraguagus River watersheds. They will also conduct fish passage feasibility studies at the Great Works Dam and at Marion Falls fishway. Funding will also support freshwater habitat restoration work in the Narraguagus River watershed. ($303,225)
  • The Nature Conservancy will complete the final designs to remove Guilford Dam and restore the adjacent floodplain, which will reconnect habitat for Atlantic salmon in the Piscataquis River watershed. They will also restore access to high-quality habitat by improving fish passage at three high-priority road crossings over streams. ($250,000)
  • The Downeast Salmon Federation will support fish passage feasibility studies at the Cherryfield Ice Control Dam on the Narraguagus River and the Gardner Lake Dam on the East Machias River, to support future habitat restoration in these watersheds. Funding will also support fish passage improvements at the Gardner Lake Dam. ($131,000)

Degraded habitat is one of the largest obstacles facing the recovery of threatened and endangered species like Atlantic salmon. Habitat restoration helps repair areas that have been destroyed by development, blocked by dams, or otherwise subjected to habitat destruction. Through funding and technical assistance, NOAA supports projects that restore the habitats that threatened and endangered species need to recover.

Funding Recommendations for Atlantic Salmon Habitat Restoration in Maine

July 29, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries is pleased to announce the recommendation of nearly $900,000 in funding for four partners to implement projects that restore habitat for Atlantic salmon in Maine.

The Gulf of Maine distinct population segment (DPS) of Atlantic salmon is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and is one of nine NOAA Species in the Spotlight.

Proposed projects funded under these partnerships will improve fish passage by removing or modifying dams, culverts, and other barriers blocking Atlantic salmon from reaching their habitats.

Degraded habitat is one of the largest obstacles to recovering protected species like Atlantic salmon, which is an iconic species of the Northeast. Proposed projects funded under these partnerships will target priority habitat restoration actions needed for Atlantic salmon recovery. These projects will also benefit other native species that contribute to the health of the Gulf of Maine, such as river herring, sea lamprey, American shad, and American eel.

Read our web story to learn more about this recommended funding.

Read the full release here

MAINE: Groups urge state to protect last wild Atlantic salmon in US

July 26, 2021 — Maine is home to the last wild Atlantic salmon populations in the U.S., but a new push to protect the fish at the state level is unlikely to land them on the endangered list.

Atlantic salmon once teemed in U.S. rivers, but now return from the sea to only a handful of rivers in eastern and central Maine. The fish are protected at the federal level under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, but a coalition of environmental groups and scientists said the fish could be afforded more protections if they were added to Maine’s own list of endangered and threatened species.

State law allows Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher to make that recommendation, but his office told The Associated Press he does not intend to do it. The department has done extensive work to conserve and restore the fish, and the commissioner “does not believe a listing at the state level would afford additional conservation benefits or protections,” said Jeff Nichols, a department spokesperson.

The environmentalists who want to see the fish on the state list said they’re going to keep pushing for it and other protections. Adding the fish to the state endangered list would mean conservation of salmon would be treated as a bigger concern in state permitting processes, said John Burrows, executive director for U.S. operations for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

“The state of Maine and a handful of our rivers are the only places in the country that still have wild Atlantic salmon,” Burrows said. “It’s something that should happen, and should have happened.”

Atlantic salmon have disappeared from U.S. rivers because of damming, pollution and others environmental challenges, and they also face the looming threat of climate change. Nevertheless, there have been some positive signs in Maine rivers in recent years.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Are sprawling fish farms coming to swallow Maine?

July 23, 2021 — On a chilly Sunday in June, Sarah Redmond steers her pickup outside of an old sardine cannery here in Gouldsboro, Maine, leaps out, and pulls from the truck bed what looks like lobster traps oozing with slimy, withered vegetable matter. “I’m doing research on dulse,” she says, about the tough, purplish seaweed that is higher in protein and lower in iodine than other varieties. Seaweed is popular in Japan, she says, but Americans find it too intense. “We sell it mostly as an ingredient and as seasoning,” she says. “It’s a flavor enhancer, in chips, bread, cereal — you can sprinkle it on as a barbecue rub. It’s got vitamins, minerals, fiber.”

Wearing thick rubber muck boots, jeans, and a camouflage baseball cap pulled low over a loose ponytail, Redmond looks every inch the farmer she is. But unlike most farmers, her crop is seeded on ropes strung through 55 acres of saltwater. Redmond, 40, owns Springtide Seaweed, the nation’s largest organic seaweed farm, based in this onetime cannery on the shores of Frenchman Bay. In addition to dulse, she grows sugar kelp, skinny kelp, and alaria kelp.

Redmond’s farm is part of a state-supported effort to build an edible-seaweed farming industry. Maine is home to the bulk of the country’s kelp farms; the state’s seaweed harvest is expected to grow from 54,000 pounds in 2018 to 3 million pounds in 2035. It’s an audacious experiment in a country that does not traditionally eat much seaweed, but it is seen as essential to bolstering Maine’s fragile economy.

Driving this investment is fear: Last summer, the Gulf of Maine recorded its all-time hottest temperature — 69.85 degrees. The Gulf is one of the fastest-warming bodies of saltwater on the planet, and the locals know full well that as water temperatures continue to rise, lobsters — by far the state’s most lucrative fishery — will abandon Maine for cooler Canadian waters. Lobster brings over $400 million dollars in direct revenue to Maine each year, and lures visitors from all over the world to restaurants, seafood shacks, and festivals. But perhaps not for long: In 2018, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and several research partners estimated that by mid-century Maine’s lobster population will plummet by as much as 62 percent.

To fend off economic disaster, Maine is striving to wean itself from its dependence on lobster, and on all wild fisheries. It has little choice. Wild Atlantic salmon all but disappeared from the state decades ago, as have cod and northern shrimp. Sea urchins have been harvested to near extinction, and wild clams and mussels are increasingly scarce. As one wild fishery after another falters, a growing number of ambitious, far-sighted people like Redmond see the future of Maine — and in some sense the future of food — in the cultivation of water-dwelling plants and animals.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

How Might Fish Farms Be Affecting Lobsters?

July 19, 2021 — Open-net pen Atlantic salmon aquaculture is big business on Canada’s east coast. Given the industry’s size, much has been studied and written about its effects on wild salmon. But how might fish farms be affecting other species in their vicinity—such as lobster? Lobster is one of the most economically valuable wild species, and the bulk of the world’s catch is made along the eastern seaboard of North America. Inka Milewski, who studies the interactions between aquaculture and the wider ecosystem at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, recently parsed the scientific literature to determine the ways in which salmon aquaculture is affecting wild lobsters.

Milewski and her colleagues identified a multitude of factors that could affect lobsters, their habitat, and the lobster fishery. Net pens change oceanographic conditions, for example by reducing current speeds, increasing turbulence, and breaking up waves. The farms also generate waste, such as excess food, fish feces, and urine, as well as the chemicals used to control pests and diseases. Lights, noises, and odors associated with the farms can disrupt lobster behavior.

Milewski says she was most surprised by how sensitive lobsters are to the particulate and dissolved organic and inorganic waste that result from fish feces and uneaten food. These chemicals can disrupt critical lobster behaviors like feeding, spawning, and mating. Her review identified studies that show that these waste products can change the quality of lobsters’ diets and promote harmful algal blooms near farms.

“There is a tremendous amount of waste generated by fish farms,” Milewski says. “I don’t think people have a sense of the scale.” A fairly typical farm of about 600,000 fish will generate around 40 tonnes of waste every month during its 22-month production cycle. “It’s understandable how that waste can change lobsters’ behavior, distribution, and abundance,” she adds.

But the review also identified serious gaps in our understanding of the interactions between aquaculture operations and lobsters. While some aspects, such as the use of chemical pesticides, have been well studied, information on others, including waste discharges, disease, and noise, are limited or entirely lacking.

Read the full story at Hakai Magazine

MAINE: Meeting fails to quell salmon farm concerns

July 1, 2021 — American Aquafarms last week once again made a case for its $330 million project to raise Atlantic salmon off Bald Rock and Long Porcupine Island and process the fish at the now dormant Maine Fair Trade Lobster Co. facility in Prospect Harbor. But the Norwegian-backed company’s June 23 presentation did little to quell citizens’ fears that the proposed operation will harm the area’s robust lobster fishery and scenic values that draw millions of visitors to the region annually.

At the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ 3.5-hour scoping session, held via Zoom, American Aquafarms heard comments and answered questions about its proposal and draft applications to lease the two Frenchman Bay sites for up to 20 years. The intent, too, was for the company to inform the public about its proposed plan to harvest as much as 66 million pounds of salmon annually from the two 15-pen sites and process the fish at the Prospect Harbor facility. Sardines, lobster and other seafood have been processed almost continuously at that facility and transported to market from there for at least 115 years.

Attending the Zoom session, Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider had a prepared statement to read aloud, but he was not among the 13 people who got to speak during the allotted time. In his statement, made public June 24, Schneider called for the DMR’s July deadline for submitting written comments on the long-term leases to be extended to Aug. 6. In his remarks, he noted that Acadia National Park is just 2,000 feet at the closest point from the two lease sites each comprising 60.32 acres. At both sites, two rows of eight and seven closed pens would be arranged in grids and anchored to the ocean floor in mooring systems encompassing 10 acres each.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

TOM JOHNSON: Maine Compass: Restore Maine’s place as bastion of wild, native fish

June 29, 2021 — I am writing on behalf of the Maine chapter of Native Fish Coalition regarding the recent proposal by the state to allocate $20 million from the American Rescue Plan to update and modernize Maine’s fish hatcheries.

Native Fish Coalition (NFC) is a nonpartisan, grassroots, donor-funded, all volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to the conservation, preservation, and restoration of wild native fish. Founded in Maine, we also have chapters in Alabama, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and West Virginia with members, partners, volunteers, supporters and followers.

When it was announced that Maine’s hatchery system will receive $20 million from the American Rescue Plan, it was stated: “At the core of Maine’s fisheries is Maine’s state hatchery system.” This is a gross misrepresentation of what Maine’s fisheries are, what makes Maine unique, and why people come to Maine to fish.

Read the full opinion piece at Central Maine