Saving Seafood

MAINE: Fishermen, harbor pilots, cruise industry work to minimize gear loss from ships

February 27, 2020 — There’s a lot going on in the few square miles of ocean around Mount Desert Rock, the offshore island about 20 miles south of the entrance to Frenchman Bay.

College of the Atlantic operates a research station there. The rocky ocean bottom near the island is a prime spot for lobsters and has become more and more popular in recent years.

There is shipping traffic in the area, tankers going to and from Searsport, Portland and Portsmouth, according to harbor pilot Skip Strong of the Penobscot Bay Pilots.

And there are cruise ships. This year, 197 ship visits to Bar Harbor are scheduled, the bulk of them in September and October.

On their way into Frenchman Bay and Bar Harbor, the ships pass near Mount Desert Rock. Until recently, the recommended channel for large ships entering Frenchman Bay started about five miles north of Mount Desert Rock.

But enough fishermen were losing money and equipment when buoy lines were cut by a passing ship (or an underwater stabilizer sticking out from the side of a ship, or an underwater tow wire between a tug and barge), that they got to talking.

The conversation had some added urgency beginning in 2018, when the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) changed the rules for gear configurations in the area. Many fishermen used to use strings, or trawls, of 15 traps with a surface buoy at either end, in the area. Now, with more fishermen working in the same area, a 5-trap maximum is in effect. That means if a buoy line is cut, the whole trawl is lost.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Why climate emergency declarations matter for Maine

December 18, 2019 — On the evening of Dec. 2, the Brunswick Town Council joined Bar Harbor, South Portland, and Portland in declaring a state of climate emergency. Compared to the climate rally that followed on Dec. 6, this was a quiet affair — but a resounding one nonetheless. With unanimous approval, council members passed a resolution drafted by members of Bowdoin Climate Action, naming the urgency of the climate crisis and committing Brunswick to developing an action plan to potentially eliminate carbon emissions by 2030.

At first, such municipal action might seem nominal or unnecessary. Why bother to come out with a statement or engage with a massive, global issue on the scale of local government?

As it turns out, Maine’s towns are hardly the first to make the move. As early as December of 2016, the city of Darebin, Australia, a Melbourne suburb, declared a state of climate emergency. Since then, more than 1,200 local governments in 25 countries have followed suit, translating to nearly 800 million people globally represented by governments that have declared a climate emergency. Eight hundred million — that’s a lot, and it’s a number that will only continue to grow.

Let’s face it: in a time of crisis, where 2019 marks the end of the warmest decade on record and the number of billion-dollar climate disasters each year continues to rise, our federal government has effectively chosen to ignore this. We have no choice but to build power from the bottom up, tackling the climate crisis from our hometowns and city halls. A municipal climate emergency declaration isn’t an empty statement — it’s a bright red flag on the map. Enough of these, and state governments would be hard put to ignore the demands of their constituents.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Lobstermen at Ellsworth whale meeting ask state to resist federal pressure

November 5, 2019 — A growing number of Maine lobstermen are asking the state to resist federal pressure to change how they fish to protect the endangered right whale and called for state legal action to protect the $565 million a year fishery.

At a hearing in Ellsworth on Monday night, lobstermen chimed in on a state whale protection proposal that calls for a combination of weak rope, gear marking and more traps on offshore buoy lines to reduce the risk to right whales by about 58 percent.

It’s better than earlier plans, which called for the elimination of 50 percent of buoy lines, but it’s still dangerous for Maine fishermen who will be mired waist-deep in rope on deck, and won’t do anything to help the whales, they argued.

“It’s not going to work, there’s got to be a different way,” said Jim Hanscom, a Bar Harbor lobsterman who spoke out against adding more traps to weaker rope. “You’ve got to just buck up and say we can’t do this. it’s just not going to work.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

1,300 fishermen wanted first new scallop licenses since 2009. Only four got them.

November 12, 2018 — The state has chosen four fishermen from eastern Maine from almost 1,300 applicants who sought the first new scallop fishing licenses to be issued in Maine in the past nine years.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources held a lottery this week to determine who among the nearly 1,300 applicants would be allowed into the lucrative scallop fishery this coming winter.

The names of Matthew Alley of Beals Island, Chase Fitzsimmons of Lubec, Johnathon Oliver of Deer Isle and Frank Gott of Bar Harbor were drawn from the pool. Each of them has 30 days to submit formal paperwork to the department to get his license, DMR officials wrote in a release.

The lottery was devised last winter as part of a system to allow new people into the fishery while still limiting the number of licenses issued by the state. Only people 18 or older who previously have been licensed to fish scallops (and who don’t currently have a license) or who have worked on the crew of a commercial scallop boat are allowed to participate in the annual lottery.

The 2018-19 scallop fishing season is expected to get under way in the next few weeks and to run until early next spring.

The state stopped issuing new scallop fishing licenses nine years ago when stocks were declining and the state’s annual scallop season was in danger of being canceled. A new fishery management scheme the state developed and implemented since then has helped stocks recover, while demand has pushed the price of scallops to historic highs.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

What’s on a real roll? Demand for the Maine lobster

November 25, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — The demand for lobster is on a roll — often literally. And that is helping to keep the price that Maine lobstermen are getting for their catch near historic highs.

The annual per-pound price first rose above $4 in 2004 and stayed there through 2007, then fell sharply during the recession. In 2015, annual price paid to Maine lobstermen reached $4.09 a pound, the first time it had topped the $4 mark since 2007.

This year, dockside prices for lobster have been close to or above the $4 level throughout the summer and fall, when most lobster is caught and prices usually dip to reflect the ample supply.

The demand for lobster has been buoyed, in part, by the number of casual restaurants that now include it on their menus and by the growing popularity of lobster rolls sold from roadside food trucks, according lobster industry officials.

“No question, more people are offering lobster up and down the [restaurant] hierarchy,” Matt Jacobson, head of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, said. “More awareness and more vendors is great, and drives demand.”

Among the eateries boosting demand for lobster rolls are the Luke’s Lobster chain of restaurants, franchised food trucks, such as Cousins Maine Lobster, and even McDonald’s, which has served lobster rolls at its New England locations the past two summers.

Jim Dow of Bar Harbor, vice president of Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said that, despite the mild weather last winter and warmer-than-usual water in the Gulf of Maine this past spring, there was not a repeat of the glut of new-shell lobster that in 2012 sent prices plummeting to their lowest point in decades.

“We did not get a big burst when the shedders first started” in early summer, Dow said. “They came in, but it was short-lived.”

Dow, who fishes out of Bass Harbor on Mount Desert Island, said that while fisherman in that area have been getting around $4 to $4.50 per pound this fall, the price of bait has been much higher than last year. This year he is paying $45 to $50 per bushel of herring, compared with $25 a year ago.

“Our bait price doubled,” Dow said, adding that fuel prices have stayed relatively low.

Patrice McCarron, executive director of Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said recently that the increase in bait costs could mean that many lobsterman earn less money this year even if their gross revenues rise.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

ASMFC lobster board tackles fishery issues

November 8, 2016 — BAR HARBOR, Maine — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s lobster board adopted no new policies affecting Maine lobstermen during its annual meeting in Bar Harbor at the end of October, but the group did discuss future options for trip reporting, crab bycatch and improving the lobster stock in Southern New England.

The board relies on data from dealer and harvester reporting to make management decisions.

“The technical committee (which provides scientific advice to the management board) highlighted data deficiencies in federal waters,” Fishery Management Plan coordinator Megan Ware said.

Most state fishery departments conduct their own lobster surveys, such as the Department of Marine Resources settlement survey, ventless trap survey and sea sampling program. But each state is different.

“States are collecting a variety of this information, but it’s not uniform,” Ware said.

Offshore waters — beyond the three-mile limit — have become an increasingly important part of the fishery and they are outside the scope of the state programs.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

Lobster board tackles fishery issues

November 3, 2016 — BAR HARBOR, Maine — No new policy affecting local lobstermen was handed down from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s lobster board from its meeting here last week, but the group discussed future options for trip reporting, crab bycatch and improving the lobster stock in southern New England.

The board relies on data from dealer and harvester reporting to make management decisions. “The technical committee highlighted data deficiencies in federal waters,” lobster fishery management plan (FMP) coordinator Megan Ware said.

Most state fishery departments conduct their own lobster surveys, such as Maine’s settlement survey, ventless trap survey and sea sampling program. But offshore waters are an increasingly important part of the fishery, and they’re outside the scope of those programs.

“States are collecting a variety of this information, but it’s not uniform,” Ware said.

The board’s lobster reporting working group presented short, medium and long-term goals to improve data collection. Current rules require 100 percent dealer reporting and at least 10 percent active harvester reporting.

The working group said that 10 percent includes recreational fishermen and recommended switching to only commercial harvesters. They would need 30 percent of active harvesters reporting to have statistically valid information. It also would be helpful to managers if they had data about trap hauls, soak time and gear configuration.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Menhaden catch cap eased

November 3, 2016 — Meeting in Bar Harbor, Maine, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to allow a 6.5% increase in the harvest of menhaden. The fish are used to make animal meal and health supplements and as bait to catch crabs, striped bass and other fish. But they’re also considered a vital link in the marine food chain and a staple in the diet of striped bass and other predators. For all of those reasons their management stirs intense passion.

The commission, which regulates near-shore fishing from Maine to Florida, had deadlocked in August over whether to raise the allowable menhaden catch next year. It began its final meeting of the year discussing the need to set some limit or there would be no cap at all in 2017.

Fishing interests have been pushing for a substantial catch increase, arguing that recent studies showed there were plenty of fish in coastal waters and no risk of taking too many. Yet, conservationists urged the commission to stay the course saying the fisheries panel should first figure out how many menhaden are needed as food for other fish and then look at reallocating the commercial harvest to spread the catch around more.

This is the latest round in a debate that goes back to December 2012, when the commission cut the catch 20% coastwide after a stock assessment indicated the fish population was overfished. It was the first time the commission set a coastwide harvest limit for menhaden.

A subsequent study finished last year, which used new models and new information, contradicted the earlier one finding that menhaden weren’t overfished. Further analysis by the commission’s technical advisory committee suggested the fish were abundant enough that catch limits could be raised by as much as 40% without any risk of taking too many.

Commercial fishing interests pressed for an increase of at least 20% from the current coastwide cap of 188,000 metric tons, arguing that it would ease the economic pinch that fishermen have had to endure the last four years because of a cut they said the science showed was unwarranted. But conservationists resisted, pointing out that the commission already raised the catch limit 10% last year in response to the more optimistic stock assessment and that it had not yet figured out how many menhaden should be left uncaught to feed other species.

Bill Goldsborough, senior fisheries scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and a member of Maryland’s delegation to the commission, appealed for the panel to hold the line on the harvest cap. There are signs menhaden are increasing in number and showing up in waters off New England where they haven’t been seen in years. But while surveys show increases in juvenile fish along much of the coast, sampling has not found a similar upswing in the bay, one of the primary nursery areas.

Read the full story at the Rappahannock Record

ASMFC Considers Alternatives for Summer Flounder Management

November 3, 2016 — BAR HARBOR, Maine — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board initiated development of Draft Addendum XXVIII to the Summer Flounder Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to consider alternative management approaches, including regional options, for the 2017 recreational summer flounder fishery. The Draft Addendum will have options which are designed to achieve the 2017 recreational harvest limit (RHL).

Changes in summer flounder distribution, abundance and availability created problems under the static state-by-state allocations, with overages often occurring. In response, states would implement regulations to reduce harvest, resulting in differing regulations between neighboring states. In 2014, the Board shifted away from traditional state-by-state allocations to a regional approach for managing summer flounder recreational fisheries. A benefit of the regional approach is it provides the states the flexibility to temporarily share allocations. The intent is to set regulations that account for shifting distribution, abundance and availability while providing stability and greater regulatory consistency among neighboring states as well as individual states in achieving but not exceeding the coastwide RHL.

In August, the Board and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) approved a 30% reduction in the 2017 coastwide RHL relative to 2016. This was in response the 2016 Stock Assessment Update which found fishing mortality was higher in recent years and population estimates were lower than previously projected.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire