Saving Seafood

Maine lobstermen can’t find gear to comply with new federal regulations

January 19, 2022 — Chebeague Island lobsterman Jeff Putnam has been on the hunt for small plastic links that will meet new requirements set to go in effect this spring to help protect right whales.

Starting on May 1, lobstermen, depending on where they fish, will have to add inserts that will weaken their ropes or use ropes that are rated to break at 1,700 pounds of force to comply with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulations to help protect the endangered species.

The links are designed to weaken the fishing ropes that run between his buoys and lobster traps. But Putnam and other lobstermen say that they can’t find the gear they need to comply with the new rules, leaving them uncertain how they will proceed.

“I haven’t seen them at any stores yet,” Putnam said.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Concert at sea will raise money for Maine’s lobster industry

July 29, 2020 — An organization that supports fishermen is holding a socially distanced concert on the sea to raise money for Maine’s lobster industry.

Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation is holding the concert on the waters of Casco Bay on Aug. 2. The band Turd Pollock is volunteering to play the show from a float on the water.

Boaters are invited to drop anchor on the southeast side of Chebeague Island, organizers said. The event will also be live streamed on Facebook from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bangor Daily News

Decrease in Maine lobster catches this season raises concerns

October 31, 2019 — Early numbers show Maine’s lobster catch has declined as much as 40 percent this year; equaling roughly 50 million pounds.

State officials calculated these results using data gathered from September 2018 to September 2019. However, there are still a few months worth of data from lobster landings left out of these results.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources says that some locations had an uptick in catches after September, but as the season wraps up, lobstermen have reported that the pickings this year were substantially reduced.

Gene Robinson, a lobster captain off of Chebeague Island, has been fishing in Maine for the past 50 years.

“It was a wet, cold spring and the lobsters just never showed up,” said Robinson.

The cold spring may have stalled the shedding process in the early summer months when lobsters move toward the coast.

Read the full story at WCVB

Maine Fishermen Prepare For Losses And Gains In A Climate-Changed Ocean

September 23, 2019 — In 30 years, the Gulf of Maine will have been transformed by climate change. Its waters will inexorably grow warmer, and the species that flourish there will be those that can adapt. The same might be said for the Mainers who make their living from the sea. The future of the state’s marine economy may well belong to those who can adapt.

A little over a year ago, reporter Fred Bever visited a small estuary on the far side of Chebeague Island, where lobsterman Jeff Putnam was working on a little side-business.

“These are oysters that I started just this year,” Putnam said at the time.

Putnam established the Sandy Point oyster farm to add a new revenue stream to his business, and, he says, provide future options for his children.

“Hopefully the lobster resource will still be strong when they grow up, and that will be there and that will be an option but there’s certainly no guarantee that’s the case,” he said. “So I wanted to show them there is another way to make a living.”

With the state’s lobster harvest now appearing to fall off from recent record levels, Bever called Jeff this week to see how the oysters are coming along.

Read the full story at Maine Public

A large algae bloom has been spotted off Maine’s coast

August 29, 2019 — State officials are monitoring a large algae bloom in Casco Bay that stretches from around Chebeague Island to Phippsburg.

Kohl Kanwit, director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ Bureau of Public Health, said Karenia mikimotoi is a nuisance species that turns the water rusty brown and can have a foul smell. But she said it has no effect on human health and safety, either by swimming or eating seafood caught in the water.

Kanwit said if the bloom gets large enough, it can harm marine organisms.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Bait crisis is over, but Maine lobstermen are still feeling the pinch

October 21st, 2016 — The lobster bait crisis that plagued New England this summer is finally over, now that fishermen have begun to catch herring off Georges Bank.

But the price of lobstermen’s favorite bait fish, which rose dramatically when the offshore fleet wasn’t landing enough herring to refill empty bait freezers, has remained high through the end of peak lobster season, typically August through late October. Although there’s been no appreciable effect on consumer prices, lobstermen agree the shortage hurt their bottom line.

“Earlier this year, when prices were at their highest, I paid $170 for a barrel of herring and I usually pay about $110 for that same barrel,” said Jeff Putnam, a lobsterman out of Chebeague Island. “Like a lot of guys, I like to fish herring, but with prices like that, I turned to pogeys, but then pogey prices went up, too. Overall, I would say my bait costs are up 15 percent this year.”

Putnam has fared better than other lobstermen, especially those who fish out of the more isolated wharves or island communities and always have had a harder time securing a steady and affordable source of fresh bait. Prices vary from wharf to wharf, and the impact of bait costs varies from one boat to the next. Terry Savage Sr., who fishes out of the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-Op, said his bait costs have almost doubled this year,

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald