Saving Seafood

Despite pandemic, Maine’s 2020 lobster haul was better than expected

March 25, 2021 — Maine’s lobster industry weathered the coronavirus pandemic better than expected, with the value of the 2020 landings decreasing only 17 percent from the previous year despite the closure of many of its traditional markets such as restaurants and cruise ships.

The overall haul was valued at almost $406 million, a decrease from 2019’s $491 million but still only the seventh time in the history of the fishery that the landed value exceeded $400 million, according to figures released Wednesday by the state Department of Marine Resources.

Maine fishermen hauled 96.6 million pounds of lobster in 2020, a 5 percent decrease from the 101 million pounds in 2019 and the first time in almost a decade that landings fell below 100 million pounds.

Dustin Delano, a lobsterman in Friendship and a vice president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, attributes the drop to a decrease in effort, not in supply.

“We decreased effort significantly from March to July, from when we heard about the virus,” he said, “We were skeptical, so guys took their time setting their gear out for summer.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine fishermen demonstrate against offshore wind plan

March 24, 2021 — From afar it looked like a flag-waving boat parade, but an offshore procession Sunday of fishing vessels off the mid-Maine coast was a protest against plans for an undersea power cable and offshore wind turbine.

Organized by captains on short notice, the demonstration involved more than 80 boats trailing the route of a proposed export cable from a floating turbine site south of Monhegan Island to South Boothbay.

The 12-megawatt project by New England Aqua Ventus and the University of Maine would be a demonstration project for the feasibility of floating turbine technology – which would be necessary for developing wind power in the deepwater Gulf of Maine.

Fishing advocates contend the developers need to be more transparent in planning, but protesters said there are immediate issues with gear conflicts.

“The boat hasn’t been staying in the survey route, and there’s been some issues with gear loss,” Dustin Delano, a Friendship lobsterman and and organizer, told the Portland Press Herald.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Maine lobstermen protest Monhegan-area wind project

March 22, 2021 — More than 80 lobster boats lined up between Monhegan Island and Boothbay Harbor on Sunday to protest a seabed survey for a planned offshore wind turbine near Monhegan.

Lobstermen fear that the ongoing survey project and the test turbine that would follow it will disrupt fisheries and undermine an industry that serves as a vital economic engine for coastal Maine. After years of planning, a collaboration between the University of Maine and New England Aqua Ventus would link a turbine south of Monhegan to the mainland power grid in South Boothbay via a 23-mile underwater cable.

Earlier this month, three vessels began surveying the seabed along that route to study the potential impact of a cable on the ecosystem and area industry. But lobstermen say the survey boats have already begun to disrupt their operations by cutting lines and disturbing buoys.

“The boat hasn’t been staying in the survey route, and there’s been some issues with gear loss,” Dustin Delano, a lobsterman from Friendship who helped organize the protest, said this weekend.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald