Saving Seafood

Maine narrows location for proposed offshore wind turbines

July 13, 2021 — After reviewing potential impact to fisheries, marine wildlife and navigation within 770 square miles of ocean off southern Maine, the Governor’s Energy Office is now focusing on a 16-square-mile area to site up to 12 floating wind-power turbines.

The preferred site for the research array is an L-shaped swath of the Gulf of Maine, about 25 miles south of Muscongus Bay, according to a report issued Monday.

The office is inviting comments on the site through July 30 to inform its final siting decision, which will be included in a federal lease application to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior that’s responsible for managing development in some offshore waters.

The application will be the first step in a subsequent multiyear permitting process by the bureau, which includes further impact studies and opportunities for public input, according to a news release.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

MASSACHUSETTS: Count finds more elvers visiting Rockport

July 12, 2021 — The numbers, brought to you by Eric Hutchins and his volunteers from their annual census of eel movement along the Mill Brook, have been down for several years.

Not in 2021. This summer, the mighty Mill Brook has exploded into the eel-formational super highway.

The year began promisingly, with 350 eels counted from April 1 to the second week of June. But no sooner had the first wave abated than another began and the Mill Brook was en fuego.

Hutchins, a NOAA Fisheries biologist and Gulf of Maine restoration coordinator, said the streak included several hundred-eel days. As of June 29, the total count was 985 — including a jump of 402 eels in a single week.

Eel-lectrifying!

Now the really important stuff: The Eel Raffle fundraiser, where ticket buyers tried to get closest to the pin on the final number of eels counted between April 1 and Columbus Day.

“Of the original 58 raffle tickets sold, only 14 are left viable with total count guesses over 1,000,” Hutchins wrote in a June 29 email. “The next closet ‘guess’ is 1,033. But that might fall later today. Things are fast and furious this year at the eel trap.”

Where they always respect their elvers

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Reminder: Coral Protection Areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine

July 12, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

On June 25,  NOAA Fisheries published a final rule to designate coral protection areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine.  This action becomes effective on July 26.

This action:

  • Establishes the Georges Bank Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area. This area is on the outer continental shelf in New England waters. It complements the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area established by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in January 2017.
  • Prohibits bottom-tending commercial fishing gear (with the exception of red crab pot gear) in the Georges Bank Coral Protection Area to protect deep-sea corals.
  • Designates the Mount Desert Rock and Outer Schoodic Ridge Coral Protection Areas in the Gulf of Maine. Vessels are prohibited from fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear in these areas. Vessels are still able to fish for lobster in these areas using trap gear.
  • Designates the Jordan Basin Dedicated Habitat Research Area in the Gulf of Maine as a dedicated habitat research area.

Read the full release here

MAINE: Mills signs bill that prohibits new offshore wind projects in state waters

July 8, 2021 — Gov. Janet Mills has signed a bill that prohibits new offshore wind projects in state waters, preserving waters closest to shore for recreation and fishing.

The bill, LD 1619, was sponsored by State Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Kittery, was passed in the House and Senate on June 30 as an emergency measure and sent to the governor’s desk.

The new law comes after another bill, LD 336, she recently signed that created a first-of-its-kind research area for floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. Mills said in a release she applauds the Legislature for their “strong bipartisan support” to grow a global offshore wind industry in Maine, “which will create good-paying jobs for Maine people, support Maine’s transition to 100 percent renewable energy, and help fight climate change.”

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Maine prohibiting offshore wind projects in state waters

July 8, 2021 — New offshore wind projects will be prohibited from Maine state waters reserved for recreation and fishing under a new measure signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Janet Mills (D).

The bill was prompted by concerns from members of the commercial fishing industry on how they will be impacted by the state’s investment in research and construction of offshore wind farms.

According to the governor’s office, up to 75 percent of Maine’s commercial lobster harvesting occurs in state waters.

The protection of state waters comes after Mills signed into law last month legislation advancing the creation of the country’s first research area for offshore wind, which is set to be constructed in federal waters of the Gulf of Maine.

Read the full story at The Hill

Northeast coral protection rule finalized

June 22, 2021 — A final rule setting aside coral protection areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine was finalized Monday by NMFS, prohibiting the use of bottom-tending fishing gear with exceptions for red crab pots on Georges and lobster pots in the gulf.

The rule was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council after years of consideration with public comment and debate over balancing protection with sustainable long-term fisheries uses. Northeast cold-water corals are an important part of habitat for many fish and invertebrate species, including commercially important fish, according to NMFS.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council went through a similar process before establishing the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area – named for the late New Jersey senator, a sponsor of ocean environmental legislation – in January 2017. The new Georges Bank protection area abuts the northeast edge of that zone on the outer continental shelf.

The Georges Bank Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area runs along the outer continental shelf in waters no shallower than 600 meters (1,968 feet) and extends to the outer limit of U.S. exclusive economic zone boundary to the east and north. The rule restricts use of bottom-tending commercial fishing gear to protect deep-sea corals from damage. Red crab pot gear is specifically exempt from the prohibition.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Final Rule to Designate Coral Protection Areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine

June 22, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries signed a final rule to designate coral protection areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. Under the discretionary provisions for deep-sea coral protection in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the New England Fishery Management Council developed this action to reduce the impacts of fishing gear on deep-sea corals after considering long-term sustainable uses of the fishery resources in the area. The Council process took several years and included a high-degree of public input in the development of the final protection areas and associated measures. Deep-sea corals are important sources of habitat for many species of fish and invertebrates, including commercially important fish species.

This action:

  • Establishes the Georges Bank Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area. This area is on the outer continental shelf in New England waters. It complements the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area established by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in January 2017.
  • Prohibits bottom-tending commercial fishing gear (with the exception of red crab pot gear) in the Georges Bank Coral Protection Area to protect deep-sea corals.
  • Designates the Mount Desert Rock and Outer Schoodic Ridge Coral Protection Areas in the Gulf of Maine. Vessels are prohibited from fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear in these areas. Vessels are still able to fish for lobster in these areas using trap gear.
  • Designates the Jordan Basin Dedicated Habitat Research Area in the Gulf of Maine as a dedicated habitat research area.

For more information, read the final rule or the bulletin posted on the web.

Read the full release here

BILL MCWEENY: Innovation can save whales and lobstermen

June 21, 2021 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) claims that NOAA’s rulemaking efforts to address entanglement threats are an overreach because right whales no longer come to the Gulf of Maine, and over many decades, only one right whale has been found in Maine lobster gear.

I feel it is important to correct MLA on several counts, as it is unfortunately presenting only a small part of this complex story. First, since 1980, right whale scientists have photographed right whales throughout their range and have documented at least 1,617 entanglements involving 87 percent of the population based on the presence of entanglement scars or attached fishing gear. The research suggests that right whales are being entangled in all types of United States and Canadian east coast fishing gear with often 60 or more entanglement events per year.

Also, while some right whales have shifted their distribution, they still occur in waters that Maine lobstermen fish in every month of the year with some sightings in Maine state waters. Acoustic data backs up past official and opportunistic sightings confirming that right whales are no strangers to Maine fishing grounds. A recent deployment of acoustic buoys recorded calls from right whales off Casco Bay, Monhegan Island, Milbridge, Great Duck Island, Lubec, the Schoodic ridges, all around Mount Desert Rock and many calls from Outer Falls.

MLA states on its website that only one right whale has ever been entangled in Maine gear, and that was in 2002. It is mistaken. It is true that there was a right whale entangled in Maine lobster gear in 2002 and it was disentangled and is probably alive today because of that. But the MLA fails to acknowledge two other cases.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

As Offshore Wind Industry Nears New Hampshire, Potential New Workers Show Interest

June 3, 2021 — New Hampshire colleges, trade workers and policy makers have high hopes for job growth in the Northeast’s burgeoning offshore wind industry, even if we’re still years away from wind projects in the Gulf of Maine.

That was a major focus of a roundtable on wind industry development at the Port of New Hampshire in Portsmouth Tuesday, with Congressman Chris Pappas, the League of Conservation Voters and members of New Hampshire’s offshore wind commission.

Pappas, a Democrat, sits on the House Infrastructure committee and said he hopes to see an intersection between President Biden’s $2-trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal and his goal of permitting 30 gigawatts of U.S. offshore wind by 2030, as part of his climate change plans.

“While we do need to be talking about our roads and bridges, the conversation can’t stop there,” Pappas said. “It’s got to involve our port infrastructure … and we need to be thinking about the kind of renewable energy development that people here are hungry for. And we’ve got a solution that is just off our coastline.”

Read the full story at New Hampshire Public Radio

REP. BILLY BOB FAULKINGHAM: Time to hit the brakes on offshore wind

June 1, 2021 — In 2017, offshore wind generation appeared to be a dead issue in Maine. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) had just completed an extensive study that deemed it too expensive for ratepayers. Now it is moving again at the speed of light.

In 2019, eighty percent of Maine’s electricity generation came from renewable energy sources. Maine leads New England in wind power generation. We rank sixth in the nation and wind provides 24 percent of our net generation. I point this out to say that Maine is a leader. I see many people advocating offshore wind development portraying Maine as being in the back of the pack on renewables, which is far from the truth.

What I would like to know is, why haven’t we started an independent study on the environmental impacts of offshore wind development? We have been told that we need to move quickly given the Governor’s ambitious goals. I have heard this repeatedly and from many people in the Legislature, the bureaucracy, special interest groups and from high-paid lobbyists working for foreign corporations. Where did these goals come from, and why are we using these goals as a target?

Read the full opinion piece at the Mount Desert Islander