Saving Seafood

MAINE: DMR submits whale rule proposal

January 8, 2020 — Nearly 10 months ago, Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher shocked Maine lobstermen with an announcement that the National Marine Fisheries Service had determined that right whale mortalities resulting from interactions with fishing gear would have to be reduced by 60 to 80 percent.

In late spring, the fisheries service proposed rules recommended by its Large Whale Take Reduction Team that would force lobstermen to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines in the water by as much as 50 percent and use weaker rope.

Those rules raised safety and practicality concerns within the fishing community and many lobstermen said they would have little or no impact on whale mortalities in the Gulf of Maine.

Last week, DMR submitted a detailed counterproposal to the federal fisheries agency that, according to Keliher, addressed those issues.

“This proposal is the result of a rigorous analysis of data combined with critically important input from industry,” Keliher said Friday. “The outcome is a plan that will not only protect right whales, but will also safeguard the lives and livelihoods of Maine fishermen.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

NOAA: Gulf of Maine skate makes comeback

January 6, 2020 — After nine years in a rebuilding plan with strict management, including a prohibition on landings, Gulf of Maine smooth skate was declared rebuilt in 2018.

The declaration was included in “Status of U.S. Fisheries Annual Report to Congress,” prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and submitted to lawmakers this fall.

The report details the status of 479 federally managed stocks or stock complexes in the U.S. in an effort to identify which stocks are subject to overfishing, are overfished, or are rebuilt to sustainable levels.

Building on a trend of the past few years, the report noted that the vast majority of U.S. fish stocks were at sustainable population levels in 2018, and the number of U.S. fish stocks subject to overfishing remains at a near all-time low.

According to the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, the Northeast skate complex fishery includes seven skate species and operates from Maine to North Carolina. The bottom-dwelling, kite-shaped skate is taken with long lines and gill nets, both as a targeted fishery and as by catch.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rule to Implement the Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment

January 3, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries published a proposed rule to designate coral protection areas on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. This action would:

  • Establish a deep-sea coral protection area in deep waters on the continental slope and rise in New England waters. It would complement the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area established by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in Amendment 16 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan. The area would run along the outer continental shelf in waters no shallower than 600 m and extend to the outer limit of U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone boundary to the east and north, and south to the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep Sea Coral Protection Area.
  • Restrict the use of all bottom-tending commercial fishing gear within the designated deep-sea coral area. The prohibition on these gears would protect deep-sea corals from interaction with and damage from bottom-tending fishing gear. Red crab pot gear would be exempt from the prohibition.
  • Designate a coral protection area in an area southwest of Mount Desert Rock off the eastern Maine. Vessels would be prohibited from fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear in this area.
  • Designate a coral protection area in an area on the Outer Schoodic Ridge, southeast of Mt. Desert Island. Vessels would be prohibited from fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear in this area.
  • Establish provisions for vessels transiting through the coral protection areas.
  • Designate the area around Jordan Basin in the Gulf of Maine as a dedicated habitat research area.
  • Expand framework adjustment provisions in the FMP for future modifications to the deep-sea coral protection measures.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register. We will be accepting public comment on this proposed rule through February 18, 2020.  You may submit comments via the online portal or submit written comments to NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope “Comments on Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment.”

Read the full release here

Forecast calls for warmer oceans, fewer lobsters in Maine

January 2, 2020 — Maine lobster landings, which have been over 100 million pounds every year since 2011 seem to be in for a period of decline, and probably won’t get back to that 132.6 million in 2016 or 2018’s 119.6 million pounds, according to scientists, many of whom blame rising ocean temperatures.

The Gulf of Maine lobster fishery is in one of the more rapidly warming regions of the world’s oceans. Recently two scientific journal articles, both written by University of Maine scientists, look at the role of warming temperatures and differences in local bottom and oceanography conditions and their role in affecting lobster populations.

Read the full story from National Fisherman at Seafood Source

REP. CHELLIE PINGREE: Maine’s oceans affected by climate change

December 27, 2019 — The United Nation’s (UN) 25th annual Conference of the Parties (COP25) — a meeting of nearly 200 countries to discuss international action on climate change — took place in Madrid earlier this month. Around 25,000 people attended and focused, among other topics, their efforts on the role of oceans in the climate crisis.

Our oceans, including the Gulf of Maine, are already feeling the effects of climate change. Ocean acidification and sea level rise threaten Maine’s coastal communities and economy. A recent report by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy shows that, without action on climate change, we could see a major decline in fish and irreversible harm to our coral reefs. And September’s U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showed that the climate crisis could lead to sea level rise of more than three feet by the end of the century, coastal homes and islands becoming uninhabitable, and a collapse in fisheries.

Despite these threats, there is reason for hope. Oceans make up two-thirds of Earth’s surface and have the potential to absorb and store more carbon dioxide than land. Increasing the amounts of this “blue carbon” that we capture could help address the climate crisis. Waves, tides, and offshore wind could all also be harnessed to generate “blue” electricity and power our homes and businesses.

As countries around the world are working to develop ambitious policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the health of our oceans is taking center stage. Chile, which is leading the work of COP25, is launching a platform of ocean solutions, like creating marine protected areas, promoting sustainable fisheries, enhancing recycling capabilities, and banning single-use plastics.

Read the full opinion piece at the Portland Press Herald

Study shows impact of climate change on fishing economy

December 26, 2019 — With the Gulf of Maine warming faster than 99% of the world’s oceans, it makes sense there would be impacts on fish stocks and the fishermen who depend on them for a living.

While several studies have demonstrated that marine inhabitants are on the move trying to find cooler water, the data on how climate change is affecting fishermen has been hard to come by. Other factors — cuts to fish quotas, the closing of more areas to fishing, and gear changes to rebuild fish stocks or protect endangered species such as the right whale — also could affect the fishing industry and disguise the impact of ocean warming.

But a new study by Kimberly Oremus, a researcher at the University of Delaware, used existing data to show that fishing jobs in New England’s coastal counties declined by an average of 16% between 1996 and 2017 due to climate variation.

Oremus focused her research on what is known as North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the relative pressure differential between massive oceanic high pressure and low pressure systems in winter.

When the subtropical high pressure off the Azores is stronger than usual, there is a greater pressure differential with a low over Iceland. That means stronger winter storms crossing the Atlantic to Europe, and mild, wet winters in the eastern United States.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MAX SULLIVAN: Seabrook: Fishermen deserve voice in offshore wind plans

December 20, 2019 — Selectmen are abandoning a task force looking at offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, demanding their local fishermen have more direct inclusion.

The board voted unanimously Dec. 6 to send a letter to the New Hampshire Office of Strategic Initiatives announcing it would suspend its participation in the recently formed Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force for the Gulf of Maine.

The task force is charged with considering the various impacts of offshore wind turbines, which are hoped to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while producing thousands of jobs across New England. Fishing communities like in Seabrook have expressed strong concerns about the turbines’ impact on the ocean and the fish they harvest for a living.

Seabrook selectmen said they value the fishing heritage in their town where many New Hampshire fishermen dock their boats. They said in their letter to the OSI they wanted fishermen to have a direct seat on the task force, which is comprised of elected officials from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

“It is our firm belief that due to potential impacts to the fishing industry this task force should have representation from that industry,” selectmen said in a letter to Matthew Mailloux, energy adviser for the OSI. “Without a voice for fishermen we feel that the potential impacts to their livelihood may not be fully understood, or addressed, by this task force, as currently constituted.”

Read the full opinion piece at Sea Coast Online

Cod could choke catch of other fish

December 19, 2019 — It’s been a long road to setting final groundfish catch limits for the next three years in the Northeast Multispecies groundfishery and the journey isn’t quite over yet.

The New England Fishery Management Council approved the management framework that sets Northeast multispecies groundfish catch limits for 2020-2022 earlier this month. And local groundfishermen are looking at significant increases in several flounder stocks, American plaice and haddock.

But the state of the cod fishery in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank remains a point of contention.

“Overall, it’s pretty rosy,” said Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition. “But the real issue is codfish, with catch limits that are going to be limiting and constricting when fishermen try to target other stocks.”

The council approved a 32% cut to Georges Bank cod to 1,073 metric tons per season and slashed the annual catch limit for Gulf of Maine cod by 24% to 275 metric tons per season.

Fishing stakeholders say those cuts reflect the continuing deep divide between what fishermen are seeing with cod on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine and what NOAA Fisheries scientists include in their projections and assessments.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MAINE: Green Plate Special: Selling seafood that helps the fish – and the fishermen

December 16, 2019 — It’s an environmental idea that has taken off in recent decades. You can’t help an ecosystem if you don’t also account for the humans who rely on it. A new Portland-based company called Gulf of Maine Sashimi exemplifies the point. In order to help the ocean’s threatened fish populations, it works to help the fisherman, too.

To that end, a handful of Gulf of Maine fishermen supply the wholesale operation with fish species such as Acadian Redfish, flounder, Atlantic mackerel, haddock and white hake. The company’s niche is to wholesale pristine versions of these normally less valuable and more populous fish, so they can fetch better prices than they otherwise would. Then it passes along the extra revenue to the fishermen.

To ensure their catch makes the grade, the fishermen who sell whole fish to Gulf of Maine Sashimi employ two important measures: First, they use a Japanese technique for killing fish at sea called ike jime. A spike inserted quickly and directly into a fish’s hindbrain kills it instantly. Next, they submerge the fish in a slurry of seawater and ice to quickly bring its temperature to just above freezing and keep it there.

These measures combine to stem the flow of adrenaline, lactic acid and blood into the flesh of the fish, Gulf of Maine Sashimi CEO Jen Levin said, which preserves its pristine quality, improves its taste and increases its shelf life. The careful handling also ensures that the fish are not battered and bruised in sea transit, she said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Effective Today: Closure of the Regular B Days-at-Sea Program

December 16, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Effective at 0845 hours on December 16, 2019, the Regular B Days-at-Sea (DAS) program is closed for the remainder of fishing year 2019, through April 30, 2020.  During this closure, Northeast multispecies vessels may not declare or use regular B days-at-sea.  We have closed the Regular B DAS program because 77 percent of the 242.5 lb Incidental Catch Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Gulf of Maine cod is projected to have been caught.

The Regional Administrator is authorized to close the Regular B Days-at-Sea Program if it is projected that catch in the Regular B DAS Program cannot be constrained to the Gulf of Maine Cod Incidental Catch TAC.  With only two trip limits of catch available before the fishery meets or exceeds the Gulf of Maine Cod Incidental Catch TAC, we project that this criteria for closure has been met.

If you have crossed the vessel monitoring system demarcation line and are currently at sea on a groundfish trip declared under a regular B day-at-sea, you may complete your trip.

For more information see the rule as filed in the Federal Register today or our bulletin.