Saving Seafood

New England fisheries group considers banning lobster boats from a portion of Gulf of Maine

May 25, 2017 — A New England fisheries management group is considering changes to regulations regarding lobstering in an area of the Gulf of Maine.

The New England Fishery Management Council is considering whether lobster traps should be kept off of coral within a 18-square-mile portion of the Gulf in order to protect habitat for other marketable fish stock.

According to a report in the Portland Press Herald, the move could jeapardize a $4 million dollar portion of the state’s lobster fishery, an amount taken by more than 100 lobster boats.

The council held a series of public meetings, including one in Portsmouth Wednesday night, seeking input according to the council’s calendar.

Read the full story at NH1

Maine lobstermen worry about possible closure to protect coral

May 25, 2017 — Charles Kelley began fishing for lobster on Outer Schoodic Ridge about 20 years ago, preferring the solitude of deep waters to the crowded inshore fishery.

The Steuben resident and preacher was willing to sail two hours for the freedom to drop his 30-trap trawls anywhere he wanted along that ridge, which sits about 25 nautical miles southeast of Mount Desert Island. The area is more crowded now, and Kelley’s trawls are shorter, but in the winter the 54-year-old is still dropping most of his traps in these waters. He says he earns about 40 percent of his yearly profits here, too.

“It’s my bread and butter,” Kelley said of the ridge. “I really don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t fish there. Have to move someplace else, I guess, but that would just be taking bread off someone else’s table, from those I’ve known and worked beside all my life. It would cause untold hardship not just for me, but for all the fishermen up and down this stretch of coast, from Winter Harbor all the way to Jonesport.”

Kelley is worried that he could lose his winter fishing territory if interstate regulators decide to ban all fishing in a 31-square-mile area at the ridge and an 18-square-mile area southwest of Mount Desert Rock to protect deep-water coral gardens found in those waters. The rare, slow-growing gardens of sea whips, fans and pens provide essential habitat for cod, silver hake, pollock and larval redfish.

The New England Fishery Management Council voted last month to exempt lobstering from the coral fishing ban it is considering, but the proposal won’t be finalized until June. Until then, the council is holding a series of public hearings on the proposal, including one Thursday in Ellsworth. State officials hope lobstermen show up in large numbers to lobby the council to keep the lobster exemption in its final plan.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

New England Fisheries Council to Consider Deep Sea Coral-Protection Rules

May 19, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The New England Fishery Management Council wants to hear from the public about proposed rules for new management areas to protect deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Maine and in the slope/canyon region south of Georges Bank.

At issue are several alternatives under consideration in the Draft Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment. The Council wants feedback from the public on which alternatives should be selected and why.

The public comment period will end on June 5, and the Council will take final action on the amendment during its June 20-22, 2017, meeting in Portland.

The Council is using its discretionary authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act to identify and implement measures to reduce effects of fishing gear on deep sea corals in New England. One proposed amendment attempts to identify and protect concentrations of corals in select areas and restrict the expansion of fishing effort into areas where corals are likely to be present.

“Deep sea corals are fragile, slow-growing organisms that play an important role in the marine ecosystem and are vulnerable to various types of disturbance of the seafloor,” the Council wrote in a public hearing notice on May 18. “At the same time, the importance and value of commercial fisheries that operate in or near areas of deep sea coral habitat is recognized by the Council. As such, measures in this amendment will be considered in light of their benefit to corals as well as their costs to commercial fisheries.”

The Council’s preferred alternative for the inshore Gulf of Maine would prohibit mobile bottom-tending gear (trawls and dredges) within both the Schoodic Ridge and Mt. Desert Rock areas.

While an option to prohibit all bottom-tending gear, including lobster traps/pots, is still in the amendment, it is not the Council’s preferred alternative.

“The Council recognized the economic impact associated with preventing the lobster fishery from working within the inshore areas and acknowledged that shifts in effort to other locations could be problematic,” it wrote. “Preferred alternatives are an indication of which way the Council is leaning, but the Council is not obligated to select them for final action, so it is critically important that Maine fishermen who fish in these areas attend the public hearing or submit comments to let the Council know their views!”

Seven public hearings will be held from May 22 to 26:

Wednesday, May 24
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Sheraton Harborside
250 Market Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801

Thursday, May 25
5:00-7:00 p.m.
Ellsworth High School
299 State Street
Ellsworth, ME 04605

Friday, May 26, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Webinar: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/98257139389273345

Written comments can be submitted via mail, email, or fax:

Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director
New England Fishery Management Council
50 Water Street, Mill 2
Newburyport, MA 01950

Email: comments@nefmc.org Fax: (978) 465–3116

Please note on your correspondence “Comments on Deep-Sea Coral Amendment”

Written comments must be submitted before 5:00 pm EST on Monday, June 5, 2017.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Warming water threatens fishing ports

May 22, 2017 — The continued warming of the Gulf of Maine is expected to pose additional threats to the region’s commercially important species of seafood — and by extension to the fishing communities that harvest them, according to a new study.

The study, jointly compiled by researchers at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the Nature Conservancy, draws the link between the region’s unprecedented warming and concerns about the ability of species to find new, sustainable habitats.

“These changes will directly affect fishing communities, as species now landed in those ports move out of range, and new species move in,” said the authors of the study that appears in journal Progress in Oceanography.

The migration of a spectrum of species could create “economic, social and natural resource management challenges” throughout the region, according to the study.

“The projections indicate that as species shift from one management jurisdiction to another, or span state and federal jurisdictions, increased collaboration among management groups will be needed to set quotas and establish allocations,” the researchers concluded. 

At the heart of the concern is the startling rate at which the Gulf of Maine is warming.

Previous research has shown the region’s surface waters are warming faster than 99 percent of the Earth’s oceans and the study’s researchers project the region will continue to warm “two to three times faster than the global average through the end of this century.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Gulf of Maine will become too warm for many key fish, report says

May 22, 2017 — A new study by federal fisheries scientists predicts the warming of the Gulf of Maine will cause a dramatic contraction of suitably cool habitat for a range of key commercial fish species there. On the other hand, lobsters are more likely to find hospitable areas.

The study by seven scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, used a high-resolution global climate model and federal fisheries survey data to model how key fisheries species would likely be affected by predicted warming over the next 80 years.

The results confirmed previous research using other models and methods that found that the Gulf of Maine can be expected to become increasingly uncomfortable for many of the cold-loving species that have thrived here for all of recorded history but are at the southern ends of their ranges. Those include cod, haddock, redfish, plaice and pollock.

“The main message here is how important it is to understand the potential magnitude of the changes that you see when you get a finer, higher-resolution view of the implications of changing sea temperatures,” says co-author Michael Fogarty, chief of the ecosystem assessment program at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

The scientists caution that the research analyzes just one factor – albeit an important one – the distribution of thermally appropriate habitat for each of 58 species. Their results predict the changes in the amount and location of such habitat but don’t account for many other factors that can influence the future populations of the species themselves, such as what happens to what they eat or what likes to eat them, or how the increasing acidity of the ocean – another product of climate change – will affect each.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

NE Fisheries Scientists Expect Drastic Changes as Gulf of Maine and Georges warm 7 to 9 degrees

May 19, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A new paper by a number of scientists formerly with NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center suggests that there will be drastic changes in fisheries and the ports that depend on them during the next 60 to 80 years. Among the predictions for specific species, lobster and dogfish are likely to thrive. Also mid-Atlantic Fish like croaker and striped bass will find more suitable habitat in New England. The “changes will result in ecological, economic, social, and natural resource management challenges throughout the region,” said Kristin Kleisner, the lead author of the study. “It is important to understand large-scale patterns in these changes so that we can plan for and mitigate adverse effects as much as possible.”

The USDA said domestic catfish processors operate similarly to meat and poultry processing-only operations and can be subject to inspections just once per production shift. When the USDA adopted catfish inspections last March, inspectors practiced continuous inspection procedures so the agency could understand the fish slaughtering and production process. But the USDA said it is adopting the FDA’s definition of fish processing, which combines the slaughter and processing steps. This will exempt domestic catfish operators from continuous inspections once the program takes full effect this September.

In other news, Russia plans to significantly increase exports of cod and pollock to the Latin American market in coming years. Russia’s Federal Fishery Agency said demand for white fish in the domestic market is relatively low. Meanwhile, demand for white fish is up significantly in such countries as Brazil, Argentina and other Latin America states. To date, there are already several agreements to supply Russian cod and pollock to Brazil.

The season’s first catch of Copper River salmon will arrive in Seattle straight from Alaska this Friday. As per tradition, the Alaska Airlines Boeing “salmon 30 salmon” will deliver the fish to the Sea-Tac Airport. The seasoned opened this morning.

Finally, The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) said the suspension of the offshore Marine Stewardship Council certificate for the Newfoundland cod fishery in the 3Ps region confirmed its initial concern and objection to the designation. The EAC was among a group that objected to the 3Ps certification last year. “While we fully support efforts to both achieve and celebrate improvements in sustainable fisheries, we had deep concerns about this cod stock throughout the certification process. Suffice it to say we are not at all surprised that the issues we raised last year, including low bar for recovery, evidence of poor stock health and a high rate of mortality,” said Susanna Fuller, Senior Marine Conservation Coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

CLARKE: In hot water

May 19, 2017 — As the president claims that climate change is a “Chinese hoax” and members of Congress deny that it even exists, those of us who live by the sea can testify firsthand to its impacts. They include bigger storms, accelerated sea-level rise and warmer waters. In America’s first seaport, those are game changers to our way of life. They affect our community’s character, soul and livelihood, especially in the commercial fishery.

The biggest long-term threat to fishing in the northwest Atlantic is not excessive regulations, national marine monuments, or overfishing — it’s hot water. Cold water species like cod, and even lobsters and northern shrimp, have to put up with living conditions so uncomfortable that they may be leaving home and heading north.

A recent issue of the journal “Science” shows that over the last 10 years, temperatures in our front yard, the Gulf of Maine, have increased three times faster than almost all of the earth’s oceans. Gulf surface temperatures increased four degrees between 2005 and 2013 and scientists tell us they could go even higher. That spells disaster for the Gulf’s ecosystem.

The world’s oceans absorb most of the heat humans produce, but when we deposit too much heat into the atmosphere and adjacent waters below, sea life pays the price. With nature out of balance, fisheries shift, oceans acidify, and life-sustaining oxygen levels decrease.

Especially alarming is what we are seeing at the lower levels of the food chain. As water temperatures spike, copepods are disappearing. These tiny plankton-like crustaceans anchor the Gulf’s food chain and when they leave, the chain starts to unravel from the bottom up and fish productivity suffers.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times 

NOAA Warns of Continuing Species Shifts Due to Warming Oceans

May 19, 2017 — Scientists using a high-resolution global climate model and historical observations of species distributions on the Northeast U.S. Shelf have found that commercially important species will continue to shift their distribution as ocean waters warm two to three times faster than the global average through the end of this century. Projected increases in surface to bottom waters of 6.6 to 9 degrees F (3.7 to 5.0 degrees Celsius) from current conditions are expected.

The findings, reported in Progress in Oceanography, suggest ocean temperature will continue to play a major role in where commercially important species will find suitable habitat. Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have warmed faster than 99 percent of the global ocean over the past decade. Northward shifts of many species are already happening, with major changes expected in the complex of species occurring in different regions on the shelf, and shifts from one management jurisdiction to another. These changes will directly affect fishing communities, as species now landed at those ports move out of range, and new species move in.

“Species that are currently found in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and on Georges Bank may have enough suitable habitat in the future because they can shift northward as temperatures increase,” said lead author Kristin Kleisner, formerly of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC)’s Ecosystems Dynamics and Assessment Branch and now a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund. “Species concentrated in the Gulf of Maine, where species have shifted to deeper water rather than northward, may be more likely to experience a significant decline in suitable habitat and move out of the region altogether.”

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire 

New rules crafted to avert another lobster bait shortage

May 17, 2017 — Interstate regulators approved a host of new rules in the Atlantic herring fishery in an attempt to avoid another bait shortage like the one that befell the lobster industry last year.

Herring are the most important bait for the lobster fishery, which is based in New England. Herring was frequently expensive and scarce last summer, especially north of Cape Ann, and the shortage sent ripples through the lobster supply chain.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved new rules last week. The commission says the rules are intended to stabilize the rate of catch in the near-shore area of the Gulf of Maine, a critical fishing area for herring boats.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Times

Kelp Farming Promises Economic and Ecological Benefits

May 9, 2017 — We tend to think of spring as planting time, but kelp farmers in the Gulf of Maine are in the midst of their annual harvest right now. Growers and ocean researchers say kelp could be a huge win-win-win – improving the local environment, boosting other fisheries, and all while providing a saleable food source.

Ten  years ago, there were no kelp farms in the northeast. Now, there are more than a dozen. So, what gives?

“I think what’s been driving the increase is that the demand for domestically produced seaweed is rapidly growing in the U.S., principally due to American consumers’ increased awareness of the quality of waters where some of their [imported] seaweed may be coming from,” said Paul Dobbins, president of Maine-based kelp distributor Ocean Approved. “And the wild harvest, which has been going on for centuries here along the New England coast, can only provide so much.”

There’s also growing recognition among scientists that farmed seaweed can absorb excess nutrients and carbon dioxide, improving local water quality and boosting nearby fisheries, particularly shellfish. Nichole Price of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and Susie Arnold of Island Institute have been working with Dobbins to measure those benefits.

Read the full story at WCAI