Saving Seafood

Officials: Key fishing area for Atlantic cod in dire shape

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — September 29, 2015 — One of the two critical areas where New England fishermen search for cod may be in even worse shape than suspected.

Fishing managers already knew Georges Bank’s cod were thin. New data from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center says research boats caught less of the fish per trip this past spring than all but one spring season dating back to 1968.

Georges Bank is a broad swath of elevated sea floor off of Massachusetts. The Gulf of Maine cod fishery is the other key cod ground and regulators say it is also in dire shape.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at My Fox Boston

Congress wary of marine monument plan

September 23, 2015 — Congressional opposition seems to be growing against the method — if not necessarily the intent — of the conservationist effort to create the first marine national monument on the Atlantic seaboard.

The conservationists’ proposal, which implores President Obama to use executive decree in the form of the Antiquities Act to unilaterally create a marine national monument off the coast of Massachusetts in the Gulf of Maine seems to have raised some populist hackles.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said the Salem Democrat believes “any decisions about the future of the Gulf of Maine need to be reached in a collaborative process that includes all stakeholders, including the commonwealth’s fishermen.”

Spokesman Andy Flick said Moulton has not yet decided whether he will testify at Tuesday’s scheduled hearing by a subcommittee of the House Natural Resource Committee on the issue, but that “our staff is working to ensure all stakeholders will have an opportunity to be heard.”

The monument proposal, initially generated by the Conservation Law Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Pew Charitable Trusts, would have President Obama designate Cashes Ledge — which is about 80 miles east of Gloucester — and an area of deep-water canyons and seamounts south of Georges Bank as a marine national monument that would be off limits to all fishing and future sea-floor development.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

Senator Ayotte, fishermen meet with federal officials

September 18, 2015 — PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Fishermen aired grievances face to face with federal officials they say are ruining their industry, backed in person by U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who arranged the meeting at Pease Tradeport Friday.

Roughly 40 members of the fishing industry, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator John Bullard and a representative from U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s office joined Ayotte for the 2 p.m. roundtable.

Ayotte, seeking to be a voice for New Hampshire fishermen, called the meeting to address regulations NOAA has imposed on the Gulf of Maine fishery. The regulations are meant to help cod stocks rise from disastrously low numbers, but fishermen have said restrictions are strict enough to put them out of business.

Central to the discussion were at-sea monitors NOAA plans to force fishermen to pay for starting Nov. 1. The monitors would watch fishermen on 24 percent of each vessel’s fishing days to make sure they comply with the regulations. The cost is expected to be roughly $700 per day for each vessel, more than fishermen say they gross in a day.

Read the full story at Hampton Union

 

ASMFC Atlantic Herring Trimester 3 Days Out Conference Call — September 24th at 9 AM

September 15, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section member states of Maine, New Hampshire and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will meet via conference call on Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 9 AM to discuss Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) days out measures for the Trimester 3 fishery (October 1 – December 31). To join the conference all, dial 1.888.394.8197 and enter passcode 499811.  For more information, please contact Ashton Harp, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at aharp@asmfc.org.

How the Gulf of Maine’s “Domesticated Ecosystem” Has Made the McLobster Possible

September 12, 2015 — From Robert Steneck’s home in South Bristol, Maine, his view reaches past the pale granite headlands at the mouth of the Damariscotta River to be swallowed by the open Atlantic. The word “pristine” tends to pop into the heads of visitors, he said, but he prefers a more objective description. “The Gulf of Maine is a highly simplified and arguably domesticated ecosystem,” Steneck, a marine ecologist with the University of Maine, explained. “If you put it that way, are you surprised that we have McLobsters?”

Steneck was referring to what is more properly called the McDonald’s Lobster Roll, a limited-time offer that was plated across New England this summer. Back in 2013, James Surowiecki noted in this magazine that, despite a steep decline in the wholesale price of lobster, it had not become a mass-market staple. Since then, the toothsome crustacean has gained beachheads in Walmart (Sea Best Lobster Tails with Butter), Quiznos (Lobster & Seafood Salad sub), and Subway (Lobster Salad Sandwich), while Panera Bread is just now winding down its own fast-casual lobster promotion. It seems that consumers are growing accustomed to lobster’s ubiquity; this is the first time in a decade that McDonald’s has tried to pitch lobster in the U.S. (a roll truly called the McLobster, or, in French, the McHomard, has become a summer tradition in Atlantic Canada, and was tested nationwide this year). At the least, buying it from a chain outlet no longer raises the deep, uptown-gone-slumming suspicions that it did in 1992, when McDonald’s failed in its original play at putting lobster on the menu.

This year’s offering was advertised at seven dollars and ninety-nine cents, well below the twenty dollars or more that you might expect to pay for lobster at a high-end restaurant. McDonald’s kept the price point down by purchasing in volume and using a type of lobster meat known as C.K.L. (claw, knuckle, and leg), which is cheaper than lobster tails. The company acquired the meat exclusively from New England purveyors, though these processers use lobsters fished in both U.S. and Canadian waters and are often owned by multinationals such as the Chicago-based Mazzetta Company, a McDonald’s supplier that trades seafood in thirty-three countries.

Read the full story from The New Yorker

Conservationists Push for Atlantic’s 1st National Monument

September 13, 2015 — Undersea ravines deeper than the Grand Canyon, submerged mountains rising thousands of feet from the ocean floor and forests of kelp and coral would become the first marine national monument in the Atlantic if conservationists have their way.

The proposal to protect a pristine ecosystem undamaged by heavy fishing and pollution in the Gulf of Maine and canyons and peaks off Cape Cod — where vivid coral has grown to the size of small trees over thousands of years — would mirror the massive conservation efforts that have already taken place in the Pacific Ocean.

“We have an opportunity to permanently protect two of our nation’s greatest ocean treasures, right off our coast,” said Priscilla Brooks, the Conservation Law Foundation’s director of ocean conservation.

Environmental groups want President Barack Obama to permanently protect Cashes Ledge, the underwater mountain and offshore ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine, and the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts, the chain of undersea formations about 150 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

But Maine Gov. Paul LePage and others oppose the effort to protect the two sites, together totaling about 6,000 square miles, because of the potential impact on fishermen.

LePage, a Republican, also takes issue with the president’s authority under the Antiquities Act to designate monuments, calling it a sweeping power that provides few procedural protections to those who are most likely to be affected.

Read the full story at ABC News

 

BANGOR DAILY NEWS: The case for a marine national monument in the Gulf of Maine

September 14, 2015 — Legend has it that in the 1600s, one could walk across the ocean on the backs of Atlantic cod. The Gulf of Maine’s iconic groundfish was so plentiful the species spawned colonial America’s first true industry: groundfishing.

But after centuries of overfishing and failed regulation, the Gulf of Maine looks drastically different. There are few spots where Atlantic cod approach being as plentiful as they once were. One of the few is Cashes Ledge, a 530-square-mile area of ocean 100 miles southeast of Portland.

A coalition of conservation groups, supported by more than 200 marine scientists from across the U.S., are pushing for President Barack Obama to designate the area, essentially a submerged mountain range, a marine national monument. The designation would protect Cashes Ledge permanently from commercial fishing — phasing out the limited amount allowed now — and other activity that could exploit or disturb the area’s ecosystem.

The push to make Cashes Ledge a marine national monument has drawn opposition from groups representing fishermen, which point out the area is already largely off limits to commercial fishing and that the designation would circumvent the nation’s established fishery management system. It also is opposed by those, such as Gov. Paul LePage, who are wary of a potential federal designation.

Read the full editorial at the Bangor Daily News

 

Marine Matters: Beauty Beneath the Sea

September 2, 2015 — Most people when they hear the word “coral” think of shallow, turquoise water and colorful reefs populated by bright tropical fish. Now think again. In the cold and often dark Gulf of Maine, spectacular cold-water coral formations, some of which may be hundreds if not thousands of years old, are just now being mapped and explored.

Most cold-water corals lie in the very deep submarine canyons and seamounts along the edge of the continental shelf. Yet they also occur in deep areas of the Gulf that are closer to shore, such as Jordan Basin. Cold-water corals typically are soft corals with flexible skeletons, unlike the coral species that build tropical reefs. Fishermen have long been familiar with taller coral outcroppings, which they called “trees,” on Georges Bank and other shallow-water areas in the Gulf.

Since 2013 scientists funded through NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program have been conducting research cruises in the Gulf of Maine using remotely controlled underwater vehicles and multibeam sonar to identify cold-water coral communities. This year during a ten-day research cruise, scientists from the University of Maine, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and the Northeast Underwater Research, Technology and Education Center at the University of Connecticut looked at three areas: Outer Schoodic Ridge, the Mount Desert Rock area and the Georges Basin region.

Read the full story at The Free Press

AP: Proposal to Protect Offshore Sites Draws Support, Opposition

September 3, 2015 (AP) — Environmental advocates say the federal government should extend permanent protection to two underwater sites off the New England coast by making them national monuments.

Fishing advocacy group Saving Seafood said Wednesday it opposes more restrictions on the areas, already closed to fishing and monitored by federal regulators.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage wrote President Barack Obama last week saying he opposes the proposal, which he said would hurt the state’s economy.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

 

There are no national monuments in Maine. Would Obama defy LePage to create one?

September 1, 2015 — Maine Gov. Paul LePage sent letters to President Barack Obama and members of the state’s congressional delegation to express his opposition to any efforts to designate certain Gulf of Maine and forest areas as national monuments.

In question are an undersea mountain range named Cashes Ledge and its environs, which conservationists consider a crucial refuge for the dwindling Atlantic cod population, as well as Millinocket-area land eyed by some as a potential spot for a national park.

While supporters of the designations argue they would advance important natural preservation efforts and — in the case of the national park — boost tourism and jobs, the governor and other opponents worry the moves would too greatly restrict the state’s commercial fishing and forest products industries.

But was a national monument designation ever likely for either location?

There are no national monuments currently in the state of Maine. Would Obama create one?

We’ll review some basics about national monuments and their history to help flesh out that discussion.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

Read the letter from Gov. LePage to President Obama