Saving Seafood

Over 100 Maine seafood dealers and processors awarded more than $15 million in grants

June 30, 2022 — More than 100 Maine seafood dealers and processors have been awarded more than $15 million in grants through the Seafood Dealer and Processor COVID-19 Response and Resilience Program.

Businesses in every coastal county received awards, with more than half them coming in at over $115,000.

Gov. Janet Mills made the announcement of $15 million in grants to local seafood dealers and processors at Hollander & de Koning, a six generation, family owned and operated shellfish company in Trenton.

The company is a grant recipient, and has recently purchased a machine that will bag mussels in small quantities, allowing them access to being in grocery stores as well as restaurants.

Read the full story at WABI-TV

MAINE: Gov. Mills announcing more than $15 million for seafood industry

June 29, 2022 — Gov. Janet Mills will be in Trenton Wednesday where she’s expected to announce more than $15 million in grant funding for 107 Maine seafood dealers and processors to help increase the supply of Maine-harvested seafood, strengthen their ability to deliver to markets, and create and sustain jobs throughout Maine’s iconic seafood industry.

The governor will make the announcement at Hollander & de Koning, a grant recipient and owner of the sixth generation, family owned and operated shellfish company in Trenton.

Read the full story at WABI

 

Maine relief plan seeks to buoy seafood industry

June 27, 2022 — Maine Gov. Janet Mills is diverting $8.3 million in federal funding to help the state’s seafood industry absorb the impact of rising costs from inflation and new whale protection rules.

The funding, which will be provided by the state Department of Marine Resources, will be used to reimburse commercial fishermen, dealers, processors, and aquaculturists for the cost of their 2022 licenses and associated fees. The department will also waive lease fees for commercial leases this year through a separate process, the Mills administration says.

“Maine’s commercial fishing and seafood industry is a crucial cornerstone of our economy, and they are facing unprecedented increases in costs,” Mills said in a statement. “This puts money back in the pockets of Maine’s fishermen, aquaculturists and dealers to help them offset growing business expenses, hopefully providing a small measure of relief for them.”

The initial round of payments, totalling $4.2 million, will be mailed by the end of this month for commercial fishermen who purchased their license between Nov. 15 and March 31, according to the Mills administration. Reimbursements for licenses purchased during the remainder of 2022 will be mailed separately.

Read the full story at The Center Square

Can Offshore Wind Energy Coexist With Maine’s Lobster Industry? Attempt Underway

June 9, 2022 — Researchers at the University of Maine are attempting to work ahead to prevent problems between one of Maine’s heritage industries and a new clean energy sector.

Over the past several years, Maine lobstermen have raised concerns about offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine and its potential to disrupt where and how they fish.

Hundreds of people in Maine’s lobster industry organized a protest in the state’s capital, Augusta, last year on the same day Gov. Janet Mills issued a moratorium on all new offshore wind development in state waters for 10 years, excluding some specific research projects. ‘

Roughly one week ago, UMaine announced it would try to “minimize” conflict by working with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and other groups to gather data on where fishing occurs, in order to inform offshore wind development.

“Right now, published maps suggest that lobster fishing is occurring everywhere. We hope through this effort to provide more spatial specificity about the most important fishing locations — where fishermen spend more time and effort,” said Kate Beard-Tisdale, a professor of spatial computing at the university who is leading this collaboration, in a statement released by UMaine.

Read the full story at NECN

Maine leaders to meet with feds about future offshore wind projects

May 19, 2022 — Maine has a chance to take a big step forward in its plans for offshore wind turbine production, but some fishermen and lawmakers have been weary of proposals for years.

More than a dozen supporters held a rally on Portland’s Eastern Promenade Wednesday, pushing state leaders to secure research and, eventually, leases to place massive wind turbines in federal waters in the Gulf of Maine.

Speakers included Jason Shedlock, president of the Maine State Building & Construction Trades Council; Dana Connors, president of the state’s chamber of commerce; Jack Shapiro of the Natural Resources Council of Maine; and Sarah Haggerty, a biologist with Maine Audubon.

They gathered a day before the Gulf of Maine Intergovernmental Task Force of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) planned to meet with representatives from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. It will be the first such meeting since 2019.

Governor Janet Mills, D-Maine, has already pushed to restrict projects in Maine waters, signing a 2021 law forbidding new projects in state waters for 10 years. Maine assumes stewardship over the first three miles away from its coast and islands.

In the water beyond that, BOEM plans to lease wind projects, and Mills is on board.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

 

NOAA agrees to ‘graduated enforcement’ of new lobster gear rules

April 20, 2022 — Federal officials are giving Maine lobster fisheries more time to purchase new, environmentally friendly fishing gear, after hearing from Gov. Janet Mills and Maine’s congressional delegation.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday it would still require lobstermen and women to upgrade their gear, but would “implement a graduated enforcement effort” for those who can show they are genuinely trying to meet the May 1 deadline.

The new requirements call for gear with weaker rope lines, which are less likely to entangle whales. Mills, together with U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, petitioned NOAA to recognize that supply chain delays are making it difficult for Maine’s lobster fishing fleets to meet the deadline.

Read the full story at Spectrum News

MAINE: Grant program opens to support seafood dealers and processors

April 11, 2022 — Gov. Janet Mills announced the opening of a nearly $16 million grant program through her Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan to help Maine’s wholesale seafood dealers and processors recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and invest in infrastructure improvements that will make their businesses more resilient to potential future market disruptions, according to a press release.

Applications for the Maine Seafood Dealer and Processors COVID-19 Response and Resilience Program opened April 1 and will close on April 28, 2022. The Maine Technology Institute is administering the program on behalf of the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

“This program will not only help Maine wholesale seafood dealers and processors recover from the significant economic challenges of the past two years, but it will also deliver important and timely investments to support the resilience and future prosperity of Maine’s working waterfront and blue economy,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher.

Read the full story at the Penobscot Bay Press

 

Maine’s leaders seek delay on whale protection rules

April 1, 2022 — A last-ditched request to delay new federal whale protection rules is being made by Gov. Janet Mills and members of the state’s congressional delegation, citing fears the state’s commercial lobstermen won’t be able to comply.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Riamondo, Mills and other officials urge federal fisheries regulators to extend the May 1 deadline to comply with the new regulations, which are aimed at protecting critically endangered north Atlantic right whales by setting a seasonal closure and requiring modifications to gear. They are requesting a July 1 deadline.

Mills, who penned the letter with Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and other congressional lawmakers, said the state’s commercial fishing industry is working “in good faith” to comply with the new rules but are facing supply chain issues and other complications with less than six weeks to go until implementation of the new rules.

Read the full story at The Center Square

MAINE: New advisory group to study port development for offshore wind

March 30, 2022 — The Mills administration has expressed its official view of offshore wind as an “unprecedented economic and investment opportunity for Maine” and plans are underway to study options for possible uses of the renewable energy at the state’s commercial ports as part of Maine’s Offshore Wind Roadmap, a strategic planning process coordinated by the Governor’s Energy Office.

Now the latest step is underway for the industry’s development, with the creation of an Offshore Wind Port Advisory Group.

The Maine Department of Transportation last week announced it was establishing the group to advise the agency and other state officials regarding the potential development of wind port facilities.

The goal is to rapidly develop the offshore wind market, according to a news release.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

 

Maine eyes concepts for developing Searsport as offshore wind hub

February 16, 2022 — State agencies have developed concepts to use the port of Searsport as a manufacturing hub for the burgeoning offshore wind industry.

“We envision an entire port concept,” said Matthew Burns, director of ports and marine transportation with the Maine Department of Transportation.

Burns spoke during a webinar last week, hosted by Augusta public policy nonprofit Maine Conservation Voters, on proposed plans to develop the port for offshore wind.

In November, Gov. Janet Mills directed her administration to study options for renewable energy development at the state’s commercial ports, calling offshore wind an “unprecedented economic and investment opportunity for Maine.”

Led by the Governor’s Energy Office, the Maine Department of Transportation and other agencies, officials are looking at a variety of wind options at Searsport, Portland, Eastport and others.

Read the full story at Mainebiz