Saving Seafood

Maine Department of Marine Resources Launches New Maine Seafood Brand Initiative

December 9, 2020 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), with support from Governor Janet Mills, is launching a branding and promotion initiative to celebrate Maine Seafood and to help consumers find and enjoy it in the comfort and safety of their home.

While rapidly changing seafood markets due to the coronavirus pandemic have posed challenges for seafood producers, retail seafood sales are up 35 percent compared to last year according to market research company Information Resources, Inc.

With $1,000,000 of the $20 million CARES Act relief funds allocated by NOAA for Maine’s commercial fishing and seafood industry, the Maine Seafood branding and promotion initiative will help this growing population of home-bound seafood enthusiasts discover the superior taste, quality and variety of seafood from Maine.

“Like producers across the globe, Maines seafood industry continues to face the challenge of rapidly changing markets,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher. “But this challenge also presents an opportunity. The Gulf of Maines cold, clean water is home to a wide variety of premium seafood products that are easy to prepare. The Maine Seafood branding and promotion initiative will help consumers learn about, find, and prepare Maine Seafood in their own kitchens.”

Maine’s seafood dealers and processors take great pride in delivering a variety of premium seafood products including inspired ready-to-cook offerings that take the worry out of meal preparation. Maine harvesters and aquaculturists are committed to responsible harvesting, cultivation, and handling practices, protecting both food quality and the marine environment.

“With more Maine people cooking from home, we have an opportunity to support Maines seafood industry by promoting the premium products we produce here at home,” said Governor Mills. “This initiative will support a vital sector of our states economy and connect consumers with high-quality seafood produced in the U.S. at a critical time.”

“When choosing Maine Seafood, consumers can trust that their seafood products, from shellfish to seaweed and halibut to haddock will be the highest quality, best tasting seafood on earth,” said Commissioner Keliher.

The initiative will emphasize the attributes that distinguish Maine Seafood, including the premium nature of the products, the pristine marine environment of the north Atlantic Ocean, and the industry’s passion for quality. A Maine Seafood website will feature a directory of Maine Seafood suppliers as well as inspired recipe ideas that make enjoying a Maine Seafood experience at home easy. Blog posts from influential food writers will drive consumer appreciation and demand for Maine Seafood. Social media accounts will allow foodies across the world to connect around their shared love of Maine Seafood. As the initiative moves forward, assets will be developed to support the industrys own marketing efforts. For a directory of Maine Seafood suppliers and easy, inspiring holiday and delicious holiday recipe inspiration visit www.SeafoodfromMaine.com.

Proposal Would Build 16-Square-Mile Wind Farm Off Maine Coast

November 23, 2020 — Gov. Janet Mills on Friday announced an ambitious, state-led effort to build as many as 12 floating wind-energy turbines off Maine’s coast.

Mills is on the hunt for a location for the array, in partnership with the University of Maine and the big-money investors behind the pioneering Aqua Ventus turbine experiment near Monhegan Island. But that’s got some fishermen worried.

The effort to win a so-called research lease from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will be led by Dan Burgess, director of the Governor’s Energy Office.

“The opportunity to work with these developers using the Maine-made, Maine-developed floating technology is just a really significant opportunity for the state and for us to continue to take a national and even global leadership position for floating offshore wind,” he says.

The Mills administration is pitching the project as small scale, needing “only” 16 square miles of ocean as compared to lease areas ten times as large for wind projects off southern New England. Still, with as many as 12 turbines running at a capacity of 10 megawatts each, Burgess says they could provide enough energy for 70,000-100,000 homes.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Mills, Collins Call On Federal Government To Provide Disaster Assistance To Maine Herring Industry

July 24, 2020 — Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins are calling on the federal government to provide disaster assistance to the state’s herring industry in the wake of what they call the fishery’s failure.

The herring population off New England’s coast has nosedived in recent years, and federal regulators have drastically reduced commercial catch limits by more than 80 percent. That has driven prices for the vital food-chain fish ever higher, and sent lobstermen scrambling for alternatives to what had been their go-to bait.u.s.

Earlier this month Mills asked the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to formally declare the regional fishery a failure, and this week Collins backed her up. In her letter, Collins says it is unclear how the industry will survive without immediate financial assistance.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Gov. Mills asks Trump administration to reject right whale protection proposal

June 29, 2020 — Gov. Janet Mills has asked the Trump administration to reject a petition from the Pew Charitable Trusts that proposes tight seasonal regulations for some lobster fishing areas to protect endangered right whales.

The proposal “not only fails to provide additional protections for right whales, but contrary to Pew’s assertions, it will cause significant economic impact to Maine’s iconic lobster industry,” Mills wrote in a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Pew, a national civic engagement and public affairs nonprofit, submitted a petition this month to ban traditional lobster fishing in areas where whales feed during their annual migration. The nonprofit wants alternating three-month periods when only ropeless fishing is allowed in areas including waters off Mount Desert Rock, Jordan Basin and Jeffrey’s Ledge, and year-round ropeless fishing off the coast of Nantucket.

The restrictions to protect the remaining 400 right whales would only minimally impact Maine’s $483 million lobster fishery because most fishing takes place closer to shore, Pew said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine’s governor objects to petition requesting vertical-line prohibition

June 26, 2020 — The U.S. state of Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, has written a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross objecting to a recent petition that aims to prohibit the use of vertical lines in the American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries in four areas off the New England coast.

The petition was submitted by The Pew Charitable Trusts earlier this month, with the intention of protecting the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. Right whales are one of the most endangered mammal species in the world, and entanglement with vertical lines have led to new regulation that the Maine Lobstermen’s Association has objected to.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Executive Order Delays Requirement for Maine Seafood Dealers, Processors to Renew Licenses

April 7, 2020 — Seafood dealers and processors in Maine are being provided with some temporary economic relief thanks to a new Executive Order issued by Governor Janet Mills last week. The new order delays the requirement for Maine seafood dealers and processors to renew their license.

According to a bulletin sent out by the Maine Department of Marine Resources, required fees for annual license renewals will be postponed for two months. This only applies to those who are renewing a license. Anyone who is applying for a license for the first time will be required to pay any applicable fees if they intend on operating on or after April 1, 2020.

Read the full story at Seafood News

As Maine’s Fishing Industry Flounders Amid Coronavirus, Lawmakers Look for Help

April 1, 2020 — With so many restaurants closed and much of life disrupted by the new coronavirus, fishermen in New England are trying to figure out how they’ll pay the bills this year.

Leaders in Maine say that they’ve found some specific ways to help at the local level but think more federal aid may be needed to help those in the seafood industry minimize economic damage.

Last week, Maine Gov. Janet Mills sent a letter to President Donald Trump explaining how dire the situation is.

She told the White House that “a $50 million loss in fishery value” in lobstering by June was a real risk at present.

Mills has provided pathways for Maine small businesses to apply for low-interest loans that could help offset cause during the virus outbreak.

Read the full story at NECN

Fishermen turn to direct marketing as demand for Maine seafood plummets

March 27, 2020 — For decades, lobster has been the symbol of Maine’s fishing industry, but at the moment the microscopic coronavirus is taking center stage.

As recently as Feb. 27, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the state. By Thursday, the public health agency reported 155 confirmed cases in Maine and the state was on virtual lockdown. All those who could work from home were staying away from their offices, “nonessential” businesses were shuttered, and bars and restaurants were closed except for takeout and delivery business.

While the economic news has been bad for all sectors of the economy, the fishing industry has been particularly hard-hit.

Last Friday, Gov. Janet Mills wrote to President Trump seeking “immediate assistance” for the Maine fishing industry. Harvesters, she said, “have only limited opportunities within their communities to sell small quantities … in hopes to earn just enough money to buy weekly necessities.” Likewise, she said dealers and processors reported there were “no markets for the product already in inventory.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine closes elver fishery, requests federal assistance due to COVID-19 impacts

March 24, 2020 — The U.S. state of Maine is requesting federal aid due to the ongoing impacts the COVID-19 outbreak is having on its fisheries.

Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, recently sent a letter to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump requesting federal assistance for the state’s seafood industry as trade disruptions and restaurant closures affect the state’s valuable lobster fishery, which was worth USD 485 million (EUR 451.4 million) in 2019. The fishery has been heavily impacted by the ongoing pandemic as demand for lobsters has plummeted.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Mills requests federal assistance for Maine’s seafood industry

March 23, 2020 — Gov. Janet Mills is asking President Trump for help to support Maine’s fishing industry.

In a letter to the president Friday, Mills pointed to a collapse of the markets for seafood both locally and globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic and asked the administration to consider direct financial assistance, subsidies, operating loans or loan deferment, or tweaking existing programs to make them more accessible to fishing and seafood businesses.

“In the short-term, harvesters have only limited opportunities within their communities to sell small quantities of product in hopes to earn just enough money to buy weekly necessities,” wrote Mills, calling the men and women who fish for lobster, herring, groundfish and shellfish “the very backbone of our rural coastal economy.”

In the long term, Mills said, “it is clear that the collapse of the international and larger domestic markets will devastate Maine’s commercial fisheries.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald