Saving Seafood

MAINE: Short film on baitfishing a rare, real look at the lives of lobstermen

March 8, 2021 — Brooke Mohnkern’s movie “Networks” about migratory baitfish is so authentic, he added subtitles so viewers can follow the fishermen’s accents.

The eight-minute movie opens with Phippsburg fisherman Clint Wallace leaning over the bow of his lobster boat Grace and looking right into Mohnkern’s camera as he unties from the mooring before heading out. Mohnkern captures the dialog from a nearby boat as Wallace speaks over the lumbering hum of the diesel motor.

“That funny looking water’s moving closer, Brooke,” Wallace says, motioning off in the nearby distance with his head as his hands work on the mooring.

“That’s awful funny looking.”

“Networks” is Mohnkern’s first film, and it tells a tightly focused story of a group of lobstermen from the Phippsburg village of West Point who hope to catch the shiny, surface-breaking fish known as pogies, or menhaden, causing all the ruckus in the water. It’s a story for the ages – men chasing fish and the consequences of their quest. But in just a few minutes, Mohnkern also manages to tell a story of a community of fishermen coming together for their common good and spotlights the economic impact of the migratory patterns of baitfish.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Lawmakers propose 5-year extension of Maine’s lobster marketing group

March 3, 2021 — A year after the coronavirus pandemic devastated Maine’s usual lobster markets, and as the industry braces for yet another onslaught of changes brought about by right whale regulations, state legislators are proposing a bill to reauthorize the organization that markets Maine’s signature shellfish for at least five more years.

The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, created in 2013 to replace the Lobster Promotion Council, promotes Maine lobster to restaurants, cruise ships, casinos, hotels and, especially within the past year, to grocery stores and home cooks.

Its $2.2 million annual budget is funded by surcharges on state-issued lobster licenses. The surcharges are not set to change under the proposed legislation.

The collaborative’s five-year authorization is set to expire in October, but according to Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, it’s more important than ever that the group’s work continues.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Better data needed to guide regulatory decisions aimed at protecting right whales

March 3, 2021 — Federal regulators, in response to a court order, are again proposing stringent new rules on lobster fishing in an effort to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The decline in whale numbers in recent years is troubling. However, it is also problematic that more precise data on the causes of whale deaths remains lacking.

We, along with fishermen, conservationists, our governor and congressional delegation, want the right whale population to grow and thrive. But without evidence that lobster fishing gear is a significant threat to the whales, it is hard to accept potentially expensive, burdensome and dangerous changes in lobster fishing gear that may have little impact on the whales.

In the new draft biological opinion, the document that will be the basis for National Marine Fisheries Service regulations for the management of numerous ocean fisheries to limit harm to right whales, the agency clearly acknowledges the gaps in data.

Regarding collisions with ships, the agency says it is currently undergoing a separate review of measures, including mandated speed reductions and closed areas, to reduce what are called “vessel strikes.” Twice in the document it says: “This review is expected to be released soon.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Lobstermen say NOAA’s proposed whale rule won’t work, and conservationists agree

March 1, 2021 — A Feb. 24 public hearing on a proposed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rule aimed at reducing the risk of North Atlantic right whale entanglements in fishing lines raised questions of relevant data used in drafting the rule and its outcome for lobstermen and right whales.

These conversations have been going on between conservationists, lobstermen, NOAA and the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) since 2019, when NOAA held its first public meetings on how lobstermen could adapt fishing methods to reduce the risks.

The Take Reduction Team, operating under NOAAA Fisheries, is tasked with upholding the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The North Atlantic right whale has been on the endangered species list since 1970, and the ESA determines a right whale mortality rate that will not further diminish their population. That rate now stands at 0.7 per year. Even one death is considered too much.

Although a new draft biological opinion just released proposes a 98 percent risk reduction to prevent right whale extinction, the TRT plan goal was based on an earlier opinion, recommending a 60 percent risk reduction. May 31 is the court-ordered deadline for finalizing the draft biological opinion and lobster fishing regulations to protect whales.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

After years of inaction, federal regulators are on the cusp of imposing new rules to protect right whales

March 1, 2021 — Nearly two years ago, federal regulators declared that North Atlantic right whales were facing an existential crisis. They convened a wide-ranging team of experts — state officials, scientists, fishermen, and conservation groups — in what they said was an effort to save the species from extinction.

Since then, 14 whales have been found dead and another 14 have been so seriously injured — either from entanglements in fishing gear or vessel strikes — that they’re considered “swimming while dead.” As the estimated right whale population plunged by a quarter, a federal judge ruled last spring that the US government was violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to adequately protect them.

Now, after the Trump administration slow-walked regulations to protect right whales that could harm the powerful lobster industry, the National Marine Fisheries Service is finally on the cusp of issuing the controversial new protections, which are drawing opposition from both the fishing industry and environmentalists.

“Developing these proposed modifications was challenging for everyone involved,” wrote Chris Oliver, the agency’s assistant administrator for fisheries, in a letter that accompanied the release of the draft regulations in late December.

The proposed rules — likely to take effect this summer — are estimated to cost the lobster industry as much as $61 million over six years, or about 10 percent of its annual revenues in recent years.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Feds Taking Final Comments About Plan to Save Right Whales

March 1, 2021 — The federal government is taking the last of the comments about a proposal to try to save an endangered species of whale.

The North Atlantic right whale numbers only about 360. The National Marine Fisheries Service is taking comments about its proposal to reduce risk to right whales until March 1.

The government’s proposal to help the whales includes changes to the U.S. lobster fishing industry, which is one of the most lucrative marine industries in the Northeast. The whales are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Extinction worries loom for both lobster industry and right whales

February 25, 2021 — Lobster fishermen are worried that federal regulations, proposed to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale from entanglement in fishing gear, could put the industry out of business.

Conservationists worry the whale won’t survive much longer, given increased concerns about gear entanglement and ship strikes.

The National Marine Fisheries Service — an agency that’s part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is responsible for overseeing fishing in federal waters — is in the midst of holding hearings on proposed modifications to the federal government’s “Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan.”

Proposed changes aim to reduce entanglement in trap and pot fisheries for right whales, as well as humpback and finback whales, in order to reduce death and serious injury in accordance with two federal fishery laws, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Maine Gov. Janet Mills Warns Draft Right Whale Biological Opinion Will be Devastating For Lobstermen

February 24, 2021 — Maine’s Governor Janet Mills is speaking out on the North Atlantic right whale draft Biological Opinion. The Maine Department of Marine Resources filed comments with NOAA late last week regarding the draft Biological Opinion for 10 fishery management plans in the Greater Atlantic Region, focusing on the North Atlantic Right Whale. Governor Mills’ “grave” concerns were outlined in a cover letter included with the DMR’s comments.

One of the issues regarding the draft Biological Opinion is that it calls for a 98% risk reduction over 10 years in U.S. fixed gear fisheries, including lobster. And as Mills wrote, “In the absence of a significant change, this Framework will necessitate the complete reinvention of the Maine lobster fishery.” Fishermen would not only be limited in putting out traps, but they would also have to invest in new gear. The results would be economically devastating to the state’s coastal economy.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Maine lobstermen worried about new federal regulations

February 24, 2021 — New federal regulations aimed at saving endangered whales could have serious consequences for Maine’s lobster industry.

“The issue isn’t in Maine waters,” Maine lobsterman John Drouin said.

For 42 years, Drouin has trapped lobsters in Downeast Maine.

He and every other Maine lobsterman are now bracing for proposed new rules intended to protect the North Atlantic right whale.

They call for a 60 percent reduction in the risk lobster lines pose to right whales, by increasing the number of traps per line, and adding weak points to the vertical lines between buoys and traps, where right whales can get entangled.

Read the full story at WGME

MAINE: Lobstermen, environmentalists agree right whale plan is flawed, for different reasons

February 24, 2021 — Environmentalists campaigning to save the endangered right whale and lobstermen working to protect their industry agree that a federal proposal to protect the species is flawed but for different reasons, with the fishermen saying it goes too far and environmentalists saying it doesn’t go far enough.

In a virtual public hearing Tuesday night, representatives from both groups asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to take a second look at its proposed changes to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan.

The proposal aims to reduce the risk to the North Atlantic right whales by at least 60 percent and includes plans to modify gear configurations to reduce the number of vertical lines by requiring more traps between buoy lines, introducing weak insertions or weak rope into buoy lines so that a rope will break if a whale becomes entangled, modify existing seasonal restricted areas to allow ropeless fishing and add additional seasonal restricted areas that are closed to buoy lines but allow ropeless fishing.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald