Saving Seafood

Fishermen worry as black sea bass stake New England claim

September 25, 2015 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – As waters warm off the coast of New England, black sea bass are moving north and, fishermen say, threatening the region’s most valuable aquatic species: the lobster.

The influx of sea bass – among a number of species that are appearing in greater numbers off of Maine and New Hampshire as ocean temperatures climb – has some fishermen and lobstermen saying the best solution is to ease restrictions on catching the newcomers.

The sea bass prey on lobsters, a much more economically important commercial species and a key piece of New England’s culture, and quotas that have drifted downward in recent years should be increased, fishermen said.

“What we need is a major increase in the allowable catch, both commercially and recreationally, because black sea bass are wiping out your lobsters,” said Marc Hoffman, a Long Island, New York, recreational bass fisherman.

Hoffman, who sits on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission advisory panel for sea bass, said the time to raise the quota is overdue. He said it is particularly important in southern New England waters, where fishing managers say the population of lobsters has fallen to the lowest levels on record.

Black sea bass are a sought-after sport fish, but they are also popular as food and are growing in commercial value – federal statistics show black sea bass were worth a record of more than $8.5 million in 2013.

Scientists with the commission say more research is needed to determine just how abundant black sea bass are in New England waters. But about a quarter of the black sea bass caught in 2013 came ashore in New England; the fish is more often caught in the mid-Atlantic states, especially New Jersey and Virginia.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at New Jersey Herald

 

Fish like a girl: This 23-year-old lobsterwoman from Maine is her own boss

September 24, 2015 — Only about four percent of the 5,000 lobster licences granted by the state of Maine are currently owned by women. Of the 205 women who make up that four percent, 73 of them are under the age of 35.

“It’s frustrating, but I don’t care,” Samuels said. “The more I do it, the more people get it. The guys at the harbor are really nice. It’s mostly older men, yacht people and people at the farmer’s market where I sell on Fridays who are surprised that I’m a woman running my own boat.”

Samuels’ father, Matt, has fished out of Rockport for nearly 40 years. Samuels was born at a hospital down the road, and before she ever went home, Matt brought her down to the wharf. By the time she was seven years old, she had her student lobster fishing license. By 13, she’d fished the 200 hours necessary to get her commercial licence. A year later, at 14, she got her first boat.

“I called it the Miss Understood,” she said. “I thought I was really clever.”

Samuels is still living with her father in Searsmont, a town about 17 miles inland from Rockport Harbor, while she saves money to buy land and build her own place.

“I always knew I wanted to fish,” she said. “Though I went through a phase at 15 or 16 where I was like, ‘This is so much work, I don’t understand why I do this.’ It was one of those things where everyone would come back to school after the summer and talk about going to water parks and stuff and I’d be like, ‘I baited bags.’”

Lobstering is hard, physical work, and requires at least two people. The sternman baits the traps and measures the lobsters as the captain drives the boat and pulls up the buoys. Sadie’s sister, Molly, is her sternman—woman, rather—during the summer when she’s not at college.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Working Waterfront festival gives visitors a free, fun behind-the-scenes look

September 24, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Do you know how to properly cook and eat a lobster, or how to fillet a fish?

Perhaps you’d like to watch some of New Bedford’s most handsome fishermen model the latest in fishing gear, listen to some sea chanteys, cheer for your favorite in a nautical tattoo contest, or tour a scallop boat.

These are just a few of the many fun-filled and fascinating activities the 12th annual Working Waterfront Festival will offer guests of all ages as they explore the rich cultural history and get an inside look at the city’s dynamic fishing industry and bustling waterfront.

According to Laura Orleans, festival director, this year’s theme, “Every Object Tells a Story,” will be interpreted in various ways, including several skills demonstrations and a new area at the entrance to Steamship Pier where large industry objects, including a full-sized groundfishing net, will be displayed.

“The Working Waterfront Festival provides a rare opportunity for the public to get an inside look at the commercial fishing industry which not only generates over a billion dollars for our local economy each year, but is also a huge part of our culture and history,” Orleans continues.

Orleans says that this year’s festival is “a great mix of old favorites” such as the scallop shucking contest and seafood cooking throwdown, as well as new activities such as the fishing gear fashion show and nautical tattoo contest.

Read the full story at New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Dwayne Samson, captain in ‘murder for lobster’ case, sentenced to 10 years

September 22, 2015 — A Cape Breton lobster boat captain who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of another fisherman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Dwayne Matthew Samson was given 103 days of credit for time served at the Supreme Court sentencing hearing in Port Hawkesbury, N.S. He was also handed a lifetime ban on owning firearms.

The sentencing marks the final chapter of the so-called murder for lobster case.

The D’escousse man is one of three men convicted in the death of Philip Boudreau.

He pleaded guilty in May.

Read the full story at CBC News

 

Battle on Lobster Fishery Entry Brewing in Maine Legislature

September 9, 2015 — There’s another battle brewing in Maine’s lobster industry, but this is one that likely will be fought in the Legislature rather than on the water.

Out to about 12 miles offshore, Maine waters are divided from east to west, into seven Lobster Management Zones. Lobstermen are required to declare which of the zones they will fish in based, generally, on where they live.

Six of those zones have waiting lists established under the state’s “limited entry” law, of people who have completed a state-mandated apprenticeship program and want a license to fish for lobster in the zone. The number of new licenses available each year depends, in eastern Maine, on the number of licenses surrendered each year. In western Maine, new issues are based on the number of trap tags surrendered. Every licensed commercial lobsterman is entitled to fish up to 800 traps, each of which must be marked with a plastic tag purchased each year from the Department of Marine Resources.

In some of those zones, the waiting list, and the waiting times for a new license, are extremely long.

In Zone D — around western Penobscot Bay — there are 59 on the list, which stretches back to November 2005. In Zone B, around Mount Desert Island including Frenchman Bay over to Schoodic Point, the waiting list includes 55 names and stretches back to May 2005.

With decade-long waits for a new license (the shortest list contains 28 names and dates to 2007,) fishermen on the list have been pressing Governor Paul LePage and their state legislators, and the Governor and the legislators have been pressuring the Department of Marine Resources to develop a new limited entry system with what DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher described last Monday as “a predictable time frame” for people waiting for licenses.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

 

Iconic fish species move north as ocean warms

September 6, 2015 — Warming ocean temperatures off the North Atlantic are causing fish to move up the coast to cooler waters — raising concerns among scientists and regulators about the ocean’s ecosystem, and potentially changing the experience Delaware anglers have enjoyed for generations.

In 2013, a Virginia Beach striped bass tournament drew hundreds of boats, but only one striper was caught.

Wachapreague, Virginia, a tiny town south of Chincoteague that called itself the “flounder capital of the world,” lost its identity and economic engine when summer flounder relocated to waters off the coasts of New Jersey and New York.

And the iconic blue crab, a staple of restaurants and dinner tables throughout the Delmarva Peninsula, are expanding their range, scuttling up the coast to Maine.

Striped bass, which gave birth to a charter fishing industry in Delaware, are swimming into deeper water during their fall migration through the mid-Atlantic — well beyond the 3-mile limit off the coast where it is legal to catch and keep them.

Black sea bass — once so common in area waters, they were the go-to-fish when other species weren’t biting — have moved north to New England.

Read the full story at Delaware Online

 

Warming Oceans Putting Marine Life ‘In a Blender’

September 3, 2015 — Up in Maine, lobsters are thriving. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission reported last month that stocks there reached a record high.

Down the coast, however, the story is different. In southern New England, lobster stocks have plummeted to the lowest levels ever recorded, putting many lobstermen out of business.

Lobster populations rise and fall for many reasons. But in its new report, the commission singled out one factor that is probably driving the recent changes: The ocean is warming.

At the northern edge of the lobsters’ range, higher temperatures may be speeding up their metabolism, leading to the population boom. But at the southern edge of the range, the waters may be getting too warm, putting the animals under extreme stress.

According to a 2013 study, marine species are pushing their range boundaries poleward, away from the Equator, at an average speed of 4.5 miles a year. That’s 10 times as fast as the speed at which species on land are moving.

Read the full story at the New York Times

New Hampshire fishermen see no shortage of lobsters

August 28, 2015 — If lobsters are running scared from warmer southern New England waters, local lobstermen aren’t experiencing a similar shortage.

According to Red Perkins, manager at Seabrook’s Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative, lobsters are in good supply this year, although not as abundant as a few years ago.

“We’re not noticing a shortage here,” Perkins said yesterday. “Last year we had a realistic lobster harvest and this year is the same as last year. A couple of years ago it was a very good year. It’s not strange for quantities to vary over the years.”

Salisbury Ring’s Island resident and amateur lobsterman, Jerry Klima said he had heard the rumors and read the reports that claim warmer waters in places like Long Island Sound are causing lobsters to head north, seeking colder climes. Recently, he spoke with a veteran fisherman who said he’s hauling up fewer lobsters in his traps by as much as a third.

“But (we) just went out and caught a lot of lobsters,” Klima said. “Supply varies from year to year.”

Read the full story at the Daily News of Newburyport

 

 

The Good and Bad of Climate Change in Maine- Fishing Impacts

August 25, 2015 — “If ocean temperatures go up 5 degrees, I might actually swim in it,” proclaimed Tom Doak, executive director of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine.

I’d need at least 20 degrees, I responded. But Tom was making an important point about climate change: It’s not all bad.

Yes, there will be no skiing in Maine, but waterskiers will enjoy a long season. Farmers will have longer growing seasons, although some current crops won’t do well. As we plan for these climate changes, it’s important to include the benefits along with the bad impacts.

The June conference on Maine’s Economy & Climate Change, organized by Alan Caron and Envision Maine, was both fascinating and troubling. Last week, I told you a bit about the conference, and today I will focus on the three dozen people who spoke briefly, from 10 minutes to 1 minute.

“Eat Hake, not Haddock.” That must be our new slogan, said Andy Pershing of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Fish species are changing in the Gulf of Maine, he said, and hake eat cod. We’d like to eat cod too. But first, we must eat hake. And the real question is this: Will tourists eat hake? Just for the hake of it?

Read the full story at CentralMaine.com

 

 

American Lobster and Jonah Crab Reports Now Available

August 21, 2015 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has released the final versions of the 2015 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report and Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Jonah Crab. Both documents can be found on the Commission website at www.asmfc.org on the American Lobster webpage. Direct links to the documents follow:
 
2015 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report  – Please note this is a low resolution version; a high resolution copy of the report can be obtained at https://asmfc.egnyte.com/dl/kJfBicPSNR.