Saving Seafood

Lobster lovers feeling the pinch of high prices

June 8, 2021 — Summer weather has arrived, and New England tourists are hungry for a lobster roll or a whole cooked lobster – but they’re going to have to pay up.

Lobster is more expensive than usual this season due to a limited supply, high demand and the reopening of the economy as the nation moves past the coronavirus pandemic. Consumers are headed back to seafood restaurants and markets for the first time in months, and the lobsters there to greet them are at a premium.

Some Maine stores charged $17 or $18 per pound for live lobster in May, and that was about twice the price a year ago. Prices are lingering in the $13 or $14 range this month. Lobster is usually expensive in late spring, but this season has seen prices that are higher than typical.

The wholesale price for live, 1.25-pound lobsters in the New England market was $9.01 per pound on May 1, business publisher Urner Barry reported. That was about $2.70 per pound more than the previous May 1, and the highest price for that date in at least five years, the company reported.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Attention Federal Lobster Permit Holders: ROV Inspections

June 2, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Throughout the year, the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement will be inspecting lobster gear in federal waters off New England and the mid-Atlantic using remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs). The purpose of these inspections is to check lobster gear for compliance with federal requirements related to trap tags, gear markings, weak links, sinking ground lines, escape vents, ghost panels, and other conservation measures.

Please ensure you are familiar with the regulations governing lobster gear: Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan regulations and American Lobster Fishery Management Plan regulations. For a summary of lobster gear requirements, go to our American lobster webpage, and refer to the management and commercial fishing tabs. You should also explore the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan compliance guides and Maine Department of Marine Resources’ recent updates to gear marking requirements for Maine fishermen. These guides may assist you in understanding the current requirements, but are not a substitute for the regulations.

Federal lobster gear requirements ensure a sustainable lobster fishery and protect endangered whales from entanglements. When these requirements are ignored or willfully violated, it threatens important marine resources and puts law-abiding fishing businesses at a competitive disadvantage.

NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement is committed to protecting our shared marine resources and ensuring a level playing field. If you fail to comply with federal gear requirements, your gear may be seized and forfeited, your Federal fishing permits may be suspended or revoked, and monetary penalties may be imposed upon you. Please take this opportunity to ensure that your gear is in compliance.

For more information about our ROV operations read our web story.

Read the full release here

‘Troubling’ impact on lobster fishery seen in federal study of right whale population

June 1, 2021 — The federal government on Thursday released a new report saying the lobster fishery poses a risk to the endangered North Atlantic right whale population.

The assessment, conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, is expected to have a severe impact on the fishery. The long-term ramifications “remain troubling,” Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement.

The assessment calls for the fishery to reduce the potential for serious injury and death to right whales by 60% over the coming decade. Based on periodic evaluations during that time, the risk reduction target could be increased to 87% in 2030.

“The lobster fishery as we know it will not exist if this is fully implemented,” the Maine Lobstermen’s Association said in a statement. Maine is home to the nation’s largest lobster fishery, and brought in a catch of over $400 million last year despite the pandemic.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Lobster industry still waiting for precise rules from feds to protect right whales

June 1, 2021 — Maine’s lobster fishermen are anxiously waiting to learn exactly what they will have to change to meet new federal requirements to protect the endangered right whale. On Thursday, the federal agency NOAA Fisheries released their final biological opinion about the threat to right whales, saying there have to be major changes by New England fishermen so whales won’t get tangled in fishing gear and die.

Fishermen have been worrying about and waiting for federal guidelines for more than two years. They had some of their fears confirmed by the latest report from NOAA, but still are waiting to get the needed details.

The big target to protect whales is called risk reduction, primarily by cutting the number of vertical ropes in the water that connect traps to buoy.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, part of NOAA Fisheries, said those ropes pose a big risk of tangling right whales, so they have to be reduced 60 percent right away. How that should happen is one of the details fishermen are waiting to learn, but previous documents from NMFS suggested a primary method should be requiring longer trawls, meaning putting many more traps on each line, in addition to using sections of weaker rope that can break away if snagged by a whale.

Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association said Maine is being unfairly penalized for whale deaths actually happening in Canada and those from whales being hit by ships at sea. She said that while lobstermen will have to follow the rules, the industry will continue to pressure NMFS to improve its data and create more fair regulations.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Salmon overtakes lobster as the nation’s most valuable catch

May 28, 2021 — Lobster isn’t number one in the nation anymore.

Salmon is now the United States’ highest-grossing, wild-caught domestic fishery, according to the latest report issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Science and Technology.

The report, issued last week, shows salmon leaping from third to first, with lobster slipping to number two nationally.

In Maine, lobster still tops the charts, with no serious rivals.

“Lobster is, by far, the most valuable species harvested in Maine,” said Jeff Nichols, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

The new national numbers do not reflect aquaculture-raised salmon. The data covers 2019, the most recent year with complete data. The cash values represent money paid to fishermen at the dock, not consumer retail prices.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

UK proposes new tariffs on US lobsters and other goods

May 26, 2021 — Lobsters, wine, and chocolate imported into the United Kingdom from the United States could face new tariffs under proposals from the U.K. government to rebalance the list of goods it targets as part of the ongoing trade conflict around steel and aluminum.

The administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump introduced 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, citing national security concerns, prompting retaliatory measures from the European Union on goods such as motorcycles, whiskey, and tobacco.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Can lab-grown lobster compete with Maine’s most lucrative catch?

May 17, 2021 — With over 1,200 miles between Cultured Decadence’s headquarters in Wisconsin and the Maine coast, its foray into the lobster game may seem an unlikely choice.

But founders John Pattison and Ian Johnson don’t actually need the rocky coast or even the ocean for what they hope will become the latest crustacean sensation. All they need is a laboratory.

Cultured Decadence is a cellular agriculture startup using cell culture and tissue engineering to create shellfish products directly from cells – basically, lab-grown lobster. Labster, if you will.

The product is still a few years away from hitting store shelves, and its potential impact on Maine’s lobster fishery remains unclear. Cultured lobster is being developed at a time when plant-based meat alternatives already have become major players in the food industry, and some experts say cultured meats will comprise a large portion of the market by midcentury.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Georgians boycott Maine lobster industry after right whale dies

April 27, 2021 — Maine’s lobster industry is keeping a wary eye on a consumer boycott launched in Georgia.

Conservation groups there charge that New England’s lobster gear and trap-rope risk entangling and killing endangered right whales, and they said seafood lovers should choose other options.

The right whale has been Georgia’s official “state marine mammal” since 1985.

“The North Atlantic right whale is beloved, and those of us who love the Georgia coast just really celebrate the season when the whales come south to give birth,” said Alice Keyes, the coastal conservation director for an organization called 100 Miles, so-named for Georgia’s hundred-mile shoreline.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Midcoast fishermen can resume activity in offshore wind project’s proposed cable route

April 21, 2021 — Lobstermen who were forced to move traps along a 23-mile long route off the coast of Monhegan can resume fishing activity in the area. Last week, vessels conducting a survey for an offshore wind project completed their work along the route.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources sent a notice to fishermen on Friday stating that gear, like lobster traps, that were relocated to accommodate the New England Aqua Ventus survey can be moved back to their original locations.

Fishermen were asked to voluntarily move their traps so a survey of the seabed floor along the wind project’s proposed cable route could be conducted. But given the contentious issue of wind development of the Gulf of Maine, some fishermen felt they shouldn’t have to move their traps for a project that they feel threatens their livelihood.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Aquaculture, traditional fishing square off at public hearing on bill to review Maine’s lease process

April 14, 2021 — Tensions over Maine’s aquaculture industry again spilled into the Legislature on Tuesday as lawmakers held a public hearing on a proposal that would conduct a broad review of the way state regulators approve leases.

The bill is a concept draft that seeks a sweeping overhaul and review of how aquaculture projects are vetted and approved by the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Critics say the approval process of projects along Maine’s vast coastline is too permissive, resulting in sprawling aquaculture farms that conflict with the state’s traditional fishing industries, such as lobstering.

Jon Lewis, a Boothbay resident who worked as the agency’s director for aquaculture for 23 years, told lawmakers on the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee that the disputes over projects are on the rise.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News