Saving Seafood

MAINE: Lobstermen Circle Survey Vessel As Wind Protests Escalate

March 24, 2021 — Protests over wind energy development off the coast of Maine changed course today. Several fishing boats reportedly circled a survey vessel off Monhegan Island, and federal and state law enforcement responded.

Lobsterman Larry Reed posted video on Facebook Monday morning of the Go Liberty, a 150-foot survey vessel, as it appeared to draw near lobster buoys in the water.

“He’s gonna tow right though that lobster gear with no concern. He’s got gear out towing, no concern whatsoever for our livelihoods,” Reed said in the video.

The U.S. Coast Guard says it sent boats from its Boothbay Harbor station to assist the state Marine Patrol on the scene, which is in state-administered waters. Company officials say the survey vessel was forced to stop operations to ensure safety. Fishermen say that Coast Guard and Marine Patrol boats monitored the situation, and by afternoon the vessel continued its work.

The flashpoint is a single-turbine, floating platform wind project under development by New England Aqua Ventus, in a collaboration between private industry and the University of Maine. The Go Liberty was contracted to survey potential routes for an electricity cable between the turbine and the coast.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Maine lobstermen protest Monhegan-area wind project

March 22, 2021 — More than 80 lobster boats lined up between Monhegan Island and Boothbay Harbor on Sunday to protest a seabed survey for a planned offshore wind turbine near Monhegan.

Lobstermen fear that the ongoing survey project and the test turbine that would follow it will disrupt fisheries and undermine an industry that serves as a vital economic engine for coastal Maine. After years of planning, a collaboration between the University of Maine and New England Aqua Ventus would link a turbine south of Monhegan to the mainland power grid in South Boothbay via a 23-mile underwater cable.

Earlier this month, three vessels began surveying the seabed along that route to study the potential impact of a cable on the ecosystem and area industry. But lobstermen say the survey boats have already begun to disrupt their operations by cutting lines and disturbing buoys.

“The boat hasn’t been staying in the survey route, and there’s been some issues with gear loss,” Dustin Delano, a lobsterman from Friendship who helped organize the protest, said this weekend.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Cape Cod lobstermen get free gear to protect endangered right whales

March 22, 2021 — Provincetown lobsterman Bill Souza walked back to his truck carrying a swag bag filled with what looked to be fluorescent orange bucatini. They were like the “bamboo finger trap” puzzles he’d seen as a kid, Souza explained, pulling one “noodle” out of the bag.

The weave on the fabric expanded as Souza stuck a finger in one end of the hollow piece of rope known as a South Shore Sleeve. As he tried to pull his finger out, the weave on the fabric tightened, gripping his finger until he pulled hard enough for it to let go.

This was not a child’s toy that the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, the Lobster Foundation of Massachusetts and the state Division of Marine Fisheries were handing out to fishermen gathered Friday at the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance building. These sleeves and spools of red 3/8-inch rope were developed and given to fishermen around the state to introduce them to the gear they will be using in the coming fishing season. That change is part of a suite of measures passed by the state Marine Fisheries Commission to comply with a judge’s order to reduce entanglements of endangered right whales in state waters.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Proposed federal rules to help endangered whales could cost Maine’s lobster industry $10 million

March 15, 2021 — Federal fishing regulators are close to finalizing new rules that would require expensive gear modifications and seasonal fishing closures in Northeast waters to protect the endangered right whale. Maine regulators and fishermen fear the rules would jeopardize Maine’s billion-dollar lobster industry while environmental advocates argue they don’t go far enough.

The public comment period closed March 1 after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hosted virtual public hearings on Feb. 23 and 24. Now, federal regulators are sifting through about 170,000 public comments to incorporate any extra information into their analysis before drafting the final environmental impact statement they hope to release by this summer.

The rule changes, if incorporated, likely wouldn’t go into effect until late 2021 or early 2022.

During the final public hearings, Maine Department of Marine Resource Commissioner Patrick Keliher echoed a statement put out by Gov. Janet Mills earlier that week stating that “a one-size-fits-all approach in the state of Maine will not work.”

Read the full story at the Penobscot Bay Pilot

NJDEP Proposes Changes to Marine Management, Seeks Public Input

March 10, 2021 — The state Department of Environmental Protection is seeking comments on proposed new rules regulating crab and lobster management, marine fisheries and fishery management in New Jersey. Written comments can be electronically filed until April 30 or submitted via the regular mail.

“The department is proposing to reduce the number of commercial crab pot/trot line licenses and crab dredge licenses for both the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic coast due to a reduction in the number of actively harvesting license holders,” according to the March 1 DEP bulletin on the proposed rule change.

Under the proposal, a licensee could transfer licenses to any person, based upon the number of available licenses.

Read the full story at The Sand Paper

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