Saving Seafood

Judge refuses to shut down lobster industry

August 28, 2020 — Maine’s lobster industry last week got a bit of a break—two breaks, actually—with developments from Washington.

First, on August 19, Federal District Judge James Boasberg refused to shut down the lobster fishery as many feared he would. Environmentalists had asked him to do so while the National Marine Fisheries Service comes up with new rules to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Two days after the judge’s ruling, the Trump administration announced it had made a mini-trade deal with the European Union to remove tariffs on lobsters for the next five years.

“We’re on a roll,” said David Sullivan, representative for the Maine Lobstering Union, in a phone interview.

Paul Anderson, executive director of the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, said in an email those two developments were good news for lobstermen. They haven’t had much lately. The COVID-19 pandemic depressed lobster prices by shutting down restaurants, casinos and cruise ships.

“The overall market conditions for lobster are still in flux,” Anderson said. “But we’re still fishing, the shedders are now in the condition that they can be shipped, and domestic consumption and local processing are happening. The price is still low, but it ticked up a bit in Stonington this week.”

Read the full story at the Penobscot Bay Press

Consider the Lobster Tariffs: GOP Cheers Trump Move, But Some Mainers Skeptical

August 27, 2020 — It was a bit of good news in an uncertain year for Maine’s lobster industry.

On Friday, the White House and Maine congressional leaders announced the elimination of an 8% tariff on live and frozen lobster into the European Union, which they described as a move would level the playing field with Canadian lobster in that market.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the agreement on Tuesday, saying that “beautiful Maine lobsters will now move tariff-free to Europe,” naming Maine communities like Eastport, Cutler, Jonesport, Stonington, Friendship and Casco Bay as he said the deal will create jobs.

Later that night, the tariff’s elimination was touted on another national stage when Jason Joyce, a lobsterman from Swan’s Island, took the stage at the Republican National Convention.

Read the full story at NBC Boston

USDA commits to trade aid for lobster industry using coronavirus coffers

August 27, 2020 — The Trump administration is committed to starting an aid program to help the struggling lobster industry, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Wednesday, but the funds to do so will come from the coronavirus stimulus package, not the aid used to bail out farmers after President Trump’s trade war with China.

The lobster industry, like many others during the coronavirus outbreak, has seen losses as markets on cruise ships and restaurants evaporate. But the industry’s real trouble began in 2018 when China retaliated against U.S. trade policies with tariffs that rose as high as 35 percent.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) missed the Aug. 24 deadline set out in an order from Trump that directs the agency to establish an aid program similar to the nearly $30 billion bailout established for farmers last year.

Instead, Perdue said lobstermen and women will soon be able to apply for aid through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), a $19 billion program established for farmers in April in response to COVID-19.

“We are working on and the president is aware we are working on our big CFAP 2 program of which lobster would be included as directed by the memorandum so we’ll be releasing those details shortly,” Perdue said in response to a question from The Hill.

Read the full story at The Hill

Maine lobsterman to address GOP convention as Trump bets big on iconic industry

August 26, 2020 — Eighth-generation lobsterman Jason Joyce of Swan’s Island will address the Republican National Convention on Tuesday as President Donald Trump prioritizes Maine and its most iconic industry in an election year.

Joyce, 50, is the only Mainer with a speaking slot at the convention, according to a list provided by the Trump campaign on Sunday. He will speak on the second day of the four-day convention, to be officially held in Charlotte, North Carolina though much of the programming will be remote because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump will formally accept his party’s nomination to run for re-election on Thursday a week after former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, did the same at his party’s convention. Biden has led Trump in national polls since becoming the presumptive nominee in April and has led the Republican president by more in Maine.

Watch the speech here

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

EU agrees to cut taxes on US lobsters in modest trade pact

August 24, 2020 — New England lobsters should soon be returning to European pots under a modest trade agreement announced Friday.

In a big win for New England beleaguered lobster industry, the European Union agreed to drop its 8% tariff on U.S. lobsters for the next five years and to work to make the move permanent.

For its part, the United States agreed to cut in half tariffs on EU imports worth about $160 million a year, including some prepared meals, crystal glassware and cigarette lighters. The tariff cuts are retroactive to Aug. 1.

U.S. lobster imports to the EU came to about $111 million in 2017 before falling off in the face of rising tensions between the trading partners and an EU trade agreement with Canada that favored Canadian lobster.

Lobster fishing, based mostly in Maine and Massachusetts, is one of the most lucrative marine industries in New England.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Judge won’t close offshore lobster area; grants NMFS more time for whale analysis

August 21, 2020 — A federal judge granted the National Marine Fisheries Service a May 31, 2021 deadline to produce new biological opinion on the Northeast lobster fishery and northern right whale, following up on his earlier ruling that the agency had violated the Endangered Species Act with a 2014 opinion.

But in his new decision issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg granted NMFS the nine-month grace period it had requested, rather than a Jan. 31, 2021 deadline sought by environmental groups that had sued the agency.

Boasberg also decided against ordering an immediate halt to the use of vertical lines for lobster gear in an area traversed by right whales south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket – a ‘Southern New England Restricted Area,’ about the size of Connecticut, proposed by plaintiffs including the Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation Law Foundation.

In a 31-page memorandum of opinion, the District of Columbia judge laid out his reasoning, and recognized the difficulties NMFS faces in resolving the right whale issues. But he included a stern warning to the agency and to make progress.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Joint Statement of the United States and the European Union on a Tariff Agreement

August 21, 2020 — The following was released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative:

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan today announced agreement on a package of tariff reductions that will increase market access for hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. and EU exports.  These tariff reductions are the first U.S.-EU negotiated reductions in duties in more than two decades.

Under the agreement, the EU will eliminate tariffs on imports of U.S. live and frozen lobster products.  U.S. exports of these products to the EU were over $111 million in 2017.  The EU will eliminate these tariffs on a Most Favored Nation (MFN) basis, retroactive to begin August 1, 2020.  The EU tariffs will be eliminated for a period of five years and the European Commission will promptly initiate procedures aimed at making the tariff changes permanent.  The United States will reduce by 50% its tariff rates on certain products exported by the EU worth an average annual trade value of $160 million, including certain prepared meals, certain crystal glassware, surface preparations, propellant powders, cigarette lighters and lighter parts.  The U.S. tariff reductions will also be made on an MFN basis and retroactive to begin August 1, 2020.

“As part of improving EU-US relations, this mutually beneficial agreement will bring positive results to the economies of both the United States and the European Union.  We intend for this package of tariff reductions to mark just the beginning of a process that will lead to additional agreements that create more free, fair, and reciprocal transatlantic trade,” said Ambassador Lighthizer and Commissioner Hogan.

Timeline on Negotiations:

In 2019, at the direction of President Donald J. Trump, the United States completed formal procedures necessary to launch negotiations on a trade agreement, as did the European Commission.

In September 2018, as required by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, Ambassador Lighthizer consulted with members of Congress on the Trump Administration’s interest in launching trade negotiations with the EU.  On October 16, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative officially notified Congress that President Trump intended to launch trade negotiations with the EU.  On January 11, 2019, following consultations with Congress and public comment period from U.S. stakeholders, the Trump Administration issued formal U.S. negotiating objectives for the EU.

The agreement being announced today arose out of continuing engagement with the EU on these issues.

EU drops tariffs on US lobster

August 21, 2020 — The European Union will immediately eliminate its tariffs on imports of U.S. live and frozen lobster products, according to an announcement from the United States Trade Representative’s office.

An agreement struck between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan on Friday, 21 August will result in the E.U. eliminating the lobster tariffs on a Most-Favored Nation basis, retroactive to 1 August, 2020. In return, the United States will reduce by 50 percent its tariffs on a variety of products including prepared meals, glassware, propellant powders, cigarette lighters, and other products collectively valued at around USD 160 million (EUR 135.7 million). The U.S. tariff reductions will also be made on a Most-Favored Nation basis and are retroactive to 1 August.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Court Ruling Gives Lobster Industry A Reprieve — And A Deadline

August 21, 2020 — A federal judge has ordered fishery managers to reanalyze the impact of the American lobster industry on endangered North Atlantic right whales, and issue a new rule for protecting the whales by May 31, 2021.

The judge did not, however, ban lobster fishing with vertical buoy lines in a right whale feeding area, as environmental advocates requested.

Part of Cape Cod Bay is already closed to lobster fishing in the late winter and early spring to protect right whales from getting tangled in fishing gear. But environmental groups — The Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife, Conservation Law Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity — wanted an additional area in southern New England closed immediately as well.

U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg, who ruled on the matter this week, said a sudden closure “would disrupt fishermen’s current operations and their near-term plans.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has gutted the market for lobster, cutting the price in half and pushing fishermen, most of whom are self-employed, to the economic brink,” Boasberg wrote in his ruling.

Read the full story at WBUR