Saving Seafood

Though Maine’s lobster harvest was smallest in 9 years, value remained steady

March 9, 2020 — Despite a cold, late spring that took a toll on the state lobster catch in 2019, driving landings down 17 percent, record-high prices kept the catch’s overall value steady from the previous year.

Maine fishermen hauled 100.7 million pounds of lobster in 2019, according to figures released Friday by the state Department of Marine Resources at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum. That was the smallest catch since 2010, but it was the ninth year in a row that Maine broke the 100-million-pound mark.

Despite the slow start, Maine fishermen eked out a good year. A 20 percent increase in the per-pound boat price of lobster meant the overall value of Maine’s haul remained pretty stable, coming in at $485.4 million, despite the double-digit decrease in 2019 total landings.

Kristan Porter’s end-of-the-year bottom line looked about the same as it did in 2018. The lobsterman from Cutler, who is president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, hauled less lobster, but he sold that smaller catch for a higher price, embodying the association’s motto, “Fish smarter, not harder.”

“We don’t fish for pounds, we fish for dollars,” Porter said. “Yeah, we got started late, and that was scary, but most guys finished strong. Overall, landings were down, but we’re still leaps and bounds ahead of our historical average. So I don’t think there is cause for alarm, at least not yet.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Florida Lobster Got a Break on China Tariffs. Then Came Coronavirus.

March 9, 2020 — Like other commercial fishermen along the east and west coasts, Ethan Wallace had been waiting 18 months for China — the world’s largest importer of live lobster — to lift its crushing retaliatory tariffs on American seafood that had whittled down his profits.

This week, that moment came: Beijing started allowing Chinese businesses to apply for tariff exemptions. But for Mr. Wallace, it no longer mattered.

Tariffs or not, no one in China is buying. The coronavirus outbreak meant the Lunar New Year banquets and wedding parties that feature a fresh lobster on every plate, a symbol of good fortune, were canceled. In several cities, restaurants are shuttered and public indoor gatherings are prohibited. And even if they weren’t, many of the planes that ferry live lobsters aren’t flying to China.

“Boom! Coronavirus,” said Mr. Wallace, 28, after he had steered Piece of the Pie, his 43-foot Torres boat, into the Keys Fisheries marina in Marathon. Although the season continues through the end of March, he and his crew that day took home more lobster traps than pounds of lobster from the Gulf of Mexico.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Maine lobstermen to federal regulators: We’re not killing whales

March 9, 2020 — Federal fishing regulators found themselves in the hot seat at this year’s annual Maine Fisherman’s Forum as the lobster industry sounded off about looming right whale rules that threaten to upend the country’s most valuable fishery.

Phillip Torrey, a sixth-generation lobsterman from Winter Harbor, told regulators it was unfair to ask Maine fishermen to give up any more than they already have to protect the endangered whale without proof that they are the ones causing them harm.

“If you could show us that we were killing right whales, we would do whatever you asked,” Torrey told regulators. “If it was a a court case, no district attorney in the world could put us to trial because they’d say they have no evidence against us, Maine fishermen.”

Torrey was one of more than 150 people who turned out to see the National Marine Fisheries Service field questions about its right whale policy, like why impose fishing restrictions on the $485 million-a-year lobster industry when data shows that it is Canadian fishermen and ships that are killing whales.

Fishing gear entanglement is the cause of most known right whale deaths or serious injuries, said Regional Administrator Michael Pentony. The agency is issuing draft regulations for the lobster industry this summer because it represents at least 90 percent of the gear in U.S. whale habitat, he said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Northeast Market Report: 2019 Year in Review

March 6, 2020 — Lobsters and sea scallops continued to top Northeast fisheries in value during 2019 – with oysters more modest in volume but rapidly gaining as a growth sector.

On the downside, it looks like tough times for herring will continue into 2020, and there’s no return in sight for Maine’s northern shrimp fishery.

WINNERS

Lobster: Although catch dropped by more than 15 percent this season, the commercial lobster fishery still hauled in 100 million pounds, according to Maine’s Department of Marine Resources. While that marks a 20 million-pound drop from 2018, many still feel positive about the industry’s trajectory over the past decade — after all, the 2019 catch is still above historical averages. Early on, worries about bait availability, right whale protections, trade deals with China, and a potentially larger drop in catch had the industry on edge, for good reason — lobster is worth more than $450 million to Maine’s economy.

“After a very slow start, the harvest numbers increased in the late fall and winter, and from deeper water and farther offshore,” said Steve Train, a lobsterman from Long Island, Maine. “Whether this is a one- or two-year thing because of cold springs and late sheds, or the beginning of a trend where the resource is shifting because of a change in climate, is still to be determined. But one thing appears obvious: The resource is healthy.” Export of lobster to China dipped by 46 percent after a tariff was imposed in 2018, and the coronavirus outbreak further disrupted the trade in lobsters from the U.S. and Canada.

Oysters: The taste for oysters seems to have no end in sight, and 2019 was no exception. The East Coast Shellfish Growers Association Executive Director Bob Rheault said that along the Atlantic coast “farmed oyster production has doubled in the past five years. There has been some consolidation — bigger firms buying smaller ones, and lots of new entrants” with most farms aiming to increase production. Despite half a decade of increased East Coast production, prices have trended up slow and steadily. The association estimates the total East Coast oyster industry is valued at $90 million, although many states lack good data. Rheault says raw bars are hot.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative announces its 2020 strategy

February 28, 2020 — The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative (MLMC) has released its 2020 strategic plan, which is focused on “promotion, protection, and partnership.”

The MLMC is funded via fees paid by the state’s lobster industry, based on a bill approved by the state’s legislature. The organization’s mission is to promote the U.S. state of Maine’s lobster brand in the media and restaurant business.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fisheries of the U.S Report: 2018 a Strong, Successful Year for U.S. Fishermen

February 21, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In 2018, U.S. fishermen landed 9.4 billion pounds of fish valued at $5.6 billion at ports around the nation—consistently high figures on par with recent years, which bring economic benefits up and down the seafood supply chain.

According to the Fisheries of the United States report, which is compiled by NOAA using data and analysis not immediately available at the same end of a fishing year, U.S. highest value species groups in 2018 included lobster ($684 million), crabs ($645 million), salmon ($598 million), scallops ($541 million), and shrimp ($496 million).

Dutch Harbor in Alaska, and New Bedford in Massachusetts, continue to dominate the list of top ports driven by landings of pollock for Alaska (the nation’s largest commercial fishery) and top-valued sea scallops in Massachusetts.

New Bedford brought in $431 million in 2018, up from $390 million in 2017, making it the top port by value in the country for the 19th straight year. Other top ports by value in the New England/Mid-Atlantic region include Cape May/Wildwood, NJ ($66 million), Point Judith, RI ($64 million), Stonington, ME ($60 million), Hampton Roads Area, VA ($55 million), and Gloucester, MA ($53 million).

Top ports by landings in the New England/Mid-Atlantic region are Reedville, VA (353 million pounds), New Bedford, MA (114 million pounds), Cape May/Wildwood, NJ (102 million pounds), Gloucester, MA (59 million pounds), Point Judith, RI (48 million pounds), and Portland, ME (46 million pounds).

Read the full release here

MAINE: Union-owned Lobster 207 gets “Fair Trade” certification

February 21, 2020 — Lobster 207, the wholesale and retail cooperative owned by the Maine Lobstering Union, can now market its lobsters with the trademarked “Fair Trade” seal after certification by the nonprofit Fair Trade USA.

Based on compliance with the organization’s extensive, 105-page Capture Fisheries Standard, the certification confirms that lobstermen selling their catch to the co-op, and the co-op itself, have met the rigorous standards set by Fair Trade for environmental stewardship, social responsibility and fair labor practices. According to a statement released by Lobster 207, more than 4,500 fishermen around the world have been certified under the Fair Trade Capture Fisheries Standard. Lobster 207 represents the only group of lobstermen worldwide who have received the certification.

The Fair Trade certification can have significant benefits for marketers. Among them, Lobster 207’s catch may be sold with the “Fair Trade Premium” that allows a percentage of the sale proceeds to be returned to the lobstermen’s community.

“With our Fair Trade Premium, a portion of every pound of Fair Trade lobster sold will go into a community development fund,” Mike Yohe, CEO of Lobster 207, said in a statement. “This money will go right back into our communities to improve the livelihoods of our lobstermen and their families.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Maine wants more credit from feds for efforts to save whales

February 14, 2020 — Maine’s top marine official has told the federal government that his state deserves more credit for the efforts it has made to try to save an endangered species of whale.

Maine is tasked with coming up with new regulations that make the oceans safer for North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 400 in the world. The proposed new protections place new restrictions on the lobster fishing business, which is critical to Maine’s economy and heritage.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration informed Maine in January that its proposal to protect the whales doesn’t go far enough.

But Patrick Keliher, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, sent a letter to NOAA on Wednesday that outlined numerous existing and additional proposed protections that he said play a key role in protecting the whales.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Regulators to hold hearings about planned changes to New England’s herring fishery

February 14, 2020 — Interstate fishing regulators are holding a series of public hearings in March about plans to try to better manage the fishery for Atlantic herring.

Herring are the subject of a major fishery on the East Coast, as the fish are used as food for humans and as bait for species such as lobsters. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said in a statement that a recent assessment of the herring stock found downward trends in the health of the population.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bangor Daily News

Maine Congressional Delegation Asks Feds To Shift Focus Of Right Whale Protections

February 7, 2020 — Maine’s congressional delegation is trying to up the pressure on federal fisheries regulators to look beyond the state’s lobster industry when seeking to reduce threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

In a letter to top officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this week, the delegation calls on the agency to provide more information about reducing the risk of ship strikes off the United States and Canada – strikes that they say are as much a threat to the whales’ survival as entanglement with lobster fishing gear.

Maine 2nd District Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, notes that just last month, a newborn right whale calf was sighted off Florida with an apparent ship-strike injury. He says Maine’s lobster industry is being asked to bear too much of the burden and is at a disadvantage compared to powerful shipping and conservation organizations.

Read the full story at Maine Public