January 2, 2020 — U.S. President Donald Trump said he will sign the so-called “Phase One” trade deal with China, first announced on 13 December.
Trump said on Twitter he would sign the deal on 15 January at the White House. He also announced plans to travel to Beijing for negotiations on Phase Two at an unspecified later date.
December 20, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries is adding an additional $1.6 million to current funding to help the New England lobster industry comply with additional protection measures for the imperiled North Atlantic right whales.
“The $1.6 million will support reducing the risk of entanglement of right whales in fishing gear while assisting the lobster fishing industry in adapting to the impacts of new measures to reduce the effects of trap/pot gear on right whales,” NOAA Fisheries said in a statement.
NOAA Fisheries said the additional funding will be dispersed with the assistance of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Further details will follow, NOAA Fisheries said.
Marine scientists say the total population of imperiled North Atlantic right whales continues to hover around 400.
December 17, 2019 — California’s coastal waters are acidifying twice as fast as the rest of the oceans, a study published Monday shows. And some of California’s most important seafood — including the spiny lobster, the market squid and the Dungeness crab — are becoming increasingly vulnerable.
The carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to the planet’s rapidly warming climate are also changing the chemistry of the world’s oceans, which have absorbed roughly 27 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted worldwide.
Ocean water is ordinarily slightly basic, or alkaline, but is becoming more acidic as it absorbs carbon dioxide. This can harm marine life, especially shellfish, because they struggle to make their shells in acidic waters.
Emily Osborne, a scientist in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ocean acidification program, with her colleagues studied the fossil record of planktonic foraminifera — tiny simple organisms which, like shellfish, build their shells from calcium carbonate. They have been around for millions of years, but each individual organism only lives for roughly a month.
December 13, 2019 — A sixteenth of an inch doesn’t seem like much. But it added up to a whole lot for Nova Scotia lobstermen in December 1989.
A new law had been passed in the United States that increased the minimum allowable size of lobsters for import, by that seemingly insignificant margin.
The CBC camera showed a live lobster being measured using a specialized device.
But as Halifax reporter Paul Barr explained, the difference was anything but insignificant.
“That might not sound like much of a change to a non-fisherman,” he explained. “But in reality, it means as much as a quarter-pound increase in weight.”
That meant that fishermen were spending time catching lobsters they couldn’t export.
December 13, 2019 — The United States and China announced an agreement in which China will make structural reforms to its trading policies and strengthen its intellectual property protections in exchange for a reduction of current and proposed U.S. tariffs.
The U.S. will cancel its plan to implement another round of tariff increases later this month, and will reduce its 15 percent tariffs to 7.5 percent on USD 120 billion (EUR 107.9 billion) worth of Chinese goods. It will leave in place 25 percent tariffs on an additional USD 250 billion (EUR 224.8 billion) of Chinese imports, however, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The USTR did not identify which goods would see reduced tariffs.
December 12, 2019 — The changing climate and a seemingly unending round of trade wars are putting the squeeze on Maine’s lobster industry.
As the Gulf of Maine warms at a rapid pace, the lobster population seems to be shifting its location. At the same time, increased Chinese tariffs on lobster, imposed in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on an array of imports from China, have cut Maine exports into that lucrative market sharply.
Demand for lobster hasn’t disappeared in China, but most of it is now being filled by Canadian dealers, frequently shipping lobsters imported from Maine.
To help fishermen combat these pressures and diversify the New England seafood industry, Food Export USA–Northeast recently organized a three-day trade mission to Dubai for several Maine lobster dealers.
Traveling to the city, one of the United Arab Emirates on the shore of the Persian Gulf, said Tim Hamilton, executive director, Food Export USA-Northeast, were representatives from Greenhead Lobster Co. in Stonington, Maine Coast Lobster in York and Ready Seafood in Portland.
Also on the trip were representatives of Island Creek Oysters, a Massachusetts-based oyster grower.
“One way to counter what’s happening in the world today is to diversify export markets for all Northeast U.S. seafood products,” Hamilton said. “Our programs, services and promotional activities around the world can help suppliers do that.”
Dubai and countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) represent a potentially rich export market opportunity for Northeast U.S. seafood suppliers. In 2018, U.S. seafood exports to six GCC countries (the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) amounted to $14.4 million, while total U.S. food and agricultural exports to that market comprised $3.3 billion, so U.S. seafood exports are only about a half a percent of total U.S. food exports.
December 11, 2019 — Federal fishing regulators are limiting the amount of herring that fishermen can catch off New England until the end of the year. The fish is used for food and bait.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s implementing a 2,000-pound herring possession limit per trip in the inshore Gulf of Maine until Dec. 31. The inshore Gulf of Maine’s an area that touches coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
The agency says it’s taking the step because 92% of the catch limit in the area has been harvested.
NOAA says no herring fishing is allowed in the area from Jan. 1 to May 31, so the fishery won’t be able to fully resume in the inshore gulf until June.
December 9, 2019 — A marine biology researcher from the University of North Carolina is trying to figure out how far a female lobster will go to lay eggs.
Heather Koopman, senior scientist at the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, has enlisted the help of Grand Manan fishermen to tag any female lobsters they catch and to report when they recapture one that’s been tagged.
“Some … have gone nine or 10 nautical miles in the space of a little over a week,” said Koopman.
“That’s kind of a distance for an animal … that size.”
It’s hoped the research will shed light on the range of the species and the health of the resource.
“I think our members are actually excited to see what’s happening with them,” said Bonnie Morse, Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association project manager.
More than 200 lobsters had been tagged for the project by Tuesday. Koopman said the project hopes to reach the 1,000 mark in the next few weeks.
December 6, 2019 — The Maine Lobstering Union, the owner of wholesaler Trenton, Maine, U.S.A.-based wholesaler Lobster 207, has sued members of a family it said defrauded them of nearly USD 2 million (EUR 1.8 million).
The union, which is a division of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, sued husband and wife Anthony D. Pettegrow and Josette G. Pettegrow, and their son, Warren Pettegrow, who served as the CEO of Lobster 207 until he was fired in April 2019, after “an internal investigation prompted by red flags reported by the company’s auditing team,” according to the union, as reported by the Ellsworth American. Interviewed by the newspaper, Pettegrow denied wrongdoing.
December 5, 2019 — As New England lobster harvesters struggle to keep up with the high cost of bait, due in large part to the short supply of Atlantic herring, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has issued further restrictions to protect the forage fish’s dwindling stocks.
As part of an amendment developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) and approved Nov. 19 by NMFS, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, midwater trawling has been prohibited within 12 nautical miles of the coastline that runs from the US state of Maine to Rhode Island 20 miles off Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, reports The Vineyard Gazette, a Massachusetts newspaper.
The change will give the herring a “buffer zone” to migrate without being pressured by commercial vessels but also allowing them to be eaten by other fish, aiding the health of the overall ecosystem, Janice Plante, the NEFMC’s public affairs officer, is quoted as saying.
Local fishermen, boards of selectmen, state legislators and environmental groups have been pushing for stronger management of the midwater trawl herring fishery for more than 20 years, according to the newspaper.