Saving Seafood

Warming waters, local differences in oceanography affect Gulf of Maine lobster population

October 25, 2019 — Two new studies published by University of Maine scientists are putting a long-standing survey of the American lobster’s earliest life stages to its most rigorous test yet as an early warning system for trends in New England’s iconic fishery. The studies point to the role of a warming ocean and local differences in oceanography in the rise and fall of lobster populations along the coast from southern New England to Atlantic Canada.

One of the papers, published in the scientific journal Ecological Applications, was led by Noah Oppenheim, who completed his research as a UMaine graduate student in 2016, with co-authors Richard Wahle, Damian Brady and Andrew Goode from UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences, and Andrew Pershing from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. They report that the numbers of young-of-year lobsters populating shallow coastal nursery habitats each year, and temperature, provide a reasonably accurate prediction of trends in the lobster fishery some four to six years later.

Their model predicted regional differences in the recent record-breaking boom over the past decade, and now suggests the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery may be entering a period of decline; in effect a “cresting wave” of lobster abundance that may be heading northward in the region’s changing climate.

“Our model projects that the Gulf of Maine’s lobster landings will return to previous historical levels,” said Oppenheim, who is now executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and the Institute for Fisheries Resources in San Francisco. “These results don’t suggest a lobster crash, but this tool could give the  and policymakers additional lead time as they make decisions about their businesses and communities in the years ahead.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Maine pushes own whale protection plan

October 24, 2019 — Maine’s fishery regulators, on behalf of the state’s vital lobster industry, appear to be willing to meet the right whale take reduction team halfway on the removal of lobster buoy lines — but only in federal waters.

The state’s Department of Marine Resources last week released its own draft plan as a counterweight to the take reduction team proposal to remove 50 percent of all vertical lobster lines from wherever Maine lobstermen set and haul — in Maine state waters and the federal waters three miles beyond.

The DMR proposal calls for removing 25 percent of vertical buoy lines set in federal waters by Maine commercial lobstermen.

It said it would eliminate the lines by mandating lobstermen engage in a fishing practice called “trawling up” in which more traps — in ascending numbers as they move further offshore — are attached to each vertical line.

DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher said his agency’s plan protects the whales “by reducing risk where it occurs” and protects the state’s elemental lobster industry in the state waters where most permitted lobstermen ply their trade.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MAINE: DMR floats new gear regs to protect whales

October 23, 2019 — As the battle over how best to protect endangered northern right whales continues to escalate, the Department of Marine Resources is proposing a new set of requirements for lobster gear that the department believes will help reduce injury to the whales without imposing severe, and some say dangerous, restrictions on fishermen.

Last week, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher announced that after “rigorous scientific analysis,” the department had come up with a new draft plan to address “both the risk to right whales and concerns of fishermen” that is “in keeping with the real risk the Maine fishery presents.”

Last March, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced that the risk of injuries to right whales in the Gulf of Maine had to be reduced by at least 60 percent.

To meet that goal, a group of fishermen, scientists and conservation group representatives known as the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team recommended that NMFS require Maine lobstermen to reduce the number of vertical lines used to connect their traps to the surface marker buoys by 50 percent.

The NMFS proposal was based on a scientific model that ostensibly showed the restrictions to be necessary to meet the 60 percent risk reduction goal.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

ASMFC 78th Annual Meeting Supplemental Materials Now Available

October 23, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 78th Annual Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-annual-meeting for the following Boards/Committees (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information). For ease of access, all Board meeting supplemental materials have been combined into one PDF – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/78AnnualMeeting/78thAnnualMeetingCombinedSupplementalMaterials.pdf. Not included in the combined document are supplemental materials for the Executive Committee and the Atlantic Striped Bass Board; materials for both of which can be found at their committee headers.

Atlantic Herring Management Board – Correspondence to NOAA & ASMFC Regarding Herring Quota and Law Enforcement Violation

American Lobster Management Board – Lobster/Jonah Crab Reporting Requirements

Tautog Management Board – Update on Implementation of the Commercial Harvest Tagging Program

Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership Steering Committee – Action Items

Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Public Comment

Management and Science Committee – Revised Draft Agenda

Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

American Eel Management Board – Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

Weakfish Management Board – Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

Executive Committee – Revised Agenda and FY19 Audit

Habitat Committee – Aquaculture Impacts to Fisheries; Acoustic Impacts on Atlantic Fisheries Production

Shad and River Herring Management Board – Public Comment

Coastal Sharks Management Board – Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Advisory Panel Recommendations; Law Enforcement Committee Review; Technical Committee Criteria for Conservation Equivalency with Addendum VI; Public Comment Summary and Submitted Comment on Draft Addendum VI

ISFMP Policy Board – Revised Draft Agenda and Meeting Overview; Habitat Management Series: Aquaculture Impacts to Fish Habitats along the Atlantic Coast

South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – Draft Addendum III to Amendment 1 to the FMP for Atlantic Croaker; Draft Addendum III to the Omnibus Amendment to the FMP for Spanish Mackerel, Spot, and Spotted Seatrout; Draft Fishery Management Plan Reviews for Black Drum and Spotted Seatrout; Public Comment

As a reminder, Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, October 28th at 8:30 a.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 12:15 p.m.) on Thursday, October 31st. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible.

Farming Seaweed And Shellfish Can Help Water Quality And Wild Fish Stocks, Report Finds

October 23, 2019 — Aquaculture is currently the third-most lucrative fishery in New England, after lobster and scallops. Oysters, and increasingly, kelp, are two of the most commonly grown foods.

Now, a new study says aquaculture could also be an important way to address issues like nutrient pollution and habitat loss. The study found that New England’s waters are among the top 20 locations in the world with the greatest opportunities for restorative aquaculture.

Aquaculture hasn’t been associated with environmental benefits, historically — in fact, it’s much more commonly known for pollution, when too many fish are crowded into coastal waters.

But it turns out that shellfish and seaweed, farmed properly, can dramatically improve water quality.

“Shellfish and seaweeds are at the bottom of the food web and they’re able to actually take up nutrients from the water column,” said Seth Theuerkauf, aquaculture scientist with The Nature Conservancy and lead author of that global assessment.

Read the full story at WGBH

Maine to hold lotteries for entry into scallop fishery

October 21, 2019 — Maine is holding lotteries for licenses to participate in one of the most lucrative fisheries in the state.

The state is home to a near-shore scallop fishery that was worth about $6 million last year. The volume of the fishery is much smaller than Maine’s famous lobster fishery, but the scallops are typically worth more to fishermen on a per-pound basis.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said there will be two license lotteries. One will be for six licenses to operate a drag boat for scallops and the other will be for four licenses to dive for scallops. Most scallops in the state are harvested via boat.

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

New Maine Proposal to Protect Whales, Spare Lobster Fishing

October 17, 2019 — Maine fishery regulators are unveiling a new right whale protection plan they feel will satisfy federal requirements while also preserving the state’s lobster fishery.

A federal team has called for a reduction of the vertical lobster trap lines in the Gulf of Maine to reduce risk to the whales, which number about 400. Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher says his department’s new proposal would remove 25 percent of the lines beyond an exemption line for inshore fishermen.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Florida regulators crack down on harvest, sale of undersized spiny lobsters

October 16, 2019 — Kent Alexander Quinn Downs, a 33-year-old commercial spiny lobster fisherman from Marathon, Florida, was arrested Oct. 10 and charged with 11 counts of possessing undersized lobsters on his vessel as well as a felony charge related to destroying evidence, the Miami Herald reports.

Quinn Downs and his boat, That’s Right, were spotted in the East Bahia Honda Channel by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) officer Joshua Peters in the afternoon and hailed for an inspection. Peters said he then noticed a man dumping half a basket of undersized lobsters into the water.

Quinn Downs later admitted there were about 15 undersized lobsters in the basket and that he dumped them when he saw the officer’s blue lights, according to the arrest report.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Bill that would fund Maine lobster industry advances

October 4, 2019 — Federal legislation that supports Maine’s lobster industry and fisheries, as well as the National Sea Grant Program and other aquaculture research efforts, has passed the Senate Appropriations Committee.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a senior member of the committee, said in a news release that it advanced the FY2020 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies funding bill by a vote of 31-0.

“These investments will help us to better understand how the lobster stock is reacting to changing environmental conditions and ensure that Maine’s iconic industry that supports thousands of jobs continues to thrive,” Collins said.

“Additionally, this bill supports ongoing efforts to solve the conflicting conservation measures between American and Canadian fisheries and ensure that Maine lobstermen are not unfairly targeted by regulations intended to protect the fragile right whale population.”

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Feds Eye Lobstermen’s Concerns About Plan to Save Whales

October 3, 2019 — The federal government says it’s considering the concerns of a lobster fishermen’s group about a plan to try to save an endangered species of whale.

The plan concerns the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers only about 400. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association pulled its support from the plan this summer because of concerns it placed too much onus on lobstermen, who would be called to remove miles of trap rope from the water.

The lobstermen’s group’s concerns included that right whales are also subject to entanglement in fishing gear in Canadian waters. Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, released a letter Wednesday that said the U.S. is working with Canada to reduce that problem.

Read the full story at NECN