Saving Seafood

Maine regulators to meet with lobstermen again about new whale rules

September 18, 2019 — Maine regulators are working on a new slate of meetings with the state’s lobstermen to discuss potential new whale protection rules that could impact the fishery.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources is developing a proposal for the federal government about how to better protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. It had scheduled several meetings with lobstermen about the proposal for this month, but has temporarily put them on hold.

Department spokesman Jeff Nichols said a revised schedule will be out after regulators have had a chance to develop a proposal that reflects “another review of all data.”

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

Dead right whale off New York raises toll — and pressure on NOAA

September 18, 2019 — A dead North Atlantic right whale found floating off New York’s Long Island Monday afternoon could raise the official death toll of the endangered species to 29 in the last two years, jacking up pressure on the U.S. and Canadian governments to slow those losses.

The latest find comes less than a week after Chris Oliver, NMFS administrator, said the agency will move ahead with rulemaking to reduce the risk of whale entanglements in fishing gear — despite a withdrawal of support for proposed measure by the Maine lobster industry.

“We intend to address the threats posed by gillnets and to humpback whales at future (Atlantic Large Whale) Take Reduction Team meetings,” Oliver said in a statement issued Sept. 11.

NMFS officials said the carcass was discovered 4 miles south of Fire Island Inlet, and was so decomposed that its age, sex and cause of death could not be determined immediately.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Lobster industry pinched by tariffs

September 18, 2019 — The trade war with China is putting the squeeze on the state’s lobster industry, and the damage is seeping into other sectors of the seafood economy, lawmakers were told Tuesday.

China has imposed 35% tariffs on U.S. lobsters — and many other food products — over the past year amid rising trade hostilities with the United States.

As a result, U.S. lobster exports to China have fallen off a cliff, dropping by 80% since its retaliatory tariffs went into effect.

The pain is being felt in Massachusetts, the nation’s second-largest market, where lobster sales to China plummeted 62% in the past year, according to state export officials.

“Canada is experiencing a boom in lobster sales as Chinese buyers find alternative markets,” Mark Sullivan, executive director of the state Office of International Trade and Investment, told members of Legislature’s Committee on Export Development on Tuesday. “Cargo planes are coming into Halifax, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick to handle this bump in growth.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Moulton praises local lobsterers for staying at whale rule table

September 17, 2019 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton on Monday called the Maine Lobstermen’s Association shortsighted for stepping away from the federal plan to increase protections for North Atlantic right whales, saying the defection will dull its membership’s ability to influence the plan ultimately adopted by NOAA Fisheries.

“It limits their involvement in the solution going forward,” Moulton said on a teleconference organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “We really want to get everyone on board here and we want to make sure that it’s a solution that works for all the stakeholders. I don’t think you’re going to find any lobstermen that who say they want the right whale to go away.”

Moulton, a primary author of a House bill to help save the endangered right whales, said he believes the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association’s decision to remain at the table as the Atlantic right whale take reduction team thrashes out the final plan for the approval of NOAA Fisheries is the proper one.

“I think part of the reason the Massachusetts lobstermen are at the table to be a part of this process and its agreement moving forward is because they recognize that if this gets even more dire, they may literally be regulated out of business,” Moulton said. “I think the lobstermen in Massachusetts are being really smart. I think right now the lobstermen in Maine are being shortsighted. But we hope to bring them back on board, because ultimately they’re going to be better off having a seat at the table than not.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Lobster distributor Maine Coast receives “Excellent” score under SQF’s Food Safety Code

September 17, 2019 — York, Maine-based company Maine Coast has achieved certification under Safe Quality Food’s (SQF) Food Safety Code for Manufacturing, the North Atlantic lobster distributor announced on 17 September.

The company, which is known for its Lively Lobster, achieved a score of 97 and an “Excellent” status under SQF’s criteria, it confirmed in a press release. Maine Coast sources its lobster from Maine and Canadian fisheries that are certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and recognized as producing “Good Alternative” catch by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MA Lawmakers Press U.S. Trade Representative for Real Solutions for Massachusetts Lobstermen Impacted by Trade Tariffs

September 17, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), along with Representatives Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA-08), William Keating (D-MA-09), Seth Moulton (D-MA-06) and Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-MA-04), yesterday sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer urging him to explore new markets for American lobster exports to address the impact of China’s 25 percent tariffs on imported American lobsters. The lawmakers’ letter comes ahead of a Joint Committee on Export Development oversight hearing in the Massachusetts State House to assess the impact of Chinese tariffs on the Commonwealth’s lobster industry.

U.S. lobster exports to China are down more than 80 percent since June 2018, which is reflected in the losses reported by local Massachusetts lobster companies. At least two businesses in the state have been forced to cease operations, leaving more than 250 employees out of work, and the U.S. lobster industry more vulnerable to long-term decline and competition from Canada.

“While Massachusetts state legislators are exploring solutions for economic relief at the state level, it is imperative that there be federal resolve to assist the Massachusetts lobstermen whose livelihoods heavily relied on exports to China,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

In June 2018, in response to concerns from local elected officials, Senator Warren sent a letter to Ambassador Lighthizer urging him to explore ways to open new markets for American lobster exports. In response to her letter, Ambassador Lighthizer acknowledged her concerns and indicated that trade agreements with countries in Africa and South East Asia and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Foreign Commercial Service could help mitigate the loss of the Chinese market.

In their letter to Ambassador Lighthizer, the lawmakers highlighted the harmful impact of the Trump Administration’s trade war on the Massachusetts lobster industry and reiterated calls for the USTR to explore new export markets for American lobstermen.

“We urge you to work with the Massachusetts lobster industry to provide specific solutions and resources to end the dire losses to the Massachusetts economy,” the lawmakers continued. 

The lawmakers requested a response to their letter by September 30, 2019.

NOAA moves ahead with whale-safety rules

September 16, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced it is reviewing claims by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association that a goal to reduce the industry’s risks of harming North Atlantic right whales by 60% is too high. But the federal agency said it will move ahead with crafting federal rules to reduce the risk to the whales of vertical fishing rope associated with trap and pot fishing.

“In the coming months, we will proceed with rule-making as planned,” Chris Oliver, the agency’s assistant administrator, said in the statement Wednesday.

The fisheries service is in the midst of preparing a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed rule changes, based on a pact approved nearly unanimously in April by the 60 members of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, including the Maine association.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

New England Herring Fishery Restricted For Several Weeks

September 12, 2019 — Commercial fishing of an important species of bait fish is going to be shut down in one of its key areas in New England for about six weeks.

Interstate regulators say the Atlantic herring fishery in the inshore Gulf of Maine is nearing a quota limit and will be subject to restrictions from Sept. 15 to Oct. 31. That means fishermen will not be allowed to bring the fish to land until that date.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

NOAA awards $2M for lobster research, much of it to be conducted in Maine

September 11, 2019 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program has awarded $2 million to lobster research projects and a regional lobster extension program.

Seven research projects were chosen through a competitive process that included expert review, according to a news release.

The projects aim to increase understanding of factors such as lobster biology, distribution and socioeconomic issues associated with a steep decline of landings in southern New England, as they pertain to Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine.

Collectively, the projects and the regional extension program are called the Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative.

Read the full story at MaineBiz