Saving Seafood

ASMFC American Lobster Management Board to Meet March 31 to Consider Final Action on Draft Addendum XXIX: Electronic Vessel Tracking in the Federal American Lobster and Jonah Crab Fisheries

March 16, 2022 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board will meet via webinar on March 31st from 1 – 3:30 PM. At this meeting, the Board will consider final approval ofAmerican Lobster Draft Addendum XXIX and Jonah Crab Draft Addendum IV. The Draft Addenda consider implementing electronic vessel tracking requirements in the federal American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries. The draft agenda and meeting materials are available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AmLobsterBoard_March2022/AmLobsterBoardMaterials_March2022.pdf.

To register for the webinar go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3605881790361602063(Webinar ID 951-453-683). If you are joining the webinar but will not be using VoIP, you can also call in at +1 (562) 247-8422. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar; see webinar instructions for details on how to receive the PIN as well as how to navigate the webinar. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, you can do so by dialing +1 (562) 247-8422, access code 706-332-029.

The webinar will allow registrants to listen to the Board’s deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur.  The Board will provide the public the opportunity to bring matters of concern to the Board’s attention at the start of the meeting. The Board Chair will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the Board Chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

Public Comment Guidelines

With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:

For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.

For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.

In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action)

·        Comments received by 5 PM on Wednesday, March 23 will be included in the supplemental materials.

The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.  As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior FMP Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org. 

 

Maine politicians call for grant program to help with lobster rules

March 11, 2022 — The members of Maine’s congressional delegation are calling for the creation of a federal grant program to help the lobster industry cope with new rules designed to save whales.

Federal authorities have implemented new restrictions on lobster harvesting in hundreds of miles of productive fishing waters off the Maine coast to protect North Atlantic right whales. That’s among a host of new rules intended to save the whales, which number fewer than 340 in the world.

Members of the New England lobster fishing industry, based largely in Maine, have said the rules will cause severe economic harm to one of the region’s oldest industries.

The four members of the Maine delegation on Tuesday announced a proposed grant program that would provide assistance for fiscal years 2022 to 2024 to help cover the cost of compliance with new rules. The states would get money for the program in proportion to their number of lobstermen.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

 

Local right whale advocates say they feel sidelined by the powerful Maine lobster industry

March 9, 2022 — As Maine’s lobstermen fight national conservation groups over federal gear rules and fishery closures intended to protect endangered whales, they have found fierce allies among the state’s political leaders. That’s left some local advocates for the whales feeling sidelined by the powerful industry.

A few weeks ago, lobstermen joined lawmakers to support a bill that would give nearly a million dollars directly to the industry for its legal battles over whale protection measures.

None of Maine’s more well-known conservation groups weighed in, but a handful of local advocates for the planet’s estimated 340 North Atlantic right whales testified against it.

Holly Travers, a Westbrook retiree, was interrupted by Rep. James Thorne of Carmel while testifying that “Maine has the highest concentration of all vertical gear in U.S. waters, and whales travel through Maine waters.”

Travers was directed to focus her comments narrowly on the bill. The third opponent to receive such a caution, she quickly wrapped up her testimony.

Read the full story at Maine Public

 

Along the Gulf of Maine, lawsuits over North Atlantic right whale regulations coming to boil

March 7, 2022 — Lobsterman Brian Cates lives so far at the edge of Maine he can look out the windows of his house and see Canadian boats out in Canadian waters. It puts the fourth-generation lobsterman living on the eastern-most extreme of the U.S. in a situation unlike many of the lobstermen up and down the New England coast.

Years ago, Cates said that he and other fishermen around Cutler, Maine would go into the woods in the winter when the fishing slowed and cut pulp wood to sell to the local paper mills. But the paper mills went away. And over the last decade or so, more individuals have been turning to lobstering to earn a living, Cates said.

Over the last few years, lobstering has been good for the industry most associated with Maine, an industry that supports communities up and down its coasts. In February, Maine announced that in 2021 lobstermen hauled in 108 million pounds of lobster, netting a record-breaking $724.9 million.

But Cates and other New England lobstermen are worried about how the coming regulations issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service will affect their livelihoods.

The rules are intended to protect the approximately 336 North Atlantic right whales still alive today, once the prey of the historical whaling industry.

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

 

Maine mulling legal defense fund for lobster industry

March 4, 2022 — A legislative committee in the U.S. state of Maine has reversed itself on the establishment of a bill to provide financial support to Maine’s lobster industry for court battles against federal rules intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, ultimately deciding to unanimously move the bill forward.

Federal rules established by NOAA in 2021 have drawn criticism from the lobster industry, which launched a lawsuit challenging the rules. The new rules include fishing bans in certain areas and gear requirements mandating less-harmful vertical lines.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Lobstermen worry looming deadline for new regulations comes ‘too soon’ to change gear

March 3, 2022 — At the beginning of the year, Maine lobstermen were having a hard time finding the new gear that is being required to help protect right whales. Though suppliers are now starting to see these new weak ropes and links come in, they haven’t received a flurry of new orders despite the looming spring implementation date.

Starting on May 1, lobstermen, depending on where they fish, will have to have ropes running from their buoys to traps that can break with 1,700 pounds of force, or have inserts in the line that allow it to snap easier should a whale ever get entangled in them.

But some say that date is just too soon to change gear.

The lobster industry, backed by state officials, has pushed back against the rules. Gov. Janet Mills, the Maine congressional delegation and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association have all called on federal regulators to delay the deadline until July to give lobstermen more time to get in line.

Still, the gear is becoming available.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Regulators delay action on trackers for lobster boats

February 28, 2022 — Regulators will be taking up a plan to require lobstermen to install electronic trackers on their boats this spring.

The American Lobster Management Board discussed the plan this week before deciding more time is needed to evaluate the issues.

Steve Train, a lobster fisherman from Long Island, Maine, said it’s important for lobstermen to buy into rules. They’re concerned about the proposal’s cost, purpose and privacy.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

 

Maine panel rejects legal defense fund for lobster industry

February 25, 2022 — A Maine legislative panel has rejected a proposed legal fund to buoy lobstermen whose livelihoods could be impacted by pending new federal regulations.

The Committee on Marine Resources voted Tuesday to reject a proposal to divert fees that the state imposes on the commercial fishing industry into a legal defense fund to help lobstermen fight the new regulations.

The proposal’s sponsor, Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, said the lobster industry is embroiled in multiple legal challenges over the new regulations and needs financial assistance. He said the new fund would be paid for by the industry by diverting more than $3 million a year in annual fees and surcharges that the state imposes on lobstermen.

“It won’t cost the state or the taxpayers a penny from the general fund,” Faulkingham, a lobsterman, said in recent testimony. “This is the industry asking to use some of its own money as a funding source for its necessary legal defense.”

Read the full story at The Center Square

Maine lobster at risk of losing a sustainability label over right whale concerns

February 22, 2022 — Maine’s lobster fishery is at risk of losing a key sustainability label over concerns for the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Industry members, meanwhile, say the idea that Maine’s lobster fishery poses an environmental threat is nonsensical.

The California-based Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program is considering which species to add to its “red list,” and North American lobster from both the U.S. and Canadian fisheries is a candidate, as are over a dozen other species fished up and down the East Coast, according to a draft assessment.

Seafood Watch, which is designed to help consumers make informed choices about sustainable seafood, rates fisheries as green for “best choice,” yellow for “good alternative” and red for “avoid.”

Industries on the program’s red list are “overfished, lack strong management or are caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment,” according to Seafood Watch.

It’s the latter reason that the program may urge consumers to steer clear of the state’s lobster fishery, which landed a record-value catch of $725 million in 2021. Trap-caught Maine lobster already has been downgraded to yellow status, but Seafood Watch representatives declined to answer questions about when the change occurred or when the fishery might be downgraded to red.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at The Portland Press Herald