Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: EXPANDED IN-STATE LOBSTER PROCESSING PROPOSAL BACKED BY SENATE

March 12, 2019 — The following was published by the office of Senator Bruce Tarr:

The State Senate has approved a measure authored by Gloucester Senator Bruce Tarr, and championed by a bi-partisan coalition of state Senators, that will reform state lobster laws would permit licensed wholesale dealers to process unfrozen lobster parts, import unfrozen shell-on lobster parts, and allow for the sale of processed lobster parts.

While the sale of live, cooked, canned lobster and tails is legal in the state, the law currently requires Massachusetts lobstermen and seafood vendors to sell or transport lobster out-of-state for processing for parts. This often means that Bay State lobsters are brought back for sale to consumers with a ‘Product of Canada’ label. Up to 80% of lobsters landed in the state are sent away for processing.

The legislation, adopted as part of S.2181, the Senate’s $144 million supplemental budget bill, mirrors similar language the Senate adopted last session, a move that government and industry experts say will remove constraints on consumer product options and give the multi-million dollar seafood industry capacity to grow.

“We have the second-largest lobster catch in the nation yet, without this bill, our raw and frozen lobster parts are processed in Canada or Maine only to then be brought back to local consumers,” said Senator Tarr. “This legislation modernizes those lobster laws to bolster the fishing industry and give consumers, including local restaurants and food stores more choices while sustainably supporting coastal fishing communities.”

In January, Tarr filed Senate Docket 1, an Act Regulating the Processing of Lobsters, the first bill of the session. That bill is now before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture.

A Division of Marine Fisheries report has recommended adoption of the proposal citing an evolving interest from consumers in value-added lobster in the form of shell-on tails and claws.  The report says that the global market for Massachusetts landed lobster would be more readily accommodated with the new law.

“The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association greatly appreciates Senator Tarr’s ongoing efforts with his colleagues to allow for the complete processing and sale of lobster parts in the state,” said Beth Casoni, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association. “We are looking forward to getting these operations running in the near future.”

Shifting handling from Maine and Canada will boost the viability and prosperity of the industry which will result in job creation.

“I’m proud that the Senate is working to ensure the sustainability and viability of the state’s lobster industry, which will give consumers more choices and benefit lobstermen in coastal communities statewide,” said Senate Committee on Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport).  “The lobster industry is a vital part of the Commonwealth’s economy and identity, and I applaud Senator Tarr and my Senate colleagues for supporting it.”

“Easing archaic constraints on lobster processing operations will allow a thriving industry to further invest in our local economy through expanding operations and creating new jobs, especially in New Bedford. I am proud to be a partner on this bipartisan measure, and it is my hope the House will finally accept this provision in conference and get it on the Governor’s desk.” said Senator Montigny(D- New Bedford), the lead cosponsor of the legislation.

Up to 80% of lobsters landed in the state are sent to out of state processing facilities and industry leaders say the move will facilitate opportunities to create and grow jobs in the state. The Marine Fisheries report notes that the lobster demand has spiked and has continued to evolve in favor of processed lobster parts.

“I am glad to join my colleagues in the Senate in support of our Massachusetts lobster fishermen,” said Senator deMacedo (R-Plymouth). “These advancements in our approach to lobster processing will provide an important benefit to the lobster industry and the fishermen who play such an important role in our communities and economy.”

The Senate’s supplemental budget bill will now be reconciled with the House’s version, which was also recently adopted.  Once a final version is approved by both branches the bill will advance to Governor Charlie Baker’s desk.

A Global Restaurant Group Sided With Maine Fishermen in Their Battle With a Luxury Resort Developer

March 5, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Luke’s Lobster, a restaurant group founded by Cape Elizabeth native Luke Holden, has taken over operation of the historic Sea Pier on the east side of Boothbay Harbor.

The pier, since renamed Carter’s Wharf, was purchased in August by the Boothbay Region Maritime Foundation from fisherman Douglas Carter with the intent to maintain it as a commercial fishing wharf. The parties signed their lease last week, according to a release from the foundation.

Luke’s Lobster will buy all of the catch, which will be served to its customers.

Luke’s Lobster has more than 40 locations including Portland, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Tokyo, Japan.

The foundation purchased the Sea Pier, adjacent to Cap’n Fish Motel, amid ongoing controversy related to increasing development pressures on the east side of the harbor.

Southport developer Paul Coulombe, whose many projects in town have included redeveloping the former Boothbay Harbor Country Club and Rocktide Restaurant and Inn into Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Country Club, has proposed rezoning the east side of the harbor into a limited commercial district, which would allow hotels, recreational marinas and housing.

In July, Coulombe told the Bangor Daily News he had purchased The Lobster Dock, also an adjacent property, and expected to close on Cap’N Fish’s in November.

But in October, Coulombe pulled his proposal to purchase Cap’n Fish motel and restaurant, just up the road from the Sea Pier, after the town’s Board of Selectmen opted to hire an independent planner to weigh in on the proposed rezoning.

According to a release published Oct. 25 in the Boothbay Register, Coulombe had already invested $500,000 in nonrefundable deposits, and had planned to invest $30 million in a “new hotel, restaurant and world-class conference center” on the site.

Town residents will vote at a May 3 town meeting on whether to establish a Limited Commercial/Maritime District and a Working Waterfront District.

The foundation was formed with a mission to protect Boothbay Harbor’s working waterfront, marine-related activities and access for fishermen, and to educate, president Deanne Tibbetts said in the release.

“We are really looking forward to this partnership and to working with the fishermen here at Sea Pier to create as much value as possible for their product at the shore,” Holden said in the release. “Protecting Maine’s working waterfront and access for fishermen is important for our business and our mission of sourcing the highest quality seafood but also critically important for Maine’s future.”

Luke’s Lobster maintains a processing facility in Saco, and is “dedicated to traceability, sustainability and providing guests with delicious, fresh seafood.” The company buys lobster and crab directly from fishermen and “works with them to return more value to the shore,” according to the release,

The parties involved plan to explore forming a fisherman’s co-operative in the future.

The foundation purchased the property with a deed restriction requiring that it remain a commercial fishing wharf.

“The working waterfront is key to Maine on many levels – not only maintaining access for fishermen but also for tourism and economic development. People coming from out of state want to see the authentic Maine, and that’s our working waterfront,” said Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association, the fiscal sponsor of the foundation as it awaits its 501(c)(3) status from the federal government.

“The partnership with Luke’s, an innovative and growth oriented company, with a track record for excellent collaboration with fishermen, is a smart move for the foundation and more broadly for the Boothbay community.”

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket fisherman: ‘Nothing good’ about offshore wind farm

March 8, 2019 — The only part of Vineyard Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm in Nantucket waters is an undersea cable running from the turbines 14 miles southwest of the island through the Muskeget Channel to Covell’s Beach in Centerville.

But fisherman Dan Pronk is worried that the impact the 84 turbines would have on the underwater ecosystem and the fishing industry is tremendous.

“There’s nothing good about it,” he said.

Pronk has fished for lobsters, crab, squid and other fish around the island for the past 33 years. Fourteen miles to the southwest, where Vineyard Wind has leased federal waters for its wind farm, he sets up strings of lobster traps running east to west, spaced a half-mile apart.

Pronk is a fixed-gear fisherman, meaning his equipment stays in the water, as opposed to mobile-gear fishermen, who trail their nets behind their boats to catch fish. Most of Pronk’s gear is set up around the Vineyard Wind site, where he usually finds a good number of lobsters, he said.

“There’s no question that the lobsters, the shellfish, they’re all going to leave,” he said about the repetitive noise from pile-driving 84 turbine anchors 160 feet into the sea floor. “It’s going to essentially be like setting off atomic bombs in the ocean.”

The only time there would not be any construction on the turbines or the cable would be from Jan. 1 to April 30, after Vineyard Wind, in an agreement with the National Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Law Foundation, agreed to halt operations in order to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale during its yearly migration from southern waters.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Lobster landings post turnaround, Maine’s fisheries’ overall value second highest on record

March 5, 2019 — Maine’s lobster harvesters had a strong year in 2018, landing 119.64 million pounds.

That was an increase of nearly 8 million pounds over 2017’s figure of 111.9 million pounds, according to a Department of Marine Resources news release.

The landings peak was in 2016, when 132.6 million pounds were harvested, after four years in the range of 122 million to 127 million pounds, according to the agency’s data.

Last year was the seventh time in history that landings exceeding 110 million pounds.

At $484.544 million, the value of Maine’s lobster fishery climbed by more than $46 million over 2017 on the strength of a boat price that increased from $3.92 per-pound in 2017 to $4.05 in 2018.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, during a visit to Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport over the weekend, took the occasion to commend the work of the men and women in Maine’s fishing industry, “whose hard work drives the economy and helps support families and communities up and down the coast.”

But he also highlighted in a news release the threat to Maine’s lobster fishery posed by climate change and the increasingly warmer temperatures in the Gulf of Maine that are causing lobsters to migrate northward to cooler waters.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Impending whale protections worry fishermen

March 5, 2019 — With the majority of American lobsters caught in Maine, the state’s lobster fishermen could bear the brunt of changes in federal fishery regulations to save the endangered right whale.

At the March 1 Fisherman’s Forum update on the threat of extinction for the North Atlantic right whale, it became clear regulators believe changes to fishing gear will be announced sometime this year.

Much of the presentation focused on changes to the vertical lines that attach buoys floating on top of the water to the lobster traps down on the ocean floor. The colored buoys identify the owner of the traps and their location, and the line is used to haul the heavy traps out of the water

In 2009, a whale protection regulation required fishermen to eliminate the floating rope they used to connect strings of lobster traps, and replace it with rope that lies on the ocean floor. That process took five years and a rope buyback program to accomplish, according to Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, who was in the audience. Switching out vertical lines cannot be done in one year, she said.

Read the full story at The Camden Herald

Maine Lobstermen Share Anxieties Over New Regulations In The Industry At Annual Forum

March 4, 2019 — At Maine’s annual Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport Friday, a historic $600 million harvest season coincided with a slight increase in lobster landings and lingering concerns over potential changes to gear rules around protecting endangered right whales. But looming over the forum are major cutbacks in the quota of crucial herring bait fish — which could ripple across the industry.

Patrice McCarron is executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA). She is worried about the severity of herring restrictions imposed by the federal government after the species failed to reproduce in sustainable numbers last year.

“It’s about as bad as we can imagine, but we don’t yet know what it’s going to translate to for the fishermen,” McCaroon says.

McCarron says that Maine fishermen face a shortage of some 50-million pounds of bait in the coming season.

Fisherman are used to catching the traditional lobster baitfish in Maine’s coastal herring fishery all summer and into the fall, but McCarron says that will change under the new quotas.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Maine’s lobster catch, value grew last year, officials say

March 1, 2019 — Maine lobstermen brought more than 119 million pounds (54 million kilograms) of the state’s signature seafood ashore last year, an increase that helped to propel the total value of Maine’s seafood to the second-highest value on record, state officials said Friday.

The value of the 2018 lobster catch was more than $484.5 million, and the total value for all Maine seafood was more than $637.1 million, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

The state is by far the biggest lobster producer in the United States, and the industry is in the midst of a multiyear boom. However, the catch and its value have fluctuated wildly in recent years.

According to updated department numbers, the 2017 lobster haul was a little less than 112 million pounds (51 million kilograms) and was valued at more than $438 million. That was a drop from the previous year.

Preliminary data from 2018 show that trend reversed, for the year at least. The productive year by lobstermen coincided with high demand from consumers and strong retail prices.

“The demand for lobsters will always stay strong,” Kristan Porter, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said Friday to a packed audience at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, a trade show taking place in Rockport this week.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Maine lobster industry facing bait, potential regulation issues in 2019

March 1, 2019 — On the heels of the Maine Department of Marine Resource’s announcement that the lobster industry topped USD 600 million (EUR 527 million) in value in 2018, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association was discussing the multiple outside factors that could make 2019 a difficult year for fishermen.

At the MLA’s annual meeting in Rockport, Maine, on Friday, 1 March, two issues loomed large for fishermen: Potential regulations related to the endangered North Atlantic right whale, and the drastic cuts to herring quotas that will heavily impact the industry’s bait supply. Both issues have the potential to make life difficult for lobstermen as regulations that are coming could reduce the amount of traps or the types of gear they can use, and the reduction in bait supplies could leave fishermen struggling to fill traps with increasingly expensive bait.

“We now know that our 2019 quota is going to be 15,000 metric tons (MT),” Patrice McCarron, executive director of the MLA, said during the meeting. “It translates to almost 77 million pounds of herring that won’t come into the fishery.”

Substantial declines in recruitment and biomass in the latest surveys resulted in the New England Fisheries Management Council to slash the herring quotas from nearly 50,000 MT to just over 15,000 M, a 70 percent reduction in the supply of herring. That’s compounded by previous decreases, leaving the lobster industry with a much lower supply of bait.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Over a bait barrel: Cuts in herring quota fueling rise in lobstermen’s costs

February 27, 2019 — When, on Feb. 15, NOAA Fisheries finalized a rule that cut the 2019 Atlantic herring quota by more than half from the previous year, the reverberations were felt instantly from Maine to the mid-Atlantic and in at least two separate but interlocked fisheries.

In Gloucester, Gerry O’Neill of Cape Seafoods studied the numbers and blanched, knowing they represented a talisman of misery for the company’s associated mid-water trawlers that harvest herring and Cape Seafoods’ bait business that helps supply lobstermen in the state’s most lucrative lobstering port.

“These cuts are infrastructure killers,” O’Neill said. “Certainly, not everybody’s going to come out unscathed. We’ll keep going, but I’m not entirely sure how yet.”

Across the Everett R. Jodrey State Fish Pier, where Johnny “Doc” Herrick ties up his F/V Dog & I, the longtime lobsterman absorbed the numbers and came to a simple conclusion: Bait was going to start getting scarce and prices — even for alternatives from herring, such as the redfish heads and hide skins Herrick often uses — were about to head north.

“We’re going to have to catch a (loads) of lobsters just to pay for the bait,” Herrick said. “Who knows how high the prices will go.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times