Teacher switches to oyster farming

October 4, 2018 — Back when Lauren Gray was working for Commercial Fisheries News, she wrote a couple of feature stories about aquaculture.

“I thought it was really neat,” she said. “But at the time I didn’t have any idea I was going to become an oyster farmer.”

A few years later, when she got a job teaching science, reading and writing at the Ashley Bryan School, she and her husband Josh moved to Islesford. And soon after that she began working in the summers as a sternman for lobstermen Ricky Alley and Danny Fernald.

“I just loved being on the water all the time,” she said. “So, I started thinking about what I could do to make that a life.”

She decided that operating an oyster farm was the answer. She started it three years ago on eight 400-square-foot Limited Purpose Aquaculture (LPA) sites in The Pool, which is nearly surrounded by Great Cranberry Island. She leases the sites from the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

After teaching for five years, Gray left that job when school ended in June to devote herself full time to the business of raising oysters. She sold her first oysters — an order for 24 dozen — the weekend before Labor Day.

“That was pretty exciting,” she said.

“It took them three years to grow to cocktail size, about two-and-a-half to three inches. I’ve just been selling them to people locally. I have a little sign-up sheet at the Great Cranberry General Store.”

Gray said she plans to work on obtaining a license that will allow her to sell her oysters commercially.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Right whale protections could force change for lobster industry

October 3, 2018 — In the second week of October, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team will meet in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A. to discuss what efforts are necessary to stop the deaths of right whales, one of the most endangered species on the planet.

Those efforts will likely include some restrictions on various North Atlantic fisheries that use roped gear, such as the New England lobster fishery. A string of recent whale deaths has been linked to entanglement in fishing gear, such as one whale found floating near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, on 27 August.

Those entanglement deaths have already pushed regulators towards requiring any roped lobster gear to be removed from areas that right whales are known to be present, with month-long fishery bans proposed for certain areas. The threat has also led to some companies trying to innovate ropeless lobster gear in order to keep the lobster fishery working while roped gear is banned.

The need for action is dire, according to a recent report by NOAA. While the right whale had been in recovery, the series of recent deaths has put that recovery in question.

“At the current rate of decline, all recovery achieved in the population over the past three decades will be lost by 2029,” the NOAA report said.

In Maine, the lobster industry was recently awarded a grant to gather data on the affect of lobster gear on right whales. Finding out what impact Maine’s lobster industry has would be of vital importance to the states economy. In 2017, the state took in USD 434 million (EUR 376 million) in 2017, and generated another USD 1 billion (EUR 867 million) in post-dock revenue.

The lobster industry in Maine has been confident that the entanglements haven’t been caused by their gear. None of the whale deaths in 2017 could be directly attributed to lobster gear.

According to the Portland Press Herald, the state has proposed putting a mark unique to Maine on all gear used by lobstermen from the state so that regulators can rule out Maine fishermen from entanglements.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Why Maine lobstermen are looking to farmed scallops to stay afloat

October 3, 2018 — Marsden Brewer is a third-generation Maine fishermen who docks in Stonington.

“I’ve been involved in all the fisheries over my lifetime,” he said.

These days it’s mostly lobster, but he has fished cod and shrimp, and carted urchin to market. These once-vibrant species are now mostly off-limits after being overfished and weakened by climate change.

“I’ve seen the collapse and been part of the collapse of most of the fisheries. Not intentionally, but just the way it was set up to work, it wasn’t sustainable, and this project here is looking at sustainability in a fishery,” he said.

The project Brewer refers to is a 20-year effort to diversify his business by developing a profitable scallop farm. He used to scatter baby scallops in the bay, then trawl up the adults a couple years later. Success was limited though.

Now, from his 38-foot lobster boat moored more than a mile offshore, he’s experimenting with methods from Japan, where scallop farming is a long tradition.

Brewer, his son Bobby and Dana Morse, a marine extension agent with the University of Maine, winch up from the depths a long rope strung with 12-foot dark mesh bags. The collapsible bags are partitioned by horizontal shelves, giving them the look of giant Japanese paper lanterns. Inside, each level holds 20 or so squirting scallops.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

‘Aquaculture’s Next Wave’ Explores How Maine Entrepreneurs Are Navigating Changing Seas

October 2, 2018 — This week we’re taking a deep dive into aquaculture and its potential to add real value to the state’s coastal economies. In “Aquaculture’s Next Wave” we will meet the innovators who are trying to take seafood farming to a new level in Maine.

Worldwide, aquaculture now provides more than half the world’s seafood. Yet here in the U.S. and in Maine, it’s far behind wild caught harvest. At the same time, we in the U.S. import roughly 90 percent of our seafood. For some investors and entrepreneurs, including Maine lobstermen, that spells opportunity.

Maine Public reporter Fred Bever spoke with Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz about aggressive exploration of new technologies and new markets for farmed seafood.

Gratz: Why is aquaculture important right now?

Bever: It’s because marine ecosystems and economies are being disrupted. Actively farming fish, shellfish, even seaweed — that can be a hedge against disruption and, long term, maybe the most profitable response. There’s a growing set of Maine visionaries who are pursuing that.

The planet’s oceans are always in flux and wild harvests have long been vulnerable to natural variation and overfishing, right?

Yes, but with the oceans warming, the dynamics are accelerating, and that’s nowhere more true than in the Gulf of Maine.

Scientists say the Gulf is warming faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, correct?

That’s almost a truism now. We’ve seen epic disruptions in recent decades — the crash of cod, fisheries for marine shrimp, for urchin and now herring are all restricted, lobster populations are making a slow march ever north and east following the warming trends.

Read the full story at Maine Public

‘The Wave Of The Future Is Breaking, Right Here In Maine’ – Aquaculture And Maine Entrepreneurs

October 2, 2018 — Maine’s 21st century saltwater farmers are using new techniques and technology to produce scallops, oysters, salmon and eels — to name just a few. All this week Maine Public Radio is profiling innovators who want to take Maine’s aquaculture industry to the next level.

Maine Public reporter Fred Bever has spent some time with these entrepreneurs, reporting for our series, “Aquaculture’s Next Wave.” He joined Nora Flaherty on Maine Things Considered to discuss the project.

Flaherty: Fred, you’ve been doing a lot of reporting on this. What’s the bottom line?

Bever: The bottom line is that Maine fishermen are increasingly turning to farming fish and shellfish as a hedge against uncertainty about the wild fisheries.

Now, is that because the Gulf of Maine is warming so fast? Is it overfishing?

It’s both, and there are other factors, but the Gulf is warming faster than most saltwater bodies on the planet, which is disrupting ecosystems and wild-caught harvests. The herring fishery is recently in trouble — we’ve seen a lot about that in the news lately — but cod, urchin, Maine shrimp, they’re all restricted now or completely off-limits.

But the warmer waters have been good for lobster populations here and for the lobster industry, right?

Incredibly good, we’ve seen record hauls this decade. But an appreciable number of lobstermen are not taking that for granted. Lobster populations are slowly moving north and east, herring for bait are an issue now, and the plight of the North Atlantic right whale threatens to force expensive, and maybe prohibitive, gear changes by fishermen.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Conflicting proposals will greet regulators looking at right whale protections

October 2, 2018 — To save the endangered right whale, advocates are proposing major changes that would upend the New England lobster fishery.

Proposals to close the fishery in the western Gulf of Maine south of Cape Elizabeth during April, cut the number of seabed-to-surface lines that can entangle whales, and become a ropeless fishery by 2020 are among the ideas that will be discussed next week in Providence, Rhode Island, by the team of scientists, fishing groups and animal rights activists tasked with saving the right whale from extinction.

The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team will spend the week reviewing seven whale protection proposals and a dire new technical report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that outlines the grim recovery challenges facing the right whale, whose population has been in decline for eight years. A new population estimate is due out later this year, but scientists believe that fewer than 450 right whales remain.

The report underscores the threat to a species that has been on the brink of extinction before, like when whalers hunted them down to double digits a century ago.

“At the current rate of decline, all recovery achieved in the population over the past three decades will be lost by 2029,” the NOAA report said.

Read the full story at the Sun Journal

Potential slash of herring quota could lead lobstermen to sit out season

October 1, 2018 — A proposal by the New England Fisheries Management Council on 25 September to make large changes to the herring fishery could lead to many Maine, U.S.A.-based lobstermen to sit out the next season.

The NEFMC’s Amendment 8, which was in the works for years, will lead to multiple changes to the region’s herring fishery. Boats using midwater trawl gear will be banned from within 12 nautical miles, and a new control rule was created that takes into account the herring fishery’s impact on other fisheries in the region.

Most importantly from the perspective of the lobstermen, however, was the drastic cut in quota that the new decisions represented. The quota has fallen from north of 100,000 tons to just under 50,000 tons, with the proposal potentially setting the future quota at just over 21,000 tons.

That massive reduction was criticized at the hearing by Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

“There’s no one that has more at stake,” she said during the hearing. “The lobster industry will bear the brunt of all the decisions that are made here.”

The lobster industry was already seeing a bait shortage on the horizon. As early as July, the industry was anticipating a bait shortage, according to reports in the Portland Press Herald.

“The price of herring for bait is already high,” Port Clyde, Maine lobsterman Gary Libby told the Press Herald in July 2018. “A lower quota will only create more hardship for lobster fishermen because the price of bait is the biggest expense, and with projected lower catch of lobster in the next few years we will need bait at a cost that will help fishermen maintain their businesses that helps the local economy.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ASMFC 77th Annual Meeting Revised Preliminary Agenda

September 28, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 77^th Annual Meeting will be held October 21-25, 2018 at The Roosevelt Hotel, Madison Avenue. The room block is now closed. Please notify Cindy Robertson (crobertson@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740) if you need assistance reserving a room.

Please note: The preliminary agenda has been revised with the following changes: (1) meeting times have changed on Monday, October 22 for the American Lobster Board, Atlantic Herring Section, and the American Eel Board; and (2) the Atlantic Menhaden Board, previously scheduled for October 23^rd, and the Shad and River Herring Board, previously scheduled for October 25^th, have both been cancelled. Meeting times on those days have shifted to reflect those cancellations. The revised agenda is attached and follows below.

All meetings throughout the week are open to the public, free of charge. However, if you are planning on attending any of the meeting events (Sunday and Monday Receptions, Tuesday Dinner, or Wednesday Hart Award Luncheon), please register as soon as possible; simply fill-in and submit the registration form to Lisa Hartman at lhartman@asmfc.org. Events are filling up quickly and we cannot guarantee you space unless you register. The meeting registration fee is $200/per participant and $150/per spouse or guest if you register by October 15, 2018. After October 15^th and in New York the fees will be $225 and $175, respectively. The registration fee will be used to defray the cost of the Sunday and Monday night receptions, the Tuesday night dinner, and the Wednesday Hart Award Luncheon, as well as event materials. Payment is not required until you arrive at the meeting; however, we ask that you please assist us in planning for the meeting by registering as soon as possible.

If you are driving to the meeting, we strongly encourage you to park in New Jersey at the Port Imperial/Weehawken Terminal and take a short ferry to Midtown Manhattan since parking in NYC is exorbitant. Directions are attached and can also be found here.

The final agenda and meeting materials will be available on October 10^th on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2018-annual-meeting.

ASMFC 77^th Annual Meeting:

October 21 – 25, 2018

The Roosevelt Hotel
Madison Avenue @ 45th Street
New York, NY

Revised Preliminary Agenda

The agenda is subject to change. Bulleted items represent the anticipated major issues to be discussed or acted upon at the meeting. The final agenda will include additional items and may revise the bulleted items provided below. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled Board meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of Board meetings. Interested parties should anticipate Boards starting earlier or later than indicated herein.

Sunday, October 21

6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Hosts’ Reception

Monday, October 22

8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. American Lobster Management Board:

Review of the NOAA Fisheries Technical Memo on Right Whale Status and Recovery
Report on the October 2018 Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team Meeting
Review American Lobster Addendum XXVII Timeline
Discuss Protocols to Evaluate Bait Sources
Progress Update from the American Lobster Electronic Tracking and Reporting Subcommittees
Consider Approval of 2018 Fishery Management Plan Reviews and State Compliance Reports for American Lobster and Jonah Crab

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch (On Your Own)

1:30 – 3:30 p.m. Atlantic Herring Section:

Review 2018 Atlantic Herring Benchmark Assessment Peer Review Report
Review and Consider Approval of Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report for Management Use
Review and Discuss White Paper on Atlantic Herring Spawning Protections
Update on 2019-2021 Fishery Specifications Process
Set 2019 Specifications for Area 1A
Review and Populate Atlantic Herring Advisory Panel

3:45 – 4:45 p.m. American Eel Management Board:

Presentation on Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Workshop and Discuss Next Steps
Consider Approval of 2018 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports

6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Welcome Reception

Tuesday, October 23

8:00 – 10:15 a.m. Strategic Planning Workshop

10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Business Session:

Review and Consider Approval of the 2019 Action Plan
Elect Chair and Vice-Chair

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Coastal Sharks Management Board:

Review and Consider Addendum V for Final Approval
Review Proposed 2019 Coastal Sharks Fishery Specifications
Consider Approval of 2018 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch (On Your Own)

12:30 – 5:00 p.m. Law Enforcement Committee:

(A portion of this meeting may be a closed session for Committee members only)

Review 2018 Action Plan and New Tasks for 2019
Progress Report on Enforcement of the Offshore American Lobster Fishery
Update on American Eel Addendum V and State Aquaculture Proposals
Review Federal Transit Zone Proposal for Striped Bass in Block Island Sound
Review Transit Zone Proposal for Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass
Review Tautog Commercial Tagging Program
Review ASMFC Managed Species
Review Ongoing Enforcement Issues (Closed Session)
Federal and State Agency Reports

1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Spiny Dogfish Management Board:

Review 2018 Stock Assessment Update
Set Spiny Dogfish 2019-2021 Fishery Specifications
Discuss Adjustments to Federal Commercial Trip Limit
Consider Approval of 2018 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports

2:45 – 4:00 p.m. Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board:

Review Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Lifting the Ban on Atlantic Striped Bass Fishing in the Federal Block Island Sound Transit Zone
Update on North Carolina Cooperative Winter Tagging Program
Progress Update on the Benchmark Stock Assessment

6:15 – 9:00 p.m. Annual Dinner

Wednesday, October 24

8:00 – 10:00 a.m. Executive Committee: (A portion of this meeting may be a closed session for Committee members and Commissioners only)

Consider Approval of FY18 Audit
Discuss Priorities for Use of Plus-up Funding
Consider Changes to the Appeals Process
Appointment of Aquaculture Committee
Report from the Awards Committee

8:30 a.m. – Noon Law Enforcement Committee (continued):

10:15 – 11:00 a.m. Weakfish Management Board:

Review Technical Committee Report on Commercial Discards
Consider Approval of 2018 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports
Elect Vice-Chair

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Horseshoe Crab Management Board:

Set 2019 Delaware Bay Horseshoe Crab Fishery Specifications
Progress Update on the Horseshoe Crab Benchmark Stock Assessment
Consider Approval of 2018 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports
Elect Vice-Chair

12:15 – 1:30 p.m. Captain David H. Hart Award Luncheon

1:30 – 3:30 p.m. Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board:

Consider Approval of Draft Addendum XXXII (2019 Black Sea Bass and Summer Flounder Recreational Management) for Public Comment
Progress Update on Black Sea Bass Commercial Working Group

3:45 – 4:45 p.m. Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) Coordinating Council:

Program/Committee Updates
Progress Report on SAFIS Redesign
Consider Recommendations of FY2019 Submitted Proposals
Clarify Funding Decision Process
Discuss Formation of Data Reporting Committee on Data Accountability

Thursday, October 25

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Tautog Management Board:

Progress Update on Development of the Commercial Harvest Tagging Program
Technical Committee Report on Biological Sampling Requirements
Consider Approval of 2018 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports

9:15 – 11:00 a.m. Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board:

Update from the Executive Committee
Progress Update on Risk and Uncertainty Workgroup
Review Recommendations of the October 2019 Atlantic LargeWhale Take Reduction Team Meeting and Possible Impact to Commission Species
Review and Consider Approval of the Stock Assessment Schedule
Update on the Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program
Standing Committee Reports

o Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership

o Law Enforcement Committee

Consider Noncompliance Recommendations (If Necessary)

11:00 – 11:15 a.m. Business Session (continued):

Review Noncompliance Findings (If Necessary)

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board:

Review Public Comment Summary for Cobia Draft Amendment 1 Public Information Document
Provide Guidance to the Cobia Plan Development Team on Options for Inclusion in Draft Amendment 1
Consider Approval of 2018 Fishery Management Plan Reviews and State Compliance Reports for Black Drum, Spotted Seatrout, and Spanish Mackerel

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 use a speaker sign-up list in deciding 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).

1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included in the briefing materials.

2. Comments received by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting and a limited number of copies will be provided at the meeting.

3. Following Tuesday, October 16, 2018 5:00 PM deadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).

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.

US companies accused of dumping lobster in Asia

September 28, 2018 — An executive with a Chinese seafood conglomerate has accused U.S. lobster companies of dumping their products on other Asian markets at steep discounts.

Jack Liu, the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada-based, North American president of Chinese seafood company Zoneco, which owns the lobster-focused Capital Seafood, told the Canadian Broadcasting Company the dumping was a response to newly-imposed tariffs closing off the Chinese market to U.S. exporters.

“They are going to dump those amounts of lobster into other parts of the world,” Liu said. “We have seen that.”

Liu said U.S. lobster – often labeled as Boston lobster – is selling for at least a USD 1.00 (EUR 0.85) per pound less in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan, putting pressure on Canadian lobster exporters.

“I believe Canadian lobster, as we speak, is somewhat losing market share in those Asian markets due to the lower price from the U.S.,” he said.

While Canadian exports to China have risen in the short-term, Liu said he is not comfortable with the situation.

“Tariffs have never been a good thing. Any sort of tariffs are going to distort and disrupt the markets and we’ve already seen that,” Liu said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Cut bait: Regulators move to slash Atlantic herring catch

September 28, 2018 — The New England Fishery Management Council voted this week to approve a new management approach to the region’s Atlantic herring fishery that will significantly scale back catch limits for the species over the next three years.

Based on the council’s latest stock assessment, recruitment numbers were lower than the previous low point in the 1970s when record catches essentially wiped out the fishing. Assessments show that recruitment numbers have been well below average for the species since 2013.

The regulation change, called Amendment 8, has been in the works for several years. The herring committee created nine alternatives for the management plan, ranging from taking no action on the previous management plan to a 50-nautical-mile prohibition on all midwater trawling gear.

The council decided to approve an allowable biological catch control rule, a revised version of Alternative 4B, which will slash the total allowable catch of herring from 49,900 tons to 21,266 tons in 2019. The 2018 total of 49,900 tons was already slashed from the year’s original ACL of 110,500 tons of Atlantic herring. A shortage in herring landings also means a shortage of lobster bait throughout New England.

“There’s no one that has more at stake,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “The lobster industry has already been dealing with issues related to bait, and the latest decision by the council will likely cause those problems to be even worse.”

The Gulf of Maine herring fishery was shut down by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission for much of September as the fleet neared its catch limit.

Read the full story at National Fisherman