Saving Seafood

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

 

Maine: Bill to support lobster fishing industry receives committee support

February 17, 2022 — The Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee voted on Tuesday to advance a bill by Rep. Holly Stover, D-Boothbay, aimed at supporting Maine’s lobster fishing industry following recent federal regulatory changes.

LD 1898, An Act To Address the Economic Impact of Federal Closures on Maine’s Fixed Gear Fishing Industry, would establish a fund to provide financial assistance to lobster fishermen who have been impacted by the closure of nearly 1,000 square miles of federal waters off the coast of Maine.

“The federal closures our lobster fishing industry are facing are immediate, which means they need immediate financial assistance to adapt quickly enough to sustain their livelihood and our economy,” said Stover. “I am grateful for the committee’s collaborative effort to make this bill the best it can be for our fishing industry.”

Read the full story at the Boothbay Register

Maine lobster fishery hits record value, but faces challenges in 2022

February 15, 2022 — The lobster fishery in the U.S. state of Maine has its most-valuable year in history in 2021, pulling in a record-shattering USD 724.9 million (EUR 638.1 million) in the year – an increase in value of USD 312.4 million (EUR 275 million) over the previous year – according to data released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

The previous value record for the fishery was set in 2016, when the Maine lobster fishery earned roughly USD 541 million (EUR 476 million) in value, USD 184 million (EUR 161 million) less than it earned in 2021.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource