Saving Seafood

How a national craze caused lobster prices to boil over

October 26th, 2016 — Your next fresh lobster dinner, drizzled in butter and lemon, might crack your budget.

Restaurants are having to fork over more money this year to get their hands on prized Maine lobsters, and that means your dinner bill could soar to $60 a plate. Blame robust demand.

The coast-to-coast craze of lobster roll food trucks has made lobster more affordable, and abroad the appetite for the crustaceans is growing as well, experts say.

“The demand for this product now is really unprecedented,” said Annie Tselikis, marketing director for Maine Coast Co., a live lobster wholesaler based in York, Maine. She spoke Monday just before boarding a flight for a seafood trade show in South Korea, a major customer of North American lobsters along with China and others.

Live lobster prices on a wholesale basis reached $8.50 for a 1.25-pound hard-shell lobster in August, the highest level in a decade, according to Urner Barry, a leading seafood price tracker and a partner in Seafood News.

You’d have to go back to 2008 for the last time lobsters were even above $5 for this time of year, said John Sackton, editor and publisher of Seafood News. Since that time they’ve fluctuated between $3.90 and $4.85 until this year when they’re up again over $7.

“Lobster demand usually follows the stock market and general economy,” said Bob Bayer, director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine. “When the economy is good, lobster demand is good.”

Read the full story at CNBC

Herring shortage over, price of fish still vexes lobstermen

October 21, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine – Herring fishermen have begun catching herring in the waters far off New England, ending a shortage of the fish that has vexed the region’s lobster industry for months.

The Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/2esLoXg ) reports the price of the bait fish has remained high through the end of the peak lobster season, anyway. Lobstermen say the shortage has hurt their bottom line this year.

The shortage has not trickled down to affect consumer prices, although lobster prices have been higher than average at times this year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC 6

Bait crisis is over, but Maine lobstermen are still feeling the pinch

October 21st, 2016 — The lobster bait crisis that plagued New England this summer is finally over, now that fishermen have begun to catch herring off Georges Bank.

But the price of lobstermen’s favorite bait fish, which rose dramatically when the offshore fleet wasn’t landing enough herring to refill empty bait freezers, has remained high through the end of peak lobster season, typically August through late October. Although there’s been no appreciable effect on consumer prices, lobstermen agree the shortage hurt their bottom line.

“Earlier this year, when prices were at their highest, I paid $170 for a barrel of herring and I usually pay about $110 for that same barrel,” said Jeff Putnam, a lobsterman out of Chebeague Island. “Like a lot of guys, I like to fish herring, but with prices like that, I turned to pogeys, but then pogey prices went up, too. Overall, I would say my bait costs are up 15 percent this year.”

Putnam has fared better than other lobstermen, especially those who fish out of the more isolated wharves or island communities and always have had a harder time securing a steady and affordable source of fresh bait. Prices vary from wharf to wharf, and the impact of bait costs varies from one boat to the next. Terry Savage Sr., who fishes out of the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-Op, said his bait costs have almost doubled this year,

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald 

PATRICE MCCARRON: Current fisheries science supports increasing menhaden quota

KENNEBUNK — Maine’s lobstermen recently caught a break with the reopening of the state’s menhaden fishery. A key source of local, fresh bait for Maine’s lobster fishery, menhaden has been an increasingly common presence in Maine waters. But the fishery’s reopening is only a temporary patch on a long-standing problem.

Scientists have determined that the menhaden stock is in great shape. But the fishery suffered steep cuts in quota by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the interstate body that manages menhaden, because the stock assessment conducted in 2012 had erroneously concluded that the stock was overfished.

The most recent menhaden assessment, conducted in 2015, found that the opposite was the case: Menhaden is not being overfished and has not been overfished since the 1960s. In short, the fishery is being managed sustainably. When read in conjunction with other metrics from the assessment, including all-time low levels of fishing mortality, it is clear that the menhaden stock is poised for long-term success.

Last year, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, in recognition of the sustainability of current menhaden management, raised the coastwide quota by 10 percent. While this increase was a positive development for fishermen, the quota still remains well below what it what it was nearly five years ago.

Read the full opinion column at the Portland Press Herald

Herring fishing shut down along New England coast

October 19, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Herring fishermen are nearing their quota along New England’s coast and the fishery will be shut down until further notice.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says fishermen in the inshore Gulf of Maine have caught about 90 percent of their quota and the fishery was shut down early Tuesday morning. The inshore fishing zone ranges from Cape Cod to the eastern edge of the Maine coast.

Herring are an important bait fish, especially in the lobster fishery. A shortage of the fish in offshore waters caused a bait shortage in New England during the summer.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Daily Progress

Herring Fishing Shut Down Along New England Coast

October 18, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine – Herring fishermen are nearing their quota along New England’s coast and the fishery will be shut down until further notice.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says fishermen in the inshore Gulf of Maine have caught about 90 percent of their quota and the fishery was shut down early Tuesday morning. The inshore fishing zone ranges from Cape Cod to the eastern edge of the Maine coast.

Herring are an important bait fish, especially in the lobster fishery. A shortage of the fish in offshore waters caused a bait shortage in New England during the summer.

Read the full story at Maine Public Radio

New law for lobster harvest aims to deter poachers

October 18th, 2016 — The following was released by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: 

On Oct. 1, an amendment to the Florida statute pertaining to lobster harvest went into effect, giving authorities more latitude in prosecutions for those who harvest undersized spiny lobster.

The new legislation, SB 1470, sponsored by Rep. Holly Raschein and Sen. Jack Latvala, and championed by many in the Keys, specifies that each undersized spiny lobster found in a violator’s possession may be charged as a separate offense.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) hopes this change will encourage lobster harvesters to really pay attention and measure any lobster they harvest from Florida waters.

No one wants a small lobster for dinner, so make sure you check the size. Measuring devices are required, and lobsters harvested while diving must be measured while they are in the water. If its carapace length is not larger than 3 inches, the lobster must be left in the water. Size and bag limits exist to conserve the resource and ensure that lobsters are around for the next generation to enjoy.

For more information, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater Fishing,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Lobster.”

Lobster battle over? U.S., Canada hope so

October 18th, 2016 — The remainder of the European Union may be distancing itself from Sweden’s campaign to declare American lobsters an invasive species, but the head of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association isn’t yet ready to declare complete victory.

“We’re very excited about the news out of Europe that the rest of the EU doesn’t seem ready to follow Sweden’s lead,” MLA Executive Director Beth Casoni said Monday. “But we’re going to stay on this because it’s not over by any stretch.”

Last week, The EU Committee on Invasive Alien Species informed Sweden it would not support listing American lobsters as an invasive species because of the lack of strong scientific evidence. Doing so would have opened the door to a total EU ban on importing live American lobsters landed in the U.S. and Canada.

While that decision seems to strike a deadly blow to Sweden’s push to ban the importation of American lobsters, Casoni said the European Union Commission still plans to vote next spring on potential invasive alien species even if the American lobsters no longer are on the list.

“The lobsters were the only consumable product on the list of potential invasive species,” Casoni said. “The rest are plants. But we don’t know everything that could happen between now and then. Sweden might continue to try to persuade other countries to join them. So, we’re going to keep working on it and not let go.”

Casoni credited the full-court pressure mounted by scientists, regulators, members of the commercial lobster industry and elected state and federal officials for rebuffing the Swedish effort. An EU ban on imports would have crippled the approximately $200 million live lobster trade between the EU and the U.S. and Canadian lobster industries.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times 

European Union decides it won’t ban imports of American lobster

October 17th, 2016 — The European Union has decided the American lobster isn’t an invasive species after all, averting a ban on the live import of Maine’s iconic crustacean.

The EU’s Committee on Invasive Alien Species told Sweden, the member nation that had sought the ban after discovering American lobsters off its coast, that it would not list Homerus americanus for technical reasons, even though Sweden’s argument had persuaded the forum of EU scientists who study alien species to pursue the listing just one month ago.

Instead, the committee – which is the political side of the alien species issue as compared to the forum, which is the scientific side – told Sweden that it couldn’t find support for an invasive species listing, which would trigger an import ban among member countries, according to an EU Commission source. However, it might one day explore other measures to protect the European lobster that wouldn’t be as disruptive to trade.

American lobster industry officials celebrated the apparent victory Friday, saying the decision had saved a $200 million-a-year export industry.

“This would have had a massive impact throughout the industry, from the fishermen on up to the processors to the restaurants who serve our lobsters and consumers who eat them,” said Annie Tselikis, marketing manager for Maine Coast Co. and a spokesman for the Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association. “We are thrilled. We don’t have specifics about the decision, but are thrilled the European market is not in question.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald 

Warmer waters might prevent baby lobsters from surviving

September 26th, 2016 — Baby lobsters might not be able to survive in the ocean’s waters if the ocean continues to warm at the expected rate.

That is the key finding of a study performed by scientists in Maine, the state most closely associated with lobster, followed by Massachusetts. The scientists, who are affiliated with the University of Maine Darling Marine Center and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, said the discovery could mean bad news for the future of one of America’s most beloved seafood treats, as well as the industry lobsters support.

The scientists found that lobster larvae struggled to survive when they were reared in water 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the temperatures that are currently typical of the western Gulf of Maine, a key lobster fishing area off of New England. Five degrees is how much the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expects the Gulf of Maine’s temperature to warm by the year 2100.

The paper appears this month in the scientific journal ICES Journal of Marine Science. It could serve as a wake-up call that the lobster fishery faces a looming climate crisis that is already visible in southern New England, said Jesica Waller, one of the study’s authors.

“There has been a near total collapse in Rhode Island, the southern end of the fishery, and we know our waters are getting warmer,” Waller said. “We are hoping this research can be a jumping off point for more research into how lobsters might do over the next century.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Gloucester Times