Saving Seafood

Public may get to weigh in on lobster conservation plan

September 6, 2016 — BAR HARBOR, Maine — The public might soon have a chance to comment on a proposal aimed at saving part of New England’s lobster population from decline.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is working on new management measures to try to preserve lobsters in southern New England waters. Scientists say those lobsters are in decline while the species is thriving further up the coast in Maine.

The commission is meeting next month in Bar Harbor, Maine, to decide whether to send the management measures to the public for comment. Measures could include things like seasonal closures and changes to the minimum and maximum harvesting sizes of lobsters.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at NH1

Surging Demand for Lobster Meat Changing Canadian Processing Patterns

August 26, 2016 — SEAFOOD NEWS —  If there was one thing lobster processors were thinking about during the first part of this year’s lobster season, it was lobster meat.

Surging foodservice demand for lobster meat is changing lobster processing patterns, both in Canada and the US.

The government of PEI recently released a summary of the May-June lobster season.  Volume was down 13.5%, to 23.5 million pounds, vs. 27.2 million pounds last year.  But the landed value was $148 million, an increase of 22% from the spring 2015 season.   The average ex-vessel price in Canadian dollars was $6.30, based on these figures.

So the season was characterized by a slower pace of landings and a higher raw material cost.  This combination supported processors’ move to pack lobster meat.

New Brunswick processors say that both CK (claw leg) and CKL (claw leg knuckle) meat is moving as fast as they can produce it.

One packer, when asked what was supporting the strong demand said “we think it really has to do with the US consumer absorbing the increased cost on core volume meat items like lobster rolls while continuing to purchase at a similar rate to last year. Some of the portion sizes may have been reduced (last year’s 6oz roll is now a 4oz) but overall velocity is there. ”

Another processor commented that Chefs are being more creative in using lobster meat as an ingredient, and they have adapted to high prices and are keeping lobster items on the menu due to their popularity.

“Many items made from other proteins (chicken, beef, pork etc) are now being recreated with lobster.  It’s likely that additional meat volume is being absorbed in this category.”

Lobster meat imports to the US have been the highest in years, with each month of 2016 exceeding the volume of any of the past four years.

The warmer temperatures and an early start to the season meant that May lobster meat imports were up ten-fold, from 216,000 pounds in 2015, to 2.23 million pounds in 2016.

However, US market prices have not moderated.

The run up in lobster meat prices that began last summer is showing no signs yet of moderating.  Furthermore, the spread between meat and 4 oz American tail prices has never been higher.

In this situation, it is natural that meat production will surge.  One place it may be coming from is live lobster.  Live lobster imports to the US from Canada were down 50% in June from the prior year, at only 6 million pounds, vs. 13 million the year before.  Some of this is the late season opening last year, but some of it also is likely a switch from live lobster to meat processing.  Canadian live lobster exports to China appear to be higher this year also, so the increased volume is not coming from any slowdown in sales to China.

The same pressures are being felt on the US side of the border, where a significant lobster processing industry has developed.  This week, the Mazzetta Co. announced they were suspending fresh fish production in their Gloucester plant to focus exclusively on lobster.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Lobstermen in Maine’s historically open zone vote to close their waters to newcomers

August 26, 2016 — The lobstermen of Stonington and Vinalhaven, the busiest lobster ports in Maine, have voted to close their waters to additional fishermen, preferring that newcomers wait for others to leave before dropping traps there.

Almost three of every four local lobstermen who voted in a referendum this summer supported the adoption of a waiting list system. The majority included many of the small island communities that had previously opposed making newcomers wait for lobster licenses out of fear that it would discourage people from moving to their far-flung communities.

Of the nine districts within the regional lobster zone, only one, the district that includes Matinicus and Criehaven, voted against making newcomers go on a waiting list. Results show that local lobstermen of all ages, license types and business size support the closure.

The election results now go to the local lobster council for consideration Sept. 8. If the council approves the closure, its recommendation will go to the commissioner of the state Department of Marine Resources, Patrick Keliher, who makes the final determination.

Approval would make permanent a temporary closure implemented in June, when the council voted to put the waiting list question to the 936 licensed lobstermen in the zone. It had been the last of Maine’s seven lobster zones to allow newcomers to fish without a wait.

Other regional councils had previously voted to close their fishing zones and make qualified applicants wait, sometimes for as long as a decade, to get their own lobster licenses.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald 

MAINE: Rep. Lydia Blume submits bill to help scallop, urchin fisheries

August 24, 2016 — AUGUSTA, Maine — Rep. Lydia Blume, D-York, is proposing legislation to require license holders in the scallop and urchin fisheries to own and operate their own vessels. Owner-operator provisions help to increase stewardship in a fishery and help to ensure that the fishery’s revenues stay in local communities.

“Maine’s lobster fishery has an owner-operator requirement, and this is one of the reasons why it is looked upon as a textbook example of a sustainable fishery,” said Blume. “We should try to replicate what works with lobster in harvesting other species.”

Entrance to both the scallop and urchin fisheries is now closed, but there are several factors, like the rebuilding of stocks and increased dockside prices, that are increasing pressure to open them to new license holders.

“Implementing measures like owner-operator requirements should be done before opening the fisheries,” Blume said. “We need to act to sustain the Maine marine economy through encouraging good stewardship of these valuable and precious resources.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

More closures ahead for beleaguered lobster bait fishery

August 24, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — The lobster industry’s difficulty getting enough bait could be about to get worse because of upcoming closures in the herring fishery.

Herring is the preferred bait for lobster fishermen, who use the fish to lure the valuable crustaceans into traps. But herring have been in short supply this year because fishermen aren’t catching many of them in offshore New England waters.

Fishing managers have instituted limits on inshore herring fishing to try to ensure a steady supply of herring throughout summer.

The interstate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is also closing an area off eastern Maine to herring fishing from Aug. 28 to Sept. 24.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

Changes coming to southern New England lobster fishery

August 11, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — While Maine’s lobster industry continues to be strong, problems with the bait supply notwithstanding, fishermen seeking lobsters in the waters in southern New England have not been so lucky. Over the past several years, the effects of warming ocean temperatures have wreaked havoc on the lobster stock in southern New England.

Last month, fisheries regulators once again turned their attention to the problem.

The American Lobster Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved the development of new changes to the fishery management plan that regulates the inshore lobster fishery. The changes are aimed at finding ways to rebuild the depleted stock of lobsters in the waters of southern New England while preserving a functional portion of the lobster fishery in the area.

The changes could include a variety of measures aimed at increasing egg production and lower fishing mortality of the challenged stock. Among the new controls could be an increase in the minimum size of legal lobsters and of the escape vents in lobster traps. The plan also might include seasonal fishing closures, limits on the number of traps that may be fished and a reduction in the number of traps in the water.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Draft plan unveiled to curb Southern New England lobster declines

August 9, 2016 — The American Lobster Management Board has released a draft plan responding to declining stocks of lobsters in Southern New England waters that will be considered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission at its annual meeting in late October.

The proposal presents a suite of management measures to increase egg production and lower harvesting mortality through a combination of management tools that include season closures, trap limits and reductions and changes in escape vent and lobster size regulations. The goal is to increase egg production for lobsters in Southern New England waters from zero to 60%.

The draft responds to the 2015 American lobster benchmark stock assessment that found the Southern New England “stock severely depleted and undergoing recruitment failure with poor prospects of recovery,” according to Friday’s statement from ASMFC.

“Declines in population abundance were most pronounced in the inshore portion of the stock where environmental conditions have remained unfavorable to lobsters since the late 1990s,” according to ASMFC. “Despite fleet attrition, stock declines have continued. These declines are largely in response to adverse environmental conditions including increasing water temperatures over the last 15 years combined with continued fishing mortality.”

ASMFC reported that declines in in the offshore portion of the fishery were evident as well though not as severe. But it also noted the offshore portion of the Southern New England stock depends on a viable population of young lobsters in waters closer to the shore.

The lobster stock in Southern New England increased from the early 1980s, peaked during the late 1990s and then started declining steeply to a record low in 2013, according to ASFMC’s 2015 benchmark study. The study attributes the decline as being largely due to “increasing water temperatures over the last 15 years combined with sustained fishing mortality.”

Read the full story at Maine Biz

MAINE: Shortage of herring used for lobster bait sparks run on pogies

August 9, 2016 — In the midst of a bait shortage, Maine has closed down the fishery for lobstermen’s second-favorite type of bait after fishermen exceeded the state’s quota on pogies for the first time.

Despite anecdotal reports of strong lobster landings and prices this season, lobstermen have been struggling to find suitable bait to fill the bags used to lure lobster into their traps.

The offshore supply of fresh Atlantic herring, the go-to bait for most Maine lobstermen, has been in short supply, driving prices up as much 30 percent in late July, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association said. The shortage triggered near-shore fishing restrictions to try to stretch out the summer herring catch in hopes of keeping bait bags full as Maine’s lobster season hits its peak.

With herring getting scarce and expensive, fishermen have turned to other bait for relief, especially the pogie, the local name for Atlantic menhaden. It’s the No. 2 bait fish among Maine lobstermen, according to a state Department of Marine Resources survey.

Maine fishermen have never landed the state’s entire pogie quota, which is set at about 166,000 pounds annually. But this year they had caught all of that and a bit more by July 31, said Megan Ware, head of the menhaden program for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which oversees the pogie catch and other migratory fisheries on the East Coast.

Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald

Regulators to Vote on New Lobster Fishing Restrictions

August 5, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine – New restrictions might be proposed for southern New England’s lobster fishery as it deals with a steep decline in population.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering ways to save the lobsters and might cast a vote on Thursday.

A report from the commission says that one way to slow the loss of lobsters could be to increase the minimum harvesting size for the crustaceans.

Scientists say the population off of southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut has declined during a time of warming oceans. Lobsters have remained plentiful to consumers because of heavy supply from northern New England and Canada.

Read the full story at the Maine Public Broadcasting Network

Plan to help lobsters survive climate change due in fall

August 5, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — A plan to try to save southern New England’s fading lobster population will come up for review as soon as fall.

The regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is working on changes to the way fishermen harvest lobsters south of Cape Cod.

Scientists say the population of southern New England lobsters has declined as ocean waters have warmed.

The fisheries commission is going to consider new management measures that could include seasonal closures and changes to the minimum and maximum harvesting sizes of lobsters. A plan will come before the commission as soon as October and will likely go out for public comment next year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald