Saving Seafood

Maine to pay for research in effort to keep lobster fishery healthy

February 4, 2016 — Maine’s lobsters are about to get new scrutiny.

The Department of Marine Resources has put out a call for proposals to gauge the impact of warming Gulf of Maine waters on lobster biology, populations and susceptibility to disease. A separate study will attempt to measure the economic impact of Maine’s most valuable fishery beyond what lobstermen are paid for their catch.

The department has earmarked up to $700,000 to pay for the studies, with the money coming out of the Lobster Research, Education and Development Fund. The money in that fund comes from sales of the lobster license plate.

Research proposals are due Thursday. The department’s request for proposals suggests the contracts will be awarded by early March, but department spokesman Jeff Nichols said the timing depends on how many proposals are received and how quickly a panel is formed to review them.

The department said it needs the research to determine how to help maintain the industry’s remarkable health over the past 20 or 30 years. Lobster landed in Maine was valued at a record $465.9 million in 2014, up more than fourfold in the past two decades. The catch by 5,818 commercial license holders made up 78 percent of the value of commercial fishery landings in the state.

Carl Wilson, director of the department’s Bureau of Marine Science, said “there are sufficient questions” about what’s happening with climate change and its impact on the Gulf of Maine to warrant more study.

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Sale of shell-on lobster claws bound for Senate floor

January 14, 2016 — BOSTON — Massachusetts lobstermen could get a leg-up if a Senate bill set for consideration next Thursday becomes law.

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican who sponsored the bill (S 469), said it would allow for shell-on lobster claws to be processed and sold in Massachusetts.

In contrast to the groundfishery, hampered by lowered federal catch limits on cod and other stock, the Bay State’s lobster fishery is “doing fairly well,” according to Tarr, who said there are concerns about the prices lobsters fetch at the market and competition from Canada.

Read the full story at Saugus Advertiser

How Probiotics Can Save the East Coast Shellfish Industry

January 12, 2016 — Bob Rheault was having an open house at his young shellfish hatchery, so he arrived early in the morning with bottles of wine and plates of cheese. That’s when he noticed he had a problem.

“There was an odd substance floating on the surface of the tanks,” Rheault says. He looked through a microscope, “and there were no bodies to be seen … just empty shells with bacteria climbing all over them.”

In oyster and clam hatcheries, a bacterial infection can cause the population to drop from 10 million to 1,000 larvae overnight. That’s what happened to Rheault, who had no larvae to show his open house guests. Antibiotics aren’t approved for use in U.S. shellfish hatcheries (though they are worldwide)—and, by the time an infection sets in, all the larvae are dead anyway—so the only thing for a hatchery owner to do when confronted with an infection is dump everything out, clean the tanks, and start over.

Or that used to be the only approach. Now, researchers at two labs seem to have found a solution.

The problem of bacterial infections in hatcheries has been worsening over the past decade as the waters of the Northeast warm. Rheault, who is now the president of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, says that thanks to climate change, bacterial infections now kill off 10 to 20 percent of the Northeast’s shellfish larvae each year. And because the bacteria, Vibrio, gets into the tanks via seawater, it affects not only shellfish but also lobsters, by turning their shells black and making them impossible to sell. (Some lobstermen eat the animals themselves or send them to be cooked and processed, since the meat is still good.)

Researchers have now found a tool to fight the Vibrio bacteria: probiotics. Teams at both NOAA’s Milford Laboratory in Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island (URI) have harvested beneficial bacteria from healthy adult oysters that can help oyster larvae fight off bacterial infections. And the URI researchers are exploring the possibility that a similar concoction could help treat lobster shell disease as well.

Read the full story at Civil Eats

 

Ocean acidification poses threat to lobsters

December 18, 2015 — PROVIDENCE — Lobsters are already slowly moving out of southern New England as waters warm, but the iconic crustacean faces another future threat as the climate changes.

As oceans absorb more carbon and become increasingly acidic, juvenile lobsters likely will have a harder time growing and forming strong shells to protect them from predators, according to a recent University of Rhode Island study.

“I’m not sure yet what the mechanism is that is affecting their growth,” URI doctoral student Erin McLean, who led the research, said. “But it takes energy for them to regulate the increased acidity, which is energy they cannot then put toward growth.”

And it’s not just lobsters that could be harmed by the oceans’ changing pH levels. Shellfish populations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in general are among the most vulnerable in the United States to ocean acidification, according to a recent study in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The study identified the two states among 15 at-risk areas in the nation because colder, northern waters, such as Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay and Nantucket Sound, are absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and acidifying faster than warmer waters.

Other more localized factors are also playing a part, including nutrient pollution from fertilizers and sewage systems that can add more carbon to the water and the flow of fresh water from poorly buffered rivers, such as the Blackstone in Rhode Island or the many waterways that drain into the Gulf of Maine, which lack minerals to mitigate the effects of acid. Shallow coastal waters also are more susceptible to changes in the ocean’s chemistry.

About a quarter of all carbon emissions from power plants, cars and other sources are absorbed by the oceans, making them more acidic and reducing carbonate levels. Shellfish use carbonates to make their shells, and when fewer of the compounds are available, organisms must expend more energy to build shells and less on eating and survival, researchers say.

Read the full story at Providence Journal

New England Lobstermen Still Fishing Thanks to Mild Winter

December 28, 2015 (AP) — Many New England lobstermen are still fishing deep into December this year because of unseasonably warm weather and an abundance of the critters, and Maine’s beloved scallops are a little harder to come by as a result.

The extra fishing hasn’t done much to change the price of lobsters, which are selling in the range of $8 to $10 per pound in Maine, typical for this time of year, when Canada is also hauling in large catches. But some lobstermen in Maine, the biggest lobster-producing state, also fish for scallops and haven’t made the transition to the winter scalloping season because lobster fishing is still strong.

As a result, Maine scallops — which usually cost about $20 per pound — have been slightly more expensive, sometimes selling in the $25-per-pound range, and some retailers are low on supply. Alex Todd, a Portland scallop and lobster fisherman, said he expects scallop fishing in the southern part of the state to pick up in mid-January. Supply from scallop-rich Cobscook Bay is helping feed demand for now, he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

 

Does fishing have a future in New England?

December 22, 2015 — Cod have been disappearing from the waters between Massachusetts and Maine, and shrimp populations are so depleted that the commercial shrimp season in the Gulf of Maine has been cancelled for the last three years.

At the same time, lobster are flourishing — alongside a host of species that have never before thrived in New England waters.

Why the wild ups and downs? One reason is that nearby waters are warming much faster than the rest of the ocean, making the environment newly unbearable for some longtime residents — and newly appealing for others. But overfishing has played a role as well, disrupting the balance of the watery ecosystem in unexpected ways.

It’s hard to predict where all this is headed, whether for individual species or local fishing communities. But it needn’t be a story of doom and gloom. These undersea changes may well dampen the prospects of the cod industry, but they will also bring new opportunities.

What’s happening in nearby waters?

Rapid and unusual warming.

Temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have been increasing faster than just about every other blue spot on the planet. According to a recent report in Science, Maine’s waters are in the top 0.1 percent when it comes to rapid warming.

While that team focused on the waters to the east and north of Massachusetts, that superwarm area they reported on actually extends significantly south, surrounding the Bay State.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

MAINE: Ben Alfiero, ‘face’ of Portland’s Harbor Fish Market, dies at 59

November 19, 2015 — One of the three brothers who own and operate an iconic fish market on Portland’s waterfront has died, following a long struggle with cancer.

Benjamin A. Alfiero, 59, of Scarborough, died Monday, his family said.

Alfiero and his brothers, Nick Alfiero and Mike Alfiero, have been involved in the operation of the Harbor Fish Market since their father Ben Alfiero Sr. founded the business in 1969.

For years, Benjamin A. Alfiero ran the retail store for Harbor Fish Market, which is located at 9 Custom House Wharf on the city’s waterfront.

“He was the face of the business in a lot of ways,” said his younger brother, Mike Alfiero. “Ben became a local celebrity.”

Alfiero was born and raised in Portland, the son of Benjamin and Gloria Alfiero.

He attended Portland schools and graduated from Portland High School.

He joined the business as a teenager and never lost interest.

“We grew up doing every aspect of the entire operation, from cutting fish to sweeping floors,” Mike Alfiero said.

In the 1990s, when their father retired, the three brothers took over.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Decision on 2016 Maine shrimp season due Dec. 7, outlook bleak

November 13, 2015 — Interstate fishing regulators say they will meet next month to decide if there will be a fishing season for Gulf of Maine shrimp next year, though they say prospects are bleak.

The fishery is currently shut down over concerns about its low population. Fishermen haven’t been able to catch the popular food species since 2013. A panel of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will make a decision about the coming season on Dec. 7 in Portsmouth, N.H.

The fishery was formerly a popular winter fishery for fishermen who spent the warmer months trapping lobsters.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

MAINE: DMR approves reduction to scallop fishing days

October 21, 2015 — Scallop fishers in parts of Maine will have fewer days to do their job this season compared to last year.

The Department of Marine Resources has voted in favor of a 10-day reduction for the upcoming season. Scallop season runs from early December to mid-April, at a time when lobster fishing is not as lucrative.

The area that will see a change this year, called Zone 1, runs from New Hampshire to the Penobscot River. Last season, scallop fishing in that zone was allowed on 70 days. This season, it’ll only be allowed on 60.

Read the full story at WCSH6 Portland

 

MAINE: Lobster season proves successful

October 20, 2015 — Maine’s 2015 lobster season is experiencing a boom this year, which according to biologists, stems from factors such as careful fishery management, dropping populations of predators like cod fish, and warming temperatures in the Gulf of Maine.

Experts in the field also point to the fact that lobstering is regulated by a number of federal laws, and that Maine fisheries and governments cooperate with the help of the University of Maine Lobster Institute.

In addition, lobstermen also take an active part in conservation by marking egg-bearing female lobsters, Smithonian.com reported.

Another factor benefitting the industry has been the growth in supply. Exports of the state’s lobsters to China grew from almost nothing five years ago to around 2.7 million pounds last year, with South Korea and Hong Kong showing similarly large increases, according to WISERTrade, which tracks exports.

Read the full story at FIS World News