Saving Seafood

Maine Lobstering Union Lands Injunction to Halt Right Whale Lobster Fishing Area Closure

October 19, 2021 — The Maine Lobstering Union (MLU) was granted emergency relief by U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker on October 16 to halt an impending closure of a lobster fishing area off Maine.

The closure was set to be implemented as part of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan Modifications announced at the end of August.

After learning of the closure, the MLU, along with other industry groups including the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), sued the NMFS over the right-whale related rule changes.

According to the MLU, the closure would have impacted a large area of “prime lobstering territory.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

 

Directed herring fishery closed for rest of the year, incidental catch still allowed 

October 19, 2021 — The directed herring fishery has been closed for the rest of the year for the inshore Gulf of Maine, according to officials.   

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board voted late last month to set the number of landing days at zero for the second half of the herring season, meaning a vessel can’t go out fishing directly for herring.   

Fishermen are allowed to fish for other species and may land up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip as incidental catch only, said Emilie Franke, the fishery management plan coordinator at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.   

Herring is a prized bait fish for lobstermen in Maine, though many have resorted to other species, such as  pogies,  as  herring numbers have  declined  and quotas have tightened. Herring is considered overfished, but overfishing  by fishermen  is  not  currently happening, leaving officials searching for an answer on how to help the species  rebound. 

The New England Fishery Management Council met late last month to talk about how to move forward with the conservation of the species across New England. The council decided to go forward with an acceptable biological catch strategy that allows for sustainable harvest of the fish while accounting for the species role as a forage species  and baitfish. The rule works by allowing fishing mortality rate to fluctuate with the highs and lows of the species’ biomass, allowing flexibility depending on how the fish is doing. It also adds accountability measures.   

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

 

Maine Lobstermen’s Association files brief in support of motion filed against U.S. Secretary of Commerce to block closure of Maine lobster fishing grounds

October 15, 2021 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has filed a brief in support of a motion filed against the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to block the impending closure of Maine lobster fishing grounds by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The seasonal closure, scheduled to go into effect next week, will bar lobster fishing in 967 square miles off the coast of Maine.

It’s part of a ten year federal plan to protect right whales.

Read the full story at WABI

 

Maine lobster industry decries lack of clarity on enforcement of new whale-protection rules

October 12, 2021 — State and federal regulators say they are prepared to enforce the 967-square-mile area of the Gulf of Maine that will be closed to traditional lobstering for the next three months but have been tight-lipped about what the enforcement will look like or what the penalties might be for anyone who is found in violation of the closure area.

Environmentalists, who support the closure designed to help protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales from becoming entangled in lobstering gear, say the lack of details isn’t surprising, but Maine lobster industry officials are frustrated by the silence.

According to Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the industry is still grappling with trying to understand why the area is even going to be closed in the first place. The closure goes into effect Oct. 18. 

“Now it’s happening and we’ve had zero correspondence on what the rules of operation will be, what the enforcement will be,” she said. “The entire closure has literally fallen from the sky, and we’ve been given very little information and (told) to get out of there. … Everything I’ve seen is Oct. 18, here’s the box (outlining the closure area), get your gear out.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

CALIFORNIA: Fishermen and foodways begin to feel the squeeze of Orange County’s oil spill

October 7, 2021 — Over the weekend, spiny lobster fishermen in Southern California began setting traps for the start of their season. On Sunday, they were suddenly prohibited from entering a swath of the Orange County coastline, and on Tuesday, the banned area was extended even farther — without word on how long fishing will remain off-limits.

Their income from an entire season might have been contaminated in one of the largest oil spills in the state’s recent history.

A 17.7-mile oil pipeline off Huntington Beach has hemorrhaged at least 146,000 gallons into the Pacific since the leak began, possibly Friday, immediately threatening wildlife from sea to shore — and potentially contaminating the fishing grounds and aquafarms that feed Californians and keep hundreds of commercial fishermen employed.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has placed a temporary ban on commercial and recreational fishing in an area that stretches about 20 miles from Sunset Beach south to San Clemente and extends six miles out to sea. State officials, fishermen and chefs are scrambling to warn consumers of potential dangers and, in some cases, encouraging them to find new sources of seafood.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

 

Maine Lobstering Union Files Suit for Emergency Relief Against NMFS

October 4, 2021 — The Maine Lobstering Union (MLU) became the latest from the lobster industry to file a federal lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) due to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan Modifications announced on August 31.

The MLU filed a civil action in the United States District Court for the District of Maine, seeking emergency relief related to fishing ground closures that will come into effect due to the recent modifications. Fox Island Lobster Company of Vinalhaven and Frank Thompson, a sixth-generation fisherman, who together with his wife Jean, own and operate Fox Island; and the Damon Family Lobster Company of Stonington are also Plaintiffs on the case.

The Complaint names as Defendants the Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, and the Assistant Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NMFS.

Read the full story at Seafood News

 

Whale Protection Regulations Criticized by Opposing Sides

September 29, 2021 — New federal regulations meant to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales are set to be instituted soon.

But they’re facing opposition from the Maine Lobstermen’s Association despite endorsement by marine animal experts, and also being criticized as not stringent enough by environmentalists.

The association has filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce over the 10-year whale protection plan.

It includes regulations like state-specific gear marks, more traps between buoy lines, more seasonal closure areas and requiring weaker ropes that the whales can break.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Lobster Lawsuit: Maine org sues feds over right whale rules

September 28, 2021 — On Monday, Sept. 21, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association filed a lawsuit challenging NMFS’ new rule for Northeast lobster and Jonah crab fisheries.

The rule, filed on Aug. 31, is a modification of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan and is supposed to reduce the risk of entanglements to North Atlantic right whales in U.S. waters. The association says the modifications address only the perceived risk of Maine fisheries, which have no documented right whale interactions.

The lawsuit, filed against NMFS and the Secretary of Commerce in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that “the federal government’s draconian and fundamentally flawed 10‐year whale protection plan… will all but eliminate the Maine lobster fishery yet still fail to save endangered right whales.” The result would put both fishermen and whales in harm’s way, industry leaders have said.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Maine Lobstermen’s Association Sues Feds Over Right Whale Protection Plan

September 28, 2021 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has filed suit against the federal government over its plan to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from becoming entangled in lobster gear.

MLA executive director Patrice McCarron says a 10-year plan issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service this summer should be revised to reflect actions the industry has already taken.

“We are literally on a course to have our fishery erased, eliminated in ten years, because the plan’s not based upon the science. And the first phase of the plan has weaknesses, too, not based upon the best available science,” she says.

Read the full story at Maine Public

 

Maine governor to take side of fishing biz in whale lawsuit

September 28, 2021 — Maine’s governor is intervening in a federal lawsuit that concerns the future of right whale protections and lobster fishing off New England.

The lawsuit was filed by conservation group Center for Biological Diversity against the federal government and it makes the case that federal management of the lobster fishing industry violates federal law because it can harm the rare whales. The whales are vulnerable to lethal entanglement in fishing gear.

Read the full story from the Associated Press