Saving Seafood

MAINE: Maine community gathers to honor fishermen lost at sea

July 25, 2025 — Dozens of fishermen, family members, and friends gathered on the Lubec, Maine, waterfront on Monday to honor the lives of commercial fishermen lost at sea.

The ceremony, held at the Lost Fishermen’s Memorial overlooking the working harbor, served as a solemn tribute to those who never returned home — their names etched in stone on the memorial itself.

Organized by Green and White Hope Inc. founder Liz Michaud, the event also served to announce Gov. Janet Mills’ proclamation of July 21, 2025, as Maine Commercial Fishing Remembrance Day.

Following a formal presentation of the colors by the Maine Marine Patrol Honor Guard, the event featured a lineup of speakers with deep ties to Maine’s fishing industry and maritime safety, including Bill Case, founding member of the Lost Fishermen’s Memorial Committee; John Roberts of Fishing Partnership Support Services; and Carl Wilson, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR).

“We should never forget those who gave their lives to this calling… Some names are etched here in stone. Others live on only in stories, in photographs, and in the memories of those who loved them,” said Wilson. “Their loss is felt deeply, not only by their families, but by the entire Maine fishing community — because in towns like Lubec and others on our coast, when one fisherman is lost, we all grieve.”

Wilson noted that the DMR’s Commercial Fishing Safety Council will continue to guide efforts to improve safety training, education, and outreach for Maine commercial fishermen.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Fresh mesh: Technology gives the ancient fishing technique of seining a total overhaul

February 5, 2021 — While the earliest incarnations of trawling can be traced back to the 1700s, the earliest versions of seine fishing are depicted on Egyptian tombs from 5,000 years ago. With advances in net technology, sensors and haulers, there is nothing primitive in the way seiners operate today.

Barry Matthews comes from a purse seining family on Canada’s Campobello Island, just across the international bridge from Lubec, Maine.

“Ivan (Matthews) practically invented it,” says Matthews, who launched his boat, the Ocean Venture, six years ago and bought a powerful seine skiff built in Seattle.

Things have changed since Ivan’s day. “I buy twine in bales from another country,” says Matthews. “They come in 50-fathom sections, and we put them together. The biggest we use is 400 fathom, 200 meshes deep, about 60 fathom. They’re a lot bigger than what we used to use. Used to be 6 pounds per fathom, now it’s 20-25 per fathom. We’re using 3/4-inch cable.”

Matthews talks about the greater weight of the nylon seines he hauls aboard, but Menon “Gopa” Gopakumar, of the India-based fiber producer Garware Technical Fibres, is excited about new fibers for nets.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Fisherman killed saving whale recalled as longtime advocate

July 14, 2017 — Members of the marine community in the U.S. and Canada said Thursday that a Canadian fisherman who died freeing a whale from fishing gear was a longtime whale advocate who bridged gaps between fishing and conservation.

Joe Howlett was killed on Monday after freeing a North Atlantic right whale that had been entangled in fishing gear off New Brunswick. A close friend of his said the 59-year-old Howlett was hit by the whale just after it was cut free and started swimming away.

Howlett’s death came as a shock to many in the maritime communities of New England and Atlantic Canada. Howlett lived on Campobello Island, a Canadian island which can only be accessed by road from Lubec, Maine, and he was well known in fishing and marine circles on both sides of the border.

The New England Aquarium said Howlett was a lobsterman, boat captain and whale rescue expert who helped found the Campobello Whale Rescue Team.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Fox News

MAINE: Scallop Fishermen, Hurt by Weather, Will Get Extra Day

January 10, 2017 — LUBEC, Maine – Maine fishing regulators say they are allowing many of the state’s scallop fishermen to fish for an additional day per week because bad weather has hampered their ability to harvest the shellfish.

The state Department of Marine Resources says the dragger boat fleet that operates outside of the protected Cobscook Bay area will be afforded the extra day.

Regulators say fishermen are reporting good catches off of Maine when they are able to get out on the water. Prices are also strong. Maine scallops are some of the most sought after in the seafood industry.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

Are Maine halibut heading for trouble?

December 28, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Go to Scales, an elegant waterfront restaurant on a Portland pier, and a plate of pan-roasted halibut with hazelnuts, brown butter and new potatoes will cost you $38, tax and tip extra.

Over the decade between 2006 and 2015, the last year for which the Department of Marine Resources has figures, the boat price for halibut increased some 44 percent and landings increased from just 30,018 pounds worth about $139,000 to more than 93,000 pounds that brought fishermen some $623,000. Go down to the dock in Lubec or Stonington during May and June, when Maine fishermen are allowed to harvest halibut from state waters inside the three-mile limit, and $38 would buy you about 5 pounds of halibut, if you could buy less than a whole fish directly off the boat. And that’s the problem.

Now federal fisheries regulators are saying that halibut may be in trouble.

Of course, it isn’t just that Maine fishermen are landing more halibut. It’s fishermen from all over New England who are pulling in plenty of the pricy and delicious flatfish from federal waters.

In 2006, only Maine recorded halibut landings. In 2015, according to NOAA Fisheries, halibut landings throughout New England reached almost 216,000 pounds — worth about $1.4 million. Of that, about 123,000 pounds were landed outside Maine.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

MAINE: Shellfish closure expanded; cost to industry mounts

October 13, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Downeast shellfish harvesters are reeling as the Department of Marine Resources last Friday expanded its closure of the Downeast clam and mussel fisheries because of the westward spread of the microscopic marine organism that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP).

On Sept. 27, DMR closed Cobscook Bay from Perry and Lubec to the Canadian border to the harvesting of mussels. A day later, the department expanded the closure to include clams.

On Sept. 30, DMR closed the entire state east of Otter Point on Mount Desert Island to all clam and mussel harvesting. Last week, the closure boundary was shifted westward to encompass much of Penobscot and Blue Hill bays and the outer islands.

“Currently, mussels, carnivorous snails and surf clams are closed from Deer Isle to the Canadian border,” DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols said in an email on Friday. “All other clams (softshell and hardshell) are closed from Isle au Haut to the Canadian border; European oysters are closed from Deer Isle to Machiasport.”

Harvesters and dealers have already felt the impact.

On Sept. 30, DMR ordered the recall of mussels and mahogany quahogs harvested or wet stored in the Jonesport area between Sept. 25 and Sept. 30. It also ordered a recall of clams harvested in the area between Cranberry Point in Corea and Cow Point in Roque Bluffs between Sept. 28 and Sept. 30.

According to Nichols, the recall affected five licensed shellfish dealers, “and more than 10,000 pounds of product was recovered and destroyed, which was more than 96 percent of the total product recalled.”

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American