Saving Seafood

Maine to collect ocean acidification data with new sensors

May 26, 2020 — Maine marine officials said three new sensors installed in a coastal community will help scientists get a better understanding of ocean acidifcation.

The growing acid levels in the ocean are a hazard for some kinds of sea life, including some of those sought by Maine fishermen. Scientists have linked acidification to factors that also drive climate change.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said it has installed the three sensors in Boothbay Harbor. The department said the sensors will help researchers get a better understanding of how ocean acidification and dissolved oxygen levels can change the health of the state’s marine life and ecosystems.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Senator Collins, Congresswoman Pingree Urge Swift Disbursement of Relief to Maine Fishing Industry

May 22, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Susan Collins (R-ME):

Senator Susan Collins and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree today wrote to Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Commissioner Patrick Keliher, advocating for swift allocation of the more than $20 million Maine received through the CARES Act for fishing industry relief. The lawmakers encouraged DMR to quickly develop a plan for how the funding would be allocated in the state. Full text of Collins and Pingree’s letter is available online here and below this release.

“With each day that passes, the damage imposed upon Maine’s hardworking harvesters and seafood supply chain businesses worsens. As your team works to develop a plan for how this funding will be allocated within the state, we stand ready to assist the Department and to ensure that NOAA’s approval of the state’s ultimate plan occurs as quickly as possible,” said Collins and Pingree in their letter. “As your federal partners we are fully prepared to provide any additional support as implementation moves forward. As Congress considers further COVID-19 relief legislation, we will continue to advocate for additional fishing industry relief given that the market disruptions are not likely to dissipate soon.”

The Maine delegation has urged direct and substantial relief for Maine’s aquaculture and fishing industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 70% of seafood produced in the United States is consumed in restaurants and export markets have been hurt by travel and trade restrictions; Maine’s seafood industry has been almost completely shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Senator Collins and Representative Pingree worked with bipartisan groups of their colleagues from coastal states to secure $300 million in the CARES Act specifically to assist fishermen and fishery-related businesses such as dealers, processors, and aquaculture operations affected by COVID-19. Both Collins and Pingree wrote to the U.S. Department of Commerce to call on them to quickly release this urgently needed financial assistance to Maine fishermen.

Dear Commissioner Keliher, 

We are pleased that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has finally announced the allocation of $300 million in fishing industry relief provided by Sec.12005 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, of which Maine will receive more than $20 million. Your Department plays an essential role in ensuring that our fishermen and lobstermen are able to support their families and communities – a role that has become even more critical in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With each day that passes, the damage imposed upon Maine’s hardworking harvesters and seafood supply chain businesses worsens. As your team works to develop a plan for how this funding will be allocated within the state, we stand ready to assist the Department and to ensure that NOAA’s approval of the state’s ultimate plan occurs promptly. 

We appreciate the attention and effort that your Department is dedicating to the efficient and effective distribution of this critical funding, including your solicitation of input from the industry via survey on how this money would be best spent. It is absolutely critical that this assistance be provided as quickly as possible to those individuals working on the water whose livelihoods have suffered through no fault of their own. As Congress considers further COVID-19 relief legislation, we will continue to advocate for additional fishing industry relief given that the market disruptions are likely to persist well into the summer.

Again, thank you for your work on behalf of Maine. The Maine seafood industry and those who work within it are defined by resilience, and we are confident that – with the support of the state and federal government – this sector will demonstrate its resilience once again.

This press release can be found online here.

Maine fishing industry awaits distribution of federal stimulus money

May 19, 2020 — While Maine is due to receive $20 million in federal funding to help shore up fishing trade losses caused by the COVID-19 economic downturn, industry leaders say more relief is needed to address the full scope of the decline.

“It’s not a lot of money for the size of the problem that we are dealing with in Maine,” Ben Martens, Executive Director of The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association (MCFA) told The Center Square. “The goal is to get the money out the door as soon as possible, at least that should be the goal, so we can all survive this.”

The $20.3 million going to Maine is part of $300 million allotted to the seafood industry under the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act. The $300 million will be helping about 30 states, with Alaska receiving the highest amount, roughly $50 million, Martens said. Maine’s amount was the fifth highest in the nation.

Dividing the $20.3 million among Maine’s 18,000 licensed fishermen, seafood processors, charter fishing operators and aquaculture workers will be up to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Read the full story at The Center Square

MAINE: Elver price plummets; lobster industry seeks help

May 13, 2020 — Earning a living as a fisherman is tough in the best of times. Right now, times are bad and Maine fishermen have to hope they don’t get any worse.

Last year, according to the Department of Marine Resources, Maine harvesters landed 9,620 pounds of elvers — juvenile eels — and dealers paid $20,119,194 for the catch, an average price of $2,091 per pound for the fishermen.

Things are markedly different in this year of the coronavirus pandemic.

DMR reported that, as of 6 p.m. Sunday, just 42 days into an already shortened fishing season, licensed dealers had already reported buying a total of about 9,353 pounds of elvers for a total of $4,877,240, an average price of $521 per pound, a $1,570 drop from last year in the price paid to elver harvesters.

While the season still has slightly more than three weeks left, only 267 pounds of the state’s annual elver quota established by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission remains unharvested. Of that total, no more than 99 pounds is available to harvesters licensed by DMR. At least 138 pounds of the unharvested quota is allocated among fishermen licensed by the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians or the government of the Penobscot Nation.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

MAINE: State, lobstermen scramble to respond to judge’s right-whale ruling

April 14, 2020 — The right whale protection lawsuit winding its way through the federal courts for two years has often been called the “wild card” in the battle between environmental groups trying to save the whale from extinction and lobstermen trying to protect their way of life.

Last week, a federal judge played that card, concluding the National Marine Fisheries Service had violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to fully document the U.S. lobster fishery’s harmful impact on right whales. The play leaves state and industry officials scrambling to figure out their next move.

“It’s hard to predict how lawsuits will impact future whale rules,” Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher wrote to fishermen on Friday. “Many of you have called or emailed asking about the timing and impacts of this decision. At this time they are still unknown, but may come very quickly.”

The agency is reviewing last week’s ruling to determine what it may mean for Maine’s $485-million-a year lobster industry and what its next steps should be, Keliher said. For now, the Maine fishery remains open to those willing to brave rough offshore waters and pandemic-gutted markets.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Regulators fell short on protecting right whales from lobster industry, judge rules

April 10, 2020 — The National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act by not properly reporting the lobster industry’s harmful impacts on the North Atlantic right whale, which it knew to be more than three times what the dwindling species could sustain, according to a federal judge.

In a ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg accused the service of failing to follow the letter of the landmark environmental law because it would have meant the fishery, which rakes in millions of lobster and dollars each year, would not be able to proceed.

“The service and the statute pass each other like ships in the night,” Boasberg wrote in his 20-page ruling.

The decision caught the Maine Department of Marine Resources, which regulates Maine’s $485 million-a-year lobster fishery, and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the industry’s largest trade association, off guard. Both agency and association officials said they needed time to digest the ruling before commenting.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Shellfish direct sales

April 8, 2020 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources’ Bureau of Public Health published guidelines Monday for shellfish harvesters and growers selling directly to consumers. 

Bivalve shellfish are closely managed and monitored, even during a pandemic, because the state agency must continue to make sure the product is safe from biotoxins and other hazardous materials. 

Harvesters may sell directly from their homes — customers must pick up, no delivery — or directly from a standard aquaculture lease site (not a limited purpose lease site). 

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

University of New England Shares NSF Grant on Lobsters and Climate Change

April 7, 2020 — A study on how warming ocean water impacts the early life stages of lobster will bring together two undergraduate colleges, a premier research institution, and a state agency.

The University of New England applied for the $860,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and intends to share it with Hood College in Maryland, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Read the full story at Seafood News

New Executive Order Delays Requirement for Maine Seafood Dealers, Processors to Renew Licenses

April 7, 2020 — Seafood dealers and processors in Maine are being provided with some temporary economic relief thanks to a new Executive Order issued by Governor Janet Mills last week. The new order delays the requirement for Maine seafood dealers and processors to renew their license.

According to a bulletin sent out by the Maine Department of Marine Resources, required fees for annual license renewals will be postponed for two months. This only applies to those who are renewing a license. Anyone who is applying for a license for the first time will be required to pay any applicable fees if they intend on operating on or after April 1, 2020.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Prices in Maine’s lucrative baby eel fishery sink to 10-year low

April 7, 2020 — A week after Maine’s annual commercial baby eel fishing season got under way, prices for the lucrative catch are the lowest they have been in the past 10 years.

According to information posted on the Maine Department of Marine Resources website, the average price paid to baby eel fishermen in Maine this past week is $512 per pound, which is roughly $360 lower than the lowest average annual price fishermen have received in the past decade.

From 2011 through 2019, baby eels in Maine fetched an average of $1,670 per pound, varying between an average of $875 in 2014 and an average of $2,366 in 2018.

Maine is the only state that has a significant legal fishery for baby eels, which also are known as glass eels or elvers. The vast majority of elvers caught in Maine are shipped live to China, where they are grown in aquaculture ponds and then harvested as adult eels for the global seafood market.

Fishery officials have said that the prices for elvers this year could be unusually low, given the severe adverse impact the global COVID-19 pandemic has had on the economy and the demand for seafood, and in particular on the restaurant market in Asia.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News