Saving Seafood

Nine Mainers win a new elver license out of over 3,600 applicants

March 4, 2020 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources announced that it has officially awarded nine elver licenses that were available to eligible residents of the state, out of more than 3,600 applicants to the license.

The massive number of applicants is likely thanks to high price that elvers – the juvenile form of eels – has commanded in recent years. Last year, the season starting on 22 March kicked off with values of over USD 2,500 (EUR 2,237) per pound, with the season-long average sitting at USD 2,000 (EUR 1,790) per pound.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MAINE: Nordic Aquafarms completes permit hearings

March 3, 2020 — Nordic Aquafarms (NAF) has completed the last hearing for state-level permitting required for the company to complete its planned USD 500 million (EUR 447.9 million) salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Belfast, Maine.

The hearings, which occurred on 2 March, were for a state-level permit for the removal and disposal of subtidal excavation material and the company’s plans to ensure local fisheries aren’t impacted. The removal of material is part of the company’s plan to locate inlet and outlet pipes for the facility in the nearby Penobscot Bay.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MAINE: Dozens weigh in on proposed land-based salmon farm in Belfast

March 3, 2020 — More talk about Nordic Aqaufarms’ permit application regarding the DEP Monday night in Belfast.

The company wants to build a land-based salmon farm in the town capable of producing millions of pounds of fish per year.

Some officials with the Department of Marine Resources listened to comments and concerns about the proposed facility’s potential impacts on not only fishing activities but also the fishing industry.

All public comments will be passed along to Maine DEP.

Some are worried about possible environmental concerns and sediments too.

“To disturb the bottom sediments in this area for the Nordic Aquafarms project, would cause a few contaminations problems,” explained Lobsterman David Black.

“We’ve been talking about a lot of different parts of the project for a long time, but we think we are getting really close. We’ve told our case and we feel that all the information is out there for a decision.,” Edward Cotter, Nordic Aquafarms, Senior Vice Pres. Projects said.

Cotter added if they get all the approval they need to build the proposed facility, they’d like to start construction in the summer or fall.

Read the full story at WABI

MAINE: Fishermen, harbor pilots, cruise industry work to minimize gear loss from ships

February 27, 2020 — There’s a lot going on in the few square miles of ocean around Mount Desert Rock, the offshore island about 20 miles south of the entrance to Frenchman Bay.

College of the Atlantic operates a research station there. The rocky ocean bottom near the island is a prime spot for lobsters and has become more and more popular in recent years.

There is shipping traffic in the area, tankers going to and from Searsport, Portland and Portsmouth, according to harbor pilot Skip Strong of the Penobscot Bay Pilots.

And there are cruise ships. This year, 197 ship visits to Bar Harbor are scheduled, the bulk of them in September and October.

On their way into Frenchman Bay and Bar Harbor, the ships pass near Mount Desert Rock. Until recently, the recommended channel for large ships entering Frenchman Bay started about five miles north of Mount Desert Rock.

But enough fishermen were losing money and equipment when buoy lines were cut by a passing ship (or an underwater stabilizer sticking out from the side of a ship, or an underwater tow wire between a tug and barge), that they got to talking.

The conversation had some added urgency beginning in 2018, when the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) changed the rules for gear configurations in the area. Many fishermen used to use strings, or trawls, of 15 traps with a surface buoy at either end, in the area. Now, with more fishermen working in the same area, a 5-trap maximum is in effect. That means if a buoy line is cut, the whole trawl is lost.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: State reverses course, leaves menhaden fishery open

February 21, 2020 — Keenly aware of a looming bait shortage, Friendship lobsterman Chad Benner decided last fall to invest $15,000 to buy the custom-made net needed to join Maine’s growing menhaden fishery in 2020.

He planned to use some of the menhaden, also called pogy, to bait his lobster traps and sell the remainder to lobster fishermen on the hunt for an affordable alternative to Atlantic herring, which is hard to come by since its depleted numbers triggered steep cuts in how much herring can be caught.

But Benner’s plan was put in jeopardy last month when Maine announced that it wanted to place a two-year freeze on the menhaden fishery, closing it to newcomers while the state enacted a licensing system and made a pitch for a bigger share of the East Coast menhaden quota.

“I put my money down back in November, and now they are saying I can’t go fishing?” Benner said on Tuesday to state lawmakers who oversee the Maine Department of Marine Resources. “I’ve got a kid to support, and a family. I won’t even be able to sell (the net) because nobody could get a license.”

Stories of those who had hoped to jump into menhaden fishing, and pleas from lobstermen in search of affordable bait, persuaded state lawmakers to keep the menhaden fishery open while the state works out details of its proposed licensing system.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine shuts down key scallop fishing areas for the season

February 19, 2020 — Maine fishing regulators are shutting down some of the most important scallop fishing areas in the state for the season.

Cobscook, Whiting and Dennys bays are all shut down, the Maine Department of Marine Resources said.

Cobscook Bay is home to the most fertile scallop fishing grounds in Maine, which is home to a winter scallop harvesting industry.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Maine wants more credit from feds for efforts to save whales

February 14, 2020 — Maine’s top marine official has told the federal government that his state deserves more credit for the efforts it has made to try to save an endangered species of whale.

Maine is tasked with coming up with new regulations that make the oceans safer for North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 400 in the world. The proposed new protections place new restrictions on the lobster fishing business, which is critical to Maine’s economy and heritage.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration informed Maine in January that its proposal to protect the whales doesn’t go far enough.

But Patrick Keliher, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, sent a letter to NOAA on Wednesday that outlined numerous existing and additional proposed protections that he said play a key role in protecting the whales.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Maine Lobstermen Dismayed By Fed’s Push For More Gear Changes To Protect Endangered Whale

February 14, 2020 — Maine’s top fisheries regulator is telling his federal counterparts the state’s lobster fleet deserves more credit for its efforts to reduce the risk of fishing gear entanglements with the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher revealed this week that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told him that Maine’s proposed gear changes, including a reduced number of  vertical ropes in offshore waters, are insufficient.

In a letter sent Wednesday, Keliher tells NOAA that it is overlooking other whale protection measures that the state has taken in the past and is proposing for the future. “It needs to be taken into consideration: it’s not part of any calculations they have on the books right now,” he says.

Keliher met last night with the state Lobster Advisory Council, which includes fishermen from each of the state’s seven lobster management zones.

He says Maine should get credit for replacing floating rope lines that pose a big hazard for the whales with safer, sinking lines, and for Maine’s proposal to require inshore boats to weave weak, breakaway links into their lines.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Maine counters NMFS rejection of right whale plan

February 14, 2020 — Maine officials said that the National Marine Fisheries Service’s rejection of its submitted right whale plan didn’t take enough of the state’s efforts into account.

The NMFS rejected the state’s plan via letter earlier this week. According to NMFS, the state’s plan only reduces risk to right whales by roughly 52 percent, short of the 60 percent that the Take Reduction Team was aiming for.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine says its plan to protect whales from lobster gear is better than feds think

February 13, 2020 — Maine believes its right whale protection plan isn’t getting enough credit for reducing risk to the critically endangered species.

The state Department of Marine Resources believes that its right whale plan, with its range of lobster fishing restrictions meant to avoid gear entanglements, clocks in right around the 60 percent risk reduction target sought by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Federal regulators – who  determined that the state plan reduced risk by just 52 percent – failed to give Maine credit for all its proposed protection measures, as well as those enacted since the last federal right whale review in 2014, Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher said Wednesday.

Keliher spelled out his concerns with the federal evaluation of Maine’s plan during a meeting with members of the Lobster Advisory Council Wednesday evening and in a letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service that he sent earlier in the day asking for additional risk reduction credit.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald