Saving Seafood

Drop in Maine lobster catch might not be as bad as feared

January 10, 2020 — The state with the largest fishing industry for lobster likely experienced a drop in catch last year, but the dip in harvest was probably not as dramatic as initially feared.

Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, told Maine Public that initial reports show a harvest of about 100 million pounds of lobster. That would be a drop of nearly 20 million pounds from last year, but still a much higher number than the industry was used to in the 1990s and 2000.

The season initially looked like it could produce a substantial drop in catch, but Maine’s lobstermen finished strong, Keliher said. The price for Maine lobster was also strong, he said.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

MAINE: DMR submits whale rule proposal

January 8, 2020 — Nearly 10 months ago, Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher shocked Maine lobstermen with an announcement that the National Marine Fisheries Service had determined that right whale mortalities resulting from interactions with fishing gear would have to be reduced by 60 to 80 percent.

In late spring, the fisheries service proposed rules recommended by its Large Whale Take Reduction Team that would force lobstermen to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines in the water by as much as 50 percent and use weaker rope.

Those rules raised safety and practicality concerns within the fishing community and many lobstermen said they would have little or no impact on whale mortalities in the Gulf of Maine.

Last week, DMR submitted a detailed counterproposal to the federal fisheries agency that, according to Keliher, addressed those issues.

“This proposal is the result of a rigorous analysis of data combined with critically important input from industry,” Keliher said Friday. “The outcome is a plan that will not only protect right whales, but will also safeguard the lives and livelihoods of Maine fishermen.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

US state of Maine moves forward with kinder, gentler whale reg recommendations

January 7, 2020 — The US state of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) on Friday moved forward with its earlier-proposed recommendations for helping to preserve endangered North Atlantic right whales by putting all of the emphasis on federal waters.

Maine, which is responsible for the largest share by far of the United State’s North America lobster production, submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) a lengthy set of online documents.

The plan is similar to one put forth in October by the state.

Ultimately, it’ll be up to NMFS to publish a proposed rule, also taking into consideration a tougher set of recommendations shared by the US’ Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, a NOAA advisory panel made up of fishermen, scientists, conservationists, and state and federal officials from Maine to Florida, in April 2019.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Maine Seeks to Aid Lobstermen as Federal Whale Protections Loom

January 6, 2020 — Maine is making its voice heard as a federal effort to stop right whales from dying takes shape.

On Friday, the state’s Department of Marine Resources released a plan it says protects the endangered whales and lobstermen, whom the feds say need to do more to prevent traps and lines from killing the whale.

Maine’s suggestions include having lobstermen use ropes with weak points the whales could easily break and calls for a 25% reduction in the amount of vertical trap lines.

“It’s been a really difficult process, no question about it,” said Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Maine’s DMR. “We spent a lot of time with the industry, we made some people happy and some people mad.”

Read the full story at NBC 10

Maine Plan Aims to Reduce Lobstering Impact on Right Whales

January 3, 2020 — Maine‘s proposal for protecting endangered right whales from entanglements in lobster gear would maintain the status quo for inshore waters where most traps are located while reducing the number of trap lines farther offshore, officials said Friday.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources submitted the proposal to the federal government, which plans to issue new rules in the spring or summer for protecting North Atlantic right whales. The whales number only about 400 and are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.

The proposal would make no change to an inshore area that comprises more than two-thirds of state waters, while total trap lines would be reduced farther offshore.

The proposal would also set requirements for “weak” points in trap lines that would allow an entangled whale to break free and require unique color markings to differentiate Maine lobster lines from trap lines used by fishermen from other states.

The rules come at a time when lobstermen are concerned about a drop in the catch of the state’s signature seafood.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Maine finalizes right whale protection plan for lobster industry

January 3, 2020 — Maine has finalized a proposal to protect endangered right whales from entanglement in lobster fishing gear, but it also gives state regulators the freedom to adopt alternative protections to keep lobstermen and their regional fishing practices alive.

The heart of the state plan is similar to one panned by the lobster industry last fall – cutting the number of buoy lines that could entangle a whale by setting a minimum number of traps fished on each line and requiring the use of lines with weak points to help entangled whales break free.

New to the plan is Maine’s bid to get federal approval for flexibility to allow alternative forms of fishing restrictions in cases where the statewide application of federal whale protections would put lobstermen in physical danger or run needlessly afoul of regional fishing practices.

That flexibility is the cornerstone of Maine Department of Marine Resources’ plan, said Commissioner Pat Keliher. Careful use of alternative protections that achieve the same conservation benefit could help protect whales, fishermen and the state’s $485 million a year industry, Keliher said.

“We want to develop a process that would allow us to mix and match regulatory changes to achieve the same risk reduction for whales while taking into account fishermen safety, traditional fishing practices, and fleet diversity,” Keliher said. “It would be a blend of giving and taking that achieves the same goal.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine Implements Emergency Closures In Scallop Fishery

December 11, 2019 — Maine fishing regulators are implementing emergency closures in the state’s scallop harvesting industry for the first time this season.

Maine scallop fishing takes place every winter, and the state uses emergency closures to protect the valuable shellfish against overfishing.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources says it has closed Moosabec Reach, which is an area off Jonesport in Down East Maine.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Studies: Warming waters, local conditions contribute to Maine’s lobster stock changes

December 3, 2019 — Two new studies published by University of Maine scientists point to the role of a warming ocean and local oceanographic differences in the rise and fall of lobster populations along the coast from southern New England to Atlantic Canada.

Maine’s lobster catch was valued at $484.5 million last year, according to the state Department of Marine Resources. It is the state’s largest fishery by far, accounting for 76% of the $637 million fishing industry — making the findings that much more significant.

One study suggests the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery may be entering a period of decline, as a  “cresting wave” of lobster abundance heads northward in response to the region’s changing climate.

Published in the scientific journal “Ecological Applications,” the study was led by Noah Oppenheim, who completed his research as a UMaine graduate student in 2016, with co-authors Richard Wahle, Damian Brady and Andrew Goode from UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences, and Andrew Pershing from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Senate right whale protection bill advances

November 22, 2019 — The U.S. Senate last week moved a step closer to providing substantial financial assistance to efforts aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Scientists warn that, with a population of only about 400 animals, the giant mammals face a real threat of extinction. The whales have experienced a high rate of mortality in the past few years resulting mostly from ship strikes and entanglement with fishing gear. The population also has had a low rate of reproduction.

Last Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation passed the “SAVE Right Whales Act” (the Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales Act of 2019) and referred it to the full Senate for action.

The bill is identical to legislation now awaiting action in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The legislative activity comes at a time when right whale conservation is front and center with federal and Maine fisheries regulators and in the federal courts.

The NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has proposed a set of rules that would, among other things, require Maine lobstermen to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines they use by 50 percent.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) is in the process of developing its own proposal to submit to NMFS this month.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

MAINE: Nearly 1,200 Atlantic salmon returned to Penobscot this year

November 21, 2019 — When fish lifts in Milford and Orono closed for the season Nov. 13, the Maine Department of Marine Resources reported that a tentative total of 1,196 Atlantic salmon had been counted at those facilities this year — the largest number counted in eight years.

Jason Valliere, a marine resource scientist for the DMR’s Division of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat, said that 1,152 salmon were captured at Milford and 44 were captured in Orono. The trap counts do not reflect the exact total of fish that returned to the river, he said, because some simply did not move into the fish lifts and avoided capture.

“Please note this is the estimated trap return to the Penobscot and not the final estimated return to the river,” Valliere said. “[Salmon] redd count data will be added this winter and the final estimate will be reported in the 2020 U.S. Salmon Assessment Committee Report.”

That report will be released early in 2020.

Salmon redds are depressions in the river bottom made by female salmon during the egg-laying process and serve as further evidence of actual spawning salmon.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News