Saving Seafood

MAINE: State rejects group’s petition to change aquaculture lease process

July 17, 2019 — The Department of Marine Resources rejected a petition to change the criteria for aquaculture lease applications on the basis that the request was “not realistic,” “arbitrary” and could have a “perverse outcome” for some applicants.

Meanwhile, the company pitching a 40-acre oyster aquaculture lease on Maquoit Bay continues to await the department’s decision on its application, which is now two months overdue.

A group known as Save Maquoit Bay, composed of coastal property owners, lobstermen and fishermen, submitted a 189-signature petition asking officials to include a stipulation requiring the department to consider whether any other locations near a proposed lease site could “accommodate the proposed activities while interfering less with existing and surrounding uses of an area.”

The petition requested the actions to be imposed statewide, Mere Point Oyster Co.’s proposed 10-year, 40-acre lease has been mired in controversy. A marathon three-day hearing that spanned several months wrapped up in mid-January after waterfront property owners and lobster fishermen spoke out against what they saw as conflicting uses of the bay and the potential infringement on valuable lobstering grounds. Some of the lobstermen who spoke out against the lease also are members of Save Maquoit Bay.

The department had 120 days to make a ruling, which would have been May 15, but according to Jeff Nichols, communications director of the department of marine resources, “depending on the complexity of the application and the evidence, it may take longer.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Governor pushes back at feds on protection for rare whales

July 15, 2019 — A directive for new protections for endangered right whales represents an “absurd federal overreach” that places an unfair burden on Maine’s signature lobster fishery, Gov. Janet Mills said.

She ordered the state Department of Marine Resources to draft an alternative plan that would reduce the impact on lobstermen.

“My administration will not allow any bureaucrat to undermine our lobster industry or our economy with foolish, unsupported and ill-advised regulations,” she wrote in a letter this week to the lobster industry.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants the state to present a plan in September for reducing the lobster industry’s threat to right whales by 60%.

The plan would mean reducing by half the number of lobster trap lines that could entangle whales. It would also require weaker rope for traps in federal waters.

But the Democratic governor says that Maine’s lobster industry isn’t the “primary problem” and that there’s a “disturbing lack of evidence” connecting it to recent right whale deaths. Six have died in recent weeks in Canadian waters.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

MAINE: Mills comes out against ‘foolish’ federal regulations to protect right whales

July 12, 2019 — Gov. Janet Mills is directing the Maine Department of Marine Resources to come up with an alternative to a federal plan to protect the endangered right whale from the state lobster industry, saying she won’t allow “foolish” regulations to make life harder for the state’s fishermen.

“I stand with you,” Mills wrote in an open letter to the lobster industry Thursday. “I will do everything I can as your governor to protect your rights and your livelihoods, and defend Maine’s lobster industry in the face of absurd federal overreach.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ordered Maine to craft a detailed plan to reduce the lobster industry’s threat to right whales by 60 percent by September. Federal regulators say entanglement in fishing gear and ship strikes are driving the whale’s decline, with just over 400 of them left.

But state regulators, and now Mills, say Maine isn’t to blame for the decline.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Lobster Bait Fish Coming to Maine From Uruguay Amid Shortage

July 11, 2019 — Maine’s lobster fishermen will be able to use a new species of bait fish to try to get through a shortage of herring that has troubled the industry in recent years.

Lobstermen typically bait traps with Atlantic herring, but federal fishery regulators have enacted dramatic cutbacks to the catch quotas for that fish. The Maine Department of Marine Resources said Thursday it has approved the blackbelly rosefish as a new species that can be sold and used as lobster bait in the state.

The blackbelly rosefish is an abundant species that ranges from Canada to South America. Cooke Aquaculture, a New Brunswick, Canada-based company, requested Maine’s approval to sell rosefish as bait, and the company announced plans to harvest the fish off Uruguay.

“We believe this is a solution to address concerns from the lobster fishery on the challenges they are currently facing on account of bait shortages,” said Glenn Cooke, chief executive officer of Cooke Inc., which includes Cooke Aquaculture.

Most of the U.S. lobster catch comes to the shore in Maine, where lobstermen landed nearly 120 million pounds (54 million kilograms) of the valuable seafood last year. Fishermen rely heavily on herring as a bait source, though they also use other species, such as menhaden.

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

How the blackbelly rosefish from South America could help Maine lobstermen who are short on bait

July 10, 2019 — The state for the first time has approved using fish raised off the coast of Uruguay as lobster bait to help offset a bait shortage that could increase lobster prices.

Cooke Aquaculture USA of Machiasport announced the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ decision on Wednesday, saying it could help lobstermen weather a drop in the population of their primary bait source, herring, off the Maine coast. The New England Fishery Management Council in June cut the amount of herring fishermen can catch off the New England coast in 2020 and 2021.

The decision will allow Cooke to sell whole blackbelly rosefish for use as bait to lobstermen dealing with the herring decline. It could also open a lucrative line of trade for Cooke, which employs more than 200 in Maine at its Atlantic salmon marine farms, freshwater hatcheries and processing plant in Machiasport.

The lobster industry has enjoyed large hauls in recent years, but it is dependent on bait to lure lobster into traps. A spike in bait prices could hit consumers in restaurants and fish markets, which have already seen increases in lobster costs over the past few years.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Maine DMR responds to elver story

July 3, 2019 — The article about Henry Bear’s acquittal suggested that the charges were based on the amount Bear exceeded his quota, which was inaccurate.

Bear was charged with fishing after reaching his elver individual fishing quota. The charge had nothing to do with the amount by which he exceeded his quota, but its emphasis in the headline and the article only contributes to misunderstanding of the violation, and the department’s obligation to regulate and enforce the quota system.

The quota system, implemented in 2014, is designed to manage this valuable resource and to ensure that Maine does not exceed its overall quota allotted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Maine has been able to retain this fishery because of its ability to manage and enforce the quota system and because of the compliance of harvesters.

This fishery today is worth more than $20 million to Maine.

In addition, Bear’s assertion that this investigation was a “political hatchet job” is not just wrong, it’s an irresponsible, defamatory statement. The charges were filed based on evidence that indicated a violation of a law. Plain and simple.

The specific section of law, §6575-K, prohibits fishing after an individual fishing quota has been met.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Changes to lobster fishery to help whales might arrive 2021

June 28, 2019 — Changes to the Maine lobster fishery designed to help a critically endangered species of whale might arrive in 2021 after a lengthy rulemaking process.

A team assembled by the federal government has called for the removal of half the vertical trap lines from the Gulf of Maine to reduce risk to North Atlantic right whales. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has been meeting with lobstermen around the state to begin the process of crafting rules to achieve that goal.

The state held the last of several meetings with lobstermen about the new rules on Thursday in Freeport. Hundreds of members of the state’s lifeblood industry have attended the meetings.

Maine hopes to present a plan to the federal government by September, department spokesman Jeff Nichols said before the meeting. The industry is getting ready to grapple with the task of getting so much gear out of the water, said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

“There’s definitely concern among lobstermen because they will be changing how they fish,” she said. “It’s not a simple task, but once guys are thinking it through and making changes, there seems to be viable strategies for each person.”

Read the full story at the Associated Press

MAINE: Atlantic salmon returns to Penobscot River now highest since 2011

June 27, 2019 — After a record-setting 107-fish day earlier this month, solid Atlantic salmon returns have continued at Milford Dam, according to marine resources scientist Jason Valliere of the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

In a regular email report that he filed on Tuesday, Valliere said the total number of salmon counted at Milford had reached 597.

“Looks like we are having the best salmon year since 2011,” Valliere reported, referring to a year when salmon were still being counted at the Veazie Dam farther downstream. That dam has been removed, and since 2014 the first upstream barrier to sea-run fish has been in Milford.

This year’s total is actually a bit higher than it sounds, as another 18 salmon have been captured at the Orono fish lift, bringing the total count this year to 615.

That total is dwarfed by the 2011 count for the same date — 2,362. But it is the highest recorded since, and may bode well for this year’s run. The total salmon returns by June 25 over the past several years: 2018: 432, 2017: 520, 2016: 351, 2015: 470, 2014: 74, 2013: 311, 2012: 549.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Green crabs are wreaking havoc on our coastal habitat. So let’s eat them

June 26, 2019 — “When life gives you lemons,” the saying goes, “make lemonade.” And when life fills the ocean with invasive green crabs that prey on the local shellfish population and wreak havoc on the coastal habitat, The Green Crab R&D Project says eat them. Not only will you be helping the environment, you will enjoy a culinary specialty that has been celebrated in Venice for generations.

Green crabs (which, despite the name can be any color, even multi-hued) are native to parts of Western Europe and North Africa. They first appeared on the East Coast of North America in the early 1800s, but did not proliferate until the late 20th century. Today they have invaded nearly every continent, and their populations and range are expected to increase with climate change. Though relatively small, they are fierce and prey on a variety of shellfish. In their search the crabs cut through eelgrass, damaging essential sea life habitats. Each female can lay 185,000 eggs per year, and according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, a single crab can eat 40 half-inch clams in a day.

The Green Crab R&D Project (greencrab.org), established in 2017, is a nonprofit dedicated to developing markets for green crabs, both to remove the predatory creatures from the water and to help fishermen and -women develop alternative sources of revenue. In February the group released “The Green Crab Cookbook,” written by executive director Mary Parks and Thanh Thai and contributors to the Project. All proceeds from the book go to the organization.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

State of the Science Conference set for UMaine-Machias

June 17, 2019 — Big science is coming to Downeast Maine next week.

On Monday and Tuesday, June 17 and 18, the Eastern Maine Coastal Current Collaborative (EM3C) will host a State of the Science Conference at the University of Maine at Machias.

The conference will discuss ecosystem-based fisheries management in eastern Maine and will bring together experts from local governments, fishing, science and academic communities. It is the first step toward producing a comprehensive understanding of the region’s watersheds, intertidal, nearshore and offshore ecosystems, including their governance and socioeconomic factors.

EM3C is a partnership among three fisheries organizations: the Stonington-based, nonprofit Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries; the Maine Department of Marine Resources; and NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency that manages fisheries at the state and federal level.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American