Saving Seafood

Conflict Over Herring Quotas Breaks Out Between New England Council and NMFS

January 9, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Herring fishery reductions have become a point of conflict between the New England Fishery Management Council and NMFS.

In September, the council recommended an extreme reduction in herring catch to 15,065 tons, based on recent stock assessments.  The assessments put the overfishing limit at 30,668 tons, and the council recommended an allowable biological catch of 21,266 tons, and reserved 6200 tons for uncertainty in the survey data, as a precaution.

This action was projected to decrease the herring fishery 86%, and was projected to have a strong impact on the price and availability of lobster bait, which is the principle utilization of New England Atlantic herring.

The lobster industry in Maine was dead set against this reduction since it would impact their bait costs, and NMFS in Washington listened to those in the industry who might be hurt.

Instead of accepting the council recommendation, NMFS in a highly unusual move increased the ABC to the overfishing limit of 30,668 tons.  This had the immediate result of adding over 9000 tons of quota to the 2019 season.

The council reiterated its opposition to this in a vote in December, saying in a letter that they had attempted to apply the new Amendment 8 control rules which are coming into effect in 2020, but are not yet in place for 2019.

The council argues that this decision will crash the stock in 2020, and lead to a high probability of overfishing, which if determined will reduce the quota in 2020 by 18,000 tons.  Although the council motion calls for less fishing in 2019, it smooths out the projected decline more than the NMFS proposal.  Over two years, the council projects its approach leads to a 68% reduction, while the NMFS approach will lead to a 75% reduction in ABC.

Patrick Keliher, the newly re-appointed Maine commissioner of Marine Resources said he struggled with the issue and the short-term and medium-term impacts of both proposals, particularly with regard to the economic impacts to both Maine’s herring and lobster industries.

“The economic impact, both to the herring fleet and the lobster industry, is very, very real,” said Keliher. “I’m trying to figure out if there’s some relief here and trying to balance these two things. But we’re in a pretty difficult spot.”

Keliher voted for the initial council motion in September, but declined to vote for the December motion opposing the change made by NMFS.

In essence the argument is over risk and uncertainty.  Speaking to the Fishermen’s Voice, several council members gave their rationales.

Peter Kendall, chairman of NEFMC’s Herring Committee, said he didn’t support the NMFS proposal.

“I stand by what the council voted on in September,” Kendall said.

NEFMC member Matthew McKenzie said he agreed with the council decision and with Kendall.

“Given the level of uncertainty we have and the heavily declined state of the stock, we need to be more cautious than that in this period of transition,” he said.

NEFMC vice chairman Terry Stockwell said he also agreed with Kendall.

“We’re trying to provide stability for the industry, but that’s not the proper way to do business,” he said of the NMFS proposal.

NEFMC member Vincent Balzano said he understands NMFS’s reasoning, given the horrifying” impacts of the quota cuts on the fishery. But, he said, “If we take all this fish up front, there’s no guarantee we’ll get to the fish in the back. That’s my biggest concern. I agree it’s devastating to the herring and Maine lobster fisheries. But if we get stuck with 12,000 or 15,000 metric tons after this, that’s beyond devastating.”

“What we do in 2019 has an effect on whether we get the bounceback that we’d like to see begin in 2021,” said NEFMC member Michael Sissenwine.

This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

New Maine governor Mills renominates Keliher for state fishing commissioner

January 7, 2019 — The commercial fishing industry, including lobster harvesters, in the US state of Maine, got one of their holiday presents delivered a bit late. Newly elected governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, announced Thursday that she has renominated Patrick Keliher as commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources, the Portland (Maine) Press Herald reports.

Keliher was appointed to the post in 2011 by Republican governor Paul LePage and was not a sure bet to retain the position, though he has received significant industry support. The leaders of eight commercial fishing groups in the US’ second-largest seafood state wrote Mills in late November to express their support for his retention.

Mills has been filling out her cabinet in recent days, but saved the Keliher news to near the end. His name was included in an announcement that also noted the renominations of Ann Head as commissioner of Professional and Financial Regulation, and Maj. Gen. Douglas Farnham as commissioner of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Fishing industry lobbies for Maine commissioner to retain his post

January 1, 2019 — The leaders of Maine’s fishing industry want Patrick Keliher to stay on as head of the state’s Department of Marine Resources under incoming governor Janet Mills.

“Our industries are confronted by major issues on the water, in international waters, and within several regulatory arenas that have major consequences for our ability to do business and remain profitable,” industry leaders wrote in a rare joint letter to Mills. “The future success of Maine’s seafood industry depends on the continued strong leadership, stability, institutional knowledge and political capital that only Commissioner Keliher possesses.”

There is no word on whether Mills, who worked with Keliher as state attorney general, wants the seven-year commissioner to stay in his appointed post. Mills is taking the industry’s recommendation into consideration, spokesman Scott Ogdon said Monday. She expects to make an announcement on Keliher’s fate soon, as well as other remaining Cabinet positions, so her administration can “hit the ground running,” he said.

At a campaign forum in October, Mills said she wanted honest, hard-working commissioners with expertise in their fields and willingness to enforce state laws. She said the ideal candidate would understand all the state’s fishing industries, including aquaculture, and would have “come up through the ranks.” Most importantly, Mills said her DMR commissioner must be a good communicator with consumers, industry and policy makers. “There’s been too little of that in the last eight years,” Mills told the forum, which was organized by the seafood industry. “We need openness and transparency.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine begins scallop fishing area closures for ’18-’19

January 2, 2019 — Maine fishery regulators are shutting down a couple of scallop fishing areas for the first time this season.

Maine’s home to some of the most lucrative scallops in the country, and the state maintains the population of the shellfish by closing some areas to fishing over the course of the season. The Maine Department of Marine Resources says it’s closing Machias and Little Machias Bays for the rest of the season.

The closures went into effect on Dec. 30.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Miami Herald

MAINE: Fishermen speak out against proposed oyster farm in Maquoit Bay

November 21, 2018 — A local group of commercial fishermen asked the Maine Department of Marine Resources to throw out Mere Point Oyster Co.’s application for a 10-year, 40-acre lease in the middle of Maquoit Bay on the grounds that they are “rightfully entitled to use this space for fishing.”

“Why should we go away so a couple of people can use it exclusively?” Tom Santaguida asked the department at a public hearing Monday night.

The meeting marked the second night of the hearing over the company’s proposed expansion, which would increase its annual oyster harvest from about 60,000 this year to more than 1.5 million within three years. The department will evaluate the lease on factors like navigation, fishing and other uses, as well as noise and visual impact. The hearing will stretch into a third night, which has not yet been scheduled. The Concerned Citizens of Maquoit Bay, who began their testimony on Thursday, will resume at the next hearing.

The commercial fishermen, represented by Santaguida and John Powers, argued that the proposed 40-acre site is one that is fished often and at different times can be extremely lucrative.

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald

 

1,300 fishermen wanted first new scallop licenses since 2009. Only four got them.

November 12, 2018 — The state has chosen four fishermen from eastern Maine from almost 1,300 applicants who sought the first new scallop fishing licenses to be issued in Maine in the past nine years.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources held a lottery this week to determine who among the nearly 1,300 applicants would be allowed into the lucrative scallop fishery this coming winter.

The names of Matthew Alley of Beals Island, Chase Fitzsimmons of Lubec, Johnathon Oliver of Deer Isle and Frank Gott of Bar Harbor were drawn from the pool. Each of them has 30 days to submit formal paperwork to the department to get his license, DMR officials wrote in a release.

The lottery was devised last winter as part of a system to allow new people into the fishery while still limiting the number of licenses issued by the state. Only people 18 or older who previously have been licensed to fish scallops (and who don’t currently have a license) or who have worked on the crew of a commercial scallop boat are allowed to participate in the annual lottery.

The 2018-19 scallop fishing season is expected to get under way in the next few weeks and to run until early next spring.

The state stopped issuing new scallop fishing licenses nine years ago when stocks were declining and the state’s annual scallop season was in danger of being canceled. A new fishery management scheme the state developed and implemented since then has helped stocks recover, while demand has pushed the price of scallops to historic highs.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Maine Aquaculture Projects Dredge Up Memories Of Polluted, Industrial Waterways

November 8, 2018 —  At a recent hearing in Kittery, so many people showed up to weigh in on the proposed expansion of an oyster-growing operation in a local creek, Department of Marine Resources hearing officer Amanda Ellis had to make a choice.

“Based on the number that we’re seeing we’ve made the decision to postpone the hearing,” she said.

But opponents such as Mike Dowling were still plenty willing to talk.

“I have many concerns, there’s a whole group of us, introducing over 2,500 objects suspended or floating into the creek creates a pinch point, and everyone uses that little sandy beach to go swimming,” he said.

Such complaints do arise with aquaculture enterprises, with neighbors — sometimes including fishermen — worrying about water access, environmental effects and property values. Up the coast in Maquoit Bay, near Brunswick, a proposed 40-acre shellfish farm is meeting some stiff resistance.

And then there’s Belfast, where a proposal to site what would be one of the world’s largest indoor salmon farms is stirring talk of the darker days, when the city was dominated by chicken processors.

Read the full story at WBUR

Maine program aims to help recovery of endangered Atlantic salmon

It will be funded by fees on infrastructure projects paid in lieu of required environmental mitigation efforts.

October 29, 2018 — AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine is launching a new program to help pay for conservation work that benefits Atlantic salmon. The money will come from fees for road and bridge projects.

Salmon were once abundant in the rivers of New England, but they are now listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act after years of habitat loss and overfishing. The Atlantic Salmon Restoration and Conservation Program can help support the fish’s recovery, the Maine Department of Marine Resources said.

The program will allow public and private organizations working on road and bridge projects to pay a fee in lieu of environmental mitigation efforts that are required by law, the department said. Sean Ledwin, director of the sea-run fisheries division at the marine department, said the money will be used to “restore and enhance salmon habitat in Maine.”

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

 

NOAA scientists admit a gaffe on risk to whales of lobster trap lines

October 29, 2018 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Late last month, the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center released a “technical memorandum” suggesting that expensive efforts by Maine lobstermen aimed at reducing the risk that endangered North Atlantic right whales and other large whales would become entangled in vertical buoy lines had backfired.

According to the memorandum, issued just before a weeklong meeting of NOAA’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team in Providence, R.I., to consider possible changes to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, when the industry increased the number of traps trawled together and marked by a single buoy line, lobstermen began using stronger rope. That worsened the entanglement problem.

The memorandum seemed to offer support for calls by some conservation groups for the use of even fewer vertical buoy lines, weaker ropes and the development of a “ropeless fishery” with traps that used a remote device to release a submerged buoy when it was time to raise the gear.

In a letter addressed to NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center Director Jon Hare, Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher blasted the memorandum, expressing “significant concerns about the scientific merit” of the data and research on which it was based.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

 

Search turns to recovery: Body of Maine lobsterman found

October 25, 2018 — Divers recovered the body of Scott Chandler, a 51-year-old West Jonesport, Maine, lobsterman, on Tuesday evening after he went overboard in the morning.

“Chandler was seen falling off his 20-foot lobster boat near the island at approximately 9:20 a.m. Tuesday… by commercial seaweed harvesters in the area who reported the incident,” said Jeff Nichols, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Nichols reported that divers recovered Chandler’s body near Doyle Island, about 200 yards west from where he entered the water near Hopkins Point in Jonesport, at about 5:10 p.m. on Oct. 23.

Local weather conditions on Tuesday afternoon included waves roughly a foot high and light and variable winds, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Chellsey Phillips. A rescue crew, including members of the Coast Guard, Maine Marine Patrol, Maine State Police and the Maine Warden Service, searched 233 square miles. Phillips said rain started to fall around midafternoon, reducing visibility.

Read the full story at National Fisherman