Saving Seafood

It’s the beginning of seal pupping season in Maine

April 7, 2022 — April marks the beginning of the time of year when harbor seals start giving birth to pups.

Typically, pups can be born as early as the beginning of April, but the season gets into full swing from May to June, according to the Marine Mammals of Maine website.

Baby harbor seals can appear to be stranded and alone on Maine beaches, but the mothers are typically foraging for food nearby and feel as though the babies can be safely left alone, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Seal pups may be left alone by their mothers for up to 24 hours.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

MAINE: Mussel farm lease draws opposition

April 7, 2022 — Who has priority over the waters of Frenchman Bay — the public, lobstermen or aquaculture concerns? While the 120-acre salmon farm proposed by Norwegian-backed American Aquafarms has roused opposition, a separate proposed 48-acre lease site to grow mussel spat in the bay’s eastern region — aptly named Eastern Bay — is raising similar objections.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) held a public hearing on the proposal on March 28 and 29 both online and at Bar Harbor Town Hall.

Opponents say that if approved, the Acadia Aqua Farms proposal will unreasonably affect navigation, produce unreasonable noise and unreasonably affect existing flora and fauna, including a long occupied and beloved eagle’s nest on Leland Point. Acadia Aqua Farms holds that, as proposed, the project meets DMR requirements for aquaculture leases and would not cause unreasonable effects.

The word “unreasonable” is important because DMR criteria for granting aquaculture leases, codified in state law, is that the lease will not unreasonably interfere with ingress and egress of riparian owners, navigation, fishing or other uses, significant wildlife and marine habitats or public use or enjoyment within 1,000 feet of a public or conserved beach, park or docking facility. A project also must not result in unreasonable impact from noise or light.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American 

MAINE: House advances bill to support lobster fishing industry

March 28, 2022 — The Maine House delivered a strong bipartisan vote Thursday to advance a measure sponsored by Rep. Holly Stover, D-Boothbay, that would provide direct relief funds to Maine’s lobster fishermen impacted by recent federal regulatory changes. The vote was 116-18.

Following the closure of approximately 1,000 square miles of federal waters off the coast of Maine, LD 1898 would establish the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Impact Fund to provide compensation for the immediate financial losses felt by lobster fishermen.

Read the full story at the Boothbay Register

 

“It’s almost embarrassing”: Lobster price shock hits restaurants

March 14, 2022 — Lobster prices have soared so much that restaurants are either giving their customers sticker shock, or taking it off the menu entirely.

Why it matters: The lobster price shock isn’t just a supply problem or just a demand problem. It reflects both — and is a microcosm of the U.S. economy.

By the numbers: Maine lobstermen were able to sell their catch straight off the boat for $6.71 a pound in 2021, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. That was up 59% over the pandemic-depressed 2020 level — and up 39% over 2019.

Read the full story at Axios

MAINE: Federal windfall won’t put a stop to state lobster industry relief bills

March 14, 2022 — Although Maine’s lobster industry is set to receive $17 million in federal funding as part of the 2022 omnibus spending package, it is unlikely to affect two bills going through the Legislature that seek more than $30 million in state funds for the industry.

The spending bill will bring more than $200 million in funding for projects across the state. For the lobster industry, it includes $14 million to help lobstermen comply with new federal regulations intended to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, set to take effect May 1, along with $760,000 for the Department of Marine Resources to conduct outreach and education among lobstermen, and $2.3 million for right whale research, monitoring and conservation.

“This funding comes at a critical time, as Maine’s lobster industry faces challenges from both an uncertain future and the looming May 1 implementation date,” said Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Lobstermen have adopted many conservation measures to protect whales in recent years, such as replacing floating lines used to link traps along the ocean bottom with sinking lines, increasing the number of traps per buoy line, and adding weak inserts to buoy lines so they break if whales become entangled. The new regulations require gear modifications such as adding more weak links to vertical lines, increasing the number of traps per line and adding new markings at intervals along the lines.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Out of 2,600 applicants, 13 Mainers get licenses for elver harvesting this season

March 8, 2022 — Spring’s arrival will mean the reappearance of tiny baby eels in Maine’s estuaries — and of intrepid fishermen up before dawn hoping to net allowable quotas for excellent prices.

The baby eels are called “elvers” and they’ve been drifting northward since late winter from the Sargasso Sea, a region of the western Atlantic Ocean, south of Bermuda, where they were born. Their mission is to make it safely to inland waters and grow into adult eels.

At noon on March 22, a short harvest season will open that allows 425 Maine-based fishermen to net small amounts of elvers, most of which will be sold to Far East markets, where elvers are cultured and reared to adult size for the food fish market.

With elvers selling for $1,800 per pound in 2021, licenses are highly coveted, and fishermen hang onto them.

That’s why, when the Maine Department of Marine Resources opened a lottery for 13 licenses that became earlier this year, there were over 2,600 applicants.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

MAINE: DMR sets public hearing on whale rule changes

March 3, 2022 — Now that new federal regulations are in place to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from entanglement with fishing lines, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) has drafted revisions to state lobster and crab fishing laws to implement the changes.

For Chapter 75, Protected Resources Compliance with Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, the proposed changes align with gear marking, fishing ropes, weak links in fishing rope, the minimum number of traps per trawl and the seasonal closure of Lobster Management Area 1. For Chapter 25, Lobster and Crab Fishing, proposed changes to Zone B increase the trawl limit from a maximum of three traps per line to five traps from 3 to 12 nautical miles from shore.

A remote public hearing is scheduled for March 15 at 5 p.m. for Chapter 75 and 5:30 p.m. for Chapter 25.

“These changes are routine in nature to implement such a large federal mandate,” Maine Lobstering Union member and Deer Isle lobsterman Virginia Olsen said. “However, we, the MLU, do not feel the goal of a 98 percent reduction is a way the Maine lobster industry can survive moving forward. We feel more real-time science needs to be done and the restrictions put in place to date need to be reviewed for effectiveness before additional restrictions are implemented.”

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

Maine’s most fertile scalloping grounds closed for season

February 23, 2022 — Maine’s most productive scallop fishing grounds are closed for the remaining weeks of the state’s fishing season.

Cobscook Bay is home to the most fertile scalloping waters in Maine. The Maine Department of Marine Resources typically closes scalloping grounds early to prevent overfishing. The department decided to close Cobscook for the season on Sunday.

Read the full story at the AP News

Committee rejects proposal for Maine lobster industry legal defense fund

February 23, 2022 — A Maine legislative committee largely rejected a bill Tuesday that would have created a legal defense fund to help the lobster industry fight recent and expected regulations designed to help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

A bipartisan majority of the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee members, despite expressing support for the bill’s intent, voted 9-4 “ought not to pass” after regulators, industry members and the state Attorney General’s Office said the bill could have unintended consequences and might be unconstitutional.

The industry would pay for the legal defense fund through surcharges on lobster trap tags and licenses. The surcharges would generate an estimated $900,000 a year for the legal fund, but would divert money away from other industry causes.

The money would be split three ways among the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Maine Lobstering Union and Maine Department of Marine Resources. The two industry groups would be reimbursed for any legal expenses incurred, and the state agency for added staffing expenses and any related legal action or research.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Lawmakers come out against higher fees for large aquaculture projects

February 22, 2022 — A key state legislative committee voted this week against recommending a proposal to allow the state to charge up to $250,000 in application fees for large scale aquaculture projects.

The bill was proposed by the Maine Department of Marine Resources as a way to cover the costs of vetting complicated aquaculture applications and prevent them from monopolizing the department’s resources to the detriment of others in the queue.

Seven of the marine resources committee’s 12 members voted against the bill. On Friday, the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Jay McCreight, D-Harpswell, said that she planned to ask the committee to reconsider the bill next week and, if allowed, would propose pulling the fee portion so two non-contested parts of the bill could move forward.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News