Saving Seafood

Northern Shrimp Draft Addendum I Public Hearings Scheduled

October 16, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Maine and New Hampshire have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on Draft Addendum I to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Northern Shrimp. The details of those hearings follow.

Maine Department of Marine Resources

Monday, November 5, 2018 at 4 PM

Maine Department of Marine Resources

Conference Room #118

32 Blossom Lane

Augusta, Maine

Contact: Nicholas Popoff at 207.624.6554

New Hampshire Fish and Game

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at 7 PM

Urban Forestry Center

45 Elwyn Road

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Contact: Doug Grout at 603.868.1095

The Draft Addendum proposes providing states the authority to allocate their state-specific quota between gear types in the event the fishery reopens. The Draft Addendum is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/NShrimpDraftAddendumI_PublicComment.pdf and can also be accessed on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org ) under Public Input.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum I either by attending a public hearing or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM on November 7, 2018 and should be forwarded to Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA, 22201; 703.842.07401 (fax); or comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Northern Shrimp).

The Section and its Advisory Panel will be meeting November 15-16, 2018. At this meeting, the Section will consider final action on Addendum I and set 2019 specifications. Information regarding the date and location of the November meeting will be provided, when available, in a subsequent press release.

For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740

Whale protection, trawl limits entangle Maine lobstermen

October 10, 2018 — DEER ISLE, Maine — October is a peak month, according to the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, for feistiness in Maine’s population of hornets and wasps. Lobstermen too, judging by last week’s meeting of the Zone C Lobster Management Council at Deer Isle-Stonington High School.

The principal irritant is the still-simmering conflict over a rule adopted by DMR at the beginning of August establishing a five-trap maximum trawl limit for a 60-square-mile rectangle centered, more or less, on Mount Desert Rock.

The trawl limit was proposed by the Zone B management council last winter. The problem is that much of the western part of that area is fished by lobstermen based in Zone C — primarily Stonington and Deer Isle — who bitterly opposed adoption of a rule that Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher called “one of the more difficult decisions that I have made.”

Last week, the Zone C council reviewed a proposed rule change that would eliminate the five-trap maximum in a large area west of Mount Desert Rock. While that might improve the situation for some Zone C lobstermen, the underlying problem reflects unhappiness on the part of lobstermen from Zone B, with limited entry for new fishermen, over the number of lobstermen from Zone C who fish across the zone line in waters they fished before the zones were ever established.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

 

MAINE: Groups Say There’s Little Evidence That Lobster Industry Is Harming Right Whales

October 9, 2018 — Maine Department of Marine Resources commissioner Patrick Keliher has sent a letter to NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, refuting a recent memo which suggests that the lobster industry may be playing a role in the decline of the North Atlantic Right Whale.

“This publication, this technical memo as written, really creates a challenge for folks who want to have a conversation that’s based on really sound science,” says Jeff Nichols, spokesperson for Maine DMR.

Nichols says, as an example, there’s little evidence to support the notion that lobstermen are using “tougher rope” than they did prior to 2015, contributing to entanglements. And he says the memo attempts to link whale entanglement risk to the amount of lobster being landed.

“To say that because Maine landings are on the increase, the risk is also on the increase is not borne out by the data,” Nichols says.

Executive Director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Patrice McCarron, has also questioned the data and its relevance, as none of the 17 North Atlantic Right Whale deaths recorded last year occurred in Maine, where the bulk of lobstering takes place.

Nichols says the department does have “lingering questions” about what role an emerging Canadian snow crab industry may be playing.

The letter reiterates concerns that have emerged from the industry since the report was released.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Mainers grapple with risk that a shrimp season this year could be the last one

October 5, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — Scientists and policymakers gathered Thursday in Portland to weigh their desire for a 2018 Maine shrimp season — the first in five years — against the very real possibility that allowing shrimp to be harvested this year could leave the species beyond the point of return.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented a draft of its Northern Shrimp 2018 Stock Assessment Report, which those assembled at the Maine Historical Society heard with resignation but not surprise.

The northern (Maine) shrimp stock is depleted and the biomass is at an all-time low due to high fishery removals and a less favorable environment, according to the draft.

The mortality rate in 2011-2012, the last years with shrimp seasons — was very high, and the number of juvenile shrimp has remained “unusually low” since 2010.

Furthermore, the environment in the Gulf of Maine is in flux, Margaret Hunter of the Maine Department of Marine Resources and chairwoman of the assessment subcommittee, said Thursday.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Lobster industry blasts proposed regulations intended to protect whales

October 5, 2018 — Maine officials and members of the state’s lobster industry are blasting a new federal report on the endangered right whale, claiming it uses old science to unfairly target the fishery for restrictions.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources, the agency that regulates the $434 million lobster fishery, and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the trade group representing Maine’s 4,500 active commercial lobstermen, question the scientific merits of the report from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, which was issued in advance of next week’s meeting of a federal right whale protection advisory team.

“They’re painting a big target on the back of the Maine lobster industry, but the picture isn’t based on the best available science,” DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher said Thursday. “If we use the wrong starting point, and that’s what this report is, the wrong starting point, what kind of regulations will we end up with? Ones that could end up hurting the lobster industry for no reason and won’t do much to help the right whales. That is unfair.”

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

 

Plans for second-largest oyster farm in US state of Maine runs into resistance

September 27, 2018 — An effort to launch what would be the second-largest oyster farm in the US state of Maine is running into some resistance, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Doug Niven and Dan Devereaux, owners of The Mere Point Oyster Co., in Brunswick, have planned a 40-acre oyster farm in Maquoit Bay, consolidating 26 aquaculture licenses to produce about 5 million oysters annually.

The bay is about 3,000 acres and the Maine Department of Marine Resources limit for aquaculture farms is 100 acres. A site review shows the farm unlikely to affect boat traffic or hinder lobster harvesters and bait fishermen.

But some residents, calling themselves the Maquoit Preservation Group, attended a meeting of the Brunswick Town Council last week to voice concerns about the proposal, including especially the impact on the environment and the amount of noise produced by the oyster tumbler. One resident compared the oyster sorting machine to having a cement mixer on the water. They say they were surprised to learn of the size of the farm, as most other oyster farms in the area are just five to 10 acres.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Maine communities torn apart by age-old debate: Business growth or water views?

September 18, 2018 — It’s a 127-acre salt water pond shared by two southern Maine towns. The Piscataqua River Bridge surmounts its natural landscape, the perpetual buzz of interstate traffic a striking juxtaposition with the hum of wildlife and stillness of water.

It’s a special place for the 60-some residences, split between Kittery and Eliot, affixed to its shoreline.

A proposal by a local shellfish company to expand its aquaculture operations to the length of three football fields within the body of water has posed a considerable question some abutters are hastily trying to answer: Who exactly owns Spinney Creek, both literally and figuratively?

As a state-held public hearing date draws near, attention surrounds the application for a 3.67-acre, three-year experimental aquaculture lease submitted to the Maine Department of Marine Resources by Spinney Creek Shellfish, a business with 35 years of seafood history in Eliot, specifically on the creek.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Maine’s rebuilt scallop fishery looks to year of more growth

September 17, 2018 — Maine’s scallop fishermen are looking at another year of conservative management, and members of the industry say that could be the best way to make sure the fishery continues rebuilding.

Maine is known for producing scallops that are somewhat bigger than other East Coast states, and some are plucked from the icy waters by hand during winter. Others are harvested by boats with fishing gear. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has said strict management of the harvest has allowed the scallops to rebuild from collapse in the mid-2000s.

The state is looking to continue that trend this year with a season that keeps fishermen restricted to tight limits on the number of pounds they can harvest. Fishermen are also limited in the number of days they can fish, and the state is looking to trim a few days.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The News Tribune

Ocean Funding Will Benefit Right Whales, Sea Turtles, Salmon

September 11, 2018 — The National Marine Fisheries Service is sending more than $6 million to nearly 30 marine conservation projects as part of its Species Recovery Grant Program.

The grants are designed to help marine species that face threats in the wild. Four of the awards are going to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, which will do an assessment of how fishing impacts endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The Maine department is also getting grants designed to help the salmon population, which has been the focus of years of conservation efforts in the state.

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

Maine Scallopers Would Be Allowed Same Limits Under Proposal

August 28, 2018 — Maine scallop fishermen would be allowed to harvest the same amount of the shellfish per day under a proposal floated by state regulators.

The state’s scallop season takes place every winter in the state’s icy waters. The Maine Department of Marine Resources is proposing a 2018-19 fishing season in which fishermen in most of Maine would be limited to 15 gallons per day. Fishermen in a zone that includes scallop-rich Cobscook Bay would be limited to 10 gallons per day.

The proposal also includes localized closures. It’s up for public hearings next month in Augusta, Machias, and Ellsworth.

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