Maine Department of Marine Resources Archives - Page 34 of 47

Maine Shuts Down 2 Scallop Fishing Areas

January 3, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — Maine fishing regulators are shutting down a pair of scallop fishing areas to protect the health of the population.

Scallops are one of the most valuable marine resources in Maine on a per-pound basis. The Maine Department of Marine Resources says it’s closing Hussey Sound in Casco Bay and Rogue Island Harbor as of Jan. 1.

Casco Bay is in the state’s southern scalloping zone while Rogue Island Harbor is in the zone that includes mid-coast and Downeast Maine.

Maine scallops were worth nearly $13 per pound at the dock in 2017. That is the highest figure in history. The scallops are a popular premium seafood product with markets and restaurants.

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

ASMFC: States Schedule Hearings on Draft Addenda XXVI & III to the American Lobster and Jonah Crab FMPs

January 2, 2018 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

States from Maine through New Jersey have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on American Lobster Draft Addendum XXVI/Jonah Crab Draft Addendum III. The details of those hearings follow.

Maine Department of Marine Resources

January 10, 2018; 6 PM

Scarborough Middle School Cafeteria

21 Quentin Drive

Scarborough, ME

Contact: Pat Keliher at 207.624.6553

January 11, 2018; 6 PM

Ellsworth High School

24 Lejok Street

Ellsworth, ME

Contact: Pat Keliher at 207.624.6553

New Hampshire Fish and Game Department

January 16, 2018; 7 PM

Urban Forestry Center

45 Elwyn Road

Portsmouth, NH

Contact: Doug Grout at 603.868.1095

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries*

January 19, 2018; 1PM

Resort and Conference Center of Hyannis

35 Scudder Avenue

Hyannis, MA

Contact: Dan McKiernan at 617.626.1536

* The MA DMF hearing will take place at the MA Lobstermen’s Association Annual Weekend and Industry Trade Show

Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife

January 17, 2018; 6 PM

University of Rhode Island Bay Campus

Corless Auditorium, South Ferry Road

Narragansett, RI

Contact: Conor McManus at 401.423.1943

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

January 18, 2018; 7 PM

CT DEEP Boating Education Center

333 Ferry Road

Old Lyme, CT

Contact: Mark Alexander at 860.447.4322

New York Department of Environmental Conservation

January 9, 2018; 6:30 PM

NYSDEC Division of Marine Fisheries

205 N. Belle Mead Road

East Setauket, NY

Contact: Jim Gilmore at 631.444.0430

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife

January 8, 2018; 6 PM

Wall Township Municipal Building

Lower Level Community Room

2700 Allaire Road

Wall Township, NJ

Contact: Peter Clarke at 609.748.2020

The Draft Addenda seek to improve harvest reporting and biological data collection in the American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries. The Draft Addenda propose using the latest reporting technology, expanding the collection of effort data, increasing the spatial resolution of harvester reporting, and advancing the collection of biological data, particularly offshore.

Recent management action in the Northwest Atlantic, including the protection of deep sea corals, the declaration of a national monument, and the expansion of offshore wind projects, have highlighted deficiencies in current American lobster and Jonah crab reporting requirements. These include a lack of spatial resolution in harvester data and a significant number of fishermen who are not required to report. As a result, efforts to estimate the economic impacts of these various management actions on American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries have been hindered. States have been forced to piece together information from harvester reports, industry surveys, and fishermen interviews to gather the information needed. In addition, as American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries continue to expand offshore, there is a greater disconnect between where the fishery is being prosecuted and where biological sampling is occurring. More specifically, while most of the sampling occurs in state waters, an increasing volume of American lobster and Jonah crab are being harvested in federal waters. The lack of biological information on the offshore portions of these fisheries can impede effective management.

The Draft Addenda present three questions for public comment: (1) what percentage of harvesters should be required to report in the American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries; (2) should current data elements be expanded to collect a greater amount of information in both fisheries; and (3) at what scale should spatial information be collected. In addition, the Draft Addenda provide several recommendations to NOAA Fisheries for data collection of offshore American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries. These include implementation of a harvester reporting requirement for federal lobster permit holders, creation of a fixed-gear VTR form, and expansion of a biological sampling program offshore.

The Draft Addenda, which are combined into one document that would modify management programs for both species upon its adoption, is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/LobsterDraftAddXXVI_JonahDraftAddIII_PublicComment.pdf or on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org (under Public Input).Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addenda either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on January 22, 2018 and should be forwarded to Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Lobster Draft Addendum XXVI).

Learn more about the ASMFC by visiting their site here.

Maine: It’s shrimp season, but without the shrimp

December 27, 2017 — PORT CLYDE, Maine — Sitting between Glen Libby’s desk at Port Clyde Fresh Catch and the armchair where his brother’s old dog, Red, likes to nap are two boxes full of “The Original Maine Shrimp Cookbook.” This slim spiral-bound volume includes contributions from various members of the brothers’ immediate family, whose shrimping history dates back nearly four decades in this coastal town about two hours northeast of Portland.

Libby loves the small, delicate Northern shrimp, known fondly here as Maine shrimp, and so do customers at his processing and distribution plant. He bought $700 worth of the books to sell.

“I have sold two,” Libby said.

He is unlikely to sell many more. Not long after the cookbook was published in 2009, its central ingredient began vanishing from Maine’s waters. In 2014, regulators closed the shrimp fishery (the term that encompasses both the fishing grounds and those who work there). The hope was that the struggling species would replenish itself if left undisturbed.

So far, according to scientists who survey the Gulf of Maine annually, it has not. Their most recent data show Northern shrimp numbers at a historic low for the 34 years in which they have been counting the crustacean, Pandalus borealis. Egg production is down. Survival rates for larvae are poor.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

Seafood Council backs NOAA nominee

December 11, 2017 — The issue of who exactly will run NOAA for the Trump administration is gathering steam within the Beltway and without, with various special interest groups — fishing stakeholders, environmentalists, scientists, politicians et al — weighing in on the nomination of Barry Myers.

Myers, who most recently served as the chief executive officer of the private weather forecasting company AccuWeather, has been criticized in some quarters for lack of a scientific background and fears that he might begin dismantling the National Weather Service to give private weather forecasting companies an advantage.

There also has been concern that Myers would fall in line with other Trump appointees, such as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, in downplaying the human role in climate change.

And what of fishing? Several stakeholders, such as the Northeast Seafood Coalition, have endorsed Myers’ candidacy, hoping that he will bring a new perspective to the ongoing battle between fishermen and NOAA Fisheries’ science team.

“In our region, NOAA science has struggled to accurately measure the abundance of fish stocks while fisheries management has been guided by management that has served the ‘weakest link’ in the complex,” NSC Executive Director Jackie Odell wrote in the coalition’s endorsement of Myers. “We believe Mr. Myers will bring a fresh and much-needed perspective and approach to strengthening the science underlying the management of our fishery, along with a commitment to achieving sustainability of not only these fish stocks, but also the fishing businesses that rely upon a well-managed fishery.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Marine resources commissioner opposes task force to study addiction in fishing industry

December 6, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The head of the Maine Department of Marine Resources has come out against a proposed bill to study the high rate of addiction in commercial fishing.

Patrick Keliher said a task force bill that will be introduced by Rep. Mick Devin, a Newcastle marine biologist who sits on the committee that oversees Keliher’s agency, focuses too narrowly on one industry. Keliher acknowledges the commercial fishing industry has a drug addiction problem, but no more so than any other line of work. Addiction is an issue that transcends the fishing industry, he said.

“While I applaud any effort to address the issue of drug addiction in Maine, I believe this bill focuses too much on one industry, when many others are impacted,” Keliher said in a statement Tuesday to the Press Herald. “This is an issue of statewide significance. Addiction does not discriminate. It affects many different professions, and any effort to address addiction should acknowledge that.”

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

Bill calls for task force to stem the tide of addiction in Maine’s fishing industry

December 5, 2017 — Nine years ago, a young “wrinkler” drowned when he was swept away by the rising tide in Lubec Channel.

Kristopher Fergerson, 27, was picking periwinkles, a small edible snail, with a friend to make ends meet after losing his job as a carpenter. The medical examiner labeled his death an accident, but state Rep. Mick Devin, D-Newcastle, a shellfish commissioner, blamed it on drugs. Toxicology results found morphine, Diazepam and ethanol in Fergerson’s blood, records show. The harvester stayed out too long because he needed money to buy drugs, Devin said.

“That was almost 10 years ago, and you’d hope things would have changed, but it’s only gotten worse,” Devin said. “His death has always stuck with me, but I know that it’s still happening. Fishermen are still dying from drugs. Fishermen in my district are telling me that young guys are using drugs and going out to work on the water every day, and that’s dangerous – for them, for the people they fish with and for our local fishing economy.”

Devin wants the Maine Legislature to create a task force to investigate the high rate of addiction among Maine’s commercial fishermen. Last week, a bill that Devin wants to submit to create that task force got a green light from the Legislative Council, which must approve all bills for consideration during even-numbered years when Maine tries to limit legislative debate to emergency matters. The council voted 6-4 in favor of considering the task force bill.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine objects, but regulators vote to keep shrimp fishery closed for 2018

November 30, 2017 — Regional fisheries managers voted Wednesday to keep Maine’s commercial shrimp fishery closed for another year amid assessments showing record-low numbers of shrimp in the Gulf of Maine.

The northern shrimp section of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission opted to extend for a fifth year, through 2018, the moratorium on shrimp fishing in northern New England to allow depleted stocks to rebuild. Fishermen and Maine’s representatives on the shrimp panel had been pushing for a modest commercial fishery – ranging from 500 to 2,000 tons – but failed to convince their counterparts from Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

“After 40 years in this business, I know that Mother Nature has a remarkable ability, if we leave the spawning stock in the water, to recover,” said Mike Armstrong, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries representative to the panel. “I’m not convinced that is going to happen … but I want to give this stock a chance to recover for a few more years.”

The decision frustrated Commissioner Patrick Keliher of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, who responded by saying Maine would not participate in the planned 13.3-ton “research set-aside” fishery for shrimp.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine won’t participate in shrimp research program

November 30, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The commissioner of Maine’s Marine Resources Department says next year the state won’t participate in a research program that allows fishermen to catch some Northern shrimp.

Interstate regulators extended a moratorium on New England shrimp fishing for another year on Wednesday. They fishery has been shut since 2013.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle

Maine: Scallop farm first of its kind in local waters

November 30, 2017 — Just about one year after father-and-son fishermen Marsden and Bob Brewer returned from Japan, where they learned new scallop-farming techniques firsthand, Bob Brewer was granted a 3.23 acre experimental aquaculture lease southwest of Andrews Island. It is the first scallop farm of its kind in Penobscot Bay.

The Brewers can grow up to 200,000 Atlantic sea scallops using lantern nets, where mesh nets, each 10 floors deep, hang from a 600-foot longline.

“It’s a big circular tube with floors,” Bob Brewer said. “They’re used in Japan. That’s where we learned how to do it.”

Brewer grows the scallops from seed, caught in spat bags while he and Marsden are out lobstering.

Read the full story at Island Ad-Vantages

Maine Lobster, The Most Valuable Species In US Seas, Hit By Trump’s Trade Stance

November 22, 2017 — Maine lobster has become more valuable than any other single species commercially fished in the United States, but trade policies pursued by President Donald Trump could reduce its annual worth for the first time in nearly a decade.

Of the more than $600 million worth of North Atlantic lobster caught in the U.S. in 2016, nearly 90 percent, or $538 million, was harvested and brought ashore in Maine, according to a report on nationwide fisheries released this month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

No other single commercially fished species, even those harvested in multiple states, exceeded $500 million in landings in 2016 or in 2015, according to the report. Maine lobster first earned the most-valuable distinction in 2015, when $501 million worth of American lobster was harvested in the state, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

The value of Maine’s lobster catch has risen every year since 2009. But it’s on track to drop for 2017, in part because of U.S. trade policies that put Maine’s lobster industry at a disadvantage to Canada in selling abroad.

Trump is pursuing efforts to renegotiate trade deals with Mexico, Canada, and South Korea, the fifth-largest importer of Maine lobster. He also pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation free-trade agreement, and has talked tough on trade with Europe.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News