Saving Seafood

Maine legislators call for no “hasty” changes to whale plan

August 31, 2021 — Maine’s legislative delegation in Washington is urging federal officials to ensure that the forthcoming North Atlantic right whale regulations don’t include any last-minute changes that would hurt the livelihood of Maine’s fishing communities without providing any meaningful protections for the whales.   

“We are now asking for your assistance to avoid hasty, late-breaking changes by (National Marine Fisheries Service) to measures that have been extensively negotiated and carefully designed in consultation with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources and broad outreach to stakeholders,” legislators Susan Collins, Angus King, Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “These changes, as indicated by the Final Environmental Impact Statement, add significant costs to the industry without corresponding gains in conservation and seriously undermine conservation partnerships at state and local levels.”  

With finalization of rules on the lobster and other trap fisheries in response to declining right whale populations expected imminently, the delegation outlined three areas of concern.   

The proposed rule includes a requirement for Maine fishing gear to have a green marker if a specific piece of gear was set inside or outside a certain boundary. This would help determine the origin of gear should it become entangled with a whale.  

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: Penobscot River is on track to see fewest Atlantic salmon in recent years

August 30, 2021 — As the species continues to struggle to reproduce and re-establish historic populations, there have been considerably fewer Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot River this year.

As of the latest trap count report provided Aug. 23 by the Maine Department of Marine Resources, only 520 salmon have passed through the Milford and Orono dams this year.

That is fewer fish than were counted, as of the same date, in each of the previous four years and represents the fourth lowest total since 2000.

But one down year doesn’t spell disaster for the species.

Last year, 1,458 Atlantic salmon made their way through the Penobscot River dams, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. It was the highest return since 2011.

“There are many factors that might contribute to the lower run this year, the most significant likely being low survival at sea and poor freshwater survival and passage at dams for juveniles in prior years,” said Sean Ledwin, the sea run fisheries and habitat division director for the Department of Marine Resources.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Maine scallop fishermen to have same limits in 2021-22

August 30, 2021 — Maine fishermen will likely face the same quota limits for scallops in the coming fishing season.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources said regulators have proposed daily possession limits of 15 gallons along most of Maine’s coast and 10 gallons in the Cobscook Bay area. Those are the same limits fishermen faced in the previous year.

The fishing season for Maine scallops begins in late fall. The marine resources department said there would be restricted and closed areas along the coast to help scallops grow. That happens every year.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

MAINE: Groups urge state to protect last wild Atlantic salmon in US

July 26, 2021 — Maine is home to the last wild Atlantic salmon populations in the U.S., but a new push to protect the fish at the state level is unlikely to land them on the endangered list.

Atlantic salmon once teemed in U.S. rivers, but now return from the sea to only a handful of rivers in eastern and central Maine. The fish are protected at the federal level under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, but a coalition of environmental groups and scientists said the fish could be afforded more protections if they were added to Maine’s own list of endangered and threatened species.

State law allows Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher to make that recommendation, but his office told The Associated Press he does not intend to do it. The department has done extensive work to conserve and restore the fish, and the commissioner “does not believe a listing at the state level would afford additional conservation benefits or protections,” said Jeff Nichols, a department spokesperson.

The environmentalists who want to see the fish on the state list said they’re going to keep pushing for it and other protections. Adding the fish to the state endangered list would mean conservation of salmon would be treated as a bigger concern in state permitting processes, said John Burrows, executive director for U.S. operations for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

“The state of Maine and a handful of our rivers are the only places in the country that still have wild Atlantic salmon,” Burrows said. “It’s something that should happen, and should have happened.”

Atlantic salmon have disappeared from U.S. rivers because of damming, pollution and others environmental challenges, and they also face the looming threat of climate change. Nevertheless, there have been some positive signs in Maine rivers in recent years.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

2021 Species Recovery Grant Awardees Announced

July 21, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries just announced $6.3 million in funding for 9 new projects and the continuation of 19 multi-year projects under the 2021 Species Recovery Grant Program. From these funds:

  • $1.3M will support 9 new awards to 5 states (Alaska, Maine, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington), 2 territories (Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) and 1 federally recognized tribe (Penobscot Indian Nation).
  • $5M will support the continuation of 19 multi-year projects that were approved in prior grant cycles.

The Species Recovery Grants Program is a long-standing, successful grant program that supports high-priority recovery actions for listed species. The funding provided this year will support our state and tribal partners in a range of activities, such as removing barriers to spawning  and rearing habitat, assessing and monitoring species presence and status, and collecting genetic information to improve understanding of population distribution, habitat use, vital rates, and impacts of anthropogenic threats, developing new aging techniques for use in population models, engaging stakeholders in conservation of ESA-listed species, and evaluating the effectiveness of regulations to inform adaptive management of these threatened and endangered species.

We identified projects that would benefit the species identified in our “Species in the Spotlight” initiative as a priority in our funding decisions. Four “Species in the Spotlight” – Cook Inlet beluga whale distinct population segment (DPS), southern resident killer whales, white abalone, and Atlantic salmon Gulf of Maine DPS – will be addressed through new and ongoing projects supported this year.

Read the full release here

Newly Funded Awards in the Greater Atlantic Region

  • State of Maine Department of Marine Resources: Walton’s Mill Dam Removal Project
  • Penobscot Indian Nation: Atlantic Salmon Management and Outreach Project
  • Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources: Sustaining Sea Turtle Stranding Response in Virginia

To learn more about these and all awardees read our web story.

Read the full release here

Maine tightens up proposed offshore wind farm area, but fishermen still don’t like it

July 15, 2021 — Maine fishermen said they appreciate the effort by the Department of Marine Resources to get their input on the site for a proposed offshore wind-turbine array.

After collecting input over the past few months about fishing activity, marine wildlife and navigation in a 770-square-mile “area of interest” off the southern Maine coast, the Governor’s Energy Office on Monday announced a “narrowed area of interest” of 16 square miles.

But industry representatives said they’re still concerned about potential impact on fisheries.

“I’m concerned with this narrowed focus on an already heavily fished area,” Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, said during a virtual work session held yesterday by the Governor’s Energy Office on the latest proposal.

Carl Wilson, director of the Department of Marine Resources’ Bureau of Marine Science, who has spearheaded the effort to gather fishermen’s input, said he agreed that not all of the fishing data is in on fisheries such as lobster and groundfish.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

A year after fatal attack, Maine triples number of shark sensors in coastal waters

July 9, 2021 — Almost a year after a woman was fatally attacked by a great white shark while swimming in a cove in Harpswell, the state is nearly tripling the number of acoustic shark detectors in the waters along Maine’s coast.

Following the fatal July 27, 2020, attack, the state Department of Marine Resources deployed eight acoustic receivers in coastal waters, spread out between Wells and Popham Beach, after it had already placed three in Saco Bay off Old Orchard Beach. The receivers, 11 in total, recorded pings from sharks that had been tagged with transmitters by researchers who are collecting data about the presence of sharks along the coast.

The shark attack last summer, which killed Julie Dimperio Holowach, 63, of New York City, was only the third fatal shark attack in New England since 1936. There have long been seasonal sightings of large sharks on Maine’s coast, though such sightings are considered uncommon. Holowach’s death remains the first known recorded fatal shark attack in Maine.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Meeting fails to quell salmon farm concerns

July 1, 2021 — American Aquafarms last week once again made a case for its $330 million project to raise Atlantic salmon off Bald Rock and Long Porcupine Island and process the fish at the now dormant Maine Fair Trade Lobster Co. facility in Prospect Harbor. But the Norwegian-backed company’s June 23 presentation did little to quell citizens’ fears that the proposed operation will harm the area’s robust lobster fishery and scenic values that draw millions of visitors to the region annually.

At the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ 3.5-hour scoping session, held via Zoom, American Aquafarms heard comments and answered questions about its proposal and draft applications to lease the two Frenchman Bay sites for up to 20 years. The intent, too, was for the company to inform the public about its proposed plan to harvest as much as 66 million pounds of salmon annually from the two 15-pen sites and process the fish at the Prospect Harbor facility. Sardines, lobster and other seafood have been processed almost continuously at that facility and transported to market from there for at least 115 years.

Attending the Zoom session, Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider had a prepared statement to read aloud, but he was not among the 13 people who got to speak during the allotted time. In his statement, made public June 24, Schneider called for the DMR’s July deadline for submitting written comments on the long-term leases to be extended to Aug. 6. In his remarks, he noted that Acadia National Park is just 2,000 feet at the closest point from the two lease sites each comprising 60.32 acres. At both sites, two rows of eight and seven closed pens would be arranged in grids and anchored to the ocean floor in mooring systems encompassing 10 acres each.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

Maine elver fishery jumped in value by over 200 percent after rocky 2020

June 25, 2021 — Maine saw the value of its elver fishery jump back up to historic levels after a 2020 that was marred by closures and low prices caused by covid-19.

Preliminary data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources indicate that the value of the catch, which topped out at 8,960.97 pounds out of an available 9,620.70 pounds, is reported to be $16.56 million. The price came in at average of $1,849 per pound in 2021.

Elvers, also known as glass eels, have become the second most valuable fishery in the state in recent years, behind only lobster. However, 2020 saw the fishery plummet in value after covid-19 social-distancing restrictions closed the fishery, and a lack of demand from key markets caused the value to drop.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MAINE: Bar Harbor to try to intervene on American Aquafarms lease

June 24, 2021 — As a controversial proposed salmon farm goes through the state lease process, Bar Harbor will likely be the first in line to ask for “intervenor status.”

The Town Council voted unanimously last week to apply to be an intervenor with the state Department of Marine Resources (DMR) on the American Aquafarms salmon farm project, which is proposed to be in the waters of Frenchman Bay off Bar Harbor, though it is technically in the jurisdiction of Gouldsboro.

The Norwegian-backed company has applied to grow salmon at two 60-acre, 15-pen sites northwest of Long Porcupine Island and northeast of Bald Rock Ledge in Frenchman Bay, sparking concerns among local conservationists and fishermen.

If the town is granted intervenor status, it would be allowed to provide testimony at a public hearing on the lease. In some cases, intervenors may also comment on draft decisions.

No other entity has applied for intervenor status yet, said Jeff Nichols, a spokesman for DMR.

The council’s decision to pursue intervenor status took only a few minutes with little discussion. The council had previously sat down with James Hanscom, a Bar Harbor lobsterman and member of the Lobster Zone B Council, and heard his concerns about the project. Before last week’s meeting, Hanscom delivered a statement of opposition on the project to council member Valerie Peacock.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander