February 14, 2022 — Maine’s prime scallop fishing grounds will stay open deeper into the winter.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources had been considering closing the Cobscook Bay area to fishing to prevent overharvesting scallops. The department said Thursday the area will remain open through at least Feb. 19.
February 8, 2022 — Area lobstermen heard little good news at a Jan. 31 Zone B Council meeting as Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher shared information presented earlier at a December 2021 Lobster Advisory Council meeting.
New gear, reporting and trap line regulations and the temporary closure of local waters to lobster fishing – all aimed at protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale – are changing how lobstermen fish today and in the future. But greater challenges will play out in federal courts, as lawsuits levied by well-funded environmental groups could shut the fishery completely down.
“This represents the greatest threat to the industry,” Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson said.
If the federal court rules to vacate the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s biological opinion, as one lawsuit requests, on grounds that it violates the Endangered Species Act and the 1946 Administration Procedures Act (which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations), then NOAA’s National Fisheries Marine Service (NFMS) could not legally authorize the fishery to operate.
February 8, 2022 — Maine ocean regulators might close the state’s most productive scallop fishing grounds for the year.
The state is home to a winter scallop fishing industry that takes place in nearshore waters. The most fertile scalloping grounds in the state are in Cobscook Bay in rural Down East Maine.
The Maine Department of Maine Resources said the area is showing signs of pressure from the scallop harvest and will be evaluated for closure this week.
January 24, 2022 — Lobstermen will have to start using weakened rope or special inserts to weaken existing rope beginning in May in some waters to help protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.
But the rope and links aren’t yet readily available, causing consternation among lobstermen seeking to comply with the rules.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources has received numerous complaints that there isn’t a sufficient supply of approved ropes or the plastic links, a spokesperson told the Bangor Daily News.
The department plans to notify federal regulators of the problem so they’re aware of the potential compliance challenges.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald
January 5, 2022 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources has been granted intervenor status in a federal lawsuit brought over new lobstering restrictions intended to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a new set of rules for the lobster fishery last summer with a goal of reducing the entanglement risk for the remaining 336 North Atlantic right whales.
But Maine’s governor said that it’s misguided to impose restrictions on the state’s signature seafood.
“There’s never been a known right whale mortality associated with the Maine lobster fishery, and there have been zero known right whale entanglements associated with Maine lobster gear in almost two decades,” said Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
December 27, 2021 — Maine lobstermen have a new ally in the fight against federal fishing regulations.
The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association filed a motion to join the Maine Lobstermen’s Association’s lawsuit, challenging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 10-year right whale protection plan. The plan requires lobstermen to make significant changes to prevent whales from getting tangled in their gear.
The group filed the motion in Washington D.C. District Court, looking to join the lawsuit as a third party.
Massachusetts lobstermen said they want to get involved because they believe federal actions like this could directly impact their livelihoods.
The court still needs to approve the motion.
Some, including Maine’s lobster unions, have claimed the closure by NOAA falls during the peak fishing season.
According to data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources, lobstermen statewide hauled most consistently from July to October last year. They brought in a whopping 20 million pounds in October at peak, before numbers steadily fell back down through January.
Read the full story and watch the video at News Center Maine
December 23, 2021 — A complicated and potentially grim future is predicted for the commercial lobster industry, with environmental groups, gear changes, the closure of offshore waters to lobster fishing and judicial rulings painting a “doom and gloom” picture, in the words of Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Commissioner Patrick Keliher.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of moving pieces,” Keliher told Lobster Advisory Council members and others in virtual attendance at the council’s Dec. 15 meeting.
Some of those pieces could spell the end of the commercial lobster fishery in Maine, DMR Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson said, as she ran through the current lawsuits aimed at preserving the North Atlantic right whale. If any or all prevail, the lobster fishery will bear the brunt of the results.
These days, lobstering is all about the right whale population, of which an estimated 336 whales – the lowest number in nearly 20 years – swam in the Atlantic Ocean in 2020. Right whales were listed as an endangered species in 1970 and became protected when the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was later passed.
December 3, 2021 — The annual Fishermen’s Forum, a three-day event held in Rockport in early March, has been canceled for a second year due to coronavirus concerns.
The forum brings together scientists, seafood marketers, fisheries management specialists and more from across the commercial fishing industry. The guest list includes marketers, processors, representatives from the Department of Marine Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other government agencies. And fishermen, of course, who gather to talk shop, share information, hear new and upcoming legislation affecting their industry, and to swap stories.
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.
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.