Saving Seafood

MAINE: Lobstermen’s Association rejects DMR whale proposal

November 14, 2019 — Efforts to find consensus over how to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in fishing gear without decimating the Maine lobster industry took a blow last week.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) announced that it would not support a plan developed by the Department of Marine Resources “because it seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery” and “creates unresolved safety and operational challenges for some sectors of the lobster industry,” MLA Executive Director Patrice McCarron said in an email Saturday.

The MLA decision came late last week after DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher held a series of meetings with lobstermen in Ellsworth, Waldoboro and South Portland.

The meetings were held to present the department’s response to a proposal by the National Marine Fisheries Service that would require a 50 percent reduction in the number of vertical endlines, which connect lobster traps to buoys on the surface, used by Maine lobstermen.

The goal, according to NMFS, was to reduce the risk of right whale entanglement in fishing gear by 60 percent.

Throughout the summer, DMR developed an alternative plan that called for many Maine lobstermen to “trawl up” by fishing more traps in strings attached to one or two endlines.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Maine lobstermen group pans state whale plan

November 13, 2019 — The state of Maine has opted to go it alone against NOAA Fisheries and the plan drafted by the federal Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction team to impose new right whale protections. But that decision seems to have hit a sizable snag.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the state’s largest and most influential lobster trade group, has said it will not support the state’s autonomous draft plan, not even over the more rigorous and restrictive plan developed by the take reduction team.

According to the MLA, both plans place too much onus and blame on the state’s $500 million lobster industry for entanglements that may lead to critical injuries or deaths for the imperiled North Atlantic right whales. Estimates are there are only about 400 of the whales.

“The Maine Lobstermen’s Association voted not to support the Maine Department of Marine Resources whale plan because it seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery as demonstrated in MLA’s analysis of (NOAA Fisheries) data,” the MLA said in a statement. “The MLA conducted a thorough analysis of fishing gear removed from entangled right whales which revealed that lobster is the least prevalent gear. The MLA is also concerned the state’s plan creates unsolved safety and operational challenges for some sectors in the lobster industry.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Second Maine lobstering group rejects state’s plan for protecting whales

November 11, 2019 — The state’s biggest lobster trade group will not support Maine’s right whale protection plan, saying it asks the state’s most valuable fishery to make concessions that exceed the risk it poses to the endangered species.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association staked out its position on the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ proposal with a board vote Thursday night. Director Patrice McCarron would not disclose the vote breakdown, calling that a private matter. The group did, however, release a statement about why it couldn’t support the plan.

“It seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery,” the statement said of the state plan. “The MLA conducted a thorough analysis of fishing gear removed from entangled right whales which revealed that lobster is the least prevalent gear.”

The MLA has decided to come up with its own whale protection plan based on right-sized risks posed by the industry that it will submit to the National Marine Fisheries Service. The federal agency is drafting a new regulation, which is due out early next year, to protect right whales from fishing entanglements.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine Lobstermen’s Association won’t support new right whale rules

November 11, 2019 — After a week of hearings on a proposal to implement new rules to protect endangered right whales, a leading group has decided not support the plan.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources held three hearings on the plan, including one in South Portland Wednesday, to take public comments, most coming from lobstermen against the proposal.

On Thursday, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association voted “not to support” the plan “because it seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery,” the association said in a statement posted on its website.

The plan calls for a reduction of the vertical lobster trap lines in the Gulf of Maine. Maine fishery officials say they would remove 25 percent of the lines, not including an exemption for lobstermen who fish inshore waters.

Read the full story at WPFO

Maine lobster group re-engages with NOAA whale protection effort

October 31, 2019 — A lobster industry group in the US state of Maine has re-engaged with a federal government process to reduce risks to endangered right whales, The Center Square reported.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) said that it was encouraged by recent actions by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service to address the group’s concerns regarding the agency’s Take Reduction Team (TRT) process to protect right whales.

“MLA is pleased that NOAA has taken our concerns seriously,” the group said. “MLA continues to work diligently with our members and in close collaboration with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources to identify management approaches that are both effective in minimizing risk to whales and proportionate to the risk from Maine fishery gear,” the MLA said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Tension thaws over whale plan between lobstermen, feds

October 21, 2019 — A group representing Maine’s lobstermen says it’s now willing to work with the federal government on a plan to protect right whales after withdrawing its support for the plan this summer.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is one of the key stakeholders in an effort to better protect the North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 400 and are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear. A federal plan that’s being developed to help save the whales would remove miles of lobster trap rope from the waters off Maine.

The lobstermen’s association issued a public statement on Oct. 11 saying it appreciates that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service has offered a “constructive response” to its concerns about whale protection.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Maine lobstermen to NOAA: Whale rules need more work

October 16, 2019 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has volleyed back at NOAA Fisheries, saying it will continue pursuing “critical points” from its analysis of data used by the federal fishery regulator to determine causes of injuries or deaths to North Atlantic right whales.

The MLA’s statement also makes clear the lobster stakeholder remains committed to the take reduction team process, as well as developing a management response within the Maine fishery. This, despite withdrawing its support on Aug. 30 of the risk allocation agreement approved in April by the Large Whale Take Reduction Team.

“MLA’s goal has been and will continue to be a right whale recovery plan built on the best available science that effectively addresses all known risks to right whales from U.S. commercial fisheries and all other human causes,” the MLA stated. “Going forward, MLA will continue to insist on a science-based process informed by best available data to ensure rigorous accountability for risk to endangered whales from across the spectrum of human interactions with them.”

The statement, which follows NOAA Fisheries’ response to the initial MLA data analysis, said the lobster group will continue to push for NOAA Fisheries and other elements of the take reduction team process to address “the outsized role of Canadian fisheries in recent right whales’ serious injury and mortality.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA answers lobstermen’s critique of whale rules science

October 4, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries released a more detailed response Wednesday to criticisms of the science it used to develop new protections for North Atlantic right whales, refuting or clarifying several points while admitting data collection remains “an ongoing challenge.”

The response was attached to a letter from NOAA assistant administrator Chris Oliver to Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. In August, the lobster trade group withdrew its support for the right whale protection plan approved in April by the federal Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team.

In its Aug. 30 letter to NOAA Fisheries, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association said it based its defection on its own analysis of the science NOAA utilized in developing the right whale protection plan that points to the lobster industry as a chief cause of whale entanglements.

The MLA said its review concluded that lobster lines and gear are among the least prevalent causes of serious whale injuries or death.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Feds Eye Lobstermen’s Concerns About Plan to Save Whales

October 3, 2019 — The federal government says it’s considering the concerns of a lobster fishermen’s group about a plan to try to save an endangered species of whale.

The plan concerns the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers only about 400. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association pulled its support from the plan this summer because of concerns it placed too much onus on lobstermen, who would be called to remove miles of trap rope from the water.

The lobstermen’s group’s concerns included that right whales are also subject to entanglement in fishing gear in Canadian waters. Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, released a letter Wednesday that said the U.S. is working with Canada to reduce that problem.

Read the full story at NECN

Lobster industry uses video, social media to fight whale regulations

September 26, 2019 — Maine lobstermen and the many businesses that depend on them are anxiously waiting for decisions on new regulations to protect right whales. The proposal for tough new restrictions has had the industry concerned for months.

“Maine lobstermen are extremely worried about the consequence of the whale rules. They have a lot on the line with this,” says Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Federal officials have said they want the lobster industry to reduce the number of “vertical lines” (ropes) in the water by as much as 60%, to prevent right whales from becoming tangled in them. Lobster industry leaders and others have said over the summer they worry that will dramatically reduce the number of traps, and hurt incomes, or result in having to fish long strings of traps, called trawls, which would be dangerous.

And fishermen have complained for years that they are not the ones posing a threat to the right whales.

Read the full story at News Center Maine