Saving Seafood

Maine joins lawsuit on right whale regulations

January 4, 2022 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources has joined as an intervenor in the Maine Lobstermen’s Association lawsuit challenging NMFS restrictions on lobster gear to protect North Atlantic right whales.

A Dec. 30 announcement from Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ office said “NMFS acted arbitrarily by failing to rely on the best available scientific information and by failing to account for the positive impact of conservation measures already adopted by the Maine lobster fishery.”

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association lawsuit in Washington, D.C, federal court challenges the NMFS biological opinion on right whales issued in May 2021, the agency’s response to federal court rulings that whale protections so far have failed to meet requirements of endangered species and marine mammal laws.

NMFS has put on new regulations for using lobster traps and their vertical floating lines to buoys that the agency and whale experts see as a serious threat to the survival of the right whale population, estimated at around 360 animals.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Viewpoint: Help Maine lobstermen fight unfair federal rules

December 15, 2021 — No one ever said that life was fair. But the 10-year plan put forth in August by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales is so obviously unfair and, to make matters worse, based on bad science, that the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) has sued the federal government because of it. If this flawed plan remains in place the Maine lobster fishery could be erased within a decade, decimating the precious coastal communities where we live and work. 

The plan’s goal is to reduce risk to the whales from lobster gear by 60 percent right now, then by another 60 percent in 2025, and a final 87 percent in 2030, resulting in a 98 percent reduction in the already minimal risk that lobstermen pose to the whales. That does not leave much, if any, room for a viable lobster fishery in this state. 

The MLA contends that NMFS got it wrong. The best available science does not support the agency’s plan and instead, the government needs to come up with a plan that will protect the whales without sinking the lobster industry. 

We care about protecting the whales. Since 1997, Maine lobstermen have taken many actions to protect right whales from entanglement. We’ve put in place measures such as removing thousands of miles of rope from the water, keeping rope off the surface where a whale might feed, putting weak links in our rope so that a whale can break free, and marking our lines so we know if Maine lobster gear is responsible for an entanglement. These measures have worked. The right whale population had doubled in two decades. 

More importantly, no right whale has been known to become entangled in Maine lobster gear since 2004. No right whale has ever died from Maine lobster gear. 

Read the full op-ed at the Mount Desert Islander

Maine’s lobster industry is in a fight for its survival

December 6, 2021 — Friday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold reinstatement of a 967-square-mile lobster fishing closure is another devastating blow to Maine lobstermen.

In October, a U.S. District Court judge in Bangor had ruled that there was reason to question the federal government’s decision to close this prime lobstering area for four months this winter. When an appeals court overturned this decision in November, lobstermen who had already set traps in this area were forced to dangerously hurry and take them up, creating economic hardship for those who invested in gear, rigged up and were already fishing in these productive waters.

For Maine’s lobster industry, this is another frustrating example of one step forward, two steps back. This latest court ruling, however, is just the tip of the iceberg that threatens to sink the fishery.

Earlier this year, the National Marine Fisheries Service released a 10-year plan intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The problem is that the government’s plan won’t protect the right whale. And the Maine lobster fishery could be eliminated as collateral damage.

Under the fisheries service’s plan, Maine lobstermen are required to reduce risk to right whales by 98 percent by 2030. But, according to the fisheries service’s own data, the closure of nearly 1,000 miles of lobstering grounds in the Gulf of Maine for a third of the year is only responsible for about 6.5 percent of that. It’s unbelievable that even after implementing a closure of this size and scale, with all its devastating economic impacts, we will still somehow be required to reduce our risk by another 91.5 percent.

Read the full op-ed at the Bangor Daily News

Industry, politicians deplore reinstatement of lobster fishing closure

November 19, 2021 — As lobster fishermen face an immediate requirement to remove their traps from a swath of offshore waters, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association on Wednesday said the seasonal closure will create economic hardship for many Mainers who have invested in gear, rigged up and are already fishing in the area.

Gov. Janet Mills also said the sudden closure will cause significant economic hardship for Maine’s lobster industry, “will cost hundreds of fishermen millions of dollars, and will have a profound impact on businesses that rely on landings during the lucrative late fall and winter months.”

The statements responded to the newly enacted seasonal closure on 967 square miles of lobstering territory in the Gulf of Maine. The closure was reinstated Tuesday when the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a preliminary injunction by a lower court preventing the shutdown from going into effect.

The closure is part of a plan, issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service on Aug. 31, that aims to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale by creating new requirements affecting Maine lobstermen. In addition to the October-through-January closure, the plan includes mandates for additional gear marking and gear modifications.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Lobstermen’s group launches $10 million fundraising push to ‘save’ industry jobs

November 17, 2021 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association announced a three-year, $10 million fundraising campaign Tuesday to raise money for the fishery’s fight against impending regulations that industry members say could “eliminate the fishery and end Maine’s lobstering tradition.”

It named the fundraising campaign “Save Maine Lobstermen” and created a website at savemainelobstermen.org.

Earlier this year, the National Marine Fisheries Service released a 10-year plan, known as a biological opinion, to help protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale from deadly entanglements in fishing gear.

The first phase of the plan, released in August, adds requirements that include state-specific gear marking, weak points in rope to allow entangled whales to break free, and a 967-square-mile seasonal closure off the coast of Maine to reduce risks to whales by 60 percent this year and 98 percent over 10 years.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine lobstermen ask the public for money in their legal fight against federal regulations

November 17, 2021 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association held a press conference announcing a fundraising appeal to the general public. The association wants to raise $10 million for what it foresees as endless, costly court clashes over right whale supporters and their industry.

Without the financial means to fight both the government and environmental activists, lobstermen said their very existence is at stake.

“We need to level the playing field and make this a fair fight,” said Lobstermen’s Association Vice President Dustin Delano.

President Kristan Porter said his association was assembling the best legal team they could find.

“It’s not cheap,” Porter said “but we need to be able to stand and fight.”

The offshore fishery currently in question covers 950 square miles of ocean, about 30 miles off the coast, from Mount Desert Island to Casco Bay. Federal regulators want it closed from October through January.

The closure is meant to protect endangered right whales traversing the Gulf of Maine from Canadian waters to the Florida coast. Maine lobstermen, who have already switched to non-floating and breakaway lines in an effort to protect the scarce mammals, said they are not to blame for increased mortalities seen in recent years.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Maine lobstermen celebrate, conservationists criticize ruling on fishery closure

October 20, 2021 –Maine lobstermen will not have to stop fishing in an area slated to be off-limits from October through January.

A federal judge granted temporary relief to the Maine Lobstering Union Saturday.

The group sued in an effort to block the seasonal closure of the roughly 1,000-square-mile area.

Federal officials argued the closure is necessary to help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from extinction.

“You’re not going to save a whale by closing down I-95 and we feel like that’s the same implication,” said Virginia Olsen of the Maine Lobstering Union.

The rules issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the National Marine Fisheries Service are part of a 10-year plan to reduce the risk of right whales getting tangled in lobster fishing ropes and dying.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association filed a lawsuit in September to challenge the protections which, they argue, will “eliminate” the Maine lobster fishery.

Read the full story at WMUR

 

Maine Lobstering Union Lands Injunction to Halt Right Whale Lobster Fishing Area Closure

October 19, 2021 — The Maine Lobstering Union (MLU) was granted emergency relief by U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker on October 16 to halt an impending closure of a lobster fishing area off Maine.

The closure was set to be implemented as part of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan Modifications announced at the end of August.

After learning of the closure, the MLU, along with other industry groups including the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), sued the NMFS over the right-whale related rule changes.

According to the MLU, the closure would have impacted a large area of “prime lobstering territory.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

 

Judge’s rejection of lobstering ban draws praise of industry, ire of environmentalists

October 18, 2021 — Lobster industry advocates and environmental groups offered starkly different reactions Sunday to a judge’s decision blocking a federal ban on lobstering in a section of the Gulf of Maine designed to protect the endangered right whale.

The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Lance Walker, said federal regulators relied on “markedly thin” analysis that didn’t provide hard proof of the whales’ presence in the roughly thousand-square-mile area off the Maine coast. Advocates for the lobster industry had asked for a stay of the three-month ban, arguing there wasn’t evidence that the critically endangered whales actually frequent the area.

Environmental groups accused Walker of relying on his own analysis of data rather than that of scientists. Lobstering advocates, on the other hand, praised the judge for offering a lifeline to the $1.4 billion industry, which is critical to Maine’s economy.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at the Portland Press Herald

 

Maine Lobstermen’s Association files brief in support of motion filed against U.S. Secretary of Commerce to block closure of Maine lobster fishing grounds

October 15, 2021 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has filed a brief in support of a motion filed against the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to block the impending closure of Maine lobster fishing grounds by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The seasonal closure, scheduled to go into effect next week, will bar lobster fishing in 967 square miles off the coast of Maine.

It’s part of a ten year federal plan to protect right whales.

Read the full story at WABI