Saving Seafood

MAINE: Right whales and lobsters: what to do?

September 16, 2019 — When the Maine Lobstermen’s Association informed the National Marine Fisheries Service at the end of August that it was withdrawing its support for the agency’s proposed whale protection rules, it also offered a list of 10 “actions” NMFS should take.

The proposed rules could force lobstermen to remove half their vertical buoy lines from the waters of the Gulf of Maine. The Lobstermen’s Association in its letter offered 10 alternative suggestions “to develop an effective right whale protection program.”

The suggestions, most of which dealt with the way NMFS collected, interpreted or disseminated the data on which it based its proposals, ranged from the general to the extremely specific.

The association called on the fisheries service to “publish a thorough analysis of its own data regarding known sources of entanglement risk to right whales,” and to “conduct a new analysis of the risk reduction target” based on MLA-supplied data and to “reconsider” the risk reduction role in light of what the group described as NMFS’s “flawed assumptions and omission of consideration of risk posed by other U.S. fixed gear fisheries.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

NOAA moves ahead with whale-safety rules

September 16, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced it is reviewing claims by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association that a goal to reduce the industry’s risks of harming North Atlantic right whales by 60% is too high. But the federal agency said it will move ahead with crafting federal rules to reduce the risk to the whales of vertical fishing rope associated with trap and pot fishing.

“In the coming months, we will proceed with rule-making as planned,” Chris Oliver, the agency’s assistant administrator, said in the statement Wednesday.

The fisheries service is in the midst of preparing a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed rule changes, based on a pact approved nearly unanimously in April by the 60 members of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, including the Maine association.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

NOAA says it will do more analysis in wake of criticism of proposed whale rules

September 12, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries on Wednesday said it was disappointed the Maine Lobstermen’s Association pulled its support from the federal plan to implement stronger protections for right whales, but did not specifically address the lobster association’s criticisms of the science used to develop the plan.

The statement from Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said the agency continues to review the lobster association letter and conduct additional analysis on the issues it raised. It said the agency will continue to work with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association “on any clarifying questions or concerns by other fisheries.”

Oliver also stated that the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team strives to develop consensus recommendations, but “the agency will consider the extent of support for alternative proposals when consensus is not reached.”

Oliver’s statement arrived following 11 days of silence from NOAA Fisheries after the Maine Lobstermen’s Association informed the agency on Aug. 30 that it was stepping away from the right whale take reduction plan.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA mum on Maine defection

September 9, 2019 — So, you may have read in the pages of this here newspaper, or online at gloucestertimes.com, that the Maine Lobstermen’s Association on Aug. 30 informed NOAA Fisheries that it was repealing its support of the current federal plan to afford more protections to the imperiled North Atlantic right whales because of what it considers faulty science, an unfair portrayal of the lobster industry’s culpability and a rushed process.

When we reached out to NOAA Fisheries on Wednesday for comment on the seismic move by the nation’s largest lobster industry membership, we were told to expect a statement from NOAA Fisheries on Thursday. Thursday came and went, no statement. Probably Friday, we were told.

We checked back on Friday. Maybe, we were told. But it really felt like probably not.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

Lobster industry group lays out objections to whale proposal

September 5, 2019 — It’s not just that proposed federal rules intended to protect endangered right whales from entanglement with fishing gear will be expensive and difficult to implement, industry representatives say. It’s also that they won’t work.

That’s the argument Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, made in a letter sent to NOAA Fisheries on Friday.

The proposed rules came from a meeting in April of a federal stakeholder group, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, which includes McCarron and four other Maine lobster industry representatives. That Maine delegation is now withdrawing support from the “near-consensus” plan, McCarron wrote.

“The Agency’s current rulemaking does not address the full scope of known human causes of the decline in the species and will be insufficient to reverse the right whale population’s downward trend,” she wrote.

At the April meeting, McCarron notes, the full group recommended that NOAA Fisheries “revisit the Team’s recommendations if revisions to the model suggest … a distinctly different understanding of risk” to the whales.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: Lobster fishing group withdraws support of whale agreement

September 5, 2019 — An organization that represents Maine’s lobster fishermen is pulling its support of a proposed plan to protect endangered whales.

The subject of North Atlantic right whale conservation has been a major source of contention for the lobster fishery in Maine, which supplies by far the most U.S. lobster. There are only about 400 of the whales, which are prone to entanglement in fishing gear.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has taken a closer reading of the science behind the plan, which a federal team recommended in April, and believes it places too much of the onus on lobster fishermen, association executive director Patrice McCarron said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at News Center Maine

Maine group backs out of right whale agreement

September 4, 2019 — On Friday, Aug. 30, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association officially withdrew its support from a federal proposal to reduce fishery impacts on the North Atlantic right whale biomass, citing NMFS data that shows the proposal would not be effective in reducing right whale mortality.

“NMFS own data show that that the lobster fishery is the least significant cause of right whale serious injury or mortality,” said Patrice McCarron, the association’s president, “while ship strikes, gillnets and the Canadian snow crab fishery pose much greater risks.”

According to MLA’s analysis, the Canadian snow crab fishery accounts for 31 percent of right whale serious injury and mortality; gillnet and netting gear represent 13 percent; unknown trap/pot gear represents 4 percent; and U.S. trap/pot gear represents 4 percent.

U.S. and Canadian vessel strikes account for the remaining 48 percent of right whale injury and mortality.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MAINE: Lobstermen’s group pulls its support for proposal to protect right whales

September 4, 2019 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is withdrawing its support for a proposed right whale protection plan, claiming it was rushed into voting in favor of major fishing restrictions without adequate time to review the science behind the plan.

Upon review, the state’s largest lobstering trade group expressed its displeasure with the plan, saying it is based on error-prone data, untested science and documentation that is biased against the lobster industry.

The association says the government unfairly focuses federal right whale conservation efforts on Northeast lobstering without fully investigating and documenting other threats to the species and its habitat, from Canadian crab fishers and shipping vessels to seismic testing and offshore wind projects.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine Voices: Mills’ stand on fishing rules praised by lobster industry

July 29, 2019 — As Executive Director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), I applaud Gov. Mills’ July 11 Message to Maine’s Lobster Industry acknowledging the federal government’s “disturbing lack of evidence connecting the Maine lobster industry to recent right whale deaths.”

Maine’s lobstermen understand that right whales are at risk and we are committed to being part of the solution. But as Gov. Mills rightly points out, the data show that Maine is just a small part of a complex problem.

Lobstermen recognize that the right whale population will not improve without everyone doing their part to aid in the species’ recovery. However, assigning 60% of the risk to our fishery, which has only one confirmed right whale entanglement dating back to 2002 and zero confirmed serious injuries or mortalities, will not save the species. Maine’s solution must reflect the actual risk Maine lobstermen pose to right whales. We should not be forced to implement changes to achieve an arbitrary goal if those measures won’t realistically help the right whale population recover.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Changes to lobster fishery to help whales might arrive 2021

June 28, 2019 — Changes to the Maine lobster fishery designed to help a critically endangered species of whale might arrive in 2021 after a lengthy rulemaking process.

A team assembled by the federal government has called for the removal of half the vertical trap lines from the Gulf of Maine to reduce risk to North Atlantic right whales. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has been meeting with lobstermen around the state to begin the process of crafting rules to achieve that goal.

The state held the last of several meetings with lobstermen about the new rules on Thursday in Freeport. Hundreds of members of the state’s lifeblood industry have attended the meetings.

Maine hopes to present a plan to the federal government by September, department spokesman Jeff Nichols said before the meeting. The industry is getting ready to grapple with the task of getting so much gear out of the water, said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

“There’s definitely concern among lobstermen because they will be changing how they fish,” she said. “It’s not a simple task, but once guys are thinking it through and making changes, there seems to be viable strategies for each person.”

Read the full story at the Associated Press