Saving Seafood

Maine leaders to meet with feds about future offshore wind projects

May 19, 2022 — Maine has a chance to take a big step forward in its plans for offshore wind turbine production, but some fishermen and lawmakers have been weary of proposals for years.

More than a dozen supporters held a rally on Portland’s Eastern Promenade Wednesday, pushing state leaders to secure research and, eventually, leases to place massive wind turbines in federal waters in the Gulf of Maine.

Speakers included Jason Shedlock, president of the Maine State Building & Construction Trades Council; Dana Connors, president of the state’s chamber of commerce; Jack Shapiro of the Natural Resources Council of Maine; and Sarah Haggerty, a biologist with Maine Audubon.

They gathered a day before the Gulf of Maine Intergovernmental Task Force of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) planned to meet with representatives from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. It will be the first such meeting since 2019.

Governor Janet Mills, D-Maine, has already pushed to restrict projects in Maine waters, signing a 2021 law forbidding new projects in state waters for 10 years. Maine assumes stewardship over the first three miles away from its coast and islands.

In the water beyond that, BOEM plans to lease wind projects, and Mills is on board.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

 

Lobstermen seek Boothbay’s help in right whale issue

May 18, 2022 — Maine Lobstermen Association is seeking allies against new federal regulations protecting right whales in the northern Atlantic Ocean. MLA is seeking a “war chest” in excess of $10 million to reverse National Marine Fisheries Service guidelines designed to protect the endangered right whale.

MLA is soliciting donations from coastal Maine communities whose economies rely on the lobstering industry. Boothbay lobstermen Mark Jones and Troy Plummer are MLA board members. On May 11, the two solicited Boothbay selectmen for a contribution. “This is a federal lawsuit based on how they calculated the risks associated with right whale. Their models overcalculated the risk posed by lobstering and are nonsense,” Jones said. “The federal government has all but ignored us, and don’t think we will fight back.”

According to an Aug. 2021 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s statement on their website, “The NOAA Fisheries and our partners are dedicated to conserving and rebuilding the North Atlantic right whale population, which is endangered and declining. The decline began in 2010, and accelerated most notably when 17 mortalities were documented in 2017, leading to the declaration of an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event. Since then, 34 right whales have died and 16 have been seriously injured, primarily due to entanglements and vessel strikes.

Jones and Plummer told selectmen environmental groups with deep dockets are pushing for more stringent right whale protections. They described three groups with large lobbying budgets pursuing even stricter fishing regulations. “We’re definitely outgunned in this battle. There are three environmental groups. One raises $15 million per year. Another $22 million, and a third with $80 million. So we need help in this fight,” Plummer said.

So far, MLA has received donations ranging from $100 to $10,000 for their legal defense fund. Among contributors are the town of York, with a $10,000 contribution, along with Friendship, Long Island, Casco Bay  and Vinalhaven. The lobstermen also reported Maine Chamber of Commerce Maine Office of Tourism and Ready Bros. Lobster Processing in Casco contributed to their fund.

Read the full story at the Boothbay Register

Gouldsboro ordinance to focus on finfish

May 13, 2022 — The Planning Board is drafting an aquaculture ordinance to regulate only large-scale Atlantic salmon and other finfish-farming development on land.

The move comes after the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) charged that the town had overstepped its authority in a prior, broader draft regulating all forms of aquaculture on land and in the ocean.

Local seaweed and oyster farmers also voiced concerns that the initial proposed regulations could jeopardize their existing operations.

At their regular meeting Tuesday, May 3, Planning Board members unanimously agreed to limit the ordinance’s focus to finfish-related operations on land. A previous draft Aquaculture Licensing Ordinance would have applied to all aquaculture — whether raising softshell clams in nursery trays floating in a former lobster pound or growing seaweed in Frenchman Bay. That proposal contained sweeping standards and requirements from noise, parking and exterior lighting specifications to having an environmental impact statement study conducted.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

 

Maine’s commercially harvested marine resources reach historic value

May 12, 2022 — On the heels of a global pandemic, the overall value earned by harvesters in 2021 jumped by more than $365 million to a new historic value, according to data from Maine Department of Marine Resources.

2021 is now a year of historic value for Maine commercial fishermen. Recently released data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources indicates that the overall value earned by harvesters in 2021 jumped by more than $365 million and exceeded the previous overall record of $733,691,455, set in 2016, by $150 million.

The numbers, which reflect the strength of an historic year for lobster and a rebounding elver fishery, reached an all time high at $890,668,873, according to the report now made available. Maine is considered as one of the most important commercial fishing states in the country, because of its lobster fishing industry.

“The hard work of Maine fishermen, aquaculturists and dealers once again resulted in tremendous economic benefit for our state,” said Maine Governor Janet Mills. “On the heels of a global pandemic that has challenged every link in the supply chain, the men and women who harvest, cultivate, process and sell seafood from Maine continue to ensure that the highest quality products find their way to market.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Maine elver fishing industry had one of its most successful seasons ever

May 10, 2022 — Maine’s baby eel fishing industry is wrapping up one of the most successful seasons in its history.

Maine is the only state in the country with a significant fishery for baby eels, which are also called elvers. The elvers are sold to Asian aquaculture companies that raise them to maturity for use as food.

Fishermen have just about tapped out the season’s quota of about 9,300 pounds of eels, state regulators said. The eels were worth nearly $20 million at the docks, with a per-pound price of $2,162, regulators said Monday.

The per-pound price was the third highest in state history, and the total value was at least the fifth highest, state records show.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

 

Haul of Atlantic cod, once abundant, reaches new low

May 10, 2022 — One of the oldest fishing industries in the U.S. sank to a new low in catch last year, signaling that efforts to rebuild the fishery still have a long way to go.

New England fishermen have caught Atlantic cod for centuries, but the catch has dwindled over the last decade due to overfishing, restrictive fishing quotas, and environmental changes. The vast majority of the fish come to the docks in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Maine fishermen brought fewer cod to the docks last year than any other in recorded history, state regulators said earlier this month. The state’s catch, which was more than 20 million pounds in the early 1990s, was less than 50,000 pounds last year, state records show.

Cod are the fish of choice for fish and chips in the U.S., but the industry’s collapse has left the country dependent on imports from countries such as Iceland. Russia is another major exporter, but the U.S. banned imports of Russian seafood due to the invasion of Ukraine.

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

 

Maine’s struggling Atlantic herring fishery gets boost from NOAA disaster assistance

May 9, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries has awarded Maine $7,191,787 to provide disaster assistance for the state’s struggling Atlantic herring fishery. NOAA Fisheries will work with the Maine Department of Marine Resources to administer these funds.

“The drastic reduction in Atlantic herring quotas has caused significant losses in primary income and threatened job security for many in the herring industry,” said Senator [Susan] Collins, in a news release. “Given the unstable status of our Atlantic herring fishery, and its role in supporting Maine’s iconic lobster industry, I advocated for the State of Maine’s commercial fishery failure declaration request.  This financial assistance provided through the designation is crucial to the survival of Maine’s Atlantic herring fishery.”

Read the full story at the Penbay Pilot

Maine’s lobster industry in danger: Lobstermen sound alarm as new rules go into effect

May 6, 2022 — Local lobstermen recently asked members of the community to help them in their fight against new federal rules they fear could drive a harpoon through their industry.

At issue is the federal government’s plan that aims to protect the North Atlantic right whale by reducing the risk to them by 98% by the year 2030, according to materials presented to selectmen for their meeting on April 28.

Chris Welch, the chair of the town’s Government Wharf Committee and a board member of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, discussed the MLA’s lawsuit challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s plan, which he described as flawed and detrimental to his industry and the local economy.

“We must hold the government accountable for failing to use the best scientific information possible,” Welch said.

Read the full story at the Portsmouth Herald

Atlantic herring industry in Maine gets over $7 million to cope with fish losses

May 6, 2022 — Disaster-level instability in the Atlantic herring industry has prompted the federal government to give $11 million to commercial fishermen and shore-side infrastructure in four states.

A scientific assessment in 2020 found that herring are overfished, and quotas for the fish were reduced dramatically. The federal government declared a “fishery disaster” in November, clearing the way for assistance.

Atlantic herring are vital because they’re used as bait by commercial lobstermen — who’ve been plagued by a bait crunch for years — as well as for food.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

UMaine research defines lobster line requirements for whale entanglement risk reduction

May 4, 2022 — Efforts to reduce the risk of entanglement in lobster trap lines for the endangered North Atlantic right whale may need to consider more factors than just line strength if they want to be safe, effective and economical, according to new research led by the University of Maine and the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

North Atlantic right whales have the potential to get caught in the vertical line that runs from gear set on the bottom to the surface marker buoy in fixed-gear fisheries, like that of the American lobster fishery in Maine. Often whales can break free of the gear and are simply left with scars, but the risk of death increases as the lines are stronger and more densely distributed throughout the water.

To mitigate right whale injury and deaths, U.S. federal management agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have mandated weak points or weak ropes be inserted into vertical lines to limit strength and provide points at which right whales can break the ropes if they become entangled. New regulations on minimum trawl lengths — or the number of traps fished per vertical line — took effect on May 1, 2022, and caused increases in lobster fishery vertical line loads across all fishing grounds, considerably increasing with depth and distance from shore.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News