July 22, 2021 — Lobster boat prices have reached record prices this summer, driving some restaurants to shy away from carrying the product to avoid sticker shock for customers.
Boat prices have climbed well north of USD 6.00 (EUR 5.08) per pound when the price is typically around USD 4.00 (EUR 3.39) per pound, the Lewiston Sun-Journal reported. Some restaurants interviewed by the newspaper confessed to removing lobster from menus to avoid charging an exorbitant amount of money for the product.
July 22, 2021 — If you were to say that your local food joint hadn’t increased the price of their lobster rolls, you’d be the exception. Restaurants in the region are feeling the impact of increased lobster prices. In the past few months, many local restaurants have been increasing the prices of their lobster products. Some have taken fresh lobster off the menu altogether.
The New York Times reported that some lobster shacks across Maine are selling lobster rolls for as high as $34.
July 19, 2021 — Open-net pen Atlantic salmon aquaculture is big business on Canada’s east coast. Given the industry’s size, much has been studied and written about its effects on wild salmon. But how might fish farms be affecting other species in their vicinity—such as lobster? Lobster is one of the most economically valuable wild species, and the bulk of the world’s catch is made along the eastern seaboard of North America. Inka Milewski, who studies the interactions between aquaculture and the wider ecosystem at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, recently parsed the scientific literature to determine the ways in which salmon aquaculture is affecting wild lobsters.
Milewski and her colleagues identified a multitude of factors that could affect lobsters, their habitat, and the lobster fishery. Net pens change oceanographic conditions, for example by reducing current speeds, increasing turbulence, and breaking up waves. The farms also generate waste, such as excess food, fish feces, and urine, as well as the chemicals used to control pests and diseases. Lights, noises, and odors associated with the farms can disrupt lobster behavior.
Milewski says she was most surprised by how sensitive lobsters are to the particulate and dissolved organic and inorganic waste that result from fish feces and uneaten food. These chemicals can disrupt critical lobster behaviors like feeding, spawning, and mating. Her review identified studies that show that these waste products can change the quality of lobsters’ diets and promote harmful algal blooms near farms.
“There is a tremendous amount of waste generated by fish farms,” Milewski says. “I don’t think people have a sense of the scale.” A fairly typical farm of about 600,000 fish will generate around 40 tonnes of waste every month during its 22-month production cycle. “It’s understandable how that waste can change lobsters’ behavior, distribution, and abundance,” she adds.
But the review also identified serious gaps in our understanding of the interactions between aquaculture operations and lobsters. While some aspects, such as the use of chemical pesticides, have been well studied, information on others, including waste discharges, disease, and noise, are limited or entirely lacking.
July 15, 2021 — Maine fishermen said they appreciate the effort by the Department of Marine Resources to get their input on the site for a proposed offshore wind-turbine array.
After collecting input over the past few months about fishing activity, marine wildlife and navigation in a 770-square-mile “area of interest” off the southern Maine coast, the Governor’s Energy Office on Monday announced a “narrowed area of interest” of 16 square miles.
But industry representatives said they’re still concerned about potential impact on fisheries.
“I’m concerned with this narrowed focus on an already heavily fished area,” Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, said during a virtual work session held yesterday by the Governor’s Energy Office on the latest proposal.
Carl Wilson, director of the Department of Marine Resources’ Bureau of Marine Science, who has spearheaded the effort to gather fishermen’s input, said he agreed that not all of the fishing data is in on fisheries such as lobster and groundfish.
July 14, 2021 — Maine officials have identified a preferred site for an offshore wind farm that would be the nation’s first floating offshore wind research area.
The administration of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is working with the University of Maine and New England Aqua Ventus on the planned research array. Administration officials have said the project will contain up to 12 turbines.
The Mills administration released the specifications of its preferred site for the project on Monday. The site is a 16-square-mile area in the Gulf of Maine located about 30 miles off the Maine coast.
July 13, 2021 — Maine Gov. Janet Mills on July 7 signed into law a new measure that prohibits new offshore wind projects in state waters, in a compromise aimed at protecting Maine’s commercial lobster and recreational fisheries, while potentially allowing future wind power development in federal waters farther offshore.
Mills in June had signed a bill to plan for what would be the first U.S. research area for floating offshore wind in Gulf of Maine federal waters. But the state’s politically and culturally influential fishing industry has been deeply opposed to allowing any wind turbines off Maine, since Mills in November 2020 announced state government’s intention to seek a federal lease for 16 square miles for an array of up to a dozen floating turbines.
The ensuing debate led in June to a compromise in the Maine Legislature, where Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, a Winter Harbor lobsterman, introduced a measure that would ban wind development in state waters and prohibit issuing state permits for cables and other supporting infrastructure to connect projects in federal waters to Maine.
Lawmakers were also considering a bill setting up Mills’ proposal to impose a 10-year ban in state waters but allow the Aqua Ventus demonstration project near Monhegan to proceed with other research projects and issue permits for federal waters projects.
Final amendments reached a bipartisan compromise that sets up a new Offshore Wind Research Consortium that includes representation from Maine fishermen.
July 13, 2021 — After reviewing potential impact to fisheries, marine wildlife and navigation within 770 square miles of ocean off southern Maine, the Governor’s Energy Office is now focusing on a 16-square-mile area to site up to 12 floating wind-power turbines.
The preferred site for the research array is an L-shaped swath of the Gulf of Maine, about 25 miles south of Muscongus Bay, according to a report issued Monday.
The office is inviting comments on the site through July 30 to inform its final siting decision, which will be included in a federal lease application to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior that’s responsible for managing development in some offshore waters.
The application will be the first step in a subsequent multiyear permitting process by the bureau, which includes further impact studies and opportunities for public input, according to a news release.
July 9, 2021 — Almost a year after a woman was fatally attacked by a great white shark while swimming in a cove in Harpswell, the state is nearly tripling the number of acoustic shark detectors in the waters along Maine’s coast.
Following the fatal July 27, 2020, attack, the state Department of Marine Resources deployed eight acoustic receivers in coastal waters, spread out between Wells and Popham Beach, after it had already placed three in Saco Bay off Old Orchard Beach. The receivers, 11 in total, recorded pings from sharks that had been tagged with transmitters by researchers who are collecting data about the presence of sharks along the coast.
The shark attack last summer, which killed Julie Dimperio Holowach, 63, of New York City, was only the third fatal shark attack in New England since 1936. There have long been seasonal sightings of large sharks on Maine’s coast, though such sightings are considered uncommon. Holowach’s death remains the first known recorded fatal shark attack in Maine.
July 9, 2021 — Protecting the health and safety of our community members is of primary concern. As leaders of districts along the coast of Maine, this includes dealing with the impacts of climate change and planning for a prosperous future with these changes in mind.
Maine’s coastline will feel the effects of climate change for generations, which means communities along our rugged shores will feel these effects, too. Rising seas and increasingly dangerous storm surge events threaten our local infrastructure and economies. One of the best ways to protect us from the effects of climate change is to invest in coastal restoration and resilience projects like shoreline stabilization and wetland restoration. Both offer environmental and economic benefits that can help our communities plan for the future.
As we grapple in our districts with the tremendous scope and cost of the coming changes, we are relieved to see the promises of coastal restoration and resilience investments at the federal level. Restoration and resilience programs can and should play a key role in President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda and for several good reasons: These projects will improve community resilience, provide opportunities for job growth and increase economic vitality. Additionally, recent pieces of federal legislation – the Moving Forward Act; Shovel Ready Restoration Grants for Coastline and Fisheries Act of 2020; the Ocean Based Climate Solutions Act, and others – have included coastal and ocean restoration programs. To build on what is in place already, it is important that this funding be appropriated as a new grant program in order to enhance equity and address environmental justice needs. When Congress and the administration consider economic stimulus and infrastructure funding to restore the nation’s economy and address climate change, a $10 billion coastal and ocean restoration program under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration must be part of that package.
July 8, 2021 — Gov. Janet Mills has signed a bill that prohibits new offshore wind projects in state waters, preserving waters closest to shore for recreation and fishing.
The bill, LD 1619, was sponsored by State Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Kittery, was passed in the House and Senate on June 30 as an emergency measure and sent to the governor’s desk.
The new law comes after another bill, LD 336, she recently signed that created a first-of-its-kind research area for floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. Mills said in a release she applauds the Legislature for their “strong bipartisan support” to grow a global offshore wind industry in Maine, “which will create good-paying jobs for Maine people, support Maine’s transition to 100 percent renewable energy, and help fight climate change.”