Saving Seafood

Collins joins Maine delegation in seeking Maine lobster industry protections

August 26, 2021 — A new set of federal rules to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale that is close to being finalized could be detrimental to Maine’s critical lobster industry, according to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and a bipartisan, bicameral group of her Maine congressional colleagues.

The forthcoming rules include “hasty, late-breaking changes” that would “significantly harm the livelihoods of communities that depend on fishing and lobstering without meaningfully protecting whales,” Sen. Collins wrote in an Aug. 21 letter sent to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Jared Golden (D-ME) also signed the letter.

Specifically, the lawmakers expressed concerns about newer proposed modifications to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Rule, which are now under consideration. They cited several modifications that they say could be harmful for the lobster industry, an important economic driver for Maine.

“These changes, as indicated by the Final Environmental Impact Statement, add significant costs to the industry without corresponding gains in conservation and seriously undermine conservation partnerships at state and local levels,” they wrote.

Read the full story at The Ripon Advance

Maine delegation deplores ‘hasty’ changes to whale rules affecting lobster fishery

August 25, 2021 — A set of new rules to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale is on the way to being finalized by the federal government.

But the rules include “hasty, late-breaking changes” that would “significantly harm the livelihoods of communities that depend on fishing and lobstering without meaningfully protecting whales,” U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, and Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District, said in a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan was first developed in 1997 and has been modified in various ways since then, in an attempt to save the endangered whales from extinction.

The delegation cited several of the newer proposed modifications, now under consideration, as potentially harmful for the lobster industry.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Maine legislators ask feds to reject petition that calls for seasonal lobster closures

August 24, 2021 — Maine’s congressional delegation called on U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to reject a petition to impose seasonal and dynamic closures on parts of the state’s lobster fishery.   

The Pew Charitable Trusts submitted a petition to close four areas of lobster fishing in Maine unless lobstermen used so-called “ropeless” fishing gear.   

“The petition submitted by Pew undermines our shared goal of both protecting the North Atlantic right whale and ensuring the future viability of our nation’s lobster fishery,” wrote Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine) and Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Jared Golden (D-Maine). “Unfortunately, this proposal would have a detrimental economic impact on Maine’s lobster industry and the coastal communities they support, while providing limited risk reduction. It is unfortunate to see this attempted circumvention of NOAA’s established regulatory process when lives, livelihoods, and the survival of an endangered species are on the line.”   

Pew petitioned former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in 2020 to call for closures throughout New England waters, including an area Downeast from August to October, to better protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale.   

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Sea Scallops Farmed in Maine Aren’t Just Sustainable. They’re Helping Their Habitat.

August 23, 2021 — On a damp, cloudy morning in April, Marsden Brewer drove his 38-foot lobster boat out into the middle of Penobscot Bay. Other than a few buoys and the occasional gull, the water was calm and empty — a vast, gray expanse leading to pine-topped islands in the distance.

You certainly couldn’t tell that, just below the waves slapping against the hull, there were hundreds of thousands of sea scallops, swimming, squirting and cavorting in a series of nets, all part of Mr. Brewer’s aquatic farm.

Mr. Brewer and his son, Bob, pulled up a long algae-covered net and scooped scallops into a bucket of seawater, where they zipped around, moving a whole lot faster than you’d think bivalves could. Most would go to Glidden Point Oyster Farms. The rest were about to become lunch.

A third-generation commercial fisherman, Mr. Brewer has witnessed firsthand the instability of the wild fisheries around him, watching the fluctuations of the lobster catch, and the once-plentiful stocks of cod, urchins and shrimp all but disappear.

“What I’ve seen over the years has not been good,” he said as he shucked a scallop, revealing its pale adductor muscle — the white disk we think of when we picture scallops — nestled against a pillow of orange roe.

“It’s made me think, maybe it’s not that there are too many fishermen, but that there’s not enough fish. So, I thought, how do we make more fish?”

Read the full story at The New York Times

Atlantic Herring Eastern Maine Spawning Closure in Effect Starting August 28, 2021 through October 9, 2021

August 23, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal stages III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

There are currently no samples from the Eastern Maine spawning area to determine spawning condition. Therefore, per Addendum II default closure dates, the Eastern Maine spawning area will be closed starting at 12:01 a.m. on August 28, 2021 extending through 11:59 p.m. on October 9, 2021. The Eastern Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

Maine coast     68° 20’ W
43° 48’ N          68° 20’ W
44° 25’ N         67° 03’ W
North along the US/Canada border

Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Eastern Maine spawning area during this time. The incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip per day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Eastern Maine spawning area. In addition, all vessels traveling through the Eastern Maine spawning area must have all seine and mid-water trawl gear stowed.

For more information, please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or efranke@asmfc.org.

The closure announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/M21-98AtlHerring_EM_SpawningClosure_Aug2021.pdf

MAINE: As gulf waters warm, could quahogs be the next big shellfish product?

August 20, 2021 — A new research project is trying to determine whether a species of hard-shell clam, quahogs, can thrive in enough abundance off Maine’s coast to make for a new business opportunity.

The Brunswick office of Manomet, an environmental research nonprofit headquartered in Plymouth, Mass., is partnering with the University of Maine and the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay to study the presence of quahog DNA in the water column.

Determining the level of DNA is considered useful to understanding to what extent the clams are making themselves at home in the gulf.

The study of DNA in this context is called “eDNA” or “environmental DNA,” Marissa McMahan, a senior fisheries scientist with the Brunswick branch of Manomet, told Mainebiz.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Maine delegation urges USDA to buy seafood from Maine fishermen

August 19, 2021 — While the U.S. Department of Agriculture has increased its seafood buying in response to the pandemic and directives from Congress, none of the agency’s COVID-related seafood purchases have been awarded to suppliers based in Maine.

Maine’s congressional delegation called out the agency on Tuesday in hopes of drawing attention to product harvested by the state’s small-scale independent fishermen.

“USDA efforts to engage these smaller producers will pay large dividends — supporting and maintaining economic activity in rural areas, and helping develop consumers’ tastes for seafood that is sustainable, affordable, and harvested close to their homes,” U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, and Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District, wrote in a joint letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The letter urged the Biden administration to work with small-boat family fishing businesses to fully explore opportunities for Maine seafood products in USDA’s procurement efforts, according to a news release.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

MAINE: Commerce secretary asked to reject lobster fishery closure

August 19, 2021 — Maine’s congressional delegation is calling on the U.S. secretary of commerce to reject a petition calling for seasonal closures in parts of Maine’s lobster fishing industry.

They sent a letter Wednesday asking the secretary to reject a petition that was recently submitted by the Pew Charitable Trusts for interim regulations to protect right whales.

The delegation’s statement said for the Downeast Maine closure alone, Pew’s proposal is estimated to reduce the risk to whales by just 1.7 percent, while causing $22 million in losses for local lobstermen.

Read the full story at WFVX

‘It’s not hard work for me’: At 101 years old, this Maine lobsterwoman still works the water

August 16, 2021 — It’s not yet 5 a.m., and the landing at the Spruce Head Fishermen’s Co-op is shrouded in predawn fog that obscures the waters beyond. It’s time to go to work, and Virginia Oliver and her son Max approach the dock in the dark in a 30-foot lobster boat.

They tie up under the stark, mist-speckled glare from an overhead light. Bait is brought aboard, equipment adjusted, and Max peers into the gloom as he eases the boat into Penobscot Bay.

In the world of Maine lobstering, it’s a scene that is repeated countless times up and down the state’s rugged coast. But here’s the difference: No other boat has a 101-year-old lobsterwoman aboard, and a fully working one at that.

“I grew up with this,” said Virginia Oliver, a Rockland woman who began lobstering when she was 8, just before the Great Depression. “It’s not hard work for me. It might be for somebody else, but not me.”

Oliver moved deliberately but confidently about the boat, which is named Virginia, for her. She smiled and laughed readily, walked with only a slight stoop, and bent to her work with no-nonsense attention to detail and not a word of complaint.

The fog began to burn off shortly before 7 a.m., and the Olivers pointed out landmarks that have been embedded in family lore for well over a century. Fat seals lay perched on seaweed-covered rocks. Max pointed out a “sweet spot” for lobstering among the many small, rocky islands.

His mother came to work this day with a bit of makeup on her face, her blue eyes and a pair of small earrings twinkling in the hazy dawn.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Tech firm born in Maine uses AI to monitor commercial fishing

August 16, 2021 — A company that got its start in Maine is using artificial intelligence to improve data collection for groundfish fishermen and fisheries management officials.

New England Marine Monitoring’s new technology could eliminate the need for onboard human observers for ground fishermen, resulting in safer, faster, and more accurate and affordable monitoring and data collection, according to CEO Mark Hager.

Currently, the groundfish fishery requires that 40 percent of a fisherman’s trips be monitored, especially with quotas for many groundfish species at historic lows. Traditionally, this monitoring has been done in person, on board the vessel.

But it’s no easy job, which Hager knows firsthand.

Earlier in his career, Hager worked as one of those fisheries observers and would go out on a boat with a crew for weeks at a time.

It’s time-consuming, expensive for the fishermen, and dangerous for everyone on board, particularly on smaller vessels where there’s not as much room to move around.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald