Saving Seafood

Joe Biden’s call for more offshore wind turbines faces stiff headwind from Maine fishermen

May 3, 2021 — Last week, President Joe Biden told federal regulators that to combat global warming, they should speed up the deployment of offshore wind-energy turbines, with the goal of supplying enough to power 10 million homes by the end of this decade.

Maine wind power advocates said that ratifies their argument that the state must get into the game now or get left behind. But the White House directive is also amplifying fears among fishermen that they’re the ones who will be left behind.

Most offshore wind energy projects around the world are sited in relatively shallow waters, where their foundations can easily be driven into the ocean floor. But that won’t work so well off Maine, where the coastal shelf drops abruptly and the strongest, most consistent winds blow over waters that are more than 200 feet deep.

“We could not fix the turbines to the seabed,” said University of Maine engineering professor Habib Dagher, who has worked for more than a decade to design a system that would suit deeper waters.

Inspiration came, Dagher said, after a trip to Europe, where turbine platforms fixed to the seabed are common.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Maritime Shorts

May 3, 2021 — The Maine Fishermen’s Forum is hosting a safety seminar on May 4. The seminar will be 90 minutes long and include several guest speakers.  

“In the last fifteen months, Maine’s fishing community lost eight men to several fishing related tragedies. Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in America,” the forum wrote on the event posting. “There are several simple precautions which dramatically improve your chances of surviving an accident at sea and coming home safely to your family.”  

This roundtable discussion will be hosted by Maggie Raymond of Associated Fisheries of Maine and panelists include U.S. Coast Guard Commander Jason Boyer, Brian Smith, a commercial fishing vessel examiner and Mike Russo, a fishing accident survivor.   

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

SEBASTIAN BELLE: Time to stand up for the working waterfront

April 30, 2021 — Let’s get the record straight. Fishermen and sea farmers have been coexisting along the coast of Maine for many years; we all make our living on the sea. The Maine Aquaculture Association was established in 1977. We depend on Maine’s clean ocean and healthy ecosystems to produce the world’s best seafood. We preserve Maine’s working waterfronts by building and supporting marine businesses.

Maine fishermen apply for permits or licenses to harvest a public resource. Sea farmers apply for leases and a series of licenses and permits to access public space and operate their farms raising mussels, oysters, kelp and salmon. No aquaculture leases issued in Maine grant the exclusive use of an area; they all allow for varying degrees of multiple use. Current law prohibits the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) from issuing a lease to a farmer if it does not comply with a series of criteria designed to protect the environment, prevent conflicts with other user groups, prevent interference with navigation and prevent obstruction of riparian landowners’ access to the water. In addition, all aquaculture leases issued in the state of Maine are a contract between the farmer and the state and include a series of conditions that, if violated, trigger the revocation of that lease. To be clear, it is illegal for DMR to issue a lease if it conflicts with an existing commercial fishery. In other words, existing fishing grounds are prioritized over proposed aquaculture sites. The lobbyists want the state Legislature to study this system, costing the state and businesses time and money. This is an attack by a few landowners on the many who work on the water. There have been some contentious ideas, and those who have been through this in the past know we have a system to verify that any development is of benefit to all.

This recent well-funded lobbyist effort by landowners to prevent us from making a living on the waterfront threatens all those who make a living on the sea. The real opposition to lease applications is coming from a few wealthy coastal landowners who do not want to see a working waterfront. These “not in my backyard” folks and their highly paid consultants and lawyers pressure legislators to radically change the rules and regulations that apply to aquaculture. Those rules and regulations are the product of 40 years of public discussion and legislative deliberation. Maine’s aquaculture leasing and environmental monitoring laws are the gold standard; delegations of fishermen, regulators and politicians often visit Maine from other states and countries to see how we manage the aquaculture sector.

Read the full opinion piece at Mount Desert Islander

Mills files proposed moratorium on wind power in heavily fished waters off Maine’s coast

April 30, 2021 — Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is seeking a temporary ban on the development of offshore wind in waters managed by the state.

On Wednesday, Mills introduced legislation – sponsored by Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-York, chairman of the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee – that would impose a 10-year moratorium on new wind power projects in state waters.

In a statement, Mills said the state is “uniquely prepared to grow a strong offshore wind industry, create good-paying trades and technology jobs around the state, and reduce Maine’s crippling dependence on harmful fossil fuels” but not at the expense of the state’s storied fishing industry.

“We will focus these efforts in federal waters farther off our coast, as we responsibly pursue a small research array that can help us establish the best way for Maine to embrace the vast economic and environmental benefits of offshore wind,” she said.

Lawrence said the proposal “strikes the right balance to protect Maine’s fisheries and coastal waters, while continuing to advance the great energy and economic potential for offshore wind energy in federal waters of the Gulf of Maine.”

Read the full story at The Center Square

Mainers rally to oppose offshore wind development

April 30, 2021 — A gathering to oppose offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine brought nearly 500 Mainers to the state capital on Wednesday, April 28. The rally sought to centralize the concerns of Maine’s fishing communities and fishermen who believe they have been overlooked in the siting and development phases for offshore energy buildout on the Gulf of Maine.

At the gathering — organized by the Maine Lobstering Union (Local 207), with support from Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association and in partnership with the Downeast Lobstermen’s Association and Maine Lobstermen’s Association — fishermen voiced concerns regarding the unknown impacts to ocean ecosystems, marine habitats, and the fisheries that have supported coastal communities for centuries.

“Maine lobstermen are stewards of the sea and partake in the most sustainable fishery in the world. Protecting it and its environment for centuries has been our goal,” said Matthew Gilley, a lobsterman from Harpswell, and one of the speakers at the event. “The state of Maine believes it’s a good idea to replace this way of life with unproven foreign-backed power plants in the Gulf of Maine, and we disagree.”

Before the rally, Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced her intention to submit a bill to prohibit the siting of offshore wind within three miles of Maine’s coast for the next 10 years. Maine family fishing businesses and fishing industry organizations have pledged to push the state to provide a clear plan for offshore wind development, as well as a detailed plan outlining the potential of alternate green energy investment opportunities that will protect the Gulf of Maine, our natural resources, and Maine’s working citizens.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

National seafood intel to offer competitive advantage for Maine businesses

April 30, 2021 — Data on national seafood sales is expected to give Maine’s aquaculture and seafood businesses a competitive edge by helping them identify the best prospects for market expansion.

Coastal Enterprises Inc. has acquired competitive national seafood industry sales information as part of its Maine Seafood Marketing Initiative, a pilot effort to establish a state seafood marketing association promoting all of Maine’s seafood products, according to a news release.

The nonprofit is sharing the data with Maine’s aquaculture and seafood industries.

“This intel gives Maine companies a competitive advantage over out-of-state producers and distributers,” Nick Branchina, director of CEI’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Program and principal of the Maine Seafood Marketing Initiative, said in the release.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Norwegian technology tests Maine waters

April 29, 2021 — In Norway, one of the world’s top two producers of farmed salmon, raising fish at sea in closed cages has been tested for nearly a decade. Multiple contained floating systems are in commercial use there now after yielding positive test results. Whether such farms’ scale, though, fit Frenchman Bay, where a ferry, tour boats, fishing vessels and pleasure craft already coexist, is among many questions sparked by American Aquafarms’ plan to grow fish there on a large scale.

On Norway’s northwest coast, beginning in 2016,  the “Eco-cage” system that American Aquafarms’ proposes for Frenchman Bay was tested by its producer, Ecomerden AS, at the salmon farm Sulefisk in the westernmost Solund Isles archipelago for a two-year period. Compared to open-net pens used in Maine, the closed, floating system fared better. In 2018, Ecomerden AS General Manager Jan-Erik Kyrkjebø reported sea lice, a parasite that feeds on salmon skin and accounts for much fish mortality, had ceased as an issue and predators failed to penetrate the ocean pens’ strong, flexible membrane sack. Kyrkjebø also said the Norwegian company’s closed system boosted the salmon’s survival rate and reduced the fish’s grow-out period leading to harvest, according to Undercurrent News, a London-based, independent online journal focused on the global seafood market.

Earlier this year, Ecomerden, whose Eco-cage is proposed for Frenchman Bay, sold its semi-closed system for commercial use to the Norwegian salmon farm Eide Fjordbruk in the southwestern fjord town of Eikelandsosen. Another Norwegian fish farmer, Osland Havbruk, is using the Eco-cage to raise salmon in Norway’s largest and deepest fjord, Sognefjord, on the west coast, according to the Norwegian journal SalmonBusiness. However, Ecomerden’s Eco-cages are not yet being used commercially elsewhere in the world, according to American Aquafarms Vice President Eirik Jors.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

Maine lobstermen rally to stop offshore wind power

April 29, 2021 — The Maine Legislature is about to see a battle over offshore wind power in the Gulf of Maine, two high-profile combatants: Governor Janet Mills facing off against Maine’s lobster industry.

An estimated 400 lobstermen or more left the docks for a rally Wednesday outside the Augusta Civic Center, where the Legislature was meeting, to voice their anger about the proposed development of offshore wind power.

Like South Bristol fisherman Adam Gamage, they say that development is a threat.

“Here we are, we have a very sustainable fishery,” Gamage said, “It’s too bad it’s come to this where they are trying to put an industrialized piece of machinery out in the middle of the ocean (and) they don’t really know what is going to do.”

There is currently a plan by New England Aqua Ventus to build one very large, floating platform with a massive wind turbine mounted on top. It would be located a little more than two miles off Monhegan Island in a site approved by the Maine Legislature more than 10 years ago for that purpose.

The project is designed as a full-size test of a floating platform design from the University of Maine, but also to test how large wind turbines perform in the moving and often harsh environment of the open sea.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

MAINE: Fishermen Making A Stand At Augusta Civic Center

April 29, 2021 — If you notice more vehicles than usual making their way from the Midcoast to Augusta this morning complete with signs, there’s a reason for this rally. It started at 8:00 am at the Augusta civic center the Maine Midcoast Fisherman’s Association is requesting everyone’s support to stop the development of wind turbines off the coast of Maine.

Wind turbines are nothing new in Maine. In fact you can see several on Vinalhaven. They are visible from the mainland and while they are clean energy, do nothing for the view. Now, Governor Mills wants to place these turbines in the Gulf of Maine. The fishermen know this will be detrimental to the marine life and in turn be detrimental to their livelihood.

These turbines can be as tall as 400 feet. They are floating structures designed to harvest the winds well off the coast. Even though they will be several miles out to sea, fishermen believe it will affect the fishing grounds. The turbines need cables to deliver the electricity to the mainland and these cables will prevent ground fishing where they are placed.

Read the full story at B98.5

MAINE: Fishermen’s protest previews offshore wind as potent political issue for Janet Mills

April 29, 2021 — Ongoing friction between fishing interests and Gov. Janet Mills is shaping up to be a major battle in next year’s gubernatorial race as the incumbent’s opponents look to leverage frustration with her long-term offshore wind plan.

Lobstering supporters turned out in droves on Wednesday morning to protest the Mills administration, with people selling T-shirts and water bottles and carrying signs depicting a lobster claw crushing a windmill. A group of attendees laid ropes to illustrate how much space a turbine’s equipment would occupy.

Tensions between Mills and the industry have been steadily rising during her tenure on the issue. A survey boat for the New England Aqua Ventus wind project accused fishing boats of blocking its work this spring. Another 12-turbine research array is planned in the Gulf of Maine. Industry members seem frustrated by Mills’ stance on both projects. It could prove to be a challenge for Mills next year as former Gov. Paul LePage eyes a comeback campaign.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News