Saving Seafood

MAINE: Sea farmers say bill to prevent large-scale aquaculture could hurt entire industry

April 14, 2021 — A Maine legislator who hopes to stave off industrial aquaculture and protect lobstermen and women from what he sees as a “large storm” headed for the industry is proposing a bill that small aquaculture farmers say could sink them.

The bill proposed by Rep. Robert Alley, D-Beals, aims to “protect Maine’s ocean waters, support robust regulatory oversight and the long-term health of the aquaculture industry,” according to a concept draft considered by the Committee on Marine Resources Tuesday.

The bill would revamp the permitting framework for state aquaculture leases, restricting the size of a lease and the number of leases and acres a person can hold, along with requiring leases be turned over to the state when they expire and removing an exemption from the Natural Resources Protection Act for leases over 5 acres. The bill also would prompt a review of the resources available to the state Department of Marine Resources’ aquaculture division.

Alley’s bill also would require that the department “convene stakeholder meetings to develop a strategic aquaculture plan with input from leaders in the aquaculture, lobster, fishing, tourism and recreation industries, as well as experts from the environmental and water quality regulatory community.”

While preventing large-scale aquaculture seems to be a primary goal of the proposed legislation, L.D. 1146, small sea farmers told committee on Tuesday that the changes would hurt them.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Fishing industry blasts Netflix ‘Seaspiracy’ documentary for suggested seafood boycott

April 12, 2021 — A Netflix original documentary about the environmental impact of fishing has drawn the ire of local and national seafood experts, who have criticized “Seaspiracy” for a portrayal of the commercial fishing industry that they say is dangerous and misleading.

A group of industry professionals shared what they thought the 2021 documentary got wrong and what they wish it had done instead during a virtual panel hosted by the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association on Friday.

The controversial movie encourages viewers to boycott the seafood industry as the most effective way to help save the oceans. It is directed by British filmmaker Ali Tabrizi and is from the same team that created “Cowspiracy,” a similar film about the farming industry.

“Seaspiracy,” which has come under fire for using questionable data and studies, explores the role of plastic, whaling, marine parks and others for their impact on the oceans, but lays most of the blame on the commercial fishing industry, claiming that the idea of a sustainable fishery is a myth and accusing the industry of mass animal abuses.

It paints a dramatic picture: victims of the slave trade warn Tabrizi that his life is at risk if he keeps filming; dozens of dead sharks have their fins hacked off on a warehouse floor; the water turns red as whales are slaughtered; the filmmakers don hidden spy cameras and are tailed by police.

The imagery is effective, but critics warn that its overarching message, that there’s no such thing as a sustainable fishery and that the only way to save the oceans is to give up seafood, is not only fishy, but flat out wrong.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Mitchell Center hosts talk about alternative seafood networks and fishing community resilience April 19

April 9, 2021 — The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine will host a talk about how alternative seafood networks can support resilient fishing communities from 3–4 p.m. on Monday, April 19.

Global seafood trade is at an all-time high, with an estimated 36 percent of seafood worldwide traded across international borders at a value of $148 billion. In the U.S., 71 percent of the seafood consumed is imported. The benefits of this trade, however, are not evenly distributed and often disadvantage rural communities, small- and mid-sized harvesters and low-income nations.

In this talk, “A Fishy Tail About Our Food System,” Joshua Stoll will describe the recent emergence of alternative seafood networks in North America and their role in supporting resilient fishing communities, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. He will also discuss ongoing work to better integrate seafood into local food systems.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Days Out Meeting Scheduled for April 22, 2021

April 9, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Atlantic Herring Management Board members from the states of Maine, New Hampshire and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will meet via webinar on April 22, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., to discuss days out measures for the 2021 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishing season. Days out measures can include specification of the number of consecutive landings days, weekly landings limits, and restrictions on at-sea transfers. The webinar and call information is included below:

Atlantic Herring Days Out Meeting
April 22, 2021
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

You can join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone at the following link:
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/916881365. If you are new to GoToMeeting, you can download the app ahead of time (click here) and be ready before the meeting starts. For audio, the meeting will be using the computer voice over internet (VoIP), but if you are joining the webinar from your phone only, you can dial in at +1 (224) 501-3412 and enter access code 916-881-365 when prompted. The webinar will start at 9:30 a.m., 30 minutes early, to troubleshoot audio as necessary.

Federally-permitted Herring Category A vessels must declare into the Area 1A fishery at least 45 days prior to the start of the fishing season. Small-mesh bottom trawl vessels with a federal Herring Category C or D permit must declare into the Area 1A fishery by June 1, 2021. States will send additional correspondence regarding the notification procedure.

The 2021 Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) is 1,391 metric tons (mt). After adjusting for the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL), the Area 1A sub-ACL is 1,252 mt. There is no research-set-aside for 2021 because the participants in the RSA program will not continue their RSA project in 2021.

In October 2020, the Board established the following seasonal allocations for the 2021 Area 1A sub-ACL: 72.8% available from June 1 – September 30 and 27.2% available from October 1 – December 31. Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per day harvested from Area 1A until June 1, 2021.

Please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0716 or efranke@asmfc.org for more information.

A copy of the meeting announcement can be found at: http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerringApr2021DaysOutMeetingNotice.pdf

MAINE: Dock Talk: An array of risks

April 8, 2021 — In June 2019, Maine’s Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill requiring the state Public Utilities Commission to approve the contract for an offshore wind pilot project in Maine. This project will operate an 11-MW turbine off of Monhegan Island.

Though touted as research to explore clean energy alternatives, this project is an experiment. And during this experiment, power generated will be sold for profit, likely to out of state consumers. Information from this research will not just benefit scientists, but also big-money energy investors who want to develop wind farms throughout the Gulf of Maine.

“When you a look at a chart of where all the preferred wind farm leases are on the East Coast and compare that to the chart NMFS has made showing the most heavily fished areas, almost every lease is based directly on or adjacent to the best grounds,” said fisherman Glen Libby.

There is a lot more at stake here than may meet the eye. Drilling the ocean meters down, placing cables and topping with an artificial cover for miles will at the very least disrupt and at the very worst destroy countless marine life habitats, ecosystems and breeding grounds, which will influence the food chain from there on up, not to mention the unknown long-term effects chemicals coating the underground cables may have on the environment and consumers.

Electromagnetic fields and noise from offshore wind turbines can interrupt the natural cycles of robust native species as well as endangered and protected marine species — including right whales, for which lobstermen have changed fishing practices and gear to avoid doing any potential harm.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Dock price: The cost of cutting access to healthy fisheries

April 7, 2021 — In the early 1980s, when I was fishing a dayboat dragger out of Ogunquit, Maine, a noise ordinance came before the town meeting under the terms of which, as we understood them, fishermen would not be able to start their engines before 7 a.m.

On the bait wharf, we viewed the proposal as the child of well-heeled folks from away who liked the idea of water views and fishing boats but drew the line at having to listen to diesel engines starting up before breakfast.

Talk of the ordinance created quite a stir in the run-up to town meeting, but not so much among the fishermen. We would fish on our schedule, noise ordinance or no.

But that was then. Tourism was not yet a year-round industry nor was new-home construction a way of life. Coastal communities were still home to “working class” families, and during winter it was common to find laid-off construction workers, restaurant help and others on the back deck of fishing vessels trying to earn a paycheck. As a result, the connection to fishing was not casual, but intrinsic. Fishing was woven into the fabric of coastal communities.

Much has changed, especially, for example, in New England’s groundfish ports. The wharves in Portland, Maine, and Gloucester, Mass., that I scrambled over in my youth are no longer jammed with trawlers rafting two or three deep, to say nothing of the chandleries, gear lofts and fuel boats that have disappeared.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MAINE: Elver season is now underway

April 7, 2021 — The elver season is already underway, but it likely won’t heat up in earnest until temperatures ratchet up a few more degrees. 

“People ain’t catching a whole lot right now,” said Ellsworth-based Darrell Young, the co-director of the Maine Elver Fishermen’s Association. 

The multimillion-dollar fishery opened on March 22, but local fishermen have reported little action while waiting for waters to warm up. 

They chalk the delay up to recent rains, which have kept the waters cool and flows fast, less than ideal conditions for the small spaghetti-like young eels that migrate upriver from the sea.   

As of April 1, a total of 315 pounds of the state’s 7,556-pound quota had been caught, according to the state Department of Marine Resources, though the agency cautioned that those figures were “extremely preliminary.”  

The Passamaquoddy Tribe fared better, catching 716 pounds of the tribe’s 1,288-pound quota, according to the DMR report.  

The elver season runs through June 7, or until the quota is met.  

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Deal on offshore wind jobs highlights tensions with Maine fishermen

April 7, 2021 –Wednesday’s announcement that Maine organized labor and the developer of a pilot offshore wind farm are partnering to train and hire construction workers took place against a backdrop of rising tensions between two marine-related job creators.

One, the fishing sector, is longtime symbol of Maine’s independent work ethic and an economic mainstay in many coastal communities. The other, offshore wind, is part of a fast-evolving clean-energy industry that’s taking shape along the Eastern Seaboard.

With offshore wind, the interests of these two water-dependent activities are colliding. At issue is access to the ocean and to what degree floating turbine platforms, subsea anchoring systems and  buried cables can coexist with boats that haul lobster traps and drag for ground fish and scallops.

The job projections for offshore wind are tantalizing. New England Aqua Ventus, the developer of a demonstration floating wind turbine planned for construction next year off Monhegan Island, said building a single floating platform will create hundreds of union-wage jobs. Full-scale commercial wind farms with multiple turbines could require thousands of skilled workers, the company says.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Northeast herring: As catch limit screws tighten, bait dealers seek alternative sources

April 5, 2021 — New rules in the herring fishery aimed at improving sustainability for the important lobster bait fish are impacting fishermen, dealers and others.

The fishery, mostly centered in Massachusetts and Maine, grew in the 1960s but has been in decline since the 1980s. In 2018, 43,878 metric tons were landed. But by 2019, 12,998 mt (valued at $9.72 million) was landed. 2020 landings were 9,368.5 mt (valued at $6.77 million), according to NOAA economist Min-Yang Lee.

The 2021 fishing season started Jan. 1, with an annual catch limit of 11,571 mt, divided among four herring management areas. However, once Framework 8 to the herring management plan is implemented, the total ACL will be set to 4,128 mt. The 2020 stock assessment shows spawning stock biomass to be at its lowest value since the late 1980s.

Wayne Reichle, president of Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May N.J., calls the quota reductions “a disaster for the region’s herring fishery.” Reichle says fleet has stayed within quota the last few years, so the low biomass and poor recruitment is “attributable to the stress of a cold-water fish being challenged by a warming ocean.” Many say it is too early to predict to what extent herring supplies will impact prices, given the newest reductions. In mid-March, herring prices in Maine were about $250 per barrel at the docks.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Maine Cod Fishery Posted Smallest Catch in History in 2020

April 5, 2021 — One of the oldest marine industries in the United States suffered the least productive year in its recorded history last year, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Maine cod fishery stretches back centuries but has been in dire straits in recent years because of tough new management measures and a lack of fish.

The 2020 fishery brought 58,730 pounds of fish to the docks. That is more than 20,000 pounds less than 2017, which previously was the least productive year. The fishery routinely topped 10 million pounds per year in the 1980s and early ’90s.

Members of the industry said the pandemic played a role in last year’s low total because of such factors as the disruption to the broader seafood industry and the closure of restaurants.

“We had a pretty lean year,” said Jodie York, general manager of Portland Fish Exchange, a Maine auction house. “It really is in large part due to the pandemic.”

The fishery has also struggled in recent years because of cod population levels that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has described as “significantly below target levels.” The cod population off New England has suffered due to past years of overfishing and environmental change, marine regulators have said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News