Saving Seafood

Maine Gov. Janet Mills Warns Draft Right Whale Biological Opinion Will be Devastating For Lobstermen

February 24, 2021 — Maine’s Governor Janet Mills is speaking out on the North Atlantic right whale draft Biological Opinion. The Maine Department of Marine Resources filed comments with NOAA late last week regarding the draft Biological Opinion for 10 fishery management plans in the Greater Atlantic Region, focusing on the North Atlantic Right Whale. Governor Mills’ “grave” concerns were outlined in a cover letter included with the DMR’s comments.

One of the issues regarding the draft Biological Opinion is that it calls for a 98% risk reduction over 10 years in U.S. fixed gear fisheries, including lobster. And as Mills wrote, “In the absence of a significant change, this Framework will necessitate the complete reinvention of the Maine lobster fishery.” Fishermen would not only be limited in putting out traps, but they would also have to invest in new gear. The results would be economically devastating to the state’s coastal economy.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Maine lobstermen worried about new federal regulations

February 24, 2021 — New federal regulations aimed at saving endangered whales could have serious consequences for Maine’s lobster industry.

“The issue isn’t in Maine waters,” Maine lobsterman John Drouin said.

For 42 years, Drouin has trapped lobsters in Downeast Maine.

He and every other Maine lobsterman are now bracing for proposed new rules intended to protect the North Atlantic right whale.

They call for a 60 percent reduction in the risk lobster lines pose to right whales, by increasing the number of traps per line, and adding weak points to the vertical lines between buoys and traps, where right whales can get entangled.

Read the full story at WGME

MAINE: Lobstermen, environmentalists agree right whale plan is flawed, for different reasons

February 24, 2021 — Environmentalists campaigning to save the endangered right whale and lobstermen working to protect their industry agree that a federal proposal to protect the species is flawed but for different reasons, with the fishermen saying it goes too far and environmentalists saying it doesn’t go far enough.

In a virtual public hearing Tuesday night, representatives from both groups asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to take a second look at its proposed changes to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan.

The proposal aims to reduce the risk to the North Atlantic right whales by at least 60 percent and includes plans to modify gear configurations to reduce the number of vertical lines by requiring more traps between buoy lines, introducing weak insertions or weak rope into buoy lines so that a rope will break if a whale becomes entangled, modify existing seasonal restricted areas to allow ropeless fishing and add additional seasonal restricted areas that are closed to buoy lines but allow ropeless fishing.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine’s governor outlines “grave” concerns regarding right whale lobster measures

February 23, 2021 — U.S. State of Maine Governor Janet Mills has written a letter to NOAA Fisheries outlining “grave concern” over the latest Biological Opinion that has been drafted for 10 fishery management plans in the Greater Atlantic Region – including the state’s lucrative lobster industry.

Mills, in a letter to NOAA Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator Michael Pentony, said the framework could have drastic consequences for the state’s lobster industry, which was a USD 485 million (EUR 399 million) industry in 2019 and is by far Maine’s most valuable fishery. The framework is being established in order to increase protection for the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MAINE: New England Aqua Ventus moving forward with turbine

February 23, 2021 — New England Aqua Ventus (NEAV), formerly known as Maine Aqua Ventus, will soon begin ramping up efforts to put a single 10-12 megawatt turbine about two miles south of Monhegan Island. The project seeks to lay over 20 miles of cable several feet under the ocean floor from East Boothbay shores to the site.

The floating semisubmersible hull is a University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center design patented as VolturnUS. The UMaine-based researchers and engineers constructed and ran a 1:8, one-to-eight, version of a six megawatt turbine off the coast of Castine.

The project scored $39.9 million in U.S. Department of Energy research and development funds beating out 70 other public and private projects; however, the project cost, about $100 million, and other snags along the way kept the project relatively dormant until Gov. Janet Mills signed a law in November 2019 directing Maine Public Utilities Commission to approve the project’s contract. This paved the way for Aqua Ventus to sign a 20-year power-purchase agreement at above-market rates with Central Maine Power.

When the project rebranded in August 2020 as NEAV, partnering UMaine with Mitsubishi subsidiary Diamond Offshore Wind and German utilities giant RWE Renewables, the two-turbine project morphed into a singular larger one. Since then, NEAV has waited for the COVID-19 pandemic to quiet down before attacking the project in earnest and connecting with the coastal and fishing communities.

Read the full story at The Boothbay Register

Lobster research explores ocean warming effects

February 22, 2021 — A team of researchers from the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center in Walpole and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay and the Maine Department of Marine Resources in West Boothbay Harbor recently published their research on the effects of ocean warming and acidification on gene expression in the earliest life stages of the American lobster.

The work was published in the scientific journal Ecology and Evolution with collaborators from the University of Prince Edward Island and Dalhousie University in Canada.

The team’s experiments examined the gene regulatory response of post-larval lobsters to the separate and combined effects of warming and acidification anticipated by the end of the 21st century. They found that genes regulating a range of physiological functions, from those controlling shell formation to the immune response, are either up- or down-regulated. Importantly, they observed that the two stressors combined induced a greater gene regulatory response than either stressor alone.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

BRENNAN STRONG: Maine lobstermen and fisheries regulators need more time to assess new whale rules

February 19, 2021 — I am a 22-year-old commercial lobsterman. I got my lobster license at 11 years old and I have poured my heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into building my business ever since. I am writing out of deep concern for the future of the lobster fishery because of the newly proposed right whale regulations.

For over 100 years, this industry has been the role model for a sustainable and honorable fishery. We throw back more lobsters than we keep every day, as well as remove litter consistently from the bays where we work. This industry has given thousands of people opportunities to work, dream, and contribute to coastal communities. Lobstering is a way of life and is vital for Maine and its people.

However, the Center for Biological Diversity v. Ross court ruling from Judge James Boasberg requiring the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to have new right whale regulations and a new biological opinion by May 31, 2021 is dangerously premature. The problem is that May 31 is too soon to properly evaluate the scientific and real-life factors at play. The entanglement statistics contain many assumptions and more time is needed to make sure everything is fact-based.

The significant threats to right whales have been and continue to be vessel strikes and entanglement with Canadian fishing gear, not Maine lobster gear. Those threats are not discussed thoroughly in the draft biological opinion, which states:

“NMFS is conducting a review of our vessel strike reduction measures … as it pertains to right whale management. … This review is expected to be released soon.”

Read the full opinion piece at the Bangor Daily News

The pandemic could change U.S. fisheries forever. Will it be for better or for worse?

February 19, 2021 — Not unlike its effect on humans, the pandemic’s impact on the seafood industry has been variable, erratic, often devastating. The first symptoms appeared long before Covid-19 gained a stronghold on U.S. shores, as China went into its first lockdown and a critical export market disappeared overnight—seafood processors and dealers in Maine saw international demand for lobsters temporarily vanish. Then as social distancing rules kicked in here, another major organ of the U.S. supply chain—restaurants, where most seafood purchases are made—fell limp. Then Covid outbreaks at processing plants caused the system to further buckle, leaving many fishermen with nowhere to sell their catch. Prices for many species plummeted. Some fishers gave up for the season, leaving boats tied up at the docks.

“It wasn’t worth it,” recalled Brian Pearce, a commercial fisherman based in Portland, Maine, who catches pollock, hake, and cod, and has barely fished since the pandemic started. “The price was to the point where you’re not going to make enough money.”

To many in the food industry, the pandemic’s impact has exposed the fundamental vulnerabilities of a system that has long favored efficiency over resilience.  Like supply chains that draw products from many sources but are ultimately contingent on single outlets (e.g., export markets or restaurants). Or the fact that the majority of U.S.-caught seafood is exported to other countries, but—paradoxically—most seafood Americans eat is imported.

Read the full story at The Counter

MAINE: Lobstermen fear new rules as Biden revokes Trump executive orders on regulation

February 18, 2021 — New executive orders are flying off President Joe Biden’s desk.

Many of those orders seek to reinstate regulations lifted by former President Donald Trump or enact new ones.

Mainers who make a living on the water are particularly concerned about new regulations, and Maine’s Congressional delegation is concerned, as well.

They’ve sent multiple letters to federal agencies, attempting to inform the rulemaking process on fishery management plans.

Thousands of lobstermen say they fear that new regulations could leave them trapped.

“It could put a few of the smaller guys right out of business because they can’t compete with it,” lobsterman George Anderson said.

Conservation groups say it’s endangered whales that are feeling the pinch as they get tangled in rope.

Read the full story at WGME

MAINE: Local legislators float several fisheries bills

February 18, 2021 — The 130th Maine Legislature has released a list of bills proposed in the House and Senate, and local representatives are focused on the commercial fishing industry, alongside other constituent concerns.

The lobster fishery, in particular, is grappling with the prospect of offshore wind energy development and conservation measures, both of which could affect lobstermen and their livelihood.

While more than 1,600 bills have been introduced since the Legislature opened session on Dec. 2, 2020, many are just working titles as the proposed legislation is prepared for committee review.

Fisherman and state Rep. William “Billy Bob” Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) is sponsoring “An Act to Prohibit Offshore Wind Energy Development” (LD 101). Last November, Governor Janet Mills proposed a floating offshore research array of wind energy turbines in the Gulf of Maine, and on Jan. 25 confirmed the project. No decision has been made on a site. After an outcry from the fishing industry, she also has proposed a 10-year moratorium on new wind energy development in Maine-managed waters.

Mills has said that by “focusing on floating offshore technology deep in the Gulf of Maine where the wind is strongest, we will protect Maine’s maritime heritage and coastal economy while being out front in this new competitive industry.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American