Saving Seafood

Senate panel approves marine research funding that Trump wanted to kill

October 4, 2019 — The Senate Appropriations Committee has unanimously approved funding increases to several federal programs critical to Maine’s coastal communities, including ones President Trump had repeatedly proposed eliminating.

The committee approved the fiscal year 2020 budget bill for the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Justice and related science agencies, including provisions to boost funding for the National Sea Grant program by $7 million to $75 million, with $2 million allocated to support research on lobsters and herring (which lobstermen use as bait), and how the rapid warming of the Gulf of Maine affects them. This follows the $2 million awarded from Sea Grant’s fiscal year 2019 budget to lobster researchers at the University of Maine, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve and other institutions.

“These investments will help us to better understand how the lobster stock is reacting to changing environmental conditions and ensure that Maine’s iconic industry that supports thousands of jobs continues to thrive,” Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Thursday in a statement announcing the 31-0 vote. “As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I fought to include these provisions, and I am pleased that they were incorporated in the final package.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Aquaculture Operation to Support Novel Approach to Wild Atlantic Salmon Restoration

October 3, 2019 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will employ a novel approach to rearing Atlantic salmon for restoring native populations on the East Branch of the Penobscot.

The project, funded through a NOAA Section 6 Species Recovery Grant totaling $1,075,000, will involve a partnership between DMR, Cooke Aquaculture USA, US Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, and the Penobscot Indian Nation to grow juvenile Atlantic salmon to adult size in aquaculture pens located near Cutler Maine. The adult salmon will then be released into the East Branch of the Penobscot to spawn, a river with large amounts of high-quality salmon habitat.

Smolts raised from native broodstock by the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the Green Lake National Fish Hatchery in Ellsworth, Maine, and smolts captured in the wild by rotary screw traps will be used to stock the marine net pens in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Smolts will include only those from Penobscot River origin to ensure the genetic integrity of salmon released into the river.

Plans call for increasing the number of smolts captured in the wild from the East Branch to be used to supply juveniles that will be grown out in the net pens. While hatchery spawned fish help ensure an adequate supply of fish for recovery goals, those spawned in the natural environment are more robust due to the impact of natural selection which results in fish that are better suited to survival in the wild.

The smolts will be placed in net pens under a limited-purpose aquaculture lease in Cutler, Maine where they will be fed and managed in cooperation with Cooke Aquaculture USA for 16 to 30 months, during which time they will grow to mature adults. The DMR will hold the lease on the pens while Cooke will supply the pens and feed for the salmon as they grow.

“We are committed to be part of this wild Atlantic salmon enhancement project in Maine. Cooke Aquaculture has the experience working with Atlantic salmon in their natural environment based on proven aquaculture and fish-health science. Working with the Penobscot Nation and government partners, together we will make this restoration program a success by seeing the fish return to their native waters,” said Glenn Cooke, CEO, Cooke Aquaculture USA.

Approximately 5,000 adult fish will be transported from the net pens to target tributaries and the mainstem of the East Branch of the Penobscot River in the fall of 2021 or 2022 where they will find suitable habitat to naturally spawn. This will result in more spawning adults than have been present in the Penobscot River for decades.

While net pens are not new in Maine for cultivating Atlantic salmon, using them to cultivate salmon for conservation purposes at this scale is new in Maine and showing promise in a Bay of Fundy partnership between Cooke and Canadian provincial and federal governments, First Nations and academia.

The Penobscot Indian Nation has inhabited the Penobscot River drainage since time immemorial. The deep cultural, spiritual and historical connections between the Tribe and the Atlantic salmon of the Penobscot River go back thousands of years, said Dan McCaw, Fisheries Program Manager for the Penobscot Nation. The Penobscot Nation is hopeful that this new program can help to restore this iconic species to its ancestral homeland and applauds the collaborative nature of this multi-stakeholder endeavor.

As populations expand, the goal is to build healthy wild populations of Atlantic Salmon on the East Branch, including the potential for downlisting. The estimated 5,000 adults produced by this effort could result in 20 times more eggs in the gravel in the Penobscot River basin compared to existing stocking and natural reproduction, said Sean Ledwin, Director of DMR’s Searun Fisheries and Habitat Division.

The program will involve surveys of redds in spawning areas to assess spawning success of released fish. Released fish will also be tracked using Passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) and radio telemetry. Electrofishing surveys and use of rotary screw traps, along with genetic analysis, will be used to assess the abundance of offspring from this effort.

The program will also include a public outreach effort undertaken by the department and other program partners that will provide information on salmon and other sea-run species, and the impact of protecting ecosystems on which they rely.

https://www.maine.gov/dmr/news-details.html?id=1597983

Feds Eye Lobstermen’s Concerns About Plan to Save Whales

October 3, 2019 — The federal government says it’s considering the concerns of a lobster fishermen’s group about a plan to try to save an endangered species of whale.

The plan concerns the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers only about 400. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association pulled its support from the plan this summer because of concerns it placed too much onus on lobstermen, who would be called to remove miles of trap rope from the water.

The lobstermen’s group’s concerns included that right whales are also subject to entanglement in fishing gear in Canadian waters. Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, released a letter Wednesday that said the U.S. is working with Canada to reduce that problem.

Read the full story at NECN

MAINE: Ocean temps full of ‘surprises’ – and not the good kind

October 2, 2019 — Maine fishermen face plenty of challenges including proposed whale protection rules, depredation of the state’s softshell clam stock by invasive green crabs, restrictions on seaweed harvesting and rising operating expenses.

It isn’t only the cost of running a fishing operation that’s rising, though.

Two new, recently published studies report that marine ecosystems around the world are experiencing unusually high ocean temperatures more frequently than researchers previously expected. These warming events, including marine heat waves, are disrupting marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them.

Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, led the study “Challenges to natural and human communities from surprising ocean temperatures,” published in early August. Working with him on the project were researchers from several Maine-based institutions as well as scientists from laboratories in California and Colorado.

Pershing previously identified the Gulf of Maine as one of the most rapidly warming ecosystems in the global ocean. This time around, Pershing and his colleagues examined 65 large marine ecosystems between 1854 and 2018 to identify the frequency of “surprising” ocean temperatures, which they defined as an annual mean temperature substantially above the mean for the previous three decades.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Why Whales Are Worrying Lobstermen in Maine

October 1, 2019 — Along the rocky coast of Maine, lobstermen are worried new federal requirements to clear fishing lines from the path of endangered whales will damage their iconic New England industry.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agency is trying to save North Atlantic right whales that are dying at an alarming rate in U.S. and Canadian waters, often after getting tangled in fishing gear or hit by ships. The still-forming federal regulations will cover other parts of New England, but Maine, where lobstermen dangle more than 800,000 lines from buoys to ocean-floor traps in their busiest months, has the most at stake.

Meeting an aggressive federal target for reducing whale hazards could mean pulling half those lines from the water. The state’s lobster industry and political leaders say this is untenable for the armada of mostly small lobster boats fishing the Gulf of Maine. It also misses the target, they say, since most dead whales have recently turned up in Canada, and none in Maine.

“We’re not unwilling to adapt, we just want to adapt in a way that will actually benefit the species,” said Chris Welch, a 31-year-old lobsterman from Kennebunk, Maine, regarding the whales. “We don’t want to go extinct, either.”

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal

Cod fishing off New England shut down for months

September 27, 2019 — The federal government is shutting down recreational cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine for several months.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says possession of Gulf of Maine cod will be prohibited from Oct. 1 to April 30. The Gulf of Maine touches Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire and is a hotbed of a recreational and commercial fishing.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Lobster industry uses video, social media to fight whale regulations

September 26, 2019 — Maine lobstermen and the many businesses that depend on them are anxiously waiting for decisions on new regulations to protect right whales. The proposal for tough new restrictions has had the industry concerned for months.

“Maine lobstermen are extremely worried about the consequence of the whale rules. They have a lot on the line with this,” says Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Federal officials have said they want the lobster industry to reduce the number of “vertical lines” (ropes) in the water by as much as 60%, to prevent right whales from becoming tangled in them. Lobster industry leaders and others have said over the summer they worry that will dramatically reduce the number of traps, and hurt incomes, or result in having to fish long strings of traps, called trawls, which would be dangerous.

And fishermen have complained for years that they are not the ones posing a threat to the right whales.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Recreational Fishermen: Gulf of Maine Cod Season Closes September 30

September 26, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Gulf of Maine cod season closes after September 30, 2019.

Beginning on Tuesday, October 1, possession of Gulf of Maine cod is prohibited for the remainder of the fishing year (October 1-April 30). Recreational anglers can still fish for and retain Gulf of Maine haddock, up to 15 fish per person per day.

If you have a mobile device, you can use the FishRules app to check recreational fishing regulations.

Read the full release here

MAINE: On Lobster Day, celebrating our industry and addressing the threats

September 24, 2019 — This week, we celebrate one of Maine’s most famous residents — and no, I’m not talking about Stephen King or the couple who say “buttery flaky crust” in the Dysart’s commercial. Actually, this week marks National Lobster Day, when we celebrate not only our favorite crustacean, but all the men and women who help this industry and our state thrive.

Folks from away might not understand why we are celebrating the lobster, but Maine people know that this shellfish isn’t just a delicious meal — it’s a vital part of our state’s economy, supporting communities up and down our coast. Maine people also know that even as we celebrate lobsters, this industry is facing serious challenges — from well-intentioned but harmful potential regulations, to poorly designed foreign policy emanating from Washington, to the looming threat of warming waters due to climate change. So today, more than any other time in the past, it’s important to emphasize the value of this economic driver, and push back on the threats it faces.

One of the most pressing concerns facing our lobster industry is the danger of potentially misguided federal regulations to protect right whales. Now, let’s be clear: everyone, including lobstermen, wants to protect this endangered species. We just want to make sure we’re making changes based on sound data; and at this point, it is not clear that Maine’s lobster fishery is a significant contributor to right whale deaths. The possible changes threaten livelihoods and lives by calling for expensive and dangerous new equipment configurations. Even worse, these changes would disproportionately affect Maine lobstermen while not holding Canadian fisheries to the same standards.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Scientists blast Maine lobstermen’s whale safety stance

September 24, 2019 — Eighteen scientists who work in North Atlantic right whale research and rescue have said the Maine lobster industry is “significantly underestimating” the harm their equipment causes.

The scientists have called on the state of Maine to support the National Marine Fisheries Service in developing new rules to protect the whales from lobster gear injuries.

“Reducing entanglement in East Coast waters of the United States is a critical part of a comprehensive strategy for right whale survival and recovery,” Scott Kraus, chief scientist for marine mammals at New England Aquarium’s Anderson Center for Ocean Life, and Mark Baumgartner, associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and chairman of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, said in a letter Tuesday to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

In addition to Kraus and Baumgartner, other scientists at WHOI and the Anderson Center for Ocean Life in Boston signed the letter, as well as leaders from the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which has an operations center in Yarmouth Port.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times