Saving Seafood

In the face of harsh tariffs, the Maine lobster industry fights to save the export business, and innovate to find new U.S. Markets

November 15, 2019 — Lobster from Stonington, Maine’s biggest lobster harbor, used to travel around the world. Now, because of issues with tariffs in both Europe and China, much of the catch stays closer to home. So far, fishermen haven’t felt the loss of export business in their paychecks, but many know that Maine’s signature seafood needs the most comprehensive market possible to make the most money.

Longtime fisherman Mike Billings watched the dock crew unload his day’s catch, and said exports are needed.

“My grandfather, I fished with him when I was a kid, and he said if we could just get the lobsters out to the rest of the world, not just this country, we could get a decent price for them. “

Maine has had an export market for many years, but that business started growing significantly as lobster dealers were able to open up the market to China. According to figures from the Maine International Trade Center, exports of live lobster to China grew from 26 million pounds in 2014 to a high of 56 million in 2017. Dealers like Hugh Reynolds of Greenhead Lobster say the business was heading for more growth, primarily the live lobster market. 

Read the full story at News Center Maine

MAINE: Lobstermen’s Association rejects DMR whale proposal

November 14, 2019 — Efforts to find consensus over how to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in fishing gear without decimating the Maine lobster industry took a blow last week.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) announced that it would not support a plan developed by the Department of Marine Resources “because it seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery” and “creates unresolved safety and operational challenges for some sectors of the lobster industry,” MLA Executive Director Patrice McCarron said in an email Saturday.

The MLA decision came late last week after DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher held a series of meetings with lobstermen in Ellsworth, Waldoboro and South Portland.

The meetings were held to present the department’s response to a proposal by the National Marine Fisheries Service that would require a 50 percent reduction in the number of vertical endlines, which connect lobster traps to buoys on the surface, used by Maine lobstermen.

The goal, according to NMFS, was to reduce the risk of right whale entanglement in fishing gear by 60 percent.

Throughout the summer, DMR developed an alternative plan that called for many Maine lobstermen to “trawl up” by fishing more traps in strings attached to one or two endlines.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Maine lobstermen group pans state whale plan

November 13, 2019 — The state of Maine has opted to go it alone against NOAA Fisheries and the plan drafted by the federal Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction team to impose new right whale protections. But that decision seems to have hit a sizable snag.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the state’s largest and most influential lobster trade group, has said it will not support the state’s autonomous draft plan, not even over the more rigorous and restrictive plan developed by the take reduction team.

According to the MLA, both plans place too much onus and blame on the state’s $500 million lobster industry for entanglements that may lead to critical injuries or deaths for the imperiled North Atlantic right whales. Estimates are there are only about 400 of the whales.

“The Maine Lobstermen’s Association voted not to support the Maine Department of Marine Resources whale plan because it seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery as demonstrated in MLA’s analysis of (NOAA Fisheries) data,” the MLA said in a statement. “The MLA conducted a thorough analysis of fishing gear removed from entangled right whales which revealed that lobster is the least prevalent gear. The MLA is also concerned the state’s plan creates unsolved safety and operational challenges for some sectors in the lobster industry.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Second Maine lobstering group rejects state’s plan for protecting whales

November 11, 2019 — The state’s biggest lobster trade group will not support Maine’s right whale protection plan, saying it asks the state’s most valuable fishery to make concessions that exceed the risk it poses to the endangered species.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association staked out its position on the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ proposal with a board vote Thursday night. Director Patrice McCarron would not disclose the vote breakdown, calling that a private matter. The group did, however, release a statement about why it couldn’t support the plan.

“It seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery,” the statement said of the state plan. “The MLA conducted a thorough analysis of fishing gear removed from entangled right whales which revealed that lobster is the least prevalent gear.”

The MLA has decided to come up with its own whale protection plan based on right-sized risks posed by the industry that it will submit to the National Marine Fisheries Service. The federal agency is drafting a new regulation, which is due out early next year, to protect right whales from fishing entanglements.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine Lobstermen’s Association won’t support new right whale rules

November 11, 2019 — After a week of hearings on a proposal to implement new rules to protect endangered right whales, a leading group has decided not support the plan.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources held three hearings on the plan, including one in South Portland Wednesday, to take public comments, most coming from lobstermen against the proposal.

On Thursday, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association voted “not to support” the plan “because it seeks reductions that exceed the documented risk posed by the Maine lobster fishery,” the association said in a statement posted on its website.

The plan calls for a reduction of the vertical lobster trap lines in the Gulf of Maine. Maine fishery officials say they would remove 25 percent of the lines, not including an exemption for lobstermen who fish inshore waters.

Read the full story at WPFO

BANGOR DAILY NEWS: Better marking for lobster gear can help answer important whale question

November 8, 2019 — “I don’t like this,” isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for a government proposal — particularly when those words are coming from the head of the state agency making the proposal.

But that’s what Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher told lobstermen at a meeting in Ellsworth Monday night, where he outlined the department’s new plan to reduce the risk posed to endangered North Atlantic right whales from Maine lobster gear.

While Keliher’s presentation may have lacked enthusiasm, it included a healthy dose of pragmatic reality.

A couple of fishermen did signal a willingness to give the state proposal a try, but frustration seemed the prevailing response Monday night. Keliher clearly shared some of that frustration, but correctly pointed out that the industry and the state find themselves facing pressure from the federal government and in the courts, where conservation groups are suing for stronger action to protect the endangered right whale.

The state plan is a counter offer of sorts to a federal proposal that would require a 50 percent reduction in the vertical lines in the water that connect to lobster traps. Keliher said the state plan would amount to a 25 percent line reduction.

Read the full opinion piece at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Goodbye herring, hello squid: Fishermen’s catch likely to change in warming Gulf of Maine

November 8, 2019 — In a warmer future, Maine fishermen will probably be catching squid or mackerel, not cod or herring.

They will probably have to travel farther and fine-tune their gear to catch the cold-water species that remain in the Gulf of Maine, like lobster and sea scallops, and be ready to fish the new species that will be calling a warmer Gulf of Maine home by then, like black sea bass.

“We face some challenges moving forward that will require adaptation to maintain our vibrant fisheries,” Katherine Mills, a research scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, said in an address Thursday, the fourth day of the five-day Gulf of Maine 2050 Symposium in Portland.

Mills gave the audience a peek at work that GMRI scientists and economists are doing to explore how New England fishing communities will be affected by rising sea temperatures in the Gulf of Maine, which is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the world’s oceans. The Gulf is expected to warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2055.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine Scallop Lottery To Let New People In Lucrative Fishery

November 8, 2019 — Maine fishing regulators are collecting the final entrants into a lottery to participate in one of the most lucrative marine industries in the state.

The state uses a lottery system to give out new licenses for the scallop fishery. Friday’s the final day for fishermen to enter the lotteries.

Maine scallops were worth more than $10.50 per pound at the docks last year. The scallops often sell for more than $20 per pound in grocery stores.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

MAINE: Lobstermen weigh-in on new restrictions to protect right whales

November 7, 2019 — Lobstermen had the chance to weigh-in Wednesday night on potential new restrictions, designed to protect right whales.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources held the meeting in South Portland, to get feedback on the current plan, based on data from a federal team.

That plan calls for a reduction of the vertical lobster trap lines in the Gulf of Maine.

Maine fishery officials say they would remove 25 percent of the lines, not including an exemption for lobstermen who fish inshore waters.

The department says they working to find a balance, meanwhile lobstermen say they have done nothing wrong.

Read the full story at WGME

Slower Lobster Season Means High Prices, Worried Fishermen

November 7, 2019 — A drop in the catch of lobsters off Maine has customers paying more and fishermen concerned about the future.

Maine’s harvest of lobsters was about 40% off last year’s pace through September, and while October and November tend to be months of heavy lobster catch, wholesale prices have soared amid the slower supply. Live 1.25-pound lobsters were wholesaling for nearly $10 per pound in the New England market Nov. 1, an increase of nearly 20 percent from a year ago.

The drag in catch has also contributed to an uptick in price at some retail fish markets. Some stores in Maine, which is the center of the U.S. lobster industry, are selling lobsters for $12 per pound. That is about 10% more than a year ago.

The price of lobster is impacted by numerous factors, including foreign demand, beyond just the size of the catch. But such a precipitous drop in supply is bound to create “tremendous upward price pressure,” said John Sackton, an industry analyst and publisher of SeafoodNews.com.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New York Times