Saving Seafood

Waters off the coast of Maine vulnerable to changing climate

September 16, 2019 — From the one-lane bridge over the Little River at low water, you can see men hunched over the mudflats, hundreds of yards from shore, flipping the sea bottom with their pitchfork-like hoes to reveal the clams hiding there.

The clams, the basis of livelihood for generations of diggers from Cape Porpoise to Lubec, are back, at least for now, their numbers slowly recovering from a climate-driven disaster that will almost certainly strike again.

Six years ago, after the Gulf of Maine warmed to unprecedented levels, green crabs flooded over these northern embayments of Casco Bay like a plague of locusts, tearing away seagrass meadows, pockmarking salt marshes with their burrows, and devouring most every mussel and soft-shell clam in their path.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Right whales and lobsters: what to do?

September 16, 2019 — When the Maine Lobstermen’s Association informed the National Marine Fisheries Service at the end of August that it was withdrawing its support for the agency’s proposed whale protection rules, it also offered a list of 10 “actions” NMFS should take.

The proposed rules could force lobstermen to remove half their vertical buoy lines from the waters of the Gulf of Maine. The Lobstermen’s Association in its letter offered 10 alternative suggestions “to develop an effective right whale protection program.”

The suggestions, most of which dealt with the way NMFS collected, interpreted or disseminated the data on which it based its proposals, ranged from the general to the extremely specific.

The association called on the fisheries service to “publish a thorough analysis of its own data regarding known sources of entanglement risk to right whales,” and to “conduct a new analysis of the risk reduction target” based on MLA-supplied data and to “reconsider” the risk reduction role in light of what the group described as NMFS’s “flawed assumptions and omission of consideration of risk posed by other U.S. fixed gear fisheries.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

NOAA moves ahead with whale-safety rules

September 16, 2019 — The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced it is reviewing claims by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association that a goal to reduce the industry’s risks of harming North Atlantic right whales by 60% is too high. But the federal agency said it will move ahead with crafting federal rules to reduce the risk to the whales of vertical fishing rope associated with trap and pot fishing.

“In the coming months, we will proceed with rule-making as planned,” Chris Oliver, the agency’s assistant administrator, said in the statement Wednesday.

The fisheries service is in the midst of preparing a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed rule changes, based on a pact approved nearly unanimously in April by the 60 members of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, including the Maine association.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MAINE: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve gets grant for lobster research

September 13, 2019 — The Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve will receive about $250,000 over two years to study how warming coastal waters are affecting lobsters in the Gulf of Maine, the National Sea Grant Office has announced.

The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than most waters around the world.

Since lobsters thrive in cold water, this warming trend has raised concerns about the future of the Gulf’s lobster fishery. Southern New England has already seen dramatic declines in lobster counts and the fishery there is in jeopardy.

“Lobsters prefer cold water and will move to deeper, offshore areas to find it,” said Jason Goldstein, research director at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. “We plan to discover how the inshore and offshore movements of female lobsters are affected by warming waters, and whether their young can settle and grow in shallow nursery habitats as coastal waters become warmer.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Congress could provide $50 million for right whales

September 13, 2019 — Legislation to provide $5 million in annual federal funding for reducing North Atlantic right whale deaths from ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement was introduced in the U.S. Senate Tuesday.

Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) co-sponsor S-2453, dubbed the “Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered (SAVE) Right Whales Act.” The measure would authorize $5 million in annual grant funding over the next 10 years for cooperative projects between state governments, nongovernmental organizations and the shipping and commercial fishing industries.

With a surviving population of around 400 animals, the North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most endangered species. Ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement are major causes of mortality. Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence has been particularly deadly in recent summers and Canadian authorities have enforced vessel speed restrictions in an effort to reduce the risk, which has led to 28 deaths in the last two years, according to NOAA.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New England Herring Fishery Restricted For Several Weeks

September 12, 2019 — Commercial fishing of an important species of bait fish is going to be shut down in one of its key areas in New England for about six weeks.

Interstate regulators say the Atlantic herring fishery in the inshore Gulf of Maine is nearing a quota limit and will be subject to restrictions from Sept. 15 to Oct. 31. That means fishermen will not be allowed to bring the fish to land until that date.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

NOAA says it will do more analysis in wake of criticism of proposed whale rules

September 12, 2019 — NOAA Fisheries on Wednesday said it was disappointed the Maine Lobstermen’s Association pulled its support from the federal plan to implement stronger protections for right whales, but did not specifically address the lobster association’s criticisms of the science used to develop the plan.

The statement from Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said the agency continues to review the lobster association letter and conduct additional analysis on the issues it raised. It said the agency will continue to work with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association “on any clarifying questions or concerns by other fisheries.”

Oliver also stated that the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team strives to develop consensus recommendations, but “the agency will consider the extent of support for alternative proposals when consensus is not reached.”

Oliver’s statement arrived following 11 days of silence from NOAA Fisheries after the Maine Lobstermen’s Association informed the agency on Aug. 30 that it was stepping away from the right whale take reduction plan.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA awards $2M for lobster research, much of it to be conducted in Maine

September 11, 2019 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program has awarded $2 million to lobster research projects and a regional lobster extension program.

Seven research projects were chosen through a competitive process that included expert review, according to a news release.

The projects aim to increase understanding of factors such as lobster biology, distribution and socioeconomic issues associated with a steep decline of landings in southern New England, as they pertain to Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine.

Collectively, the projects and the regional extension program are called the Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Maine Proposes To Keep Scallop Season Mostly Status Quo

September 10, 2019 — Maine is considering a scallop fishing season that would allow fishermen to harvest levels of the shellfish similar to last year.

The state’s scallop season takes place in the winter and spring and provides some of the most valuable seafood in Maine. The Maine Department of Marine Resources says daily possession limits would remain the same as last season.

The state is also seeking to close some areas along the coast to allow the scallop population to rebuild. That includes eastern Casco Bay and Upper Sheepscot River.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

Gulf of Maine Research Institute launches virtual climate center

September 9, 2019 — The Portland marine science lab that first told the world the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost any other part of the ocean is launching a virtual climate center that will focus on finding solutions to the challenges related to ocean warming.

Under this virtual banner, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute hopes to leverage its science and educational expertise to help fishermen, policymakers, and coastal communities in Maine and around the world deal with the consequences of rising ocean temperatures.

“We’ve spent the last decade identifying warming trends and associated challenges,” said Don Perkins, a Maine native who has been at GMRI’s helm for almost 25 years. “We’ll spend the next decade identifying solutions to some of those challenges and helping coastal communities adapt to a warming future.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald