Saving Seafood

Here’s the central question at the heart of the right whale debate

August 27, 2019 — There’s a debate raging over how much Maine’s lobstermen should have to change how they fish for the sake of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The state’s congressional delegation and governor have sided with lobstermen, arguing that Maine’s iconic fishery isn’t responsible for the shrinking population of right whales. Meanwhile, propelled by a lawsuit from conservation groups, the federal government is working on regulations that would require lobstermen to use less fishing line and switch to weaker rope from which entangled whales can more easily break free.

The debate boils down to this: Should regulators give more weight to risk or evidence?

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Atlantic Herring Eastern Maine Spawning Closure in Effect Starting August 28, 2019 through October 8, 2019

August 27, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Atlantic herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine, and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal states III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

There is currently no samples for the Eastern Maine spawning area to determine spawning condition. Therefore, the Eastern Maine spawning area will be closed starting at 12:01 a.m. on August 28, 2019 extending through 11:59 p.m. on October 8, 2019. The fishery is currently at zero landing days, and the states will notify fishermen of the spawning closure as soon as possible. Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land, or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Eastern Maine spawning area during this time and must have all fishing gear stowed when transiting through the area. An incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip/calendar day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Eastern Maine spawning area.

Eastern Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates

Maine coast     68° 20’ W
43° 48’ N          68° 20’ W
44° 25’ N         67° 03’ W
North along the US/Canada border

Please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy at 703.842.0740 or krootes-murdy@asmfc.org for more information.

EPA to Provide Relief for Lobster Fishing and Pilot Boat Builders, Engine Manufacturers

August 27, 2019 — The following was released by United States Environmental Protection Agency:

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to amend the national marine diesel engine program to provide relief to boat builders and manufacturers of lightweight and high-power marine diesel engines that are used in high-speed commercial vessels such as lobster fishing boats and pilot boats.

“This proposal will provide boat builders the flexibility they need to meet EPA standards while they continue to manufacture products that are critical to marine industries,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “This action reflects our mindset that environmental progress is best achieved by working with states and the regulated community to advance sound and attainable regulatory solutions.”

“This proposed rule will give boat builders and Maine’s lobster fishermen regulatory certainty and encourage continued progress for cleaner diesel engines,” said EPA New England Acting Regional Administrator Deborah Szaro. “This action is a win-win for builders and lobstermen, and allows Maine’s vibrant fishing economy to continue.”

“Due to the unique design of Maine lobster boats, at this time there are not Tier 4-compliant diesel engines available on the market that can safely fit in these types of vessels. This delay in the implementation of the Tier 4 emission standards for commercial lobster-style boats should provide engine manufacturers time to design and certify engines that will both comply with Tier 4 emission standards and work safely and efficiently in these boats. It also prevents lobstermen from being burdened by requirements that are impossible to meet with the currently available technology,” said U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden in a joint statement. “We are pleased to have worked together with the EPA to find a commonsense solution that supports Maine boat builders and lobstermen.”

Read the full release here

Regulators To Meet With Lobstermen Again On Right Whale Plan

August 26, 2019 — Maine fishery regulators are planning a second round of meetings with lobstermen in the state to prepare for potential new restrictions designed to protect endangered whales.

A federal government team has called for removal of many vertical trap lines from the Gulf of Maine to reduce risk to North Atlantic right whales, which number about 400. The Maine Department of Marine Resources held a series of meetings with lobstermen about the new rules earlier this year. The last took place in late June.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

MAINE: Second round of meetings scheduled on right whale issue

August 23, 2019 — Lobstermen will get another bite at the right whale problem over the next few weeks at a series of meetings scheduled by the Department of Marine Resources.

The meetings are being held to discuss rules proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service that could force Maine fishermen to cut the number of vertical buoy lines they use by 50 percent.

Earlier this week, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher announced that he would hold a second round of meetings with each of the state’s seven Lobster Zone Management Councils to consider area-by-area suggestions of how to deal with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s proposed rule that would require a 50 percent reduction of vertical endlines on lobster traps in much of the Gulf of Maine.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

MAINE: Shellfish harvest sites reopened after long red tide season

August 21, 2019 — Maine has recently lifted long closures of several shellfish harvest sites due to the potentially fatal biological toxin known as red tide.

The Portland Press Herald reports this year’s closure remained in place for three months in parts of southern Maine, nearly three times as long as the typical four to five weeks.

Jeff Nichols, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said the department hasn’t determined the cause of the longer red tide season.

Read the full story at The Associated Press at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Environmentalists weigh in on right whale rules for lobster industry

August 16, 2019 — Environmentalists showed up in large numbers Thursday night to urge federal fishing regulators to defend the endangered right whale against what they claim is the looming extinction threat posed by the Maine lobster industry.

Some of the largest and most powerful animal and environmental groups – including Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the U.S. Humane Society and the Conservation Law Foundation – sent representatives to the National Marine Fisheries Service meeting in South Portland.

They urged the fisheries service to take immediate action to protect the species, which now numbers about 400, calling for actions such as offshore fishing closures and ropeless lobster fishing that even a team tasked with protecting the whale had dismissed as too drastic as recently as April.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Lobstermen: More data needed to determine if Maine gear is entangling right whales

August 15, 2019 — Lobster fishing gear needs to be made identifiable by location in order to indicate whether Maine-based gear is harming North Atlantic right whales.

That was the consensus of a crowd of over 100 fishermen and government officials who appeared at a federally convened meeting in Ellsworth last night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is in the midst of holding eight meetings from Maine to Rhode Island to get input on proposed changes to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. Based on the endangered whale’s current population, the agency’s overall goal is to reduce serious injuries and deaths from entanglements in lobster trap gear by 60% to 80%.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

MAINE: Lobstermen say whale rules threaten way of life

August 15, 2019 — Maine has more than 6,000 licensed lobstermen. If the 100 or so who gathered at Ellsworth High School Tuesday evening to discuss proposed whale protection rules are a representative sample, most of those lobstermen are angry.

The fishermen gathered for a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) scoping session on proposed measures to protected endangered right whales. The rules would require a 50 percent cut in the number of vertical buoy lines in the water.

“You’re dealing not just with our livelihoods but with the life blood of our communities,” Stonington lobsterman Julie Eaton told the National Marine Fisheries Service representatives. With earlier whale protection efforts, Eaton said, “We’ve done everything you’ve asked us to do, but this ask is way too big. People will die.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

DAN MORRIS: Maine Voices: Lobstermen threatened with the extinction of their way of life

August 15, 2019 — The word “extinction” has been thrown around a lot lately by environmental groups that believe that Northern right whales are on the verge of just that. Though right whales number more than 8,000 in the Southern Hemisphere, only 400 to 500 are believed to be in the Northern Hemisphere.

Fishermen, whose only master is Mother Nature, and who have been admired over the years for their tenacity and independence, now have been cast as the villain in the whale story. Large, well-funded, out-of-state environmental groups would have you believe that these whales are going extinct and that Maine fishing gear entanglement is a major reason why.

These groups have proposed things like ropeless fishing and refuse to believe that ideas like this are not practical in Maine. Can you imagine how a fisherman could set his 20- to 30-trap trawl into water 300 to 400 feet deep, not knowing where any of his competitors’ trawls might have been set days before? As if hauling long trawls in deep water isn’t dangerous enough, hauling up one’s trawl with another one or two draped over it can be life-threatening.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald