Saving Seafood

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

Collins proposes reforms to support Maine lobster industry, protect whales

September 23, 2019 — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) proposed changes to federal reforms that would protect whales and support the Maine lobster industry.

Sen. Collins joined her congressional colleagues from Maine in jointly responding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) call for input to develop modifications to the proposed regulations developed by NOAA’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT).

In a letter sent on Tuesday to the NOAA TRT team, the delegation recommended measures that would help reduce right whale fatalities without threatening the lobster industry, including more Maine-specific gear markings, improved monitoring, support for the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ proposal to preserve the current regulatory exemptions line, and the state’s plan to improve data collection.

Read the full story at The Ripon Advance

Maine Fishermen Prepare For Losses And Gains In A Climate-Changed Ocean

September 23, 2019 — In 30 years, the Gulf of Maine will have been transformed by climate change. Its waters will inexorably grow warmer, and the species that flourish there will be those that can adapt. The same might be said for the Mainers who make their living from the sea. The future of the state’s marine economy may well belong to those who can adapt.

A little over a year ago, reporter Fred Bever visited a small estuary on the far side of Chebeague Island, where lobsterman Jeff Putnam was working on a little side-business.

“These are oysters that I started just this year,” Putnam said at the time.

Putnam established the Sandy Point oyster farm to add a new revenue stream to his business, and, he says, provide future options for his children.

“Hopefully the lobster resource will still be strong when they grow up, and that will be there and that will be an option but there’s certainly no guarantee that’s the case,” he said. “So I wanted to show them there is another way to make a living.”

With the state’s lobster harvest now appearing to fall off from recent record levels, Bever called Jeff this week to see how the oysters are coming along.

Read the full story at Maine Public

UMaine Orono receives $1.6M grant for sustainable aquaculture

September 20, 2019 — The University of Maine at Orono received a $1.6 million grant to advance sustainable aquaculture in Maine.

According to a release from the university, Maine Sea Grant researchers at the University of Maine were granted the money from the NOAA National Sea Grant to lead four projects in collaboration with the aquaculture industry, management, and community partners.

“Thousands of Mainers rely on marine industries for their livelihoods, and aquaculture is a promising area for growth,” said U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King.

According to NOAA fisheries, the United States imports 85% of its seafood, which has resulted in a $14 billion trade deficit- leading to new opportunities in aquaculture to meet demands of seafood consumption.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

3 charged with breaking herring fishing laws in Maine

September 20, 2019 — The Maine Marine Patrol says it has cited three men for violating laws designed to protect an economically important species of fish.

The laws protect Atlantic herring, a bait fish that has been the subject of deep fishing quota cuts in recent years. The marine patrol says it has charged fishing boat captain Glenn Robbins of Eliot with exceeding the weekly limit of 160,000 pounds of herring and failing to file accurate reports.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Maine Aquaculture Association’s Sebastian Belle forecasts bright future for industry in state

September 20, 2019 — In 2017, the governor of Washington State ordered all agencies to ban salmon farming in state waters after a net-pen failure at a Cooke Aquaculture-owned Atlantic salmon farm caused a fish escape into the surrounding Pacific.

That event in the Northwest became an obvious opportunity for the Northeastern U.S. state of Maine, which was once home to an Atlantic salmon fishery. While the wild fishery has been nonexistent for years due to wild populations of Atlantic salmon being deemed endangered in the state, aquaculture operations continue to see results.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine gov, delegation: Whale rules must protect lobstermen

September 19, 2019 — Maine’s most prominent politicians are calling for the federal government to take a new approach to saving an endangered species of whale so protections don’t threaten the state’s lobster industry.

The four members of Maine’s congressional delegation sent recommendations to federal fisheries regulators late Tuesday about how to protect the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers about 400. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, also called on the government Wednesday to protect whales in a way that keeps lobstering viable.

Read the full story at Sea Coast Online