Saving Seafood

MAINE: Nonprofit fishing organizations get federal funds to help develop next generation of industry

October 15, 2024 — Several nonprofit fishing organizations are getting federal funds to help develop the next generation of the industry.

Ben Martens, Executive Director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, said the business has changed a lot in the last 20 or 30 years.

“It’s not about who can catch the most the fastest. It’s about quality,” Martens said. “We have less in our oceans. We have to bring it in when it’s worth the most. My board member, a lifelong fisherman, said it best when he said you have to fish smarter not harder.”

Martens said there’s real opportunity in the ocean, but we have to plan for it with young adults who want to pursue fishing careers.

“We spend a lot of time managing natural resources and investing in science and data, which are crucial. We also need to be making investments in our people, that are the real asset that Maine brings to the table,” Martens said.

Read the full article at Maine Public

MAINE: The Upstream Battle to Preserve Maine’s Lucrative Elver Fishery

October 10, 2024 — One morning this past spring, after commercial elver fishermen had met their quotas and elver buyers had closed up shop for the season, two fyke nets showed up where the Megunticook River empties into Camden Harbor. Maine Marine Patrol officer Callahan Crosby was perplexed. A few weeks earlier, the harbor would have been lined with nets and fishermen, but the penalties for breaking elver-fishing rules are stiff, and even a first-time violation can result in permanent license revocation. Crosby, wondering who would make such a brazen move, got back in his pickup truck and waited for the owner of the nets to appear.

A few hours later, a white Dodge Ram pulled up, with state-issued Wabanaki license plates that read FISHRMN. Flags of Sipayik, the Passamaquoddy reservation near Eastport, flew from the back, and a large, blue-plastic fish box sat in the bed — the kind typically used by elver buyers and dealers authorized to deal with much greater volumes than individual fishermen. Erik Francis, a 28-year-old Passamaquoddy fisherman, exited the truck and ambled down to the riverbank to check the nets. He had just been upstream, where he released four pounds of elvers that were previously stuck in puddles and pools below the river-mouth dam. A haul like that, if taken to market, would fetch at least several thousand dollars.

Read the full article at the Down East

MAINE: We hopped on a boat off Massachusetts to see what Maine’s offshore wind future could look like

October 9, 2024 — Gov. Janet Mills’ plan to make Maine an international leader in ocean wind power is reaching a critical juncture.

State officials argue that harnessing wind power can deliver a tremendous amount of clean energy, and that Maine is specially positioned to capitalize on the potential industrial boom.

The governor is leading a state delegation to Norway and Denmark this week to get a firsthand view of those countries’ offshore wind industry and to drum up interest in Maine’s plan to become a major player in the business on this side of the Atlantic.

The trip comes on the heels of the federal government’s lease to Maine of the nation’s first floating offshore wind research array. The 15-square-mile plot about 30 miles off the Maine coast will host 12 turbines built on structures developed by the University of Maine and its private sector partner, Diamond Offshore Wind.

Meanwhile, the state is set on building a specialized port on Sears Island in Searsport to construct and deploy floating wind. A 2023 bill passed by the Legislature and signed by Mills set a goal for Maine to produce 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2040.

In just a few weeks, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold a lease sale for eight Gulf of Maine wind sites. If every lease was fully developed, the lease area could potentially generate enough wind energy to power 4.5 million homes.

It will take years for floating offshore wind to become a reality in the Gulf of Maine. But off the coast of Cape Cod, America’s first commercial-scale ocean wind farm offers a glimpse into the future.

Maine Public’s climate desk, along with colleagues from the New England News Collaborative, had a rare opportunity to get an up close and personal view of Vineyard Wind 1, a 62-turbine project under construction south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Read the full article at Maine Public

 

NOAA confirms link between Maine lobster fishing and right whale death

October 4, 2024 — NOAA investigators have for the first time confirmed a link between the death of a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and the Maine lobster industry.

The whale, right whale #5120, was found dead off the coast of Massachusetts in January 2024, and a necropsy in February found it was entangled in gear with markings that NOAA said were consistent with rope used in Maine state water trap/pot buoy lines used for lobster fishing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA officials confirm fishing gear led to death of endangered right whale off New England coast

October 3, 2024 — Federal investigators said Maine fishing gear is to blame for the death of an endangered right whale.

Maine lobstermen said they’re sad to hear about the whale’s death, but they also fear new regulations will endanger their livelihoods. The female right whale was found dead near Martha’s Vineyard in January.

This death and investigation come as new lobster fishing regulations are up for debate.

One lobsterman said fishing without using a rope isn’t that simple and it would cost significantly more.

“It’s been an ongoing battle for a number of years. We have taken and modified our gear over the years to reduce the amount of rope that we use in the water, so the industry has done a lot that it’s been asked of,” John Drouin, a lobsterman, said.

Read the full article at WMUR

MAINE: How Canada salmon farmer Cooke became one of Washington County’s largest employers

October 2, 2024 — Cooke Inc., an aquaculture company based in New Brunswick and led by CEO Glenn Cooke, has operated salmon farms and hatcheries in Maine as Cooke USA for two decades.

One of Washington County’s largest employers, Cooke supplies farmed Atlantic salmon throughout New England and the U.S.

“Cooke, and salmon aquaculture in general, is woven into the fabric of Washington County’s economy,” said Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority and chairman of the Washington County Commission.

Read the full article at Mainebiz

Lawmakers seek pause in offshore wind energy amid whale deaths

September 30, 2024 — House lawmakers are seeking a pause in offshore wind energy projects amid a string of whale deaths along the coasts of Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Maine. [FoxNews]

Last week, a deceased whale beached off Maryland’s coast, the second whale carcass discovered in the area in three weeks. In 2023, 37 humpback whales carcasses were discovered along the East Coast.

While a definite cause of death could not be determined, wind-energy proponents continue to argue the deaths have nothing to do with offshore wind farms.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) hosted a public hearing in August in which experts testified about the danger installing wind turbines poses marine wildlife. Harris called for an end to offshore wind energy in Maryland.

Read the full article at CalCoastNews.com

In celebration of National Lobster Day

September 26, 2024 — Every year on September 25, the United States celebrates National Lobster Day. In 2015, Maine Senators Angus King and Susan Collins established it to recognize the importance of this crustacean to the country’s history and culture.

So to further celebrate the lobstermen and women on National Fisherman, we decided to share a few of our favorite articles all about lobster. Show some support to your local fishermen this week and buy some seafood!

In January 2024, the University of New England launched an ambitious research endeavor, decoding the genetic underpinnings of colored lobsters. The hope to unveil the reason behind the crazy-colored crustaceans may be closer than we think.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MAINE: Study reveals climate change toll on Maine’s kelp forests

September 26, 2024 — Parts of the warming Gulf of Maine have become inhospitable for kelp forests, according to new research from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay.

Between 2001 and 2018, a team led by senior research scientist Doug Rasher combined dive surveys of kelp population and data on ocean temperature to compile the first detailed census of Maine’s kelp forests in nearly 20 years.

The results were startling, Rasher said. Maine’s kelp forests were devoured by a green urchin overpopulation in the 1980s and 1990s, but rebounded around the turn of the century.

“We anticipated that with the rise and fall of the sea urchin fishery and the absence of sea urchins in the ecosystem, that kelp forests should have been widespread and pretty healthy across the coast of Maine,” Rasher said.

But that’s not what his team found, according to the results of their research published in the journal Ecology. Kelp forests persisted off Maine’s northern coast but south of Casco Bay they had almost disappeared.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

There are too many unknowns about offshore wind

September 26, 2024 — Dale Witham of Bremen has been a commercial fisherman for more than 50 years.

The Green New Deal was developed and implemented to address climate change, as well as, create jobs, economic growth and reduce economic inequality. Thomas Friedman of The New York Times wrote in 2007, “If you have to put a windmill in your yard or some solar panels on your roof, bless your heart. But we will only green the world when we change the very nature of the electricity grid — moving it away from dirty coal or oil to clean coal and renewables.”

Maine’s offshore fishing grounds have provided for the people of this state for generations. In 2021, Maine’s commercial fishing value for all species was more than $890 million. The state’s population was 1.37 million people, equating to $649.18 in generated wealth for every resident.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News