Saving Seafood

As Herring Fishery Closes, Maine Fishermen Turn To Plentiful ‘Pogies’ For Bait

September 18, 2018 — Good news for Maine lobstermen: Just as a scarcity of the herring they use to bait their traps has closed that fishery, state officials are expanding the fishery for another baitfish – menhaden, or pogies that have shown up in large numbers off Maine for the third year in a row.

Four southern states where pogies have not been abundant this year are transferring some of their federal quotas for the fish to Maine.

Large menhaden populations have been recorded off this state for decades, but only periodically. State Marine Resources Coordinator Melissa Smith says with the Gulf of Maine’s waters warming, and North Atlantic currents changing, the state may see them return more often.

“Those environmental factors might tip the scales of the pogies natural cyclical nature,” Smith says, “so that we do see them in Maine perhaps a little more frequently.”

Read the full story at Maine Public

Residents alarmed by proposed expansion of Maine shellfish farm

September 17, 2018 — ELIOT, Maine — Frustrated residents from the Eliot and Kittery sides of Spinney Creek appeared before the Select Board Thursday night, seeking recourse about their concerns of the proposed expansion of Spinney Creek Shellfish.

Spinney Creek Shellfish, at 27 Howell Drive in Eliot, is applying to the Maine Department of Marine Resources to obtain a three-year aquaculture lease on 3.67 acres of Spinney Creek, a salt pond between Eliot and Kittery off the Piscataqua River. The new lease is for raising oysters and littleneck clams (quahogs) in suspended cages.

The residents have discovered Eliot and Kittery’s boards have no control over aquaculture in the pond.

Roberta Place of Spring Lane on Spinney Creek said residents of 50 households bordering the creek are concerned about the creek’s health.

“I have lived there a long time. I used to swim there with a wet suit. Now the temperature in the creek is 74 degrees,” she said.

She said she thought oysters are supposed to clean water, but added that the eelgrass in front of house has disappeared.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Atlantic Herring Days Out Conference Call Scheduled for September 18 at 9:30 AM

September 17, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set effort control measures for the Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery via days out meetings/calls.

The next meeting to set days out measures for the Trimester 3 (October 1 – December 31) fishery will be convened, via conference call, on:

Tuesday, September 18 at 9:30 AM

To join the call, please dial 888.585.9008 and enter conference room number 502-884-672 as prompted.

Please contact Megan Ware, Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740 for more information.

Maine’s rebuilt scallop fishery looks to year of more growth

September 17, 2018 — Maine’s scallop fishermen are looking at another year of conservative management, and members of the industry say that could be the best way to make sure the fishery continues rebuilding.

Maine is known for producing scallops that are somewhat bigger than other East Coast states, and some are plucked from the icy waters by hand during winter. Others are harvested by boats with fishing gear. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has said strict management of the harvest has allowed the scallops to rebuild from collapse in the mid-2000s.

The state is looking to continue that trend this year with a season that keeps fishermen restricted to tight limits on the number of pounds they can harvest. Fishermen are also limited in the number of days they can fish, and the state is looking to trim a few days.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The News Tribune

Herring shut down as fleet nears catch limit

September 14, 2018 — Interstate regulators with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided to shut down the Gulf of Maine herring fishery from Sept.13 until the end of the month, saying 97 percent of the quota from the productive fishing grounds has been landed.

The area includes coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

Herring fishermen started the year with a catch limit of more than 240 million pounds, but that figure was scaled back to just under 110 million pounds in mid-August by NMFS “to lessen the risk of overfishing.” The agency warned that while the season officially ends on Dec. 13, certain grounds could be closed early as the catch limit neared.

Last year the commission closed the same region to fishing for the month of October based on an analysis of samples of female herring in the area. The closure was related to spawning.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Many US lobster companies coping well with tariff impact

September 14, 2018 — As the trade war between the United States and China continues, with indications that it may escalate even further, most U.S.-based lobster companies have seen their exports to China fall dramatically.

Despite the decrease, many companies say the market for lobster is still strong enough to keep the impact to their companies at a minimum. Some companies that never invested heavily into Chinese exports said2018 has been a better-than-average year.

“I’ve been processing lobster since 1993,” John Norton, CEO of Cozy Harbor of Portland, Maine, U.S.A, which specializes in fresh and frozen lobster tails, told SeafoodSource. “I’ve never seen a market this strong for lobster tails, ever.”

That strong demand is largely offsetting the effects of the tariffs on most of the lobster industry. Boat prices for lobster, said Norton, have remained similar to those seen in 2017.

The frozen market in Maine, said Norton, typically consumes around 50 percent of the state’s catch, while exports to China only make up between five and 10 percent.

Norton said his company has largely avoided shipping products to mainland China over the years, as the market for frozen lobster tails and meat in the country isn’t as strong as it is elsewhere in the region.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Researchers hope to get Maine green crabs on the menu

September 13, 2018 — Could deep-fried soft-shell green crabs be the next culinary sensation?

Researchers at Manomet, a Brunswick nonprofit, have discovered a culinary market for green crabs in Venice, Italy, that they think could carry over to U.S. restaurants.

Now they’ve received a $267,440 grant, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program, to see if the idea can be adapted to create a lucrative market for Maine fishermen.

A lucrative soft-shell green crab fishery has existed in Venice for over a century, Marissa McMahan, Manomet senior fisheries scientist, said. McMahan told Mainebiz that Venetian fishermen are getting $25 to $55 per pound for green crabs, depending on season and availability.

Manomet has worked with several volunteer fishermen to harvest soft-shell green crabs, which have been sold at $3 each to chefs at four restaurants: Brunswick Inn, Enoteca Athena and Henry and Marty, all in Brunswick, and at Salt Pine Social in Bath.

The chefs developed the crabs as a battered and deep-fried menu item, served whole.

“The chefs use the soft-shell green crab in the same way the use soft-shell blue crab,” McMahan said. “It hasn’t completely replaced blue crab on their menus because we don’t have the supply yet.”

The shells are soft enough that they become part of the food, she said.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

New England herring fishing to be limited in September

September 12, 2018 — Interstate fishing regulators say the quota is almost tapped out in one of the most productive herring fishing areas of the Northeast, and they’re shutting the fishery down for the rest of the month.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says 97 percent of the quota has been harvested from the inshore Gulf of Maine. The area includes coastal Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The commission says the fishery will be shut down from Thursday morning until Sept. 30. Boats that harvest other species will also be allowed to possess no more than 2,000 pounds of herring per trip per day.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle

Ocean Funding Will Benefit Right Whales, Sea Turtles, Salmon

September 11, 2018 — The National Marine Fisheries Service is sending more than $6 million to nearly 30 marine conservation projects as part of its Species Recovery Grant Program.

The grants are designed to help marine species that face threats in the wild. Four of the awards are going to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, which will do an assessment of how fishing impacts endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The Maine department is also getting grants designed to help the salmon population, which has been the focus of years of conservation efforts in the state.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Farmed Scallops are Coming to a Plate Near You

September 11, 2018 — Bangs Island Mussels’ farm manager Jon Gorman heads out on Casco Bay, off of Portland, Maine, in a blue and white fishing boat named Le Cozze (Italian for mussels). He motors past one of the rafts where the company is growing mussels and on to a more unusual venture: Bangs Island’s new sea scallop farm.

Gorman cuts the engine and drops the anchor, under the watchful eyes of harbor seals lounging on a nearby island. Scallops need cold, nutrient-dense water to grow, and Maine’s protected bays provide the ideal environment.

Cranking a winch, Gorman and his crew pull up a taut, algae-covered rope from the depths of Casco Bay’s gray water. Leaning over the side, they haul out a lantern net, a long, box-shaped structure that serves as a scallop nursery, onto the deck. Gorman reaches into one of the lantern net’s 10 compartments and pulls out a handful of golden-brown scallop shells, about the size of old-fashioned silver dollars.

Eyeballing them, he looks pleased. When his measurement confirms they’re 65 millimeters across, Gorman nods. “These are ready for ear hanging,” he says.

Gently dropping the lantern net back in the water, the crew motors further out, where 2,000 larger scallops are hanging on 26 longlines. The crew hauls up a line with dozens of larger scallops, hanging in pairs by their “ears,” the flat wings that fan out from the base of the shell. The animals that emerge from the water are lively; they’re snapping and gurgling, coated with algae and a smattering of barnacles.

Gorman measures again. These scallops are on target for harvest in the fall, which means that Bangs Island Mussels will be one of the first companies to bring a mature, environmentally friendly, farmed sea scallop to market in the U.S.

Read the full story at Civil Eats