Saving Seafood

Opinion: Policymakers in search of sound science need to listen to fishery

September 9, 2024 — Fishermen are gravely concerned that regulators are stealing our futures with baseless cuts to landing quotas. Rep. Jared Golden is taking positive steps to fix this problem.

It often happens that government regulators, who lack deep knowledge of what it takes to catch fish in the Gulf of Maine, reach conclusions about the state of our fish stocks that do not match what fishermen are seeing and what we know from being on the water every day.

The obvious objection whenever we raise this concern is that “anecdote is not the plural of data.” The doubters ask: Why would an individual fisherman know more than a government agency with a dataset? That’s a fair question.

The answer is this – we know what tactics regulators are using to catch fish for their surveys, and we know they don’t work. We know where regulators are conducting surveys, and we know fish don’t hold in those waters. We know how extensive the surveys are, and we know they aren’t thorough enough.

Read the full article at the Boston Herald

Just how rare is a rare-colored lobster? Scientists say answer could be under the shell

September 9, 2024 — Orange, blue, calico, two-toned and … cotton-candy colored?

Those are all the hues of lobsters that have showed up in fishers’ traps, supermarket seafood tanks and scientists’ laboratories over the last year. The funky-colored crustaceans inspire headlines that trumpet their rarity, with particularly uncommon baby blue-tinted critters described by some as “cotton-candy colored” often estimated at 1 in 100 million.

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A recent wave of these curious colored lobsters in Maine, New York, Colorado and beyond has scientists asking just how atypical the discolored arthropods really are. As is often the case in science, it’s complicated.

Lobsters’ color can vary due to genetic and dietary differences, and estimates about how rare certain colors are should be taken with a grain of salt, said Andrew Goode, lead administrative scientist for the American Lobster Settlement Index at the University of Maine. There is also no definitive source on the occurrence of lobster coloration abnormalities, scientists said.

“Anecdotally, they don’t taste any different either,” Goode said.

In the wild, lobsters typically have a mottled brown appearance, and they turn an orange-red color after they are boiled for eating. Lobsters can have color abnormalities due to mutation of genes that affect the proteins that bind to their shell pigments, Goode said.

Read the full article at wbur

US gives key OK for 15GW floating wind area in Gulf of Maine

September 6, 2024 — US regulator Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has approved its environmental assessment (EA) for a giant floating wind area in the Gulf of Maine holding some 15GW of potential capacity.

The EA authorises developers to carry out site assessment activities such as installation of meteorological buoys and surveys, a key step allowing a lease sale to go forward. Any projects planned for the region following the lease sale will need to undergo a more thorough environmental impact statement (EIS).

Read the full article at Recharge News

In Harpswell Sound, Bowdoin researchers are unlocking the secrets of a red tide hot spot

September 6, 2024 — Collin Roesler wants us to have a better understanding of the algae that cause red tides in Maine.

A professor in the Earth and Oceanographic Science Department at Bowdoin College, she studies phytoplankton, notably Alexandrium fundyense. This single-celled marine plant is the source of a neurotoxin that can contaminate shellfish such as mussels, clams and oysters. People who consume shellfish tainted by the toxin can experience paralytic shellfish poisoning, which can be fatal.

One of her current research projects is focused on Alexandrium in Harpswell Sound and in Lombos Hole, near the head of the sound. Her work is unlocking information that has implications for efforts to monitor and predict serious red tide events.

Read the full article at The Harpswell Anchor

Studies Look at Turbine Cables and Lobsters

September 5, 2024 — Two years after its first public announcement in August 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to hold public auctions for eight offshore wind energy leasing areas in the Gulf of Maine this October.

During the public comment period ahead of the auction, BOEM received more than 100 comments, many of which mentioned the potential effects of floating wind turbines on the marine environment, seafood stocks, and commercial fishermen’s livelihoods.

One concern is the large power cables that will transfer electricity from the offshore wind turbines to the mainland. The power flowing through these cables generates electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, that some worry could disrupt the movement of lobsters across the seafloor or even affect their reproductive health.

Scientists who spoke with the Independent said that EMFs from offshore wind farms are not a cause for panic but do merit further investigation.

“Things aren’t just going to turn upside-down dead,” said Andrew Gill, a lead scientist at the U.K.-based Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science who has published research on the effects of undersea power cables on lobsters.

It’s important to address the concerns of fishermen with further studies, Gill added. “We need to identify what the concerns are and have the appropriately designed studies to help address them.”

Read the full article at The Provincetown Independent

Gulf of Maine’s rising temperatures bring challenges and opportunities to local fisheries

August 29, 2024 — The Gulf of Maine’s warming waters are profoundly affecting Maine’s working waterfront in more ways than one. Over the past decade, sea surface temperatures have surged, with recent years experiencing record-breaking warmth. This trend, largely attributed to climate change, poses significant challenges to local fisheries, but it also opens doors to new opportunities.

Over the last 10 years, there has been an unprecedented increase in the sea surface temperatures throughout the Gulf of Maine—something many scientists blame on manmade climate change. Out of the last six years, four of our summers have endured the warmest waters for Maine’s Gulf, with 2021 breaking a new record.

Read the full article at WMTW

What the Lobstermen of Maine Tell Us About the Election

August 26, 2024 — Mid-July is peak season on the central Maine coast. The blueberries — the small, low-bush kind long prized by the state’s jam makers and pie bakers — had started to appear in the farmers markets, along with the first of the tomatoes. Bright orange tiger lilies burst from front yards, while Queen Anne’s lace and goldenrod line the two-lane roads. The summer light dazzles, falling in soft waves upon the spruce and cedar, and brightening the paint on both midcentury saltboxes and grander Victorian homes. It’s no wonder that people want to come here.

Stonington is, without a doubt, one of the prettiest towns on the Maine coast. Over breakfast one morning at Stonecutters Kitchen, I asked Linda Nelson, the town’s economic and community development director, how many Hallmark movies had been filmed there.

“Not enough,” she replied.

Stonington also happens to be the largest lobster port in America. Dozens of fishing boats are anchored in the harbor, while lobsters caught in nearby Blue Hill, Jericho and Isle au Haut Bays are exported across the country and, more recently, across the globe. I was told by locals that not one of the beautiful wooden homes that form Stonington’s classic picture postcard view is owned by a fishing family, who now live elsewhere on Deer Isle or over the bridge on the mainland. From the perspective of a lobsterman, many of whom have deep Maine roots, the P.F.A.s — People From Away, as locals call them — are a presence to be tolerated. The lobster fishermen and the tourists and part-time residents coexist in two separate worlds, one that is changing beneath the surface.

In a significant political year, when a small group of voters in a few places will most likely shape the answers to pivotal questions about our government, how does a community living out climate change feel to its residents? This part of Maine is represented by a Democrat in Congress, but the district, Maine’s second, has voted for Donald Trump twice by decent margins; this is one of those places where every vote can matter. Here, the punishing demands of the present, how hard everyday work is, how important costs and prices are, make the pivotal nature of this time feel very distant from politics.

Read the full article at The New York Times

MAINE: Cooke USA celebrates 20 years of operation in Maine

August 21, 2024 — Cooke USA is celebrating 20 years of aquaculture operations in Maine and has changed its brand logo from Cooke Aquaculture USA to Cooke USA.

The company operates marine farms in Downeast Maine, a salmon processing plant in Machiasport and three land-based freshwater hatcheries in the state, supplying Atlantic salmon to grocery stores and restaurants in New England and the United States.

“Maine’s iconic seafood industry is a key part of our state’s heritage and a cornerstone of our economy. For two decades, Cooke USA has been a leader in seafood production in Maine, employing hundreds of people in high-quality, good-paying jobs,” said Janet Mills, Maine’s governor. “I congratulate Cooke as it marks 20 years in Maine and thank this family-owned business for its extraordinary contributions to the Maine economy.”

Read the full article at Aquaculture North America

MAINE: Maine, federal government reach agreement on floating offshore wind research array

August 20, 2024 — An effort to study the impacts of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine is closer to launch after the state and federal government reached a lease agreement on Monday for a floating research array.

The Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management offered the research area lease to the state in late May for up to 15 square miles in federal waters about 30 miles southeast of Portland, according to a press release from Gov. Janet Mills’ office Monday afternoon. It will include up to 12 floating turbines and help inform how floating offshore wind operates and interacts with ecosystems in the water.

Read the full article at Yahoo! News

MAINE: Maine fishermen rally at ‘Save Our Fisheries Summer Bash’ for legal fund

August 19, 2024 — About one hundred people gathered on Maine’s midcoast this Saturday for the second annual “Save Our Fisheries Summer Bash.”

The fundraiser featured a parade, live music, a silent auction, food and drink.

The event from the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association raises money for their legal battle with the federal government overfishing regulations that fishermen in Maine argue is harming the industry.

Read the full article at WGME