Saving Seafood

Atlantic Herring June 26th Days Out Conference Call Cancelled

June 21, 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 fishery via Days Out meetings/calls.

The previously scheduled Days Out call on June 26, 2018 at 10:00 AM has been cancelled. Given the current weekly landings limit in the Area 1A fishery has not been fully harvested by all vessels and catch rates have not exceeded projections, the states have decided a Days Out call is not warranted at this time. The Section awaits the results of the 2018 Atlantic Herring Benchmark Stock Assessment, which is scheduled for peer review onJune 26-28, as well as the outcome of the recommendation from the New England Fishery Management Council to NOAA Fisheries to reduce the 2018 sub-ACLs.

The Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are scheduled to reconvene via conference call to review fishing effort on the days listed below. If the states determine a Days Out call is needed ahead of July 17th, a call can be scheduled and the public will be notified via a press release.

  • Tuesday, June 26 at 10:00 AM – CANCELLED
  • Tuesday, July 17 at 10:00 AM
  • Wednesday, August 8 (time TBD)

To join the calls, please dial 888.585.9008 and enter conference room number 845-202-505 when prompted.

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

A PDF of the announcement can be found here.

China threatens tariffs on US lobsters as business booms

June 18, 2018 — A set of retaliatory tariffs released by China on Friday includes a plan to tax American lobster exports, potentially jeopardizing one of the biggest markets for the premium seafood.

Chinese officials announced the planned lobster tariff along with hundreds of other tariffs amid the country’s escalating trade fight with the United States. China said it wants to place new duties on items such as farm products, autos and seafood starting on July 6.

The announcement could have major ramifications for the U.S. seafood industry and for the economy of the state of Maine, which is home to most of the country’s lobster fishery. China’s interest in U.S. lobster has grown exponentially in recent years, and selling to China has become a major focus of the lobster industry.

“Maine’s lobster industry is an irreplaceable piece of our state’s economy that supports thousands of jobs and entire coastal communities,” the state’s congressional delegation said in a statement. “Just two weeks ago, the Maine delegation heard directly from our state’s lobster industry about the economic hardship a trade war with China would cause them.”

The delegation — Republican Sen. Susan Collins, Independent Sen. Angus King; Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree and Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin — said they plan to outline their concerns to federal trade officials.

“Hopefully cooler heads can prevail and we can get a solution,” said Matt Jacobson, executive director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative. “It’s a year round customer in China. This isn’t good news at all.”

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Regulators want reports from lobstermen to fill ‘giant black hole of data’ on offshore fishery

June 18, 2018 — The National Marine Fisheries Service wants all Maine lobstermen who haul traps in federal waters to share their fishing data.

Currently, only lobstermen who fish for something else, such as groundfish, must share their data with federal authorities, but the service wants to start collecting better data on the growing offshore fishery. It has announced its plan to draft a new rule that will require all those who lobster in federal waters to report exactly when, how and where they fish.

“There is a giant black hole of data when it comes to the offshore lobster fishery, which appears to be growing and changing fast,” Peter Burns, a National Marine Fisheries Service fishing policy analyst, said on Friday. “Lobster is so important, not just in Maine, but in New England, too. We need more data to better understand this lucrative fishery and protect it.”

The proposal has a long way to go before it could go into effect, requiring two rounds of public hearings and approval from the highest level of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The first round of public comments must be submitted by July 16. If the agency decides to move ahead, it would solicit public comment one more time. The process could take up to a year.

If the rule is implemented, it would affect roughly 1,000 Maine lobstermen who fish offshore in federal waters but don’t currently have to submit a report, Burns said. About 2,000 federally licensed lobstermen, mostly from Maine, already report the trips because they hold some other federal fishing license, Burns said. About 4,000 Maine lobstermen hold commercial licenses to fish in state waters.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Halibut landings up, so Maine halibut landings to go down

June 15, 2018 — Just as in the physical world, it’s a quirk of the regulatory world of fisheries management that when something goes up, something must go down, and it isn’t always the same thing.

Last week, the Department of Marine Resources held a series of public hearings in Ellsworth, Machias and Augusta on a proposed regulation that would shorten the Maine halibut fishing season by 20 days, cut the number of allowable hooks for halibut fishing on each boat and ban possession of halibut by fishermen who have state-issued halibut tags who have been fishing outside the three-mile state waters limit.

DMR imposed those regulations on an emergency basis before the scheduled May 1 start of the 2018 season. Valid for 90 days, the emergency rule pushed the start of the season back 10 days, from May 1 to May 11, and ended the season on June 20 instead of June 30. The proposal under consideration last week would make those changes permanent.

Halibut are one of several groundfish species such as cod, haddock and yellowtail flounder that are subject to annual catch limitations established by the New England Fishery Management Council. For halibut, the council sets an overall landings quota and allocates a portion of that to fisheries in state waters — inside the three-mile limit.

The aggregate total annual allowable catch of halibut for state- and federally-permitted harvesters is currently 104 metric tons (229,281 pounds). Of that, the annual catch limit for harvesters fishing in state waters during the 2018 fishing season is 21.8 metric tons (just under 48,061 pounds).

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Feds weigh costly new regulation for Maine lobstermen

June 15, 2018 — The federal government is considering requiring all Maine lobstermen to report their harvests after each outing, a move that may face stiff opposition from an industry worried about the cost.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration requested comment on the proposal in a notice posted to the Federal Register on Wednesday. Maine is the only state that doesn’t require all lobstermen to report catch-level information after each haul, and the policy change is expected to receive backlash from its powerful fishery lobby.

“We’re going to get a lot of probably negative comments on this because it’s going to be a burden for people,” said Peter Burns, a lobster policy analyst with NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. “The lobster industry is very strong. For the longest time, they wanted to protect their fishing information, their proprietary business information.”

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Lobsters accounted for 44 percent of Maine’s total commercial catches in 2017, the largest portion of the 254 million pounds of fish netted, and brought in nearly $434 million. The total lobster supply chain adds as much as $1 billion to Maine’s economy each year, according to a 2016 study by the Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association. The administration says only 10 percent of the state’s lobstermen currently report trip-level data.

Read the full story at the Washington Examiner

JAMES D. HERBERT:Climate change affords Maine opportunities to lead in ‘New North’

June 13, 2018 — As the northeasternmost state in the U.S., Maine is geographically positioned as America’s gateway to the Arctic and North Atlantic – regions becoming increasingly important to global commerce and culture. We must cast aside our notion of Maine as a back door to the world and reimagine it as a front door, devoting the full force of our human and economic capital to making Maine a leader in the “New North.”

Geographer Mia Bennett has characterized Maine as the next “near-Arctic state,” and in 2015, Maine’s Angus King partnered with Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to form the Senate Arctic Caucus. The Arctic and the North Atlantic region have become increasingly geopolitically relevant. Characterized by political stability and celebrated for achievements in public health, education, civil rights and other important features of civil society, several North Atlantic countries have become global models. This has resulted in steadily increasing economic activity, trade and tourism.

At the same time, climate change continues to reshape our world’s geography and waters. And while we must do all we can as a global community to minimize the progression and effects of climate change, we must also be realists. As the North thaws, new shipping routes open, valuable temperate-zone fisheries move north, more land becomes available for cultivation and new opportunities for collaboration arise.

Read the full story at the Kennebec Journal

Author Christopher White asks, is it ‘Boom or Bust for Maine’s Greatest Fishery?’

June 11, 2018 — Christopher White’s new book, “The Last Lobster: Boom or Bust for Maine’s Greatest Fishery?” landed on our desk with an ominous thump a couple of weeks ago. We called him in Santa Fe, where he’s living, to ask about how he reported his book (especially as an out-of-stater), what he finds to be optimistic about, and the role climate change plays in the future of lobstering. He also confessed to scheduling an interview at his favorite restaurant on Vinalhaven specifically for the lobster.

POP-UP STORY: White has written five books. The most recent were about fishermen (“Skipjack,” the story of the last days of a particular kind of wooden boat used for commercial fishing, specifically oyster dredging) and disappearing glaciers (“The Melting World”). For this book, he deliberately sought out a story that combined both those interests. “I looked for a story about how commercial fishing was affected by climate change. The first one that popped up on the map was the Gulf of Maine and lobstering.”

TEEN YEARS: Maine wasn’t new to White; he’d come to the state as a teenager. “I spent a lot of time in Maine, not only on the coast but at Rangeley and Lake Moosemeguntic.” He’s also a sailor, and he crewed on small boats as a young man as well. “I crewed from Camden to Vinalhaven, for example.” When he arrived in Maine to start reporting, “it was very interesting to go some of the places that I had visited at 16.” An old favorite was Vinalhaven, where he revisited his deep affection for the Harbor Gawker. “I conducted an interview there just so I could have lunch.” (The family that owned it for 40 years sold it, and a new restaurant, The Nightingale, is in the midst of opening.)

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald

Despite ongoing poaching, Maine fishermen lobby for increase in baby eel quota

June 7, 2018 — More than 60 fishermen told an interstate marine fisheries official Wednesday that Maine’s annual baby eel catch limit should be raised because there are “plenty” of eels in Maine — even though Maine once again finds itself having to address the issue of ongoing poaching in the fishery.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering whether to raise the state’s baby eel quota, also known as elvers, from 9,688 pounds to 11,749 pounds. It held a hearing on the topic Wednesday in Brewer and plans to hold another in Augusta on Thursday, June 7.

With fishermen earning more than $2,300 per pound for their catch this spring, the 2,000-pound difference could mean as much as $4.8 million in additional revenue for the statewide fishery.

The value of the statewide catch this spring is estimated to be $21.7 million, which is the third-highest annual landings value ever for the fishery, and the highest since Maine adopted a statewide catch limit in 2014.

“We don’t believe at all the [American eel] population is depleted,” John Banks, director of natural resources for the Penobscot Indian Nation, told commission official Kirby Rootes-Murdy. “We’re hearing from [harvesters in] the field that this population is not in trouble at all.”

Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Maine Department of Marine Resources, said Wednesday that the way the 2018 elver fishing season ended last month “didn’t help” the argument in favor of increasing Maine’s quota.

The department abruptly ended the season on May 24, when the statewide catch was still 500 pounds below its 9,688-pound quota, after Marine Patrol discovered that some licensed dealers had been engaged in illegal, under-the-table cash transactions for the lucrative eels. State law prohibits cash transactions and requires all sales to be recorded with a electronic swipe-card system that charts each fisherman’s catch and each dealer’s purchases.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

How to slow an invasive species? Turn it into gourmet food

June 7, 2018 — If we eat them, will they go away?

Unfortunately for foes of the green crabs that plague New England shellfish, the answer is probably “no.” But that’s not stopping a group of scientists, fishermen, chefs and others from getting together in Maine to try to brainstorm uses for the pesky crustaceans.

The invasive crabs, native to Europe, are a problem for New England’s beloved shellfish industry because they are relentless predators of marketable species, such as clams. And they’ve become a bigger threat in recent years because they thrive in warm water, and the waters of the Gulf of Maine are warming fast.

The little crabs also are nearly useless themselves because there is little commercial market for them.

But the Green Crab Working Summit, taking place in Portland on Wednesday and Thursday, is full of ideas for changing that, ranging from creating the world’s first green crab cookbook to plans for using green crabs as bait, food supplements and gourmet foods.

Brunswick chef Ali Waks-Adams came armed with rhubarb and green crab kimchi, a Korean-inspired dish, and popcorn green crab pakora, modeled after a fried snack from India.

“The idea is it’s not going to go away. How do you monetize it?” Waks-Adams said, prepping food near two bins full of crawling critters. “Reach out to other chefs and make it an exportable product. Create the demand for yet one more product coming out of Maine.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Gloucester Daily Times

As potential trade wars loom, lawmakers step up to protect Maine lobster

June 4, 2018 — Lobster has a way of bringing people together – particularly Mainers.

The prized crustacean’s magnetism was on full display on Friday, 1 June, when the state of Maine’s four congressional representatives convened in Portland, Maine, U.S.A., with a group of U.S. federal trade officials to start a dialogue about the economic importance of the state’s USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.2 billion) lobster industry.

Concerns that Maine lobster could become a casualty in international trade wars spurred U.S. senators Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. representatives Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin to come together for the closed-door trade meetings, which were organized by the Maine Lobster Dealers Association (MLDA).

“This is an incredibly unique opportunity for all of us to have the entire delegation from Maine here in Maine, all under one roof, working together for a really important, common goal,” said Annie Tselikis, who serves as the association director for MLDA, during a press conference at Portland’s DiMillo’s on the Water restaurant, before the delegation moved into their private session with the trade contingent.

“You almost never see all four of us together,” King said. “That’s an important statement in itself.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source