Saving Seafood

Fishermen of baby eels expect high price as stocks dry up

March 12, 2018 — ROCKPORT, Maine — Members of Maine’s baby-eel fishing industry are expecting high prices for the tiny fish this year because of a shortage on the international market, and sushi lovers could end up feeling the pinch.

Maine is the only U.S. state with a significant fishery for baby eels, or elvers. The tiny, translucent eels are sold to Asian aquaculture companies to be raised to maturity for use as food. They’re a key piece of the worldwide supply chain for Japanese dishes such as unagi, and some eventually make it back to the U.S.

The eels sold for about $1,300 per pound at the docks last year, about on par with an ounce of gold, and are already one of the most lucrative fisheries in the country on a per-pound basis. Fishermen in Asia are seeing a poor harvest this year, and European eel fisheries are cracking down on poaching, said state Rep. Jeffrey Pierce, a Dresden Republican and consultant to the elver fishery.

That means Maine’s elvers will be in higher demand, and prices could be higher for consumers.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Washington Post

Low Numbers of Endangered Whales Sparks Debate About Whether Lobster Industry Threatens Species

March 9, 2018 — The population of the endangered North Atlantic right whale took a big hit last year with a record number found dead in Canadian waters from ship strikes and entanglements. With this year’s calving season ending and no new births observed, an ongoing debate over whether Maine’s lobster industry poses a mortal threat to the species is gaining new urgency.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Mark Baumgartner says that to help the whales survive much longer, the ropes Maine lobstermen use to tend their traps have to be modified or even eliminated. And it’s not just for the whales’ sake.

“I feel the industry is in jeopardy,” Baumgartner says.

Baumgartner was at the Fishermen’s Forum in Rockland late last week to detail the whale’s plight. If the lobster industry doesn’t respond effectively, he says, the federal government will step in.

“As the population continues to decline and pressure is put on the government to do something about it, then they’re going to turn to closures, because that’s all they’ll have,” he says.

There were about 450 North Atlantic right whales estimated to be alive in 2016. There were only five calves born last year, and a record 17 deaths caused by entanglement or ship strikes.

Read the full story at Maine Public

 

Northern Wind and Bristol Seafood Celebrate One Year of Fair Trade Scallops; Give Back to Fishing Communities

March 9, 2018 — The following was released by Northern Wind and Bristol Seafood:

Northern Wind and Bristol Seafood are celebrating one year of selling Fair Trade Certified scallops. A year ago, the two companies came together to form a Fair Trade fishing association called the Northwest Atlantic Sea Scallop Fisheries. As part of their participation in the program, the association commits to reinvest a portion of their Fair Trade profits back into the fishing community. Northwest Atlantic Sea Scallop Fisheries chose to dedicate a portion of the premium of their Fair Trade Certified scallops to the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), which represents over 250 full-time scallop fishermen.

FSF works to ensure the long-term health of Atlantic sea scallops and the scallop fishery by partnering with the industry, regulators, and scientists. It promotes sustainable management while helping to make the scallop fishery one of the most valuable in the United States. The Atlantic sea scallop fishery is the first American fishery to be awarded the Fair Trade designation.

“There is increasing demand for sustainably and responsibly harvested seafood, and we are proud to sell scallops with the Fair Trade Certified label,” said Ken Melanson, CEO of Northern Wind. “Seafood buyers need to know that the Atlantic scallop fishery meets the world’s highest standards.”

The program, operated by independent certification group Fair Trade USA, requires fisheries to meet stringent environmental, labor, and social responsibility standards. Certified fisheries must fish stocks that are sustainably managed, provide fair wages and benefits to employees, and maintain safe working conditions.

“Fair Trade certification is a key part of our commitment to promoting economically sustainable communities and environmentally sustainable fisheries,” said Peter Handy, CEO of Bristol Seafood. “Supporting the work of the Fisheries Survival Fund helps us to continue to safeguard the future sustainability of the scallop fishery.”

The Northwest Atlantic Sea Scallop Fisheries vessels participating in the Fair Trade program are the Hear No Evil, Let It Ride, Bountiful 2, Diligence, Sandra Jane, Concordia, Contender, Ambassador, Sea Ranger Vanquish and Vantage. The participating vessels land their Fair Trade scallops at Tempest Fisheries, Ltd. in the Port of New Bedford. 

“We’ve loved working with Bristol Seafood and Northern Wind over the past year,” said Ashley Apel, Senior Seafood Program Manager at Fair Trade USA. “We look forward to continuing to strengthen the livelihoods of fishermen and improve the wellbeing of fishing communities here in the U.S.”

About Northern Wind

Northern Wind is a direct off-loader, processor, and distributor of fresh and frozen scallops, along with additional seafood offerings. Founded in 1987 by Ken Melanson and Michael Fernandes, Northern Wind has since grown to a team of 100 full-time employees and operates a state-of-the art BRC facility on New Bedford’s historic waterfront. Since the very beginning, the Northern Wind Team has always dedicated themselves to consistently supplying customers with high quality products at superior service levels and competitive prices.

About Bristol Seafood

Bristol provides quality seafood to people who care about what they eat. Founded in 1992, the company enjoys a nationwide following due to steadfast adherence to its uncompromising Maine standards. Bristol pairs efficiency-building technologies with finishing done the old-fashioned way – by hand. In 2016, Bristol reported record sales for the second consecutive year, and shipped more than six million pounds of seafood from its facility on the Portland, Maine fish pier. The company is the first and only processor of mussels, scallops, or fillets in the state of Maine to earn a Safe Quality Food Institute certification, and the first company to introduce a Fair Trade certified seafood item harvested in US waters.

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobster catch declines, boat prices rise

State industry doing better than Maine’s

March 9, 2018 — As the summer of 2017 wore on, the word from local lobstermen was that the behavior of their prized catch had grown more unpredictable and landings were down.

Well, they were right: Landings and the value of the catch declined slightly across coastal Massachusetts in 2017, but a late fall run and higher off-the-boat prices helped mitigate the damage and keep declines well below those suffered by their lobstering contemporaries in Maine.

According to data supplied by the state Division of Marine Fisheries, Bay State lobstermen landed 16,565,126 pounds of lobster in 2017 with a total value of $81.54 million — for an average boat price of $4.92 per pound.

The amount of Massachusetts landings and their overall value are based on preliminary data complied by DMF from state lobster dealers. Even if the final numbers show a steeper decline, it’s highly unlikely they will approach what Maine lobstermen encountered in 2017.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Maine critics throw cold water on Trump administration’s offshore drilling plan

The proposal to open 90 percent of the nation’s coastline – including the North Atlantic – to oil and gas exploration draws widespread opposition at an event held by federal officials in Augusta.

March 8, 2018 — AUGUSTA, Maine — Fishermen, environmentalists and lawmakers from Maine’s coast called on the Trump administration Wednesday to exclude the North Atlantic from a plan to potentially reopen much of the nation’s coastline to oil and gas exploration.

Representatives with the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management were in Augusta for an open house-style event to field questions about President Trump’s controversial offshore energy proposal. The draft plan released in January calls for reopening 90 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards to oil and gas drilling, a seismic shift from the 6 percent now available to energy companies. The public comment period on the draft plan closes Friday.

Just two of the 47 proposed lease sales would be in the North Atlantic region stretching from Maine to New Jersey. But the mere prospect of oil drilling in the Gulf of Maine or Georges Bank – and the accompanying environmental risks – was enough to draw more than 60 people to a pre-emptive event held before the bureau’s open house.

Kristan Porter, a fisherman from Cutler who is president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, recalled how one of his predecessors told Congress in 1970 that Maine fishermen were “100 percent against” allowing oil drilling in the Gulf of Maine. Nearly 50 years later, Porter said, nothing has changed.

“Allowing the exploration of oil and gas … could devastate our fisheries, our fishermen and our communities,” Porter said at a news conference. “Maine’s fishing industries are dependent on Maine’s clean water. Even minor spills could irreparably damage the Gulf of Maine.”

Porter was joined at the event by representatives of the Natural Resources Council of Maine and other environmental groups, the aquaculture industry, tourism advocates, and Democratic, Republican and independent politicians. All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation also oppose the plan.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

National Fisherman: No privacy, please

March 8, 2018 — As the north coast of California finally opened its Dungeness crab season this year, we saw yet again that diversity in fisheries is the key to sustaining infrastructure.

About 3,000 miles away from Crescent City, Calif., where buyers put crab boats on 3,000- to 6,000-pound limits when the season opened, Maine fishermen know exactly what it’s like to lose fishery landings and value prospects to a loss of infrastructure.

The California processors were claiming they couldn’t move product quickly enough because the season has been hindered for several years running. That has led them to consolidate, cut staff and trim the fat on trucking infrastructure. In Maine, the boom and bust winter shrimp fishery is mostly busted. Decades of quota extremes led the dwindling number of onshore processors to cut back on their commitment to the fleet (when it was running).

Some communities and individuals developed programs around direct marketing the catch in Maine. But just as they were getting established, the fishery went bust again and hasn’t been back since. When it does come back, who will be able to take the shrimp? And beyond the processors, what will the market be?

Lucky for Maine fishermen, local shrimp carries a certain mystique. When it comes in, coastal communities gather round to buoy the fleet and enjoy the fruits of the sea. But California’s Dungeness is a premium product, closer to Maine’s lobster in quality, flavor and demand. It is also sold live. What would Maine look like if its lobster fleet suffered a similar fate to that of California crabbers? It would not be pretty.

Read the full opinion piece at National Fisherman

 

Maine fleet keeps an even keel despite lower lobster landings

March 7, 2018 — As expected, Maine lobster landings dropped in 2017. The fleet landed 110.8 million pounds, a 16 percent decline in volume from 2016’s 132.5 million pounds, according to preliminary data released my the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Value was down as well, by $106 million from 2016’s all-time record value of $540.4 million to $433.8 million (the average price per pound dropped from $4.08 to $3.91).

Despite marking the largest single-year decline in the fishery’s history, the 2017 season still ranks as the sixth highest volume and fourth highest value in the state’s history.

The season also marks the seventh year in a row with landings over 100 million pounds, which had never happened prior to 2011.

“The past year has underscored what I’ve been saying for years now — that change is inevitable and we must be prepared,” DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher said in a press release. “This year’s decline in lobster landings is by no means a signal that the sky is falling. But it does highlight the need to make sure our management measures adapt to change. This is true for all fisheries. It is the best way to ensure resilience of our marine resources and opportunity for future generations.”

Zooming in on Maine’s lobster zones, the most significant landings decline came in Zone F, where lobstermen caught 25 percent less than the previous year, catching 10.95 million pounds compared to 2016’s haul of 14.67 million pounds. Landings dropped about 17 percent in Zones C, D and G; 15 percent in Zone E; 13 percent in Zone A; and 12 percent in Zone B.

Read the full story at the National Fisherman

 

Gear is in wrong place for right whales, scientists say

March 7, 2018 — ROCKPORT, Maine — Last summer, at least 17 endangered North Atlantic right whales died during their northwards migration from their spawning grounds off the coast of Florida and Georgia. Of those, 12 were found dead in Canadian waters, while five were found off the coast of the United States.

Besides the whales that died last year, several more were found entangled in fishing gear, and at least one more whale died in January of this year.

Now scientists and fisheries regulators are working to find ways to reduce the risk of entanglement. They may implement changes in fishing rules that have an enormous impact on Maine’s lobster industry.

The NOAA Fisheries Large Whale Take Reduction Team recently established separate working groups to study two proposals to reduce the risk of entanglement: splicing several 1,700-pound breaking strength “weak link” sleeves into vertical lines such as those that connect lobster buoys to traps; and removing those ropes altogether by requiring the use “ropeless” fishing gear.

Those working groups will focus on whether either solution is technologically feasible, whether it will actually work for fishermen, and whether it can be cost effective for fishermen.

According to scientists from NOAA Fisheries and the New England Aquarium in Boston, the evidence suggests that the already tiny right whale population is declining.

Read the full story the Mount Desert Islander

 

Maine: Marketing lobsters, harvesting crabs on agenda at fish forum

March 5, 2018 — ROCKPORT, Maine — The social event of the year in the world of Maine fishing is coming to a close in Rockport.

Saturday is the final day of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum for 2018. The event began on Thursday at the Samoset Resort. It takes place every year and is a trade show for the commercial fishing industry that also includes numerous seminars, a banquet and other events.

Saturday’s events will touch on everything from how to effectively market Maine lobster to how to prioritize the goals of the New England herring fishery.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Seattle Times

 

Northeastern U.S. fisheries feeling effect of warming

March 5, 2018 — NEW BRUNSWICK, Canada — It is in the upper reaches of Canada’s Bay of Fundy where nature flexes its tidal muscles while sending a surge of 160 billion tons of seawater in and out of the funnel-shaped bay. That mass moves in with the force equal to that of 8,000 locomotive engines, scouring nutrients from the ocean bottom, the tidal flats and marshes, while stirring up a smorgasbord of food for the whales, waterfowl, fish and seafloor dwellers that make this rich fishery their home.

The tides, the highest in the world, are equal in height to a five-story building when they play out in their most extreme manner. With two high tides and two low tides each day, that mega-slosh of water, a volume greater than the combined flow of all of the freshwater rivers on the planet, refreshes and invigorates the Bay of Fundy, which joins the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park among the seven wonders of North America.

And also, it is in this bay where the warming of the planet’s oceans could be showing its hand.

Donald Killorn is the executive director at Eastern Charlotte Waterways Inc., an environmental resource and research center located in Blacks Harbour, not far from where the Bay of Fundy merges into the adjoining and much wider Gulf of Maine. Mr. Killorn says these waters, the fishery and the impact they are experiencing because of a rising water temperature brought on by climate change know no international boundary.

“The temperature change we are experiencing here in the Bay of Fundy and in the Gulf of Maine is as severe as anywhere on the planet, and it is having a significant impact on the biodiversity of these waters,” Mr. Killorn said.

Read the full story at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette