Saving Seafood

Maine’s elver season shut down 2 weeks early as off-book sales disrupt quota

May 24, 2018 — State regulators are shutting down the lucrative elver fishery two weeks early, after Maine Marine Patrol investigators concluded that off-the-books sales of the valuable commodity have pushed the statewide catch beyond the legal limit.

Elver dealers and fishermen are supposed to use an electronic swipe-card system that allows accurate, real-time tracking by state regulators, but some dealers are paying less than the going rate – around $2,400 per pound – for cash sales of the baby eels, which are raised to adulthood at aquaculture facilities in Asia and sold to the seafood market as a delicacy.

“The future of this lucrative fishery is now in question,” Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher said in a prepared statement. “We clearly have to consider additional measures to ensure that Maine can remain compliant with (catch limits), that we can continue to protect our state’s valuable marine resources, and that we can hold accountable anyone who chooses to squander the opportunity those resources represent.”

The decision is a blow to the reputation of the fishery, said Darrell Young, co-director of the Maine Elver Fishermen Association, who founded the group five years ago to push back against efforts to shut the fishery down completely. Since then, Young said he’s worked hard to drive out bad actors, and he had planned to advocate at meetings with federal regulators next month for a catch limit of more than 11,000 pounds, a reset to the 2014 level.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Maine elver catch surpasses USD 21 million

May 24, 2018 — The state of Maine, U.S.A., has surpassed USD 21 million (EUR 17.8 million) in total value for its elver fishery as the price-per-pound for the baby eels remains at an average of almost USD 2,400 (EUR 2,000).

The season, which kicked off on 22 March, still has time to increase that total before its closure on 7 June. However, 2018 is already proving to be a banner year for the fishery, as the season opened to record high prices that continued to stay elevated.

Those prices were attributed to a number of factors, including reports of low catch totals of japonica eels – the variety caught in Japan – and the complete ban on all exports of European Eels. The European Union recently began an evaluation of its EU Eel Regulation to determine the next step in conservation.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Climate change to have drastic effects on Gulf of Maine lobster and clam fisheries, studies say

May 23, 2018 — AUGUSTA, Maine — Two new scientific studies are highlighting the current and future impacts that rising ocean temperatures will have on lobster, clams and other important commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Maine.

Research on nearly 700 North American fish species predicts Atlantic cod habitat could shrink by as much as 90 percent by century’s end and that lobster populations could shift 200 miles farther north as a result of climate change. Meanwhile, a separate research project suggests Maine’s soft-shell clam industry could collapse unless steps are taken to protect the fishery from green crabs that are thriving in the state’s warming waters.

“Something is out of whack and we need to do something about it. We need to adapt,” said University of Maine professor Brian Beal, who has studied soft-shell clams for more than 30 years.

The studies are part of a growing body of scientific work seeking to understand – and look beyond – changes that fishermen across the country are witnessing on the water every day.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Hunt is on for tagged lobsters that double as raffle tickets

May 21, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — This scavenger hunt is a hunt for scavengers.

Interstate fishing managers are asking fishermen to check traps for lobsters carrying special green tags. The tags are part of a data collection program being conducted from May to November by the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation and the University of Rhode Island.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages some East Coast fisheries, is promoting the program.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at AP News

 

Maine Wants to Return Salmon, Herring to Historic Habitat

May 21, 2018 — AUGUSTA, Maine — A Maine state project aims to bring salmon and river herring back to a tributary of one of the state’s major rivers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is using its Species Recovery Grants to States Program to award more than $310,000 to the Maine Department of Marine Resources for the project. The state wants to restore salmon and herring back to Togus Stream.

The stream is a tributary of the Kennebec River. The state says the river was once home to the fish, but the construction of barriers has blocked them from their historical habitat for more than two centuries.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at US News

 

Eels break records in Maine, where they sell for big money

May 21, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — America’s only significant state fishery for baby eels has blown past records for value as high demand from overseas aquaculture companies is driving prices to new heights.

Fishermen in Maine search for the eels, called elvers, in rivers and streams every spring so they can be sold to Asian aquaculture companies as seed stock. Fishermen have sold more than $20 million worth of the eels so far this season, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

That is the highest total since interstate managers instituted a quota system for the eels in 2014. The previous record was $13.4 million, and fishermen still have until June 7 to catch more of the eels this year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

 

Scallop sales to pay for projects to help turtles, fisheries

May 18, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — The sale of scallops will help pay for projects designed to study subjects such as the impact of fishing on sea turtles and how to make the New England shellfish fishery more efficient.

The New England Fishery Management Council announced awards to 15 such projects on Wednesday. The projects are funded via a program that uses sale of scallops to pay for science.

The projects are awarded pounds of scallops that have been set aside from the rest of the fishing quota, and applicants partner with fishermen to harvest the shellfish and generate money.

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

 

US says number of overfished fish stocks at all-time low

May 18, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — The number of American fish stocks that can be described as ‘‘overfished’’ has hit an all-time low, the U.S. government announced on Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made the statement as part of its annual Status of Stocks Report to Congress. Six populations of fish are being removed from its list of overfished stocks, including the popular commercially fished stocks of Gulf of Mexico red snapper and Georges Bank winter flounder, the agency said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

New England groundfishery gains MSC certification

May 17, 2018 — The haddock, pollock, and Acadian redfish trawl in the U.S. Gulf of Maine and Georges Banks officially received MSC certification on 10 May.

Two companies, Fisherman’s Wharf based in Gloucester, Mass.; and Atlantic Trawlers based in Portland, Maine; worked to receive the certification. After roughly a year and extensive assessments the fishery was approved as sustainable.

“With the MSC certification, the fishery can guarantee that the fish stocks are healthy, the fishery has minimal impact on the marine ecosystem, and there is effective, responsive, and responsible management in place,” MSC spokesperson Jackie Marks said.

Certification allows the two companies to use the MSC blue ecolabel on their products, something that the owners of both Atlantic Trawlers and Fishermen’s Wharf saw as a good way to expand their market reach.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Maine: Photos reveal multiple rare right whales off York County coast

May 16, 2018 — Scientists from the New England Aquarium have concluded that the endangered North Atlantic right whales spotted swimming and feeding off the coast of York County last weekend were not the same animal.

Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium, which catalogs all right whales, said in a telephone interview Tuesday evening that the scientists used photographs to confirm that the right whale photographed off Long Sands Beach in York was right whale No. 1409.

A North Atlantic right whale spotted off the coast of Wells was a different whale, according to LaCasse.

The York whale is a male born in 1984. Its mother was known as No. 1160. Her death was confirmed in 2005 after her carcass was found floating offshore.

Whale No. 1409 “is definitely an adult male whose length is estimated at 45 feet and weighs around 90,000 pounds,” LaCasse said, dispelling reports from untrained observers that the whale was a juvenile. “The photograph was outstanding.”

Some right whales are assigned names. LaCasse said there is a right whale named Van Halen because the pattern on its forehead looks like an electric guitar.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald