Saving Seafood

Shell, lacked? Lobster catch might be much less this year

November 20, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s lobster haul might be less this year, and prices have drifted downward for both lobstermen and consumers, members of the industry say.

American lobster fishing is in the midst of a multiyear boom, with Maine fishermen setting a record of nearly 131 million pounds last year. Fishermen in the state have caught more than 100 million pounds for six years in a row after never previously reaching that total.

But fishermen saw smaller catches this summer, and some in the industry believe the catch could be as much as 30 percent off this year, said market analyst John Sackton, founder of SeafoodNews.com.

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

 

Plan to improve lobstering data collection faces hearings

November 17, 2017 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Interstate fishing regulators are holding a series of hearings on the East Coast about a plan to improve data collection in the lobster fishery.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is holding the hearings in January. The commission says it wants to improve harvest reporting and biological data collection to better inform fishing regulations.

The hearings and potential rule changes also apply to the Jonah crab fishery. Changes could include use of new reporting technology.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bradenton Herald

 

Maine to issue new licenses for lucrative elvers for first time since 2013

November 15, 2017 — For the first time since 2013, state officials will allow new fishermen into the lucrative baby eel fishery.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources says it plans to hold a lottery to issue at least seven new licenses to harvest baby eels, or elvers, in 2018. The last time DMR issued new licenses in the fishery was in February 2013.

The state started accepting lottery applications at noon on Wednesday.

For the past four years, the fishery has generated between $8 million and $13.4 million in gross statewide annual revenue for Maine’s approximately 1,000 licensed fishermen, which includes members of Maine’s native Indian tribes. During that time, the average annual statewide price offered to fishermen has ranged from $874 to $2,171 per pound.

Each new license holder will be allowed to harvest at least four pounds of elvers during the 2018 season, which is scheduled to begin in late March. Based on 2017 prices, when Maine fishermen were paid on average just above $1,300 per pound, four pounds of elvers could amount to nearly $6,000 in income, DMR officials said.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Feds seek comment on southern New England lobstering changes

November 15, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Federal fishing regulators are soliciting public comments about possible changes to lobster fishing in southern New England.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is seeking the feedback about changes that could include restricting the number of lobster traps or permits an individual or a business would be allowed to own.

The agency says it’s considering changes to the lobster fishery because of the “continued poor condition of the southern New England lobster stock.” It says not enough young lobsters are being born in the area because of environmental factors and fishing.

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

 

Maine’s Allowable Scallop Catch To Remain Same As Last Year

November 13, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Maine is allowing scallop fishermen to catch the same amount of scallops in the coming season as they did in the previous one.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources says its advisory council has approved the specifications for the 2017-18 scallop fishing season. Last year, fishermen were allowed to harvested 15 gallons of scallops per day in the Cobscook Bay area and 10 gallons per day in the rest of the state.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

 

Maine plans swifter protocols for shellfish monitoring

November 13, 2017 — No one knows the origin of an algae bloom that closed hundreds of miles of Maine coastline to shellfish harvesting this fall. Or why the microscopic phytoplankton responsible for it suddenly became so bountiful in the Gulf of Maine. Or even why it produces toxins in the first place.

What is known is that a toxic bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia, a common phytoplankton, caused a recall of 58,500 pounds of blue mussels in September – only the second shellfish recall in Maine’s modern history. To prevent another recall, the state is drastically reassessing its shellfish monitoring practices.

“I’m frustrated we had another recall this year,” said Kohl Kanwit, director of public health for the Maine Department of Marine Resources. A similar Pseudo-nitzschia bloom in 2016 forced a recall and closed a third of the state’s 3,500-mile coastline to harvesting.

“I was confident we were going to be ahead of it. We knew a lot more, we were quicker to react to it, but we weren’t accounting for the fact that in less than a week toxins could go from barely detectable to over the (safety) limit.”

Next year, even a hint of toxic Pseudo-nitzschia in the water will trigger broad precautionary closures until the department knows shellfish are safe, an entirely new approach to biotoxin management, Kanwit said.

Read the full story at Central Maine

Rockport Premiere Set for Film on ‘Relentless Destruction’ of Ground Fishing Industry

November 13, 2017 — The following was released by Fishing Partnership Support Services:

A documentary film dealing with the devastating impacts of federal regulations on the lives of New England ground fishermen will have its world premiere on the weekend before Thanksgiving on Cape Ann.

“Dead in the Water,” produced and directed by Rockport native and professional filmmaker David Wittkower, will be screened for the first time in public at the Rockport High School Auditorium on Saturday, Nov. 18, at 3:00 p.m.

The film was shot in different coastal towns and it features scenes and interviews with area fishermen, their spouses and other family members; advocates for fishermen; elected officials; and community activists.

“Dead in the Water” was two-and- a-half years in the making.

“This film opens the doors for the world to see how difficult and dangerous the life of a fisherman is,” said John Bell, a former three-term mayor of Gloucester (2002-08). “On top of that, the impact of misguided federal regulations on fishermen has never been presented as powerfully as it is in ‘Dead in the Water.’ This film packs a real punch. It stays with you long after you’ve seen it.”

Wittkower, a graduate of the American Film Institute who’s been living and working in Los Angeles since 1981, describes “Dead in the Water” as an examination of “the relentless destruction of the New England ground fishing industry through government regulations, bad science, and the growing, but
mistaken, belief that everything has been overfished and there aren’t any fish left in the oceans.”

The idea for the film came from a casual conversation he had on a sidewalk in Gloucester three years ago. “I was back in Rockport on a visit and I drove into Gloucester and noticed there were very few fishing boats in the harbor,” Wittkower said. “I asked someone, ‘Where’s the fleet?’ and he said, ‘What fleet? The fleet’s been dwindling for years, and this is what’s left.’ ”

He started asking more questions about the plight of the town’s fishermen and was soon directed to Angela Sanfilippo, the longtime president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association. Sanfilippo encouraged him when he raised the possibility of telling the story of the vanishing fleet of ground fishing boats and their crews on film. “I could see that David was sincerely interested in this topic,” said Sanfilippo, “and I quickly figured out he had the skills and track record to make a serious documentary on it, a film that could generate a lot of interest, here and elsewhere.”

The Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association decided to help and support Wittkower as much as possible. “The first time I saw the rough cut of ‘Dead in the Water,’ I knew we had done the right thing,” said Sanfilippo. “This is something special.”

One of the many friends and professional colleagues of Sanfilippo who appears in “Dead in the Water” is J.J. Bartlett, president of Fishing Partnership Support Services. He notes that physicians who have studied the physical and emotional effects upon ground fishermen of the changes in the industry “have concluded that 87 percent of them are suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”

Bartlett said, “When you watch ‘Dead in the Water,’ you’ll understand why that’s so. And you’ll leave the theater wanting to tell your friends, ‘You have to see this film.’ “Following the premiere in Rockport on Nov. 18, Wittkower is planning a tour where he will show the film in multiple locations and to a variety of audiences. That tour will begin in Massachusetts, with subsequent showings likely in Boston and New Bedford, and will extend to Maine and other coastal
states. Simultaneously, he will be trying for a nationwide showing by getting the film on HBO, Netflix or Amazon.

“Dead in the Water” is Wittkower’s fifteenth documentary film. He has won many awards for his work, including one from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum for a film he did on Lane Frost, a famous rodeo bull rider who was accidentally killed at a riding event. He’s hoping now that “something better than an award” will come from his latest project. Said Wittkower, “I’m hoping to increase public support for U.S. fishermen. I want to help keep fishing jobs in this country. If ‘Dead in the Water’ can do that, I won’t need any more awards.”

The film was recently accepted into the Depth of Field International Film Festival competition under three categories: Documentary, Direction and Cinematography.

Rockport High School is located at 24 Jerdens Lane. Tickets to the premiere cost $20 apiece and may be purchased at the door or in advance by calling 978-282- 4847 or going to the Gloucester office of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership at 2 Blackburn Center. A portion of all of the proceeds from showing the film on Nov. 18 will go to the Fishermen and Families Fund at the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association.

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Stocks Are Rebounding — But How High Should The Quota Be Raised?

November 7, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Fishermen up and down the New England coast say it has been decades since they’ve been able to catch so many Atlantic bluefin tuna, so fast. Once severely depleted, populations of the prized sushi fish appear to be rebuilding.

Now the industry and some scientists say the international commission that regulates the fish can allow a much bigger catch. But some environmental groups disagree.

Peter Speeches is a commercial fisherman who sails his 45-foot boat, the Erin & Sarah, out of a Portland marina. His rods and reels are racked, though, and the boat has been docked the past several weeks. That’s because tuna fishermen reached their fall catch quotas earlier than ever this year.

“There was more fish here than I’ve seen in 30 years, and I fish virtually every single day. This year we caught probably the same amount, but in half the time,” he says.

This year, Speeches says, the thousand-plus boats that fish bluefin off New England were blessed by day after day of good boating weather. Forage fish such as herring and pogies showed up in numbers — and they swam relatively near to shore, bringing the big tuna in to feast, where smaller boats could get at them pretty easily.

Above all, he says, there were just a whole lot of bluefin around, and biting.

“They were everywhere. When they hit this year in July, they hit from the Canadian border to New Jersey, and they were thick. And they got caught fast,” Speeches says.

Read and listen to the full story at Maine Public

Whale research to highlight changes in gulf

November 2, 2017 — BAR HARBOR, Maine — Upcoming new research into the feeding habits of baleen whales in the Gulf of Maine – one of the fastest-warming bodies of water on the planet – could shed light on impacts of climate change on oceans worldwide.

The study of whale foraging ecology will be undertaken by members of College of the Atlantic’s Allied Whale marine mammal research program, in partnership with Cetos Research Organization, during a five-year project beginning in spring 2018.

Paired with data from a similar Allied Whale study done before temperatures began rising so dramatically in the gulf in 2004, this new research will give scientists their first broad picture of how the ocean’s top predators are adapting to a rapidly changing environment.

“The warming gulf has the potential to radically affect prey structure, and we have the control data from before the warming started to go by,” said Allied Whale Director Sean Todd, the Steven K. Katona Chair in Marine Science at COA and a principal investigator on the project.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander