Saving Seafood

US states of Maine, Rhode Island fund efforts to market seafood

June 12, 2024 — The governments of the U.S. states of Maine and Rhode Island are providing grant funding to help promote and market the states’ seafood – adding to growing efforts to create marketing bodies promoting seafood consumption.

A grant from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development’s Domestic Trade Grant Program – which was funded by the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan signed by Maine Governor Janet Mills and the American Rescue Plan Act signed by U.S. President Joe Biden – will help establish a new Maine Seafood Promotional Council. The council, which is being led by FocusMaine and guided by input from the seafood industry, recently launched and is gearing up for a two-year pilot phase, FocusMaine said in a press release.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: World weighs in on fate of 4 Maine dams blocking passage of endangered salmon

June 10, 2024 — The fate of four dams in Maine that are hindering the migration of wild Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish has drawn international attention after federal regulators gave preliminary approval in March to relicense one dam and require all four to improve fish passages, moves that will allow the dams to operate for several more decades.

The stakes couldn’t be higher, pitting the potential survival of a species against business interests. Maine is the only U.S. state where wild Atlantic salmon have survived in a few rivers, including the Kennebec and Penobscot. That is forcing parties involved to weigh whether the dams are producing enough electricity to justify ongoing operations now that alternative energies including solar and wind are coming online.

Environmentalists and others are advocating for removal of the four dams on the Kennebec River to give the best chance for wild Atlantic salmon, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, to repopulate. Their numbers have dwindled from about 200,000 before the dams were built to fewer than 2,000 now.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

A fast-warming Gulf of Maine is rising faster than ever

June 6, 2024 — The fast-warming Gulf of Maine is rising faster than ever, with average monthly sea levels in Portland, Bar Harbor and Eastport breaking record after record over the last two years and driving storm surges and king-tide flooding higher and farther inland.

“The rate of sea level rise is increasing,” said Maine State Geologist Steve Dickson. “It’s no longer an inch per decade. It’s more. The tides now are about 7 to 8 inches above what they were when my grandfather was a kid playing on the shores of Jonesport.”

On Wednesday, during a Maine Climate Council briefing, Dickson said that future generations will be dealing with a few more feet, not inches. It was the third in a series of scientific updates in advance of the second edition of “Maine Won’t Wait,” the state’s climate action plan.

About 90% of global warming is occurring in the ocean, causing the water’s internal heat to increase, according to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Heat stored in the ocean causes the water to expand, which is responsible for one-third to one-half of global sea level rise.

The last 10 years were the ocean’s warmest decade since at least the 1800s, and 2023 was its warmest recorded year, according to NASA. In the Gulf of Maine, sea surface temperatures in 2021 and 2022 were the warmest on record. The Gulf of Maine was in a marine heat wave for 97% of 2022.

Read the full article at Yahoo News!

The Whales Have Returned To The New England Region For Summer

June 6, 2024 — When the summer season comes around in New England, it also means that our many nautical neighbors or whales, have made their way up to New England waters for the warmer months.

Thousands of whales will call the Gulf of Maine home for the summer, and they all have names too! They get their names from a thumbprint like pattern on the back of their tail, which is known as a fluke.

WBZ NewsRadio had the opportunity to meet Sedge, one of the whales over at Cape Ann’s Whale Watch, and she said that Sedge must eat a million calories a day while he’s here.

“A million calories is about 1,776 big macs, and to meet that equivalent they are going to have to eat about 2 to 3,000 pounds of fish every single day they’re up here.”

Read the full article at WBZ News

MAINE: Grant applications open for storm recovery efforts

June 4, 2024 — After the coast of Maine was left devastated by dual storms shortly into the new year, many individuals within the fishing community have been looking for where to turn. Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association (MCFA) welcomes applications from property owners who serve commercial fishing businesses to apply for the MCFA Storm Recovery Fund, which is expected to make 25-30 grants of $5 thousand. The deadline for applications is June 14.

If you have struggled to find funding from other sources and are a more discreet working waterfront business, MCFA may be able to help. They hope to prioritize smaller properties that may not qualify for other funding assistance within the state.

In addition to MCFA, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), Maine Emergency Agency, Island Institute, and many other fishing groups have helped support the community through the past months of cleanup and rebuilds. The Maine legislature also took a significant step by including $60 million in aid to Maine communities and businesses for the fiscal year 2024-2025.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MAINE: The plans for Maine’s floating wind port, explained

June 3, 2024 — The Maine Department of Transportation recently announced that it had applied for a $456 million federal grant to build a wind port on Sears Island.

The announcement marks another step in what will be a years-long effort by state officials to build out Maine’s third port, one that can support a nascent floating wind industry.

And though Maine has been discussing the possibility of a wind port for several years, a clearer picture of the plans is now beginning to form.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Nordic Aquafarms files complaint challenging Maine city council’s eminent domain decision

June 2, 2024 — Nordic Aquafarms has filed a complaint in Waldo County Superior Court seeking to reverse a Belfast City Council decision that closed its eminent domain bid to secure land needed for its planned recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A.

The Belfast council originally voted on 7 May to vacate the company’s condemnation order that would have seen the city use eminent domain to give Nordic access to a key piece of intertidal land. That land was subject to a lawsuit launched by Jeffrey R. Mabee and Judith B. Grace, which included the Maine Supreme Judicial Court finding that Nordic Aquafarms did not have sufficient right, title, or interest to the land.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Feds grant Maine a lease for floating offshore wind research project

May 30, 2024 — The federal government has granted the state of Maine a lease for a floating offshore wind research station nearly 30 miles off the southern coast.

The dozen turbines located southeast of Portland would be the first floating, offshore wind research site ever deployed in federal waters. The administration of Gov. Janet Mills requested the lease from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in 2021, kicking off a multi-year process that involved an environmental assessment, public meetings and engagement with the commercial fishing community.

The stated goal of the research project is to study the technology and how it interacts with the surrounding environment and marine life as well as ways to reduce potential conflicts with existing uses, such as commercial fishing. The research could then influence development of commercial-scale offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, which Mills has made a critical piece of her administration’s ambitious climate goals.

“Offshore wind offers our state a tremendous opportunity to harness abundant clean energy in our own backyard, to create good-paying jobs and drive economic development, and to reduce our over-reliance on fossil fuels and fight climate change,” Mills said in a statement. “This offer of a lease is a major milestone in our effort to embrace these significant economic and environmental benefits for Maine and Maine people and is a recognition of our nation-leading work to responsibly develop this promising industry.”

Read the full article at wbur

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobstermen and Scientists See a Fishery in Flux

May 30, 2024 — This year, May 15 marked the beginning of the lobster fishing season on the Outer Cape. The fishery is not an insignificant one here. There are 42 fishermen on the Outer Cape who collectively land about 830,000 pounds of lobster every year, according to data on the Mass. Lobstermen’s Association website. This represents about 5 percent of the Massachusetts fishery.

While overall the fishery seems stable, some lobstermen are seeing changes that have them worried about its future. Scientists are looking into what role the changing climate may be playing in those changes, but they don’t have definitive answers.

“It’s horrible,” said Mike Rego, a lobsterman and owner of the F/V Miss Lilly who operates out of Provincetown. “Last year was the worst year I ever had.”

Dana Pazolt, another Provincetown lobsterman who owns the F/V Black Sheep, said that the last four years have been slim for lobsters around the Outer Cape. “You’ve got to hunt for them,” he said. “I can’t tell you why that is.”

The surface waters of the Gulf of Maine are warming at a rate of about one degree per decade, faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, according to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

Meanwhile, in other areas, warming has already had an effect — it played a major role in causing the collapse of the lobster fishery in Long Island Sound in 1999.

Lobsters do appear to be shifting their range north. From 1985 to 2016, Maine experienced a 650-percent increase in its lobster population, according to data from the Maine Dept. of Marine Resources. This may be due in part to the decline in Atlantic cod, a lobster predator, but it is also likely due to warming temperatures making lobster conditions more favorable farther north.

Read the full article at The Provincetown Independent 

Gulf of Maine proposed lease sale public auction seminar

May 30, 2024 — On April 30, 2024, the Interior Department announced its proposal for an offshore wind energy auction in the Gulf of Maine. The proposed sale would include eight lease areas offshore Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, totaling nearly one million acres, which have the potential to generate approximately 15 GW of clean, renewable energy and power for over five million homes.

On May 1, 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) in the Federal Register, initiating a 60-day public comment period ending on July 1, 2024. To comment on the PSN, go here and search for docket number BOEM-2024-0026.

Read the full article at WorkBoat