Saving Seafood

$21.2M in resilience grants announced for Maine waterfront

August 1, 2024 — Maine Governor Mills announced $21.2 million in resilience grants for 68 working waterfronts damaged by winter storms. The Working Waterfront Resilience Grant Program funding stems from $60 million in recovery funds from the Maine Legislature following the December and January storms. The funding was approved on April 18, allocating direct funds to working waterfront communities, underlining their importance in the state.

“Working waterfronts are a cornerstone of our coastal communities and our economy, and last winter’s devastating storm demonstrated just how vulnerable they are to extreme weather and climate change,” said Governor Mills. “These grants will help rebuild working waterfronts, so they are able to better withstand future storms, protecting access to the water now and for generations to come.”

The recovery funds are the single largest investment in storm recovery by any administration in Maine’s history. The 68 working waterfront projects set to receive grant funds represent a range of needs. According to the release from Gov. Mills’ office, the needs include reconstructing and improving damaged wharves and piers, rebuilding and restoring key support buildings such as bait sheds, and repairing and upgrading fuel and electrical systems. A list of the preliminarily approved applicants and funding can be found here.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

They’re digging tiny bones out of tuna heads to help set future quotas

July 31, 2024 — Heidi Nydan revved a jagged, bloody reciprocating saw blade to life on Tuesday morning behind a building on Commercial Street, then sent it slashing down the length of a giant bluefin tuna’s decapitated head.

One lifeless, golf ball-sized fish eye stared up at the gray sky as Nydan, an intern at the University of Maine Pelagic Fisheries Lab, finished her whirring cut. Half the tuna’s head then hit the pavement with a wet thud.

“This is so fun,” Nydan said, her face splattered with flecks of fish spray. “I still can’t believe this is what I do when I come to work.”

Nydan, and a small team of other workers from the Portland-based lab, spent the morning cutting open 30 donated fish heads, then extracting tiny, fingernail-sized bones from within them. The small bits can reveal a lot about each fish and will eventually inform federal and international policymakers who set quotas and other regulations in the future.

But it takes a lot of itty bitty fish bones to do that. Lab interns and scientists sometimes process up to 2,000 bluefin tuna heads in a single fishing season.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

US FDA warns retailers, restaurants about contaminated Maine oysters

July 26, 2024 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising restaurants and food retailers not to serve or sell, and consumers not to eat, recalled oysters from Recompense Cove in Freeport, Maine, U.S.A., because they may be contaminated with Campylobacter bacteria.

“These oysters have been associated with a Campylobacter illness outbreak in Maine,” the FDA said in a press release.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Rescuing Kelp Through Science

July 18, 2024 — Just off the shore in Casco Bay, Maine, marine scientist Scott Lindell descends into an underwater kelp forest, his ears filling with frigid water as he swims down to the seafloor. Lindell’s mission: to find sugar kelp, a golden-brown, frilly-edged seaweed—and, more specifically, sugar kelp in its reproductive phase. Peering through his mask in the swirling, murky water, Lindell can only see a few feet, so it’s not an easy task.

What he’s looking for: kelp blades streaked with sorus tissue, a dark band teeming with millions of spores. A wiry man in his 60s, Lindell has developed relationships with homeowners and researchers across hundreds of miles of New England’s coast so he can access the kelp integral to his work—and, potentially, to the future of seaweed farming in the United States.

After several dives, Lindell has filled his mesh collection bag with cuttings and swims to shore. He stores the prized tissue in a cooler to keep it damp and cool for the five-hour drive, and then sets off for his laboratory at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Here, over the next 45 days, the spores will be carefully cultivated into seed for farmers and scientists to outplant in the ocean.

Read the full article at Civil Eats

Wondering about wind farm plans east of Cape Cod? There’s a public meeting coming up

July 16, 2024 — Federal plans to open up the Gulf of Maine for offshore wind production — including in ocean areas directly east of the outermost Cape towns — will be the topic of discussion at a public information session in Eastham on Wednesday.

The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and the state Division of Marine Fisheries are hosting the session with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management at the Four Points by Sheraton, 3800 State Highway, Eastham, 6-8 p.m.

A Bureau of Ocean Energy Management spokesperson said the event will be in-person only, but noted there are recordings of recent virtual meetings with the same information at tinyurl.com/gulfofmainewindinfo for those unable to attend.

Read the full article at Yahoo! News

New England fishermen sentenced in complex herring fraud case

July 15, 2024 — Several commercial fishermen in New England have been sentenced in a fraud scheme that centered on a critically important species of bait fish and that prosecutors described as complex and wide-ranging

The fishermen were sentenced for “knowingly subverting commercial fishing reporting requirements” in a scheme involving Atlantic herring, prosecutors said in a statement. The defendants included owners, captains and crew members of the Western Sea, a ship that operates out of Maine.

Western Sea owner Glenn Robbins pleaded guilty in March to submitting false information to the federal government regarding the catch and sale of Atlantic herring and a failure to pay taxes, prosecutors said. Members of the ship’s crew conspired to submit false trip reports to the federal government from 2016 to 2019, court records state. The charges are misdemeanors.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

MAINE: Maine leaders split on environmental regulation ruling by US Supreme Court

July 9, 2024 — A U.S. Supreme Court decision is weakening the power of federal agencies to approve new regulations, and some Maine fishermen are celebrating.

By a vote of 6-3, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council ruling from 1984.

Governor Janet Mills shared concerns that this decision could impact how federal agencies protect the health and safety of Americans. Maine House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, also a lobster fisherman, says this could help in their fight against federal fishing regulations.

Read the full article at WGME

MAINE: With improved fish passage, Maine is seeing a record number of river herring

July 8, 2024 — Scientists say many more alewives and blueback herring have made their way into Maine’s waterways this year — a recovery they attribute to dam removals and habitat restoration.

Sean Ledwin, the director of the Bureau of Sea-Run Fisheries and Habitat at the the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said several rivers are seeing strong runs again this year, after record counts in 2023.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

Fisheries Survival Fund Urges Northern Edge Scallop Access at Upcoming New England Fishery Management Council Meeting

June 26, 2024 — The following was released by the Fisheries Survival Fund:

Recent Advisory Panel and Joint Scallop and Habitat Committee meetings have underscored the need to align the access season with periods of high scallop meat yields while ensuring the safety of our fishermen.

The upcoming Council meeting in Freeport, Maine on Thursday, June 27, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport, will be pivotal for the future of Northern Edge scallop access. Key decisions could be made that will impact scallop yields and crew safety.

Opponents of Northern Edge access may propose motions to terminate or severely restrict the Northern Edge scallop access area management initiative. The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) would oppose any such motions and advocates for maintaining a viable Northern Edge access area program.

The Northern Edge is roughly defined as the area encompassed within the Closed Area II Habitat Management Area (HMA) and the adjacent portion of the Northern Flank of Georges Bank. Photo and caption credit: New England Fishery Management Council.

Scallop issues are on the agenda starting at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning. 

  • Motion to Reject Seasonal Closure Option A
    • FSF strongly opposes the anticipated motion to reject the seasonal closure option A (July 15 through October 15) and replace it with a new closure option from April 1 through October 31. This motion would substitute a 9-month open season, which aligns with periods of high scallop meat yields and favorable weather, for a less optimal season from November 1 through March 31. This proposal directly contradicts the Scallop Advisory Panel’s recommendation for spring/summer access from April 1 to August 31.
       
    • Reasons for FSF’s Opposition:
      • Optimal scallop yields and reduced habitat impacts are achieved when access matches periods of highest meat yield, as proposed in Closure Option A.
      • Ensuring scallop access during spring and summer months enhances safety, which the new proposed closure option fails to do.
      • A sufficient access period is essential for the entire fleet to operate safely.
      • The proposed access plan already adequately protects juvenile cod, egg-bearing lobsters, and avoids disrupting spawning seasons for cod and herring. 
         
  • Motion to Abandon the Northern Edge Access Program
    • FSF opposes any motion to abandon the Northern Edge access program.
       
    • Reasons for FSF’s Opposition:
      • The current alternatives are conservative, having already excluded sensitive bottom areas and considered mitigation.
      • The access area program already provides protection for juvenile cod, cod spawning, herring spawning, and egg-bearing lobsters, alongside existing lobster fishing activities.
      • The scallop fishery must retain access to this crucial resource, particularly given the declining productivity of southern areas.
      • Minimal overlap exists between proposed access areas and spawning grounds for cod and herring.
      • Harvesting in the access area program will not interfere with scallop spawning on Georges Bank.
      • Extensive efforts have been made to develop this measure, with effective solutions from the Scallop and Habitat PDTs.
      • The benefits of access are substantial, as demonstrated by the original Georges Bank access program in 2001.

About the Fisheries Survival Fund
Established in 1998, the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) is dedicated to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery. FSF represents the majority of full-time Atlantic scallop fishermen from Maine to North Carolina. FSF collaborates with academic institutions and independent scientific experts to support cooperative research and sustain this fully rebuilt fishery. Additionally, FSF works with the federal government to ensure responsible management of the fishery.

For more information, please contact:
John Quinn
jquinnfish@gmail.com
https://atlanticscallops.org

MAINE: 2024 Maine pogy season makes its set

June 19, 2024 — Mainers know it’s pogy season when you’re boating along the coast and see a dark underwater cloud with quick shimmers of scales flashing near the surface. Not only are striped bass, tuna, and seals happy, but Maine lobstermen are also happy when they know fresh bait will be available in the near future.

The commercial fishery opened for Atlantic menhaden yesterday in the state, while the non-commercial fishery opened on May 1. A species that occupies coastal waters from Nova Scotia down to northern Florida is believed to consist of a single population, and during mid-June, there seems to be no shortage of them along Maine’s coast.

The preliminary allocation of the Atlantic menhaden quota for the 2024 fiscal year is 24,464,561 pounds. However, this allocation is expected to decrease significantly due to an overage in 2023, when the commercial fishery landings for the species reached 20,036,403 pounds. Despite this, the small-scale fishery continues with open harvest days on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with a daily limit for harvester vessels set at 5950 pounds, according to the Maine DMR.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman