Saving Seafood

Regulators changing fishing rules to protect endangered tuna

January 4, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government is changing some of the rules about how fishermen harvest tuna in an attempt to protect one of the species of the fish.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says the rule change is designed to steer fishermen who catch yellowfin tuna and swordfish via longline away from bluefin tuna.

Atlantic bluefin tuna are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Fishing boats sometimes catch them incidentally while targeting other species.

The fisheries service says the rule change will modify the way it handles distribution of quota transfers in the longline tuna fishery. The service says that flexibility will improve fishing opportunities while limiting the number of bluefin tuna that are incidentally caught.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

MAINE: State seeks more authority in investigations of suspected lobstering violations

January 3, 2017 — Legislation is being drafted to make it easier for Maine Marine Patrol officers to secretly install tracking or surveillance devices on boats.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources is drafting legislation that would expand the authority of Marine Patrol officers to covertly install electronic surveillance devices on the boats of fishermen suspected of violating state fishing regulations.

The proposal is similar to one that faltered in the Legislature two years ago and is a response to ongoing concerns that some lobstermen are fishing more traps than allowed or engaging in other tactics to skirt Maine’s strict fisheries laws. The proposal also coincides with high-profile turf wars or personal disputes between lobstermen last year that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost or damaged equipment.

The language of the bill has not been released, and DMR officials declined to provide specifics until the legislation has been finalized, consistent with a LePage administration policy. But in a general outline, DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols said the proposal would ease restrictions on Marine Patrol officers when they want to install electronic tracking or surveillance equipment on boats as part of investigations.

It was unclear last week whether the Marine Patrol would be required to obtain a warrant from a court before deploying surveillance devices, a question that could dictate whether the proposal raises constitutionality concerns among fishermen. But it appears the department is seeking to make it easier to track vessels of fishermen suspected of violations of fishing laws, whether civil or criminal.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: 2017 Maine Northern Shrimp Cooperative Winter Sampling Program Participants Announced

December 29, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Maine participants in the cooperative winter sampling program for Northern Shrimp in the Gulf of Maine have been announced. The program, coordinated by the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, is designed to provide biological data on the shrimp fishery which is closed for the fourth year in a row.

The Maine fishermen have been chosen from over 60 applicants, based on a random drawing of those fully qualified in each region. Qualifications include a demonstrated shrimp fishing history, and successfully passing a Marine Patrol review of marine resource violations.

Preference was given to trawlers willing to participate in a test of a compound grate for harvesting. Compound grates are devices used by trawlers to reduce the catch of small shrimp.

Maine harvesters chosen include trawlers Vincent Balzano, Joseph Leask, and Rob Tetrault from western Maine, Troy Benner, David Osier and Arthur Poland Jr. from mid-coast Maine, and Randy Cushman and Glenn Libby from eastern Maine.

Shrimp trappers include Chad Gamage, Daryl Chadwick, George Gilbert and Robert Tracy from mid-coast Maine, and Thomas Riedel from eastern Maine.

In response to the depleted condition of the northern shrimp resource, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section extended the moratorium on commercial fishing for the 2017 fishing season. The Section also approved a 53 metric ton research set aside (RSA) which will be used by the cooperative sampling program to provide managers with much-needed biological data. Biological data gathered will include size composition and egg hatch timing.

In total, the sampling program will include the participation of 10 trawlers (8 Maine trawlers, 1 Massachusetts trawler, and 1 New Hampshire trawler) and 5 Maine trappers, fishing for 8 weeks from mid‐January to mid‐March, 2017.

The trawlers will be allowed a maximum trip limit of 1,200 pounds, with 1 trip per week, while the trappers will have a maximum possession limit of 500 pounds per week, with a 40 trap limit per vessel. All participants will provide shrimp samples to the Maine DMR weekly.

Information on the sampling program can be found at http://www.maine.gov/dmr/science-research/species/shrimp/winter2017.html.

Mercury Levels in Gulf of Maine Tuna on the Decline

December 29, 2016 — There’s some good news for sushi lovers. A new report finds that over an 8-year period, mercury levels in Gulf of Maine tuna declined 2 percent a year — a decline that parallels reductions in mercury pollution from Midwest coal-fired power plants.

Two years ago, Dr. Nicholas Fisher, a professor of marine sciences at Stony Brook University in New York, had a bit of luck — he found out that a colleague had established a collection of 1,300 western Atlantic bluefin taken from the Gulf of Maine between 2004 and 2012.

“They were frozen, wasn’t the entire fish, just about a pound from each fish or so. And then my colleagues and I in New York dissected out muscle tissue from each sample and analyzed it to determine the mercury content of each fish,” he says.

And as they created a timeline for mercury content for each year, taking into account the age and size of each fish sampled, a clear picture emerged.

“There was a fairly steady decline for all ages of fish, and the decline rate was approximately 2 percent per year, which doesn’t sound all that dramatic, but over 10 years it’s about 20 percent. Over two decades its about 40 percent,” Fisher says.

Most mercury pollution in this region originates from coal-fired plants in the Midwest, drifting east on the prevailing winds to drop on the coast and coastal waters. In response to regulatory and industry efforts, and to market forces, those emissions happen to have been declining by about 2 percent a year.

Read the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio 

Are Maine halibut heading for trouble?

December 28, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Go to Scales, an elegant waterfront restaurant on a Portland pier, and a plate of pan-roasted halibut with hazelnuts, brown butter and new potatoes will cost you $38, tax and tip extra.

Over the decade between 2006 and 2015, the last year for which the Department of Marine Resources has figures, the boat price for halibut increased some 44 percent and landings increased from just 30,018 pounds worth about $139,000 to more than 93,000 pounds that brought fishermen some $623,000. Go down to the dock in Lubec or Stonington during May and June, when Maine fishermen are allowed to harvest halibut from state waters inside the three-mile limit, and $38 would buy you about 5 pounds of halibut, if you could buy less than a whole fish directly off the boat. And that’s the problem.

Now federal fisheries regulators are saying that halibut may be in trouble.

Of course, it isn’t just that Maine fishermen are landing more halibut. It’s fishermen from all over New England who are pulling in plenty of the pricy and delicious flatfish from federal waters.

In 2006, only Maine recorded halibut landings. In 2015, according to NOAA Fisheries, halibut landings throughout New England reached almost 216,000 pounds — worth about $1.4 million. Of that, about 123,000 pounds were landed outside Maine.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Coral plan threatens Maine fishing grounds

December 28, 2016 — BAR HARBOR, Maine — Area lobstermen could lose valuable fishing grounds if a federal proposal to close four areas of Gulf of Maine waters comes to fruition.

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) has drafted a plan that would close a span of 161 square miles offshore to commercial fishing in an effort to conserve deep-sea coral there.

Two of those areas, Mount Desert Rock in Lobster Management Zone B and Outer Schoodic Ridge in Lobster Management Zone A, are preferred fishing grounds for local fishermen when lobster head farther offshore in the winter. The other proposed offshore closure areas lie in Jordan Basin and Lindenkohl Knoll to the south.

The Mount Desert Rock and Outer Schoodic Ridge areas are prime for lobster fishing, while Jordan Basin and Lindenkohl Knoll see a mix of groundfish, monkfish, pollock and lobster.

The NEFMC is working with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to preserve deep-sea corals from the Canadian border to Virginia.

According to the NEFMC, the fragile and slow-growing corals are vulnerable to damage by fishing gear.

“While the extent of deep-sea coral habitat degradation has not been quantified in most areas, bottom tending fishing gear has been known to cause significant disturbance in many locations and is considered to be the major threat to deep-sea corals in areas where such fishing occurs,” read a recent NEFMC memorandum.

Fishermen must hold federal permits to fish in offshore waters. According to NEFMC data, 31 percent of Zone B fishermen hold federal permits.

In 2015, lobster landings in the Mount Desert Rock area generated $15 million of Zone B’s $71 million in landings for that year.

One local fisherman is concerned the closures would add more pressure to crowded Zone B waters, which is currently the setting of a territorial battle between fishermen in Zone B and neighboring Zone C.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

MAINE: Global scallop summit coming to Portland next year

December 27, 2016 — Maine’s largest city will host an international forum about scallops next year.

The event is called the International Pectinid Workshop and it is taking place in Portland from April 19 to 25. The event attracts scientists, students and seafood industry representatives from all over the world and has taken place biennially since 1976.

The organizers of the conference say its main goal is to bring stakeholders in scallops together to network and share research and practices. The event’s committee includes representatives from countries including Norway, England, Ireland, Chile and Australia.

Diners Still Have a Crustacean Crush as Lobster Prices Jump

December 21st,2016  — Compared with most lunch sandwiches, the lobster rolls Alex Robinson sells from the side of his blue Happy Lobster Truck in downtown Chicago were already pricey. So, he was worried customers would go elsewhere after he started charging $17 instead of $15 to cover higher costs.

Turns out, Americans still have a crush on the crustaceans, and many are more than willing to pay up. Even after the price increase this year, Robinson says he hasn’t lost any business. The 4 ounces (113.4 grams) of wild-caught Maine lobster that he drizzles with butter and a touch of mayonnaise on a bread roll remain his best-selling item.

“We haven’t had anyone who said it wasn’t worth it,” said Robinson, who owns the truck. “Prices are going up, and it’s still staying popular.”

Four years after a glut led to the cheapest lobsters since the 1980s, prices on average are up 37 percent this year and the highest on record going back decades. While U.S. and Canadian fisherman have caught more than ever in recent years, output hasn’t kept pace with demand. Exports to China surged, and American restaurants that got used to low-cost seafood have added lobster to spice up everything from soups and salads to macaroni and cheese.

“The market now is outstripping the supply,” said Bernie Berry, president of the Yarmouth, Nova Scotia-based Cold Water Lobster Association, which represents fisherman in Canada. “I don’t think we can catch enough lobsters.”

Canadian claw and knuckle meat — a common variety used in lobster rolls –averaged $28.31 per pound (454-gram) this month, up 7 percent from a year earlier and well above the 10-year December average of $17.85, according to Urner Barry, a Toms River, New Jersey-based researcher that has been tracking food prices since 1858. In July, the average reached $29.44, the most ever.

Read the full story at Bloomberg News 

NOAA fisheries releases climate action plans

December 21st, 2016 — After years of preparation, NOAA Fisheries last Friday released five “regional action plans” to guide implementation of the agency’s national climate science strategy over the next five years.

The regions covered include the Northeast, Southeast, Pacific Islands, West Coast and Alaska.

The waters off the Northeastern states are among the fastest warming of the world’s oceans. Marine species from plankton to the largest whales are affected as a variety of ecosystem components — habitat, food webs, water temperatures, wind patterns — respond to climate change.

NOAA’s regional action plan for the Northeast addresses the Continental Shelf ecosystem, which extends from Maine to North Carolina and from the headwaters of local watersheds to the deep ocean. It was developed jointly by NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole and the Greater Atlantic Region Fisheries Office in Gloucester, with input from a variety of sources.

Its goal is to provide “timely and relevant information on what’s changing, what’s at risk and how to respond,” according to NOAA. That information is “key” to minimizing the effects of climate change on the region.

“We are excited to release the Northeast Regional Action Plan, which was developed with input from many partners in the region,” Jon Hare, lead author of the plan and the director of NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center, said in a statement announcing the release of the plan.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American 

A lobster boat captain said a freak storm killed his crew. Then doctors found drugs in his system.

December 20th, 2016 — Christopher Hutchinson said he had no idea the storm would grow so strong so fast.

It was November 2014, and Hutchinson, 28, had set out in his 45-foot lobster boat, a fiberglass craft called No Limits.

He wanted to check on 15 traps in Eleven Mile Ridge, a popular lobstering area off the coast of Maine. Two crewmen manned the boat with him — Tomas Hammond, 26, and Tyler Sawyer, 15.

They arrived at dawn on a Saturday morning and began pulling up traps, but the weather worsened.

Hutchinson told the Portland Press Herald that he checked the conditions around 10 a.m. and found the wind blowing at a barely manageable 22 knots.

The men called off the expedition and began to head for shore — but it was too late.

“We got hit by one large wave, and that pushed us into another. The windows to the wheelhouse blew out, and we began taking on water quickly,” Hutchinson told the Bangor Daily News.

Court documents say a nearby weather buoy reported winds of 40 knots, and waves 14 feet high.

The large lobster boat flipped. Hammond and Sawyer were nowhere to be found.

“I’m not 100 percent sure what happened next, but the next thing I recall is being in the wheelhouse and the boat is upside down in the water,” Hutchinson told the newspaper.

Read the full story at the Washington Post