Saving Seafood

These are the 4 most pressing marine management issues in the Gulf of Maine

March 3, 2017 — For people prone to the lure of the ocean and who enjoy communing with other marine-minded people, there aren’t many gatherings anywhere as engaging as the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport.

The forum, held each year at the Samoset Resort, offers a wide variety of topical sessions for the hundreds of people who attend — fishermen and their families, mostly, but also state and federal regulators, politicians, advocates, industry representatives and a few journalists. The 3-day event officially got underway yesterday but, as is the case every year, the meatier sessions and events are scheduled to take place on Friday (today) and Saturday (tomorrow).

This year, there are four topics that stand out in terms of the impact they are having (or soon could have) on Mainers who make their living from the sea, or in what they reveal about the health and vitality of the Gulf of Maine. They are:

1) The state’s efforts to enforce lobster fishing laws. Maine’s $495 million lobster fishery has long had an undercurrent of territorial disputes, the intensity of which ebbs and flows over the span of years. This past year has seen a particularly steep escalation of a ‘trap war’ in the waters between the Blue Hill peninsula and Mount Desert Island, prompting Operation Game Thief to offer $15,000 to anyone who offers Marine Patrol information that helps with the investigation. Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Department of Marine Resources, will address the state’s efforts to step up enforcement when he speaks at 9 a.m. Friday at the Maine Lobstermen’s Association annual meeting.

2) The rebounding scallop fishery in the Gulf of Maine. The recovery over the past decade of the scallop fishery in the gulf’s state and federal waters runs counter to well-known stories about fisheries surging and then slowing to a trickle. Annual catches in state waters have roughly tripled since the mid-2000s, while in the past five years prices offered to fishermen have risen above $10 per pound and continue to climb. Increased competition that has sprung up in the federal Northern Gulf of Maine scallop management area, however, has prompted many Maine fishermen to raise concerns about ensuring the resource is fished sustainably, and to lobby for tighter catch restrictions on larger boats from out of state. Regulators and fishermen will hold a session on the topic at 1 p.m. Friday.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Shuckin’ and thrivin’: Scallop futures in the Gulf of Maine

March 2, 2017 — The niche northern Gulf of Maine scallop fleet brought its territory back from the brink and now hopes to keep it that way.

New England’s small-boat scallopers are not just diving and dragging for their catch. They’re driving to change the way it’s managed.

“My biggest worry is that we just have a fishery to work on,” says Kristan Porter, 46, a scallop fisherman and advisory panel member from Cutler, Maine.

In Maine, the state scallop season opens in the early winter, on or around Dec. 1, and typically stays open through March. Just outside the three-mile line is the federal northern Gulf of Maine scallop fishery, which is managed by the New England Fishery Management Council and extends about halfway down the coast of Massachusetts. The territory is vast, but the productive areas are small compared to the prolific array of scallop grounds to the south.

“If we manage our fishery correctly here [in Maine state lines], then those scallops will work their way outside the 3-mile line,” says Porter, who drags for scallops on the 40-foot Brandon Jay.

The sector was established when the New England Fishery Management Council adopted Amendment 11 to the Atlantic sea scallop fishery management plan, effective June 1, 2008, initially creating two federal permits — IFQs and limited access days at sea.

“We had a bunch of people from Maine who didn’t qualify at all. So they created this northern Gulf of Maine permit,” says Mary Beth Tooley, at an at-large member of the council and the chairwoman of the scallop advisory panel.

In New England, the IFQ and days at sea (limited access) fleets historically fished Georges Bank and down to the Mid-Atlantic on scallop grounds that had been rebounding since 2004, with more areas being opened thanks to video mapping that showed they were burgeoning with biomass and healthy enough for a directed fishery. Since then, the New Bedford fleet’s lucrative landings have kept their home port at the top of the list of the nation’s ports by value.

At the time of the Amendment 11 adoption, the northern Gulf of Maine territory was not worth much. But those few fishermen with history in the area believed they might be able to bring it back with good stewardship. They asked for and were granted a low hard TAC of 70,000 pounds (compared with a fleetwide limit of about 40 million pounds) with a limit of 200 pounds a day and a 10-1/2-foot dredge.

“The people who have traditionally fished there, they want it to stay carefully managed,” says Janice Plante, public affairs officer for the New England council.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MAINE: DMR Seeks Input from Eastern Maine Lobster Harvesters Potentially Impacted by Federal Regulations

March 2, 2017 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

The Maine Department of Marine Resources is seeking information from lobster harvesters in eastern Maine who might be impacted by regulations under consideration by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) which are designed to protect corals in the Gulf of Maine.

Two of the proposed Gulf of Maine coral protection areas are Outer Schoodic Ridge and southwest of Mount Desert Rock. One of the proposed management options is a total ban on fishing. The Department has proposed to exempt the lobster and crab fisheries in these two coral protection areas.

DMR has already provided information to the NEFMC compiled from dealer and harvester landings reports and industry input that gave an estimate of the economic impact of closing these areas as well as the number of potentially impacted boats and harbors.

In January the NEFMC voted that it was too early in the development of the Draft Amendment to consider an exemption and expressed an interest in more data and analyses of the fisheries in these two areas.

DMR is now seeking to gather more in-depth data that can be used to inform the federal regulations. “Maine’s lobster industry provided valuable data when the federal whale rules were developed, which resulted in much better informed regulations,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher.

“The areas under consideration are very important to Maine’s lobster industry and we are again working closely with industry to ensure that these regulations take into account the full impact of these proposed regulations.”

Harvesters who fish in either or both of these areas, are being asked complete a survey, available on the DMR website here. “The survey results will provide the department and NEFMC with data that can demonstrate the impact that these measures would have on the lobster fishery and the Downeast Maine economy,” said Commissioner Keliher.  

There will be an informational session for industry at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum at the Samoset Resort on Saturday morning, March 4, 2017 at 9 am in the Rockport Room.  Industry is invited to learn more about the proposed closures, the timeline for decision-making, and how to participate in the process.

MAINE: Fishermen air concerns about floating wind turbine test site off Monhegan

March 2, 2017 — Locals and fishermen wondering how floating wind turbines will affect fishing grounds and the feel of their town had a chance to air questions and grievances to people behind the project this week.

“We need the resource to fish on, but we also need to be able to get to the resource,” said Richard Nelson, a 30-plus-year lobsterman based out of Friendship. “It’s a balancing act. Renewables are positive unto themselves, but as fisherman we have to be able to get to the fish.”

Fishermen worry about how close they’ll be able to get to the turbines without entering restricted space, and also want to avoid getting traps stuck on underwater wires and moorings. Those boundaries likely will be set by the U.S. Coast Guard much later in the planning process.

The University of Maine’s vision for an offshore energy farm made up of floating turbines is grinding toward fruition, scheduled to start running electricity to the grid by 2019.

The U.S. Department of Energy, University of Maine Advanced Structures Composites Center and its partners hosted a pair of informational sessions on Tuesday at the St. George Town Hall, drawing a few dozen locals. The group is scheduled to host a similar session Wednesday, March 1, on Monhegan Island, where some residents have expressed trepidation or outright opposition to the selected location of the pair of turbines.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Potential coral protection rules could have big impact on Downeast lobstermen

February 28, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council has put rules to protect deep sea corals on the fast track, rules that will have a major impact on lobstermen — primarily from zones A and B with some from Zone C — who set their gear around Mount Desert Rock and Outer Schoodic Ridge.

The council is considering management measures to reduce impacts to corals from commercial fishing activities in three areas in the Gulf of Maine. One of the proposals would impose a total ban on fishing in the protected areas which, according to an analysis the Department of Marine Resources submitted to the council several months ago, are located in waters that produce about one-third of Maine’s lobster landings in terms of value.

Now DMR is asking lobstermen who fish in the potentially closed areas for information that will help the department in its efforts to prevent the fishing bans.

Late last month, Sarah Cotnoir, DMR’s lobster resource coordinator, sent an email to fishermen asking them for data that would “demonstrate the potential impact that these measures would have on the lobster fishery and Downeast economy.” The email asked fishermen for data including: name; boat name and fishing port; number of crew; and the number of family members of the boat’s captain and crew.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

MAINE: Industry, regulators back plan for baby eel lottery system

February 28, 2017 — Fishing regulators and industry representatives support a plan for a lottery system to get new fishermen into Maine’s lucrative baby eel fishery, which is a key piece of the sushi supply chain.

Maine is the only state with a significant fishery for baby eels. They can fetch more than $2,000 per pound at the dock, after which they are sold to Asian aquaculture companies for use in food.

A group of lawmakers wants to create a lottery system to allow new people to get into the fishery when other fishermen leave it. Right now, it’s closed, with 419 fishermen searching Maine’s rivers and streams with their nets for the elvers.

The lottery plan faced a public hearing on Monday before the state legislature’s marine resources committee. Fishermen said the lottery is needed because members of the fishery are aging and someone will need to take their place.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bristol Herald Courier

Maine lobstermen’s union votes to buy Hancock County lobster business

February 27, 2017 — The Maine Lobstering Union voted Saturday to buy a wholesale lobster business near Mount Desert Island to help its fishermen net a bigger share of the profit in the booming, $1.5 billion-a-year industry.

At a closed-door meeting in Rockport, members voted 63-1 to buy the wholesale side of the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, which includes a tank that can hold up to 180,000 pounds of lobster, for $4 million, said Local 207 President Rocky Alley.

“We can’t wait to start buying and selling our own lobsters,” Alley said. “Right now, fishermen sell at the dock, and we get what we get, with no control. But there is lots of money made off lobsters after they leave the dock, and some ought to stay with us fishermen.”

The vote enables the Maine union to borrow money from a Kansas City bank and to borrow $1.1 million from fellow locals in the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers as far south as Maryland to purchase the Lamoine-based wholesale business.

The Trenton Bridge manager, Warren Pettegrow, will stay on as the chief executive officer of wholesale operations, as will the employees. The operation will continue to ship live lobsters nationally and abroad, including to the European Union and Asia.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Declining worm harvest poses challenge for diggers, scientists

February 27, 2017 — It’s a dirty job, but digging for blood and sand worms along the Maine coast can pay well, particularly in areas of the state where it can be hard to make a living. Maine’s annual harvest of these popular bait worms, however, continues to decline, posing a quandary for marine biologists who cite climate change and predation as possible factors.

Wormers, as they’re called, would like to work with marine biologists to ensure a healthy and robust industry.

As he walks across the mud flats off Beals Island, worm digger Donnie Bayrd feels the suction of silt pull at his boots. He twists each foot slightly from side to side to prevent the mud from closing in around his boot — an occupational hazard that has brought down more than one wormer into the muddy flats.

Bayrd says it’s worth the trouble to brave the fragrant and unforgiving mud flats of Washington County in search of these creatures, which can also bite. Sport fishermen, he says, pay to have the worms flown around the world and have been known to try and make them last.

“They cut these up in pieces and fish with them. The bigger the worm, the better they like it because they can get a half-dozen pieces out of them,” he says.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Fishermen’s Forum kicks off next week

February 24, 2017 — ROCKPORT, Maine — The 42nd annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum kicks off on Thursday, March 2, at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

More than 30 free seminars over three days will touch on topics affecting the state’s fisheries.

Shellfish Focus Day takes place on day one, with seminars ranging in subject from biology, to policy and legislation, shellfish management and biotoxins.

Panelists include researchers and scientists such as Brian Beal of the Downeast Institute, representatives from the Maine Department of Marine Resources, state legislators and municipal Shellfish Advisory Council members including Mike Pinkham, shellfish warden of Gouldsboro.

Chad Coffin of the Maine Clammers Association will be on hand to discuss the state’s bivalve industry along with Gulf of Maine Inc.’s Tim Sheehan, who will present on business strategies for the shellfish industry.

Also on Thursday is the Northeast Coastal Communities Sector annual meeting following an hour-long open session for the public. The Maine Coast Community Sector also will hold its annual meeting on Thursday.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

New Rules Could Be Coming to Shuttered Maine Shrimp Fishery

February 23, 2017 — Interstate regulators are holding a pair of meetings to determine how to manage New England’s depleted shrimp fishery in the future.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has been considering new ways to manage Northern shrimp, which have declined as waters have warmed. The fishery is currently shut down.

Regulators are looking at ways to manage the fishery when and if it reopens. They are considering options such as state-by-state quotas, mandating different types of gear and adding new reporting methods.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News