Maine Archives - Page 259 of 296

MAINE: This lobsterman’s boat was sunk 3 times in 7 weeks. He says he knows who did it.

October 17th, 2016 — Tony Hooper, who has lobstered out of area harbors on and off for years, says he knows who sank his 35-foot lobster boat, Liberty, three times in seven weeks: a fellow fisherman operating out of Port Clyde, one of three villages that constitute this peninsular town that extends 15 miles south of Rockland.

The fisherman, Hooper alleges, turned a routine dispute over the placement of lobster traps into an ongoing drama that’s turned heads up and down the Maine coast. “The guy has a personal grudge against me, and I don’t know why, because I’ve never done anything to the guy,” Hooper says. “He’s just a young, arrogant kid who didn’t like it when I called him out for messing with my traps.”

Boat sinkings are rare in the Maine lobster fishing community, but when they occur they often result from disputes between lobstermen from different harbors over fishing turf. But sinking the same lobsterman’s boat three times in quick succession – once on the very night it was repaired and put back on its mooring – is extremely rare.

“I’ve never heard of such a case ever,” says James Acheson, a University of Maine anthropologist who for 40 years has studied the ways lobstermen defend their territories and wrote the seminal book on the subject, “The Lobster Gangs of Maine.” “I would emphasize that this is very, very unusual and very serious, and no fooling matter. There’s real hate behind this.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Shellfish closure expanded; cost to industry mounts

October 13, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Downeast shellfish harvesters are reeling as the Department of Marine Resources last Friday expanded its closure of the Downeast clam and mussel fisheries because of the westward spread of the microscopic marine organism that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP).

On Sept. 27, DMR closed Cobscook Bay from Perry and Lubec to the Canadian border to the harvesting of mussels. A day later, the department expanded the closure to include clams.

On Sept. 30, DMR closed the entire state east of Otter Point on Mount Desert Island to all clam and mussel harvesting. Last week, the closure boundary was shifted westward to encompass much of Penobscot and Blue Hill bays and the outer islands.

“Currently, mussels, carnivorous snails and surf clams are closed from Deer Isle to the Canadian border,” DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols said in an email on Friday. “All other clams (softshell and hardshell) are closed from Isle au Haut to the Canadian border; European oysters are closed from Deer Isle to Machiasport.”

Harvesters and dealers have already felt the impact.

On Sept. 30, DMR ordered the recall of mussels and mahogany quahogs harvested or wet stored in the Jonesport area between Sept. 25 and Sept. 30. It also ordered a recall of clams harvested in the area between Cranberry Point in Corea and Cow Point in Roque Bluffs between Sept. 28 and Sept. 30.

According to Nichols, the recall affected five licensed shellfish dealers, “and more than 10,000 pounds of product was recovered and destroyed, which was more than 96 percent of the total product recalled.”

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

12 “Champions of Change for Sustainable Seafood” chosen by White House

October 7, 2016 — U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his choices to be the first ever “Champions of Change for Sustainable Seafood.”

The special awards, established this year as a way to “honor America’s fishers and our coastal communities for their efforts… [in leading] the way to the United States becoming a global leader in sustainable seafood management,” will be handed out on Friday, 7 October at a special ceremony at the White House in Washington D.C.

The awardees are:

Robin Alden, the founding Executive Director of Penobscot East Resource Center, Maine’s center for coastal fisheries in Stonington, Maine. She led a path-breaking effort to bring shared management to Maine’s lobster fishery, now recognized internationally as a model for sustainable fisheries. Robin is the former Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, responsible for Maine‘s marine and anadromous fishery management and enforcement and for aquaculture in the state. She was also the publisher and editor of both Commercial Fisheries News and Fish Farming News and a public member of the New England Fishery Management Council.
Linda Behnken, the Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, which represents longline fishermen in securing sustainable access to healthy halibut, sablefish and rockfish stocks. Linda was a commercial fisherman for 34 years and served on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. During that time, she also served as an industry advisor to the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, the National Academy of Science Individual Fishing Quota Review Panel, and co-chaired the Council’s Essential Fish Habitat committee. Linda participated in the last two re-authorizations of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and was an active advocate for the Sustainable Fisheries Act amendments. She is also a founding member of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, which is a cutting-edge financing tool to help new and young break into Alaska’s fisheries and connect communities with their natural resources.

See the full list of awardees at Seafood Source

Maine Seafood Recalls 2016: Mussels, Clams Pulled Over Shellfish With Deadly Neurotoxin

October 5, 2016 — After the discovery of a deadly neurotoxin across a long stretch of its southeast coast, Maine’s Department of Marine Resources has reportedly recalled both mussels and clams plucked from the state even though no one has reported any sickness, according to local CBS affiliate WGME. The toxin is called domoic acid and exposure at a high level can cause brain damage or potentially death.

The recall is focused squarely on mussels and mahogany quahogs, another name for clams, harvested between Sunday and Friday of last week in the Jonesport area and clams from along a roughly 60-mile coastal stretch between Cranberry Point and Cow Point in the southeast.

Ingesting the toxin can lead to amnesic shellfish poisoning, or ASP, which can cause diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, CNN reports.

According to WGME, the state said the recall is working and that shellfish dealers were ordered to throw out any infected products.

“All of our dealers have been extremely cooperative. They’ve been fulfilling their obligation through this recall process. We’re confident that we’ve removed the impacted shellfish from the supply chain,” Department of Marine Resources spokesman Jeff Nichols told WGME.

Domoic acid, typically found in Japan but in some cases has reached U.S. shores, develops from algae and builds up in shellfish, sardines, and anchovies, according to the Marine Mammal Center, which first found it in marine mammals in 1998.

Read the full story at the International Business Times

Maine fisheries experts head to Japan to learn scallop practices, buy machinery

October 4th, 2016 — Expanding on earlier visits to Japan, 10 aquaculture and fisheries experts from Maine are headed for Aomori Prefecture in the northern part of Japan’s main island of Honshu to learn successful techniques to grow scallops and to buy machinery to help harvest them.

“Sea scallops are among the most lucrative commercial marine species caught in the United States,” Hugh Cowperthwaite, fisheries project director at Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), of Portland and the trip leader, told Mainebiz as he was preparing to leave for Aomori last Friday. “The nationwide landings value of sea scallops remained high in 2013 and was ranked fourth among all species with a total worth of $467.3 million. In 2015 the Maine wild caught scallop season witnessed prices at $12 per pound for 20-30 counts … [and up to] $16 per pound for 10 counts.”

Maine’s scallop industry was worth $5.7 million in 2015 for 3,770,760 million live pounds of scallops, down from 2014’s $7.6 million and 5,042,648 live pounds, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The per pound price remained similar however, at $12.70 in 2015 and $12.67 in 2014.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

MAINE: Marine Patrol Investigates Third Sinking of Lobster Boat in two Months

October 3, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

The Maine Marine Patrol is investigating the third sinking of a lobster boat belonging to Anthony Hooper of Tenants Harbor in two months.

The most recent sinking occurred at some point between Friday evening, September 30, and Saturday morning, October 1.

Marine Patrol Officers Brandon Bezio and Matthew Wyman were notified Saturday morning by the boat’s owner. Marine Patrol is investigating the sinking in cooperation with Knox County Sheriff’s Office.

The first sinking occurred between the evening of August 16 and the morning of August 17. The second sinking occurred between the evening of September 28 and September 29 and the third just two nights after the boat was raised and repaired. Each incident occurred in Port Clyde where the boat is moored.

The 35 foot fishing vessel Liberty has again been raised by its owner and is under repair.

This investigation is on-going. Anyone with information about the sinking of the fishing vessel Liberty is encouraged to contact their local Marine Patrol Officer or the State Police at 800-452-4664. Contact information for Maine Marine Patrol can be found here.

NOAA: Fishing gear killed endangered right whale

October 3, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Entanglement in a morass of fishing gear killed an endangered right whale spotted off Boothbay Harbor last week and brought ashore in Portland last weekend for a necropsy, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Speaking on Monday, Jennifer Goebel, a spokeswoman for NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Region in Gloucester, Mass., said scientists from the fisheries service had determined that “chronic entanglement was the cause of death” of the 45-ton, 43-foot-long animal.

Goebel also said that the New England Aquarium had identified the whale as No. 3694 in its North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog. According to Goebel, the whale was a female, believed to be about 11 years old, with no known calves.

The whale was first sited by researchers in 2006. Since then, the whale has been sited along the Atlantic Coast 26 times, most recently off Florida in February of this year.

According to Goebel, passengers on a Boothbay Harbor-based whale watching boat spotted the dead whale on Friday floating about 12 to 13 miles off Portland wrapped in fishing gear. Rope was reportedly wrapped around the whale’s head, in its mouth and around its flippers and its tail.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

Changes could come to East Coast monkfish business

September 30, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Interstate fishing regulators are working on a new plan to manage the monkfish fishery on the East Coast.

Monkfish are bottom-dwelling fish that are fished commercially and are a popular menu item in seafood restaurants. The New England Fishery Management Council has initiated a plan to create new fishing specifications for the fish for the next three years.

A spokeswoman says the council’s monkfish committee will work this fall on specifications for the fishery. Rules will be approved in November. The rules could also remain status quo.

Fishermen catch monkfish from Maine to North Carolina, though most are brought ashore in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Journal

Part of New England’s herring fishery to be closed

September 29th, 2016 — Herring fishing off part of the New England coast will be shut down for most of October.

The closure begins Sunday and lasts until Oct. 29. It is the product of a spawning forecasting method that interstate regulators approved earlier this year.

Regulators say an analysis of samples necessitates a closure of the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area for most of October. The area stretches from the north side of Cape Cod to southern Maine.

Vessels will not be allowed to possess Atlantic herring caught in the area during the closure.

The herring fishery is a key source of bait fish as well as food. The New England fishery struggled with low supply this summer, which resulted in a shortage of bait for some lobster fishermen.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Portland Press Herald

Spate of whale entanglements could inform regulations

September 28, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — A recent spate of entanglements of rare whales off of New England could help shape future regulations to preserve the endangered animals, federal authorities said Tuesday.

A North Atlantic right whale was found dead about 12 miles off the Maine coast over the weekend, entangled in fishing gear. Two other right whales were also found entangled recently. One of them was reported alive, and researchers plan to reassess its condition.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the 45-ton animal’s death near Maine was still being investigated, including whether the gear can be traced back to its owner.

“We’re on par for the course with the averages for the year for entanglements,” he said. “Overall, if you look at entanglements of all large whale species, we’re a little bit above our average.”

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