Saving Seafood

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

MAINE: Kelp farming off Maine waters could help to contribute to environmental sustainability

May 29, 2024 — Maine leads the nation in seaweed farming.

Kelp farms are located across several areas off Maine’s coast, including Casco Bay and the Midcoast.

Keith Miller of South Thomaston is a pioneer in kelp farming. He’s been fishing for decades and operates several kelp farms. He grows, harvests, and then sells his kelp to the seaweed farming company Atlantic Sea Farms, based in Biddeford.

Kelp is a winter crop, which means it grows best between November and April. Miller and his crew have another week or so to harvest the crop before it’s time to get ready for lobstering season.

Read the full article at WMTW

Feds grant Maine a lease for offshore wind research project

May 29, 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.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Concerns rise over offshore wind in Gulf of Maine

May 22, 2024 — Ocean grabbing is a term frequently used in relation to private interests’ takeover of the ocean commons. While the Department of the Interior’s April 30 announcement that it would sell one million acres of leases for offshore wind power development in the Gulf of Maine may have shocked some, it’s been in the pipeline since 2010.

The proposal has moved ahead despite a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) determination of no competitive interest for Gulf of Maine Research Lease Applications as recently as March 2023. Over the past year, BOEM has forged on and developed a wind leasing process for the Gulf of Maine conducted a draft environmental review and analysis of the Gulf of Maine and finalized the wind energy area for the Gulf.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Scientists Puzzling Over Colder Deep Water Temperatures in Gulf of Maine

May 19, 2024 — About a dozen years ago, the Gulf of Maine experienced an ocean heatwave unlike any other.

Today, scientists are puzzling over new data that suggest the Gulf may be experiencing another kind of climate shock.

Data collected from buoys placed in the Gulf of Maine show that over the last six months, deep water temperatures are noticeably lower than the long-term average.

“It’s not just cold in the deep waters right now, it’s really cold. And it’s fresher, it’s really fresher than it’s been,” said Nick Record, a senior scientist with Bigelow Laboratory. “These are very unusual conditions, so I think there’s a lot that we can learn by watching how the year unfolds.”

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com