Saving Seafood

Andy Mays Honored with Maine DMR Award of Excellence

March 14, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Andy Mays a scalloper and lobster fisherman from Southwest Harbor has received the first annual Maine Department of Marine Resources Award of Excellence. The award, presented by DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher during the Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport, recognizes industry members who participate with the Department to ensure a sustainable future for Maine’s commercial fisheries. Mays was honored for his long-term service on DMR advisory councils.

“Through his work on DMR advisory councils over the years, Andy has set an exemplary standard of engagement and active participation for industry. As Commissioner I have come to rely on Andy for his informed, colorfully blunt and straightforward opinions and ideas. His advice and input is always a welcome and valuable contribution to the fisheries management process. There is no one more deserving of this first annual award.”

MHP_3113 Andy Mays DMR Award

(Caption: Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher presents Andy Mays of Southwest Harbor with the first annual Award of Excellence. Photo courtesy of Mark Russell Photography)

Saving Atlantic salmon will require Greenland’s help

March 13, 2016 (AP) — Preventing the long-imperiled Atlantic salmon from disappearing from American waters will require the U.S. to put pressure on Inuit fishermen in Greenland to stop harvesting a fish that has fed them for hundreds of years, federal officials say.

The salmon were once found from Long Island Sound to Canada, but their population has cratered in the face of river damming, warming ocean waters, competition for food with non-native fish and, officials say, continued Greenlandic fishing.

Now, federal officials have outlined an ambitious plan to try to save the Atlantic salmon that they say will require removing dams, creating fish passages and fostering cooperation with Inuit fishermen some 2,000 miles away from Maine, where most of America’s last wild Atlantic salmon spawn.

“We’ve tried everything possible to negotiate with Greenland to find alternatives to find out how they can lessen impacts on U.S. fish,” said Dan Kircheis, a fisheries biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service. “This is part of their culture, this is part of who they are, this is something they’ve always done. We are trying to work with them to realize the fish they are fishing for originate in Canada, in U.S. waters, in Europe, and these populations are in decline.”

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

Sedgwick fisherman faces charges, suspension after lobster conflict flares

March 12, 2016 — STONINGTON, Maine — A Sedgwick fisherman is facing criminal charges and a possible three-year suspension of his lobster license because of a violent ocean confrontation last fall in which he allegedly rammed another fisherman’s boat, shot off a flare gun and intentionally broke a line on one of that fisherman’s traps.

Carl W. Gray, 41, is facing a civil charge of tampering with another fisherman’s gear and three criminal charges associated with the Oct. 5 incident. He has been charged with operating a watercraft to endanger and theft by unauthorized taking, both Class E misdemeanors, and a Class C felony charge of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, according to court documents filed in Ellsworth.

A Maine Department of Marine Resources hearing on the civil tampering charge was held Feb. 24 at the Hancock County Courthouse so Gray could make his case about why the proposed three-year suspension, which has yet to go into effect, should not be imposed.

At the hearing, a former Marine Patrol officer who responded to the incident recapped the alleged events.

Owen Reed, who works as a Maine State Police trooper, told Susan Cole, the DMR officer conducting the hearing, that he was contacted Oct. 5, 2015, by a third party and told that brothers Caleb Heanssler and Zachary Heanssler had gotten into an altercation with Gray several miles out to sea from Stonington.

According to Reed, the brothers told him that during the altercation, Gray tried to ram Caleb Heanssler’s boat, that Gray recklessly shot off a flare and that Gray intentionally broke a line to one of Zachary Heanssler’s traps by attaching it to his boat and gunning his engine.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Half-billion-dollar lobsterpalooza, but some fishermen worried

March 11, 2016 — ROCKPORT — Maine’s lobster landings put more than a half-billion dollars in lobstermen’s pockets last year, but some fishermen and scientists see clouds on what looks like a sparkling horizon.

Last week, just in time for the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, the Department of Marine Resources released its preliminary 2015 commercial fisheries landings and the news was astonishing.

According to DMR, the value of Maine’s commercially harvested marine resources topped $600 million in overall value in 2015. The total, $631,768,531, was an all-time high and an increase of more than $33 million over the previous record, set in 2014.

The biggest increases came in the state’s lobster fishery, where the total landed value of the catch jumped by more than $37 million and the average boat price received by lobstermen increased by more than 10 percent, from $3.70 per pound in 2014 to $4.09 per pound last year.

At $495,433,635, the overall value of Maine’s lobster fishery set another record. Factoring in bonuses paid to harvesters as reported by 11 of Maine’s 19 lobster co-ops, the overall landed value of Maine’s lobster fishery reached $510,680,048.

While the industry enjoyed a half-billion-dollar lobsterpalooza, some fishermen and lobster scientists saw clouds on the horizon.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

 

ACFHP Seeks Nominations for Melissa Laser Fish Habitat Conservation Award: Nominations Due April 22nd

March 10, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership:

The Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP) is seeking nominations for its annual Melissa Laser Fish Habitat Conservation Award. The award is bestowed upon individuals deemed to further the conservation, protection, restoration, and enhancement of habitat for native Atlantic coastal, estuarine-dependent, and diadromous fishes in a unique or extraordinary manner.  The award was established in memory of Dr. Melissa Laser, who was a biologist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources where she worked tirelessly to protect, improve, and restore aquatic ecosystems in Maine and along the entire Atlantic Coast.

Award nominations should be sent to Lisa Havel (LHavel@asmfc.org) by April 22, 2016. The nomination should include the following information:

·         how and to what project the individual or individuals contributed (please note if the individual or individuals are directly associated with ACFHP (i.e. member of a committee, working group, or funded/endorsed project team);

·         a description of how this project furthers the goals or mission of ACFHP; and

·         what qualities the individual or individuals possess that set them apart from others 

Please go here for more information on the award and the process to submit nominations. The award will be presented at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in October 2016 in Bar Harbor, Maine. For more information, please contact Lisa Havel, ACFHP Coordinator, at lhavel@asmfc.org.

MAINE: Elver fishermen unite as tribes agree to new rules

March 9, 2016 — ROCKPORT — Last year, Maine fishermen harvested elvers worth more than $11.4 million from the state’s streams and rivers. That made the fishery for the tiny, translucent juvenile eels the fourth most valuable in the state, but it still wasn’t a good year.

A cold, dry spring delayed the migration of elvers from the sea into the rivers where harvesters set their gear. As a result, Maine fishermen landed just 5,259 pounds of the tiny wrigglers, little more than half the 9,688-pound quota allocated the state by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The good news was that those elvers were worth $2,171 per pound to the harvesters fortunate enough to catch some.

When the Maine Elver Fishermen Association gathered for its annual meeting Saturday morning, harvesters received some good news from Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher and former MEFA Executive Director Jeffrey Pierce.

Emergency legislation enacted that morning should give fishermen a better chance to actually fill the quota, and Keliher said he also hoped it would reduce friction over the elver fishery between the state and Maine’s four tribal governments.

Of immediate consequence, the new law extends the elver season, which begins on Tuesday, March 22, from May 31 to June 7 and allows fishing every day of the week. Under the prior law, the fishery was closed on weekends as a conservation measure.

Initially, LD1502 gave Keliher flexibility to set the 48-hour closures before the season to take account of the tides and minimize the impact on the industry. With fishing limited by a fixed quota since 2014, though, the closure became unnecessary.

The legislation also allows licensed fishermen to chose before each season starts what type of gear they will use — fyke nets or dip nets. It does not, however, authorize the use of more gear.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American 

New Approach to Scallop Monitoring Results in Re-Opened Fishing Grounds

March 9, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

A new approach to scallop monitoring in Maine state waters has led to changes in scallop abundance estimates that will result in the reopening of three important fishing grounds this season.

The areas opening are Inner Machias Rotational Area, Wahoa/Jonesport Reach and Gouldsboro Bay and Dyers Bay, which were closed through emergency rulemaking by the Maine Department of Marine Resources on December 13, 2015. The Department will open the areas the week of March 14 by allowing the emergency regulation to lapse.

“The Maine scallop fishery has seen significant advances in both science and management in recent years,” said Maine DMR Science Bureau Director Carl Wilson. “In 2012 the DMR, working closely with industry, implemented rotational management and targeted in-season closures. These new management tools were developed to continue rebuilding the resource in areas that had been closed for three years, while supporting a sustainable fishery.” 

Under the new management strategy, pre-season dredge surveys were used by the DMR to estimate abundance and harvestable biomass in areas likely to be subject to heavy harvesting pressure. DMR staff uses estimates of scallop biomass removed from these areas based on port sampling, sea sampling, and industry feedback to make decisions about timing of in-season closures. Closures occur when 30%-40% of the harvestable biomass in an area has been removed.

To further improve understanding of the scallop resource and the impacts of the fishery, the Department piloted in-season dredge surveys in Cobscook Bay during the 2014-15 fishing season. Results from the 2014-15 in-season surveys allowed Cobscook Bay to remain open two weeks longer than the pre-season survey originally supported. “This is a valuable tool that we are using to validate our initial projections,” said Wilson.

During the current 2015-16 season, in-season surveys have been used in Cobscook Bay as well as Machias Bay, Gouldsboro Bay and western Vinalhaven. After comparing results of the pre and in-season surveys, DMR scientists found discrepancies that needed further investigation to fine-tune biomass estimates and projections.

As a result of this in depth analysis, Department scientists determined that there remains approximately 13,500 pounds in the Inner Machias Rotational Area and 4,500 pounds in Gouldsboro Bay to be harvested.

Corrected projections of harvestable biomass and in-season surveys both revealed that less than the targeted 30% of the harvestable biomass had been removed from these areas, both of which were closed by emergency action in December 2015. As a result, these areas along with Wahoa/Jonesport Reach and Dyers Bay will temporarily re-open to fishing the week of March 14.

“The in-season surveys allow DMR scientists to better evaluate pre-season estimates and to more effectively assess the scallop resource in specific areas,” said Wilson. “This in turn enhances the timeliness and precision of management decisions. This season, the additional analysis has provided Maine scallop harvesters with late season fishing opportunity.”

Would you eat dogfish? How about smoked dogfish beignets with a red pepper aioli?

March 8, 2016 — Dogfish, aka spiny dogfish, dogfish shark, or Cape shark is small species of shark caught commercially along the Eastern Seaboard, from Maine to North Carolina. On Cape Cod, it’s relatively easy to catch using longline or gillnets within 10 miles of Chatham, Mass.

“In the summertime we find the dogfish literally as soon as we fall outside the harbour,” says Nick Muto, a Cape Cod fisherman, and a member of board of directors for the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance. “We have miles of dogfish.”

Dogfish has become abundant in the waters off New England, and codfish has all but disappeared due to the confluence of warming oceans, says Muto.

“But out of that has risen this emerging dogfish fishery that has become a real building block of our harbor.”

Abundant it may be. But Americans aren’t yet buying it.

It might be an image problem. Or maybe the name “dogfish” is enough to turn seafood consumers away. Maybe it’s the taste.

Whatever it is, the abundant fish has been seen in the US as a lower-valued species — “trash fish” — so that much of the catch is exported overseas.

Read the full story at PRI

Maine DMR to pay out last of $3 million in federal aid

March 8, 2016 — AUGUSTA — The Department of Marine Resources will soon be making the third and final payment of federal disaster relief funds to 32 eligible Maine-based fishermen who hold federal Northeast Multispecies (groundfish) permits. The payment will total $1.02 million.

To qualify, Maine groundfish permit holders must have landings of more than 5,000 pounds in any one fishing year from 2010-2013. In addition, permit holders must have landed a minimum of 5,000 pounds of groundfish in either fishing year 2013 or 2014. Fishing years run from May 1 to April 30.

“The intent of these criteria is to focus disaster relief efforts on permit holders who have historical dependence on groundfish and have had continued reliance on the groundfish fishery during the disaster years,” DMR Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson said recently.

According to Meldelson, the department understands that the Maine groundfish industry saw declines in many years preceding the disaster declaration by the secretary of commerce. The declaration was made based on what were, at the time, prospective revenue losses from the major reduction in Gulf of Maine cod quota available for the 2013 fishing year. DMR’s allocation of relief funds reflects the impact of that specific reduction.

The payments allocated to eligible permit holders were based on a formula developed by DMR after several outreach meetings with industry. Those payments, ranging from approximately $9,100 to $44,044, will reflect landings in fishing years 2013 and 2014 individually and combined.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

 

First US Live Lobster Traceability Program Launches at Whole Foods Market’s Portland, Maine Location and Adds Three New Members

March 5, 2016 — The following was released by Market Wired:

Trace My Lobster (http://tracemylobster.com), the first and only U.S. company to build a technology platform to trace a live lobster from its origins in the ocean to its destination on your plate, has added three new members to its growing list of participants: Maine Coast, Maine Fresh, and Calendar Islands. Over 60 lobstermen, three lobster wharves, three lobster dealers, and one national grocery chain now participate in the program that utilizes internet and smartphone technology to improve seafood traceability in the lobster fishery.

Since the program was launched at the Portland, Maine Whole Foods Market location two years ago, Trace My Lobster has been using uniquely coded tags, attached to every lobster caught by a participating lobsterman, to record when and where the lobster was caught, as well as the lobsterman who caught it. By entering the tag’s code online or using a smartphone app, consumers can follow the timeline of an individual lobster’s journey through the supply chain, verifying its source, freshness and story behind the lobsterman who caught it.

“As a leader in seafood sustainability and traceability initiatives, Whole Foods Market is pleased that our Portland, Maine location is the first grocery store in the U.S. to offer live lobster traceability from the lobster trap to the table using Trace My Lobster,” said Matt Mello, the North Atlantic Seafood Coordinator for Whole Foods Market. “Trace My Lobster is a meaningful way to showcase some of Maine’s hardest working lobstermen while providing full transparency to our customers.”

Trace My Lobster presents a new way for the lobster industry to meet the growing demand for seafood that is sustainably sourced, responsibly harvested, and reliably traced. In connecting lobstermen with retailers, the program provides participating grocery stores and restaurants the opportunity to distinguish themselves from their competitors by offering consumers complete transparency and fully traceable seafood. “The technology still relies on the traditional, and very important, supply chain between harvesters, wharfs dealers and distributors to bring the tagged lobster to market” stated Craig Rief, Founder of Trace My Lobster.

“Trace My Lobster is a unique and innovative program that allows us to convey the story behind the important connection we have with lobstermen and the high quality lobster our company is able to provide to our domestic and international customers,” said Tom Adams, CEO of Maine Coast, one of the newest participants in Trace My Lobster.

Trace My Lobster was developed in 2014 as a collaboration between Craig Rief and Jonathan Caron. Craig has over 10 years of experience in the lobster industry and currently serves as the President of the Maine Certified Sustainable Lobster Association, which represents some of the largest lobster companies in the U.S. and Canada. Jonathan has over 20 years of experience in technology and intellectual property through his previous employment at Vivendi Universal.

Joining Trace My Lobster is fast and easy for retailers. Grocery stores and restaurants can use their existing suppliers or Trace My Lobster can provide access to a list of participating suppliers. The same holds true for harvesters, wharfs and dealers that want to join.

“As an industry we have such a powerful story to tell, and believe that the Trace My Lobster program is a valuable and exciting innovation to help connect consumers with our narrative.” said Matt Jacobson, Executive Director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative. “Our mission is to encourage both chefs and consumers to make it Maine when choosing what product to consume, and with this program we can deliver the rich stories of our lobstermen who are committed to sustainably harvesting the best lobster on earth.”

About Trace My Lobster (http://tracemylobster.com)

Trace My Lobster enables consumers to follow the journey of their live lobster from trap to table. Trace My Lobster visualizes a lobster’s true supply chain, connecting harvesters and consumers to a deeper understanding of the impact of lobster life-cycle from the ocean to the retailer. Trace My Lobster provides a comprehensive approach to supply chain transparency – a leading approach to traceable lobster and seafood traceability.

About Maine Coast (http://mainecoastcompany.com)

Maine Coast is a worldwide distributor of the finest North Atlantic seafood, specializing in shipping Maine and Canadian lobsters to both domestic and overseas locations. Maine Coast has more than 30 years of experience in the global seafood industry.

About Maine Fresh (http://maine-fresh.com)

Maine Fresh operates a lobster wharf in Harpswell, Maine and employs an innovative business model that uses natural foods from Maine and responsibly harvested seafood to produce value-added, healthy, good tasting foods in an effort to distribute a portion of its sale proceeds back to the community. Maine Fresh donates 10 percent of its online sales back to the community to support educational initiatives creating social change through transformative educational opportunities at the local and global levels.

About Calendar Islands (http://calendarislandsmainelobster.com)

Founded in 2009 Calendar Islands Maine Lobster Company is owned by 38 hard-working Maine lobstermen creating a true marriage of culinary distinction to the Maine Lobster fishery. With a goal making lobster available year-round, Calendar Islands is an industry leader in quality, value and new culinary concepts. No longer just a seasonal product, Calendar Islands value added Maine Lobster provides consumers an exciting variety of fresh and frozen products to energize and motivate the customer base. Calendar Islands supports the local community’s maritime heritage, respects the environment and its inherent link to the natural world.

About Whole Foods Market ® (http://wholefoodsmarket.com)

Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (wholefoodsmarket.com) (NASDAQ: WFM), is the leading natural and organic food retailer. As America’s first national certified organic grocer, Whole Foods Market was named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” byHealth magazine. The company’s motto, “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”™ captures its mission to ensure customer satisfaction and health, Team Member excellence and happiness, enhanced shareholder value, community support and environmental improvement. Thanks to the company’s more than 88,000 team members, Whole Foods Market has been ranked as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America byFORTUNE magazine for 18 consecutive years. In fiscal year 2014, the company had sales of more than $14 billion and currently has more than 430 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. For more company news and information, please visit media.wfm.com.

About the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative (http://www.lobsterfrommaine.com/)

The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative (MLMC), founded in 2013, is funded by Maine Lobster harvesters, dealers and processors to grow demand, both for whole live lobster and a variety of value-added products. The MLMC supports that objective by promoting the core values of the Maine Lobster industry, which are sustainability and traceability that’s deeply rooted in tradition. Maine Lobster achieved the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification in 2013, allowing Maine Lobster to certify its long-standing sustainable practices. The industry has been self-regulating for more than 150 years.

Trace Seafood, LLC, the parent company of Trace My Lobster (http://tracemylobster.com), will be at this year’s Seafood Expo North America, at Booth 178.

Read the release here