Saving Seafood

MAINE: Maine Lobstermen’s Association tallies its victories, future risks at annual meeting

March 6, 2024 — “Every year, there is a new issue facing the industry,” Tristan Porter, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), said as the trade organization opened its 70th annual meeting during the Maine Fishermen’s Forum on March 1.

For lobstermen and the commercial lobster fishery, there are three big issues facing the industry: protecting North Atlantic right whales, maintaining a sustainable fishery and the federal leasing in the Gulf of Maine for floating offshore wind energy — plus the myriad of federal and state regulations and public hearings and, at times, lawsuits, that go with them.

Lobstermen had been facing implementing measures to achieve a 90 percent risk reduction to right whales that would have curtailed fishing in 2023, but this was put on pause until 2028 through a federal omnibus spending bill in December 2022.

“You’re fishing now because of the Consolidated Appropriations Act,” Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources (DMR), told the hundreds of fishermen in attendance.

Then, in June 2023, a federal court ruled in favor of the MLA, which had sued the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NOAA Fisheries, regarding the data used to determine the risk of vertical fishing lines to right whales. That risk calculation would further restrict the lobster fishery — possibly out of existence.

“We did not have the money to do this, but the industry stepped up,” said Patrice McCarron, the MLA’s policy director.

Read the full article at Mount Dessert Islander

MAINE: Jonesport aquaculture project paused as conservation groups appeal permits

March 5, 2024 — Kingfish Maine, the company behind a proposed aquaculture facility in Jonesport, received $4 million from the state last month while appeals challenging the project continue to wind their way through the courts.

Though a number of aquaculture projects across the state have stalled in recent years because of pushback from conservation groups, fishermen and coastal landowners, Kingfish Maine remains optimistic it will break ground on a $110 million land-based fish farm next year.

For now, construction on the recirculating aquaculture facility, which the company says will eventually produce 8,000 metric tons of yellowtail kingfish a year and provide between 70 and 100 jobs, is on hold as the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and Maine Business and Consumer Court consider challenges to the group’s permits.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Lottery for Maine’s lucrative elver lottery is closing

March 8, 2024 — The lottery for a license in Maine’s 2024 elver fishing season ends at 4:30 p.m. Monday. There are a total of 16 licenses available this year, the most since 2013.

Maine’s elver fishery is one of the most lucrative fisheries in the state. In fact, in 2023, it was the second most valuable in Maine, earning fishermen $19,508,478 thanks to a $2,009 price per pound. The lobster was the only fishery worth more in Maine.

Read the full article at WMTW

MAINE: Maine Lobster Harvest Down 5% Amid Warming Ocean, Right Whale Regulations

March 4, 2024 — Last year’s lobster catch in Maine fell more than 5% for a total yield of 93.8 million pounds, new data from the Maine Department of Marine Resource showed Friday, as climate change and regulations put in place to protect a rare whale species continue to impact the fragile industry.

Fishermen in Maine, who are responsible for catching more than 90% of the nation’s lobsters per year, caught 93.8 million pounds of the crustacean in 2023 (the lowest level since 2009) and were paid $4.95 per pound, up significantly from the $3.97 per pound paid to fishermen last year.

The sharp rise in price paid harvesters a total of $464.4 million, almost $72 million more than in 2023 despite the lower catch, indicative of a widely fluctuating value that involved prices spiking to $6.70 per pound in 2021 before falling to less than $4 in 2022.

The lobster industry in the state has been in flux for a decade as lobster populations move north toward Canada and away from the United States in search of cooler waters—the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the world’s ocean surface, according to the University of New England.

New England’s fishermen have also been increasingly impacted by regulations put in place to protect right whales—one of the most endangered species of all large whales—that impact when and for how long fishermen can be on the water.

The decline in catch continues to build on a trend in the Maine lobster industry since harvesters caught a record high 132.6 million pounds in 2016, and 2023 marked the second year in a row the total catch has declined.

Read the full article at Forbes

 

MAINE: Value of Maine lobster fishery rebounds in 2023 despite smallest catch in 15 years

March 4, 2024 — Maine lobstermen raked in $464 million at the docks last year, rebounding from the worst year the fishery had seen in a decade, according to the annual report released Friday by the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

The increase in the value of Maine’s famed fishery comes even as lobstermen reported the smallest catch in 15 years, at 94 million pounds. The jump in value was partly due to the second-highest boat price on record, $4.95 per pound.

The dwindling number of landings isn’t necessarily a surprise, though. State officials and members of the lobstering community say the decrease reflects the impacts of high costs of operating the fishery last year. And the dip in poundage indicates how lobstermen navigated the challenging obstacles.

“Fishermen are now very strategic about how they fish. Expenses are through the roof, so you can’t afford to be out if you’re not making money,” said Patrice McCarron, a lobsterman and policy director with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “That causes the number of trips to go down and is going impact the amount of lobster that we all brought in.”

Read the full article at the Press Herald

MAINE: Maine fishermen hauled more than $611M to the dock last year

March 4, 2024 — Maine fishermen earned an additional $25 million dockside in 2023.

The total value of Maine’s fisheries came to $611,277,692, according to preliminary figures for 2023 the Maine Department of Marine Resources released Friday morning.

That’s a boost compared with 2022’s $574,049,682, but a far cry from the record more than $890 million hauled in throughout 2021. 2022’s catch was more in line with recent catches.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

MAINE: In Maine, aquaculture-friendly legislation meets opposition

February 29, 2024 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources introduced a bill to make processing aquaculture leases more efficient. But a reduction in public notices and tighter requirements for a public hearing have raised the ire of numerous fishermen and community groups all along the coast.

Bill LD 2065, sponsored by Rep. Alison Hepler of district 49, would reduce the number of required public notices of an aquaculture lease or lease change from two to one, and increase the number of people it takes to request a public hearing on an aquaculture lease from five to 25. It also streamlines the process of converting an experimental lease into a standard lease.

According to Crystal Canney, executive director of the Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation, the changes limit public participation in the leasing process of public waters.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Forum to feature NEFMC talk on Atlantic cod and herring, Gulf of Maine scallops on Friday

February 29, 2024 — The New England Fishery Management Council will be taking part in seminars Friday on Atlantic herring, Gulf of Maine scallops and Atlantic cod at the 49th Maine Fishermen’s Forum.

Attendees on Friday can meet some council members and staff at sessions about Atlantic cod, the Northern Gulf of Maine scallop fishery and Atlantic herring, while taking part in an open forum with federal fishery management leaders on topics of interest to fishers, according to the Newburyport-based council.

The forum takes place in-person this year at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine. It started Feb. 29 and runs through Saturday, March 2.

Council Chair Eric Reid and Executive Director Cate O’Keefe are participating in the leadership session along with NOAA Fisheries officials.

Gloucester Fisheries Commission Executive Director Al Cottone, a commercial fisherman, is attending the meeting in Maine.

Read the full article at Gloucester Times

MAINE: Maine’s lobster fishermen struggle with efforts to save right whales

February 28, 2024 — Willis Spear stands in the backyard of his Yarmouth, Maine home. Behind him are dozens of yellow and green lobster traps. Spear, 67, spends most of the winter preparing these traps to be deployed in the Gulf of Maine come April. It’s a task this lifelong lobster fisherman has carried out each year since he was a child.

“The water gives us life,” Spear said on an unusually warm winter day in late February.

Over the last decade, lobster fishermen in Maine have faced increasingly stronger financial headwinds — from the price of fuel to the revenue they are receiving for the lobster themselves. The lobster-fishing industry generates hundreds of millions of dollars for Maine’s economy each year.

“It’s been a difficult last couple of years. Some of my friends have dropped out altogether. Prices are going up but lobster prices are stuck at 1970s prices,” Spear said.

Read the full article at AOL

MAINE: Maine Shaken by High-Stakes Offshore Wind Port Choice

February 27, 2024 — Maine Governor Janet Mills announced that the state selected a section of state-owned Sears Island reserved for port development to support the floating offshore wind industry. The site selection followed an extensive public stakeholder process led by the Maine Department of Transportation and Maine Port Authority to consider the State’s primary port development options.

However, in former documentation, locals in the community and commercial fishing groups oppose the development of the port and offshore wind altogether.

Sears Island is a 941-acre island off the coast of Searsport. In 2009, Sears Island was, by agreement, divided into two parcels: approximately 601 acres, or two-thirds of the island, was placed in a permanent conservation easement held by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, while the remaining one-third, or approximately 330 acres, was reserved by MaineDOT for future development.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman