Saving Seafood

MAINE: Mills, delegation urge feds to remove lobster fishing grounds from offshore wind consideration

June 15, 2023 — Maine’s congressional delegation and Gov. Janet Mills are urging federal officials to remove an area of prime lobster fishing ground from consideration as a site for potential offshore wind development.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is soliciting feedback on some 9.8 million acres to site potential commercial projects in the Gulf of Maine.

In a letter to federal officials, Mills and the delegation said the fishing territory in question — known as Lobster Management Area 1 that encompasses much of the Maine and Massachusetts coastlines — should be taken off the table.

Read the full article at Maine Public

MAINE: Maine governor, congressional delegation to feds: Keep offshore wind projects out of lobster fishing area

June 14, 2023 — Gov. Janet Mills and the state’s congressional delegation want federal officials to consider Maine’s lobster industry as the government weighs proposals for offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Maine.

Mills, Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree are asking the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to avoid areas used by the lobster industry and “minimize all potential conflicts” with the industry.

The bureau is eyeing commercial wind projects off the coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, an area encompassing 9.8 million acres, about twice the area of New Jersey.

Read the full article at Spectrum News

MAINE: Maine delegation urges caution to offshore wind development

June 14, 2023 — Maine’s governor and federal legislators are urging the Biden administration to consider the views of the state’s fishing communities when reviewing offshore wind projects in the Gulf of Maine.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-ME, and Angus King, I-ME, and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-ME, and Jared Golden, D-ME, joined forces to send a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Management requesting that wind development projects avoid key lobstering areas.

In the letter, the group of elected officials urged that the bureau work to minimize “all potential conflicts” between the two industries.

Read the full article at The Center Square

MAINE: Maine Pols Beg Biden to Protect Fisheries as Offshore Wind Power Advances

June 13, 2023 — As offshore wind power continues its inexorable advance in the Gulf of Maine, Gov. Janet Mills and Maine’s Congressional Delegation are pleading with the Biden Administration to protect the interests of Maine’s local fisheries.

In a letter sent Monday to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Elizabeth Klein, Gov. Mills, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden submitted public comment to the federal agency concerning offshore wind development plans.

In the letter, Maine’s political leaders requested the avoidance of key lobstering areas for wind development, with a strong emphasis on minimizing conflicts between offshore wind projects and the fishing industry.

Their plea comes as a direct response to BOEM’s “Call for Information and Nominations” for potential commercial wind energy development in areas off the coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Read the full article at the Maine Wire

MAINE: Maine bill to pay lobstermen to test new gear gets initial Senate approval

June 8, 2023 — A bill to help Maine lobstermen test new gear in preparation for potential federal restrictions meant to protect endangered right whales gained unanimous bipartisan approval in the Senate.

The bill seeks to set aside $1 million a year for the next two years to help lobstermen comply with federal regulations that could kick-in within six years.

The industry has faced intense pressure in recent years as federal officials have instituted restrictions to try to save the whales, which are believed to number fewer than 340.

Following the Senate vote on Tuesday, bill sponsor Sen. Eloise Vitelli (D-Arrowsic) said federal regulators have “targeted Maine’s lobster industry as a scapegoat.”

Read the full article at Spectrum News

North American lobster industry confronts ‘ropeless’ traps after whale entanglements

June 7, 2023 — An emerging technology to fish for lobsters virtually ropeless to prevent whale entanglements is exciting conservationists, but getting a frigid reception from harvesters worried it will drive them out of business and upend their way of life.

Injuries to endangered North Atlantic Right Whales ensnared in fishing gear have fueled a prominent campaign by environmental groups to pressure the industry to adopt on-demand equipment that only suspends ropes in the water briefly before traps are pulled from the water.

Since the start of the year, four North Atlantic Right Whales have been injured after getting entangled in fishing rope, according to government data, including one filmed in North Carolina trailing a pair of lobster traps that U.S. authorities believe came from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia hundreds of miles away.

Such entanglements have killed at least nine North Atlantic Right Whales since 2017, making it the second biggest cause of death behind strikes from boats and ships, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

That is a large number, given there are fewer than 350 North Atlantic Right Whales remaining, including just 70 breeding females, say regulators, researchers and conservationists. North Atlantic Right Whales who live off the eastern North American coast stretching from Florida to the Canadian Maritimes provinces are now on the verge of extinction

Read the full article at Reuters

MAINE: Rare orange lobster caught off coast of Maine

June 5, 2023 — A rare orange lobster was caught recently off the coast of Maine by a Scarborough fisherman.

The lobster, which has one claw, was caught in Casco Bay by Capt. Gregg Turner and his crew, Sage Blake and Mandy Cyr while fishing on the boat Deborah and Megan, according to a statement by Cyr.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen one and the second time Captain Gregg has,” Cyr said. “It’s pretty exciting.”

The orange lobster is not destined for a pot of boiling water. It has been kept at Turners Lobsters on Pine Point Road in Scarborough while awaiting transfer to its new home at the University of New England’s Arthur P. Girard Marine Science Center in Biddeford. Turner and his crew caught a Calico lobster last winter and also donated it to UNE. Students named that lobster “Sprinkles.”

Read the full article at The Press Herald

MAINE: A Lasting Grudge: FDA’s Closure of the Historic Maine Smokehouse

June 1, 2023 — John McCurdy of Lubec, Maine, holds the distinction of having run the last herring smokehouse in the USA. Sit down to talk to him about it, and you’ll find that at age 92, he is still mad about the US Food and Drug Administration shutting him down in 1991. “What happened is, some people in New York City got botulism from smoked whitefish out in the Great Lakes. So, they made a law that all smoked fish had to be eviscerated before they were salted. Well, you know we bought over 100 hogsheads [120,000] at a time, and those boats wanted to unload fast and get back out fishing. There’s no way we could gut those fish.”

McCurdy’ smokehouse was already a labor-intensive business, with 24 people doing everything from brining the fish, loading the smokehouse, moving fish upward in the smokehouse over the course of an 8-week curing process, and then skinning, boning, and packing it. And it was all hand work, “Artisanal” it would be called today. The workers made the boxes for packing, carefully laid the fish in, and nailed the lids on. Nothing in the entire operation was automated; it relied on human beings using their judgment as to how much brine to soak the fish into when the fish were ready. “If they rattle when you bring them down, they’re ready,” says McCurdy. “We sold 15,000 boxes a year. We sold to Mom & Pop stores, 100 boxes here, a hundred there.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Baby eels remain one of America’s most valuable fish after strong year in Maine

May 30, 2023 — Fishermen in the U.S.’s only commercial-scale fishing industry for valuable baby eels once again had a productive season searching for the tiny fish.

Baby eels, called elvers, are often worth more than $2,000 per pound because of how valuable they are to Asian aquaculture companies. That makes them one of the most valuable fish species in the U.S. They’re raised to maturity so they can be used in Japanese food, some of which is sold in the U.S. in unagi dishes at sushi restaurants.

The elvers have again been worth more than $2,000 per pound at the docks this year, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The fishermen are limited to a combined quota of a little less than 10,000 pounds per year and were about through it by early May, the department said. The price was a tick below last year’s, but higher than the previous two.

Read the full article at the Associated Press