May 8, 2023 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is moving forward with its exploration of offshore wind potential in the Gulf of Maine, announcing a public comment period that began April 26 and lasts 45 days.
Input is being sought on commercial wind energy development in areas off the coast of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
Click HERE to watch Senator Collins’ exchange with Secretary Gina Raimondo. Click HERE to download.
May 2, 2023 — The following was released by the office of Senator Susan Collins:
At a hearing to review the fiscal year 2024 budget request for the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, questioned Secretary Gina Raimondo on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) broken survey vessel, which is leading to incomplete survey work for the Gulf of Maine. Specifically, Senator Collins emphasized the deep knowledge of Maine’s fishermen and encouraged NOAA to work with them to better survey the Gulf of Maine, which will help inform more accurate quotas.
At the hearing, Senator Collins:
Last week, I was notified that the start of the Northeast Spring Bottom Trawl Survey will be delayed for the third time, because NOAA’s survey vessel, the Henry B. Bigelow, is not functioning properly. And I have a feeling this affects others of my colleagues. So, we still don’t know when this vessel will be functional. But, according to NOAA’s staff, it can only be used for this survey through May 26. But it may not be fixed in time. So, that means, according to NOAA, that NOAA will have to decrease the survey coverage; and that only 70% of the planned coverage area, in southern New England, Georges Bank and the Bank of Maine, will be surveyed.
I recently met with a group of Maine fishermen who shared their great frustration about incomplete surveys. Because if you don’t have accurate surveys, you can’t determine the quota. If you don’t know how many fish are out there, you can’t decide, accurately, what the quota is. And the fishermen are on the water every day. They have the best information about the state of the stock, and they’re not involved in the surveys. So, I would ask you, if your vessel is going to be out of commission, and as I said, this is the third time this has happened, I would ask you to consider collaborating with the fishermen, who work in the Gulf of Maine and in these other areas, on better data collection methods. They’re willing to help. And they do know where the fish are; that’s where they go. I hope you will consider that, because, otherwise, we’re going to end up with quotas that don’t reflect the state of the stock.
Secretary Raimondo:
I will look into this. I’ve taken notes. You’re exactly right, about the surveys, how vital they are. We had a lot of problems, in COVID, staying on top of the surveys on time. We’re mostly caught up. I regret that we’re not caught up in Maine. So, let me look into it and get back to you.
If we’re allowed to collaborate in the way you suggest, with the fishermen, I think it’s a smart idea. But let me get into the details.
May 1, 2023 — Herring fishermen in Maine will be getting money from the federal government to help with a decline in the fish’s population, which has caused the herring industry to struggle.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources says the government is sending $7 million in total to permit holders and state licensed holders. Recipients will get a minimum of $15,000.
April 28, 2023 — State lawmakers are considering a measure that would create a new fund to help lobster fishermen test gear designed to reduce entanglement risks to endangered North Atlantic right whales.
The proposed fund would set aside $1 million for each of the next two years. The money would be paid to lobster fishermen who test ropeless and other kinds of new fishing gear designed to minimize interactions with right whales.
The most recent federal spending bill set aside nearly $20 million for fishing gear.
But Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said it’s reasonable that lobstermen receive a stipend for the work itself.
April 27, 2023 — Fishermen in Maine’s historic herring fishing business will receive money from the federal government to help cope with a decline in the fish’s population that has caused the industry to struggle.
The government has appropriated $7 million for the fishermen, the Maine Department of Marine Resources said Wednesday. Atlantic herring were found to be overfished via a 2020 scientific assessment, and fishing quotas were slashed after that.
The herring are especially important to New England’s fishing industry because they are used as bait by lobster fishermen. They’re also used as food, and people have fished for them from New England waters for hundreds of years.
April 25, 2023 — It’s estimated there are at least 50 trillion pieces of plastic and microplastics in the ocean, and a new initiative is underway to help tackle the problem in Maine.
The Maine Sea Grant College Program, University of Maine researchers and statewide partners will receive funding to address the prevention and removal of marine debris in the Gulf of Maine. The problem will be addressed from three directions: promoting sustainable packaging, getting rid of derelict fishing gear and repurposing materials from ghost traps.
“Marine debris negatively impacts our coastal communities, marine wildlife and iconic ocean vistas — things we consider special about our state,” Maine Sea Grant Director Gayle Zydlewski said in a news release. “Whether it’s preventing debris from going into the ocean or getting it out, we need to tackle this issue from multiple directions and perspectives.”
April 24, 2023 — Emergency action to temporarily boost the Gulf of Maine haddock catch is needed to avoid potential shutdowns during the 2023 groundfish fishing year that starts May 1, the New England Fishery Management Council said.
The council is asking the National Marine Fisheries Service to take emergency action “to address a critical Gulf of Maine haddock situation that is expected to result in significant fishery impacts during the 2023 groundfish fishing year,” according to a statement issued Thursday as the council wrapped up a three-day meeting at Mystic, Conn.
Council members learned that “fishermen have been encountering Gulf of Maine haddock at very high catch rates,” according to the council. “The proposed 2023 annual catch limit (ACL), however, is extremely low.”
One fishermen told of making one single trip when he caught so much haddock that it was equivalent to what his entire allocation will be for the 2023 season. Other fishermen have warned that an early shutdown of the fishery is very likely, with major impacts as a result.
April 20, 2023 — The federal Northern Gulf of Maine scallop management area will close one minute after midnight April 21, with projections now that 100 percent of the 380,855-pound quota set-aside will have been caught in little more than two weeks.
The closure announced late Wednesday by the National Marine Fisheries Service means no scallop vessels fishing under federal scallop regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop area until the end of the current fishing year on March 31, 2024.
April 19, 2023 — Maine lobstermen testified in Washington Tuesday against a bill that could put the industry back on the hook for regulations aimed at protecting endangered right whales. But without them, a marine biologist warns the whales could become functionally extinct within the next 12 years.
The warning came from Michael Moore of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who told federal lawmakers that based on their current trajectory, North Atlantic right whales are in “immediate jeopardy.” Fewer than 70 breeding females remain. And Moore said that number will plunge deeply if no conservation measures are taken within the next five years.
“The black arrow [indicates that in] 2035 [there will be] no more breeding females, no more calves,” he said. “The species will be functionally extinct in 2035.”
April 17, 2023 — Todd Erickson, bassist and singer for the band Holy Smoke, has been a musician all his life. His son, Eliot Erickson, is taking a different path.
At 22-years-old, this is the younger Erickson’s third season lobstering out of Portland Harbor aboard his own boat, the Lisa Lee.
With the lobstering industry under pressure from increased federal regulation, blacklisting by environmental groups and looming wind power projects, Todd Erickson knew he wanted to help his son, somehow.
So he’s doing what he knows how to do best: put on a show and rock-n-roll like crazy.
On Sunday, May 7th, rock and lobster will combine for Band Together: A Concert to Celebrate Maine’s Lobstering Heritage. Featuring four bands and two comedians, the show kicks off at 2 p.m. at the Portland Elks Lodge on outer Congress Street.
All proceeds from the show will go to the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance, a Kennebunk-based, non-profit organization supporting the Maine Lobstermen’s Association’s Save Maine Lobstermen campaign.
Through that campaign, the Lobstermen’s Association filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Secretary of Commerce in Sept. 2021, challenging a 10-year whale plan that Maine lobstermen believed would decimate the industry. The lawsuit is now in appeal.