Saving Seafood

MAINE: Maine Lobstermen’s Association takes stock at annual meeting

March 8, 2023 — Offshore wind energy and the legal fight against federal lobster fishing regulations led the agenda for the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) in 2022, two big issues that remain in the forefront for 2023, Executive Director Patrice McCarron told a packed room Mar. 3 at the Maine Fisherman’s Forum in Rockport.

Between increased fishing restrictions, significantly lower lobster landings in 2022 than in 2021, spiraling fishing costs, offshore wind development and juvenile stocks reportedly in decline, “we’re not exaggerating our concern about the future of the fishery,” McCarron said. “The fight is real.”

But with federal offshore wind energy in development on the outer continental shelf, including the Gulf of Maine, she acknowledged that the push is a national initiative. “The Gulf of Maine is actually the slowest [to be developed] on the list,” she said.

That offshore wind energy looms over the fishing industry is evident by the Forum opening Mar. 2 with a slate of seminars dedicated to the issue, with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials on hand.

Read the full article at Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: Maine lobstermen land $389M haul last year, the lowest in a decade

March 6, 2023 — Maine fishermen brought in nearly $389 million dollars worth of lobster last year, the lowest in a decade. It’s an almost 48% drop from 2021’s record-breaking catch, according to preliminary data that the Maine Department of Marine Resources released Friday.

Kristan Porter, a Cutler fisherman and president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said 2021 was an exceptional year.

Read the full article at Maine Public

MAINE: Maine’s commercial fisheries value normalizes after record-breaking 2021

March 6, 2023 — The value of the U.S. state of Maine’s commercial fisheries is back in line with historical norms after high lobster prices resulted in a a record-breaking 2021 haul.

The total value of all Maine’s commercial landings reached USD 574 million (EUR 537 million) in 2022, a 37 percent drop from the all-time high of USD 890 million (EUR 832 million) earned in 2021. Despite the drop, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) said that the value is in line with historical norms, as the average value of all fisheries for the period spanning 2011 to 2020 is USD 586 million (EUR 548 million).

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Maine lobstermen have slower year amid industry challenges

March 3, 2023 — Fishers of Maine lobster, one of the most lucrative seafood species in the U.S., had a smaller haul during a year in which the industry battled surging fuel and bait prices, rebukes from key retailers and the looming possibility of new fishing restrictions.

Maine lobster has exploded in value in recent years in part due to growing international demand from countries such as China. The industry brought about 98 million pounds of lobster to the docks worth about $389 million in 2022, Maine regulators said Friday. That was more than 11% less than the previous year, in which they harvested more than 110 million pounds of lobster worth more than $740 million.

The value of lobsters also fell to a little less than $4 per pound at the docks, the lowest since 2017, a year after setting a record of more than $6.70 in 2021.

The industry has experienced growth in recent years, as fishermen have caught more than 96 million pounds of lobster per year for 13 years in a row after never previously reaching that mark. But it is also wrangling with threats such as proposed rules to protect rare North Atlantic right whales, which are vulnerable to entanglement in gear.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

MAINE: Maine Fishermen’s Forum returns amid offshore wind debate

March 3, 2o23 — The 48th Maine Fishermen’s Forum kicked off as a celebration of the industry and informed discussion on developing challenges.

“The greatest things that the Maine Fisherman’s Forum does it negates or lessens a lot of the animosity between the groups involved in the fishery,” said Stephen Train, lobsterman.

“We have a trade show, we have a dance, we have an auction, we give out scholarships to children and fishermen. And we have some really nice meals and the seafood reception is amazing,” said Train.

The highlight of the day was a series of seminars on how offshore wind development may impact local fisheries. Leaders at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shared data-driven presentations but noted several gaps remain in the process.

Read the full article at WABI

State and federal officials for the first time allow ropeless lobstering in areas closed to protect right whales

March 2, 2023 — For nine years, Rob Martin spent winters with most of his 800 traps stacked in his front yard, struggling to stay solvent over the long three months when regulators closed the region’s lobster fishery to protect critically endangered whales.

Over the years, the 58-year-old lobsterman has attended countless public meetings, pleading with officials to find a way that would allow him and others to resume fishing during those hard months.

Now, after years of controversy, state and federal officials are allowing Martin and more than a dozen other lobstermen to fish in closed areas off Massachusetts. The only caveat: They must use a new kind of fishing gear that uses limited amounts of rope and aims to eliminate the threat that lobstering poses to North Atlantic right whales.

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

Federal bill would undo six-year right whale regulatory pause championed by Maine delegation

March 2, 2023 — The bill has a long name: The Restoring Effective Science-based Conservation Under Environmental Laws Protecting Whales, or the RESCUE Whales Act.

But the legislation, introduced earlier this week by Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, would have a simple outcome. It would eliminate a provision that pauses the development of new federal right whale regulations on the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries for the next six years, a measure that Maine’s congressional delegation slipped into the latest federal spending bill during the final days of 2022.

In joint statement, all four members of the Maine delegation defended the provision, which they described as a “lifeline” to the state’s lobster industry that provides “time to pinpoint the true cause of the decline in the right whale population.”

The Rescue Whales Act, they said, would “unfairly target Maine’s lobster industry without any data or taking into account the reality in the Gulf of Maine.”

Read the full article at Maine Public

Maine Lobstermen’s court appeal heard; new attempt to rescind gear delay

March 1, 2023 — A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. is considering the Maine Lobstermen’s Association appeal of the government’s fishing gear restrictions aimed at saving endangered whales.

In arguments Feb. 24, the MLA’s lead attorney Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general during the Bush administration, laid out the fishermen’s case, arguing the National Marine Fisheries Service went overboard in making worst-case assumptions about the danger of Maine lobster gear entangling whales.

The North Atlantic right whale is highly endangered, with fewer than 350 animals believed to be surviving, with ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement leading causes of mortality. Clement made the MLA’s case that none in recent years have been documented to involve Maine lobster gear.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

National animal rights group sues Maine over aquaculture rules

March 1, 2023 — A national animal rights group is suing the state, alleging that it has failed to adequately protect fish raised in aquaculture facilities and that it does not have rules in place to regulate large-scale fish farms.

Animal Outlook, an animal advocacy organization based in Washington DC and California, filed suit Feb. 22 in Kennebec County Superior Court to challenge the state’s decision to reject its citizen petition.

The petition, signed by 152 registered Maine voters, calls on the state agriculture department to adopt new rules regarding inspections and enforcement of animal cruelty laws for fish raised by commercial companies.

But the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry rejected the petition in September, calling it “incomplete and defective,” primarily because Animal Outlook didn’t provide text for the rule it wants the state to adopt.

In the February lawsuit, Animal Outlook accuses the state of refusing to adopt standards for aquaculture facilities, failing to investigate the facilities and failing to enforce existing animal cruelty laws.

The agriculture department did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Read the full article at Spectrum News

MAINE: Mills Offshore Wind Roadmap Stirs Debate in Augusta

February 28, 2023 — Proponents of offshore wind power generated off the coast of Maine are no longer just blowing cold air: they will soon be brokering leases for development, a report issued by the state last week highlighted.

Given the scale and scope of what’s in the State of Maine’s Offshore Wind Roadmap that Gov. Janet Mills’ administration unveiled on Thursday, it’s a little odd that the governor didn’t directly mention the ambitious project in her state of the budget speech two weeks ago. What she did tell us then was her new goal is to have 100 percent of energy in the state coming from renewable sources by 2040, and in this context the offshore wind scheme begins to make more sense.

Until you consider the intense opposition to installing 500-900 foot tall wind turbines throughout the offshore waters of Maine.

The “roadmap” envisions 2,100 installations. Fishermen have been vocal in their opposition, and a state law Mills signed in 2021 prohibits offshore wind development in state waters. But what does that really mean?

Read the full article at the Maine Wire