Saving Seafood

2021 was the hottest year on record in the Gulf of Maine, new data show

March 29, 2022 — Scientists say the highest water temperatures ever in the Gulf of Maine were recorded last year.

The Gulf is one of the fastest-warming bodies of water on the planet, and fishermen are noticing signs of the change.

Data released by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute show that last year surface water temperatures in the Gulf were on average a half-degree higher than the previous record, with record highs recorded on 169 days — almost half the year.

The Gulf experienced what scientists now call a “marine heatwave” for the entire year.
“As unusually warm as 2021 was in a historical context, it’s likely to be one of the coolest years we’ll experience going forward, especially if we’re not able to reduce greenhouse gas emission globally,” says the institute’s David Reidmiller.

Reidmiller says the latest data punctuate a decades-long trend that shows no sign of abating.

“The warming trend is unequivocal in the Gulf of Maine. It’s been going on now for decades, and from a climatological sense we are assuredly in a new regime,” Reidmiller says.

Read the full story at Maine Public Radio

‘It used to be just simple:’ Maine lobstermen concerned for future of industry

March 29, 2022 — The working waterfront is one of Maine’s most prominent industries, but it faces an uncertain future.

From new regulations to high fuel prices, some Maine lobstermen say they just can’t catch a break.

Many are concerned for the future of the industry that is so much a part of Maine.

Steve Train grew up lobstering.

I’ve just always had a love for this as a way to make a living,” Train said.

Lobstermen are facing many obstacles, from offshore wind farms to impending federal fishing regulations meant to protect endangered right whales and even high fuel prices.

“I’ve never seen a right whale, and I’ve been doing this since the 70s,” Train said. “But they say that I pose a risk.”

For Train, it’s hard to predict how federal regulations will ultimately affect local lobstermen and the thousands of jobs that rely on the industry.

Many are left holding their breath, waiting for what the tide will bring.

Read the full story at WGME

 

MAINE: House advances bill to support lobster fishing industry

March 28, 2022 — The Maine House delivered a strong bipartisan vote Thursday to advance a measure sponsored by Rep. Holly Stover, D-Boothbay, that would provide direct relief funds to Maine’s lobster fishermen impacted by recent federal regulatory changes. The vote was 116-18.

Following the closure of approximately 1,000 square miles of federal waters off the coast of Maine, LD 1898 would establish the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Impact Fund to provide compensation for the immediate financial losses felt by lobster fishermen.

Read the full story at the Boothbay Register

 

$30 million fund to help lobstermen meet new rules gets strong support in Maine House

March 25, 2022 — A proposal to create a $30 million fund to help lobstermen comply with new federal requirements designed to protect endangered right whales received overwhelming and bipartisan support in the Maine House on Thursday.

Funding for the bill, sponsored by Rep. Holly Stover, D-Boothbay, would come from the state’s unallocated surplus and would help fishermen meet new federal requirements for fishing rope.

Those rules could cost the industry between $50 million and $80 million in lost revenue, additional gear, lost time and added labor, according to the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. One lawmaker estimated the new rules would cost the average fisherman tens of thousands of dollars.

Stover said the relief fund is needed to protect Maine’s iconic and valuable lobster fishing industry, which has had to constantly adapt to evolving federal regulations to prevent endangered right whales from being entangled in ropes.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Rep. Golden asks for more lobstermen on panel

March 24, 2022 — U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (ME-02) called on the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) March 16 to expand representation of lobstermen on its Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team by including members of Maine Lobstering Union Local 207.

The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team is charged with making recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for addressing rising North Atlantic right whale mortalities. Only four of the members of the 60-person team are Maine lobstermen.

“As the only industry organization comprised exclusively of lobstermen with active commercial lobster and crab fishing licenses, the MLU would bring an essential perspective to the ALWTRT,” said Golden. “For nearly a decade, the MLU has engaged with local, state and federal officials as well as the scientific community on various projects to improve our understanding of the distribution of right whales and their potential interactions with certain gear types and fishing effort.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Regulators say new whale-protection rules for Maine’s lobster fleet are on the horizon

March 24, 2022 — Federal regulators said they will soon start a process to create new whale-protection rules for Maine’s lobster fleet that will go beyond the controversial regulations going into effect on May 1. The rules are being imposed to reduce the risk that endangered North Atlantic right whales will be killed by entanglements with fishing gear or ship strikes.

Michael Pentony, the regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, spoke to an online meeting of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum today.

He said that the initial rules were designed to reduce the risk to whales by 60%, but recent evidence shows that the agency must act more quickly than planned to reduce that risk even more.

Read the full story at Maine Public

China’s ongoing COVID lockdowns threaten Maine’s baby eel season

March 22, 2022 — Warm weather this spring may boost catches of lucrative baby eels in Maine, but the ongoing effects of the covid pandemic still could hamper the global availability of the popular seafood item.

An abundance of eels during Maine’s 11-week elver season, which starts Tuesday, may not be able to overcome pandemic-related difficulties in shipping the eels to eastern Asia, where most elvers caught in Maine are raised to adulthood in aquaculture ponds in China and then sold into the enormous Japanese seafood market.

“As of now, the biggest challenge facing the industry this season will be the logistics of getting eels to their ultimate destinations,” said Mitchell Feigenbaum, a major distributor of Maine eels. “A severe COVID outbreak in Hong Kong combined with strict import controls have created great uncertainty in the market as the season prepares to open.”

China has maintained a “COVID zero” policy that in recent weeks has resulted in the country locking down areas where outbreak of the disease are detected, which potentially could inhibit the ability to ship Maine elvers to Chinese aquaculture sites. Because elvers have to be shipped live, the possibility of shipments being delayed and elvers dying en route can make things “very risky” for dealers, Feigenbaum said.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

Golden Presses Feds for More Maine Lobstermen Representation on Regulation Advisory Panel

March 21, 2022 — The following was released by The Office of Jared Golden:

Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) called on the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) today to expand representation of lobstermen on its Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (ALWTRT) by including members of the Maine Lobstering Union Local 207 (MLU).

The ALWTRT is a council of stakeholders charged with making recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for addressing rising North Atlantic right whale (NARW) mortalities, or takes. However, only four of the members of the 60-person ALWTRT are Maine lobstermen, the workforce whose livelihoods would be most impacted by the group’s recommendations.

“As the only industry organization comprised exclusively of lobstermen with active commercial lobster and crab fishing licenses, the MLU would bring an essential perspective to the ALWTRT,” said Golden. “For nearly a decade, the MLU has engaged with local, state and federal officials as well as the scientific community on various projects to improve our understanding of the distribution of right whales and their potential interactions with certain gear types and fishing effort. They are currently working on new data collection models utilizing fishermen and their fishing gear to obtain vital information about right whale habitat in the Gulf of Maine. This data, if brought to bear, would prove invaluable to the ALWTRT as they continue to assess the underlying causes of right whale serious injury and mortality.”

“The MLU greatly appreciates Congressman Golden’s support in seeking additional Maine seats on the ALWTRT for Local 207,” said MLU Secretary Virginia Olsen. “These are very uncertain times for Maine lobstermen and securing union seats to bring new science forward is vital in protecting our heritage fishery. As new technologies come available, we need to work with fishermen who are on the water day in and day out to be a part of this process, not only conceptually but in data collection too.”

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), take reduction teams like ALWTRT must be inclusive of “all commercial and recreational fisheries groups and gear types which incidentally take the species or stock.” The MMPA also authorizes NMFS to appoint additional members to a take reduction team if a particular constituency is not adequately represented.

“In order to ensure that the ALWTRT is indeed representative of all commercial fisheries groups, I strongly urge you to appoint representatives from the MLU,” Golden continued. “Their unique makeup as an entirely fishermen-member enterprise that participates in every aspect of the industry make them an indispensable industry participant whose voice deserves to have a seat at the table.”

Maine lobstermen have a history of environmental stewardship and continued commitment to protecting the North Atlantic right whale. Beginning in 1997, Maine lobstermen have implemented costly and labor-intensive gear modifications to protect the NARW. Since then, NARW population growth has doubled. Recent right whale mortalities have been definitively linked to ship strikes and entanglements in Canadian waters with no entanglements affirmatively linked to Maine’s lobster fishery since 2004.

You can read a copy of the letter here.

 

MAINE: Lobster fishery, coming off a record year, faces challenges ahead

March 18, 2022 — Maine’s lobster fishery scored a record-breaking value in 2021, with a 75% increase over 2020 and a 10% increase in landed weight.

But fishermen face increasing pressures, including difficulty finding and keeping crew, rising operational costs, competition for fishing grounds from other industries, new regulations affecting fishing gear and methods and coastal development pressure that’s squeezing waterfront access and opportunities to live they work.

There are plenty of long-term studies on the lobster side of the fishery. For example, the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute handles the American Lobster Settlement Index, which monitors larval lobsters and their environment.

Now a new study is underway to study the human side of the fishery.

“Last year’s season was the most valuable ever,” said Theresa Burnham, a University of Maine research associate and a member of the study’s research team.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Maine lobster industry fights lawsuit that aims to shut down fishery

March 18, 2022 — While Maine’s lobster industry has been fighting an offensive legal battle against impending rules to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, it also is playing defense in a case brought by environmentalists that seeks to shut down the lobster fishery entirely.

Lobster industry groups are intervening in a case brought in Washington, D.C.’s U.S. District Court by the Center for Biological Diversity and other plaintiffs that argues the new federal restrictions aren’t adequate, and that the fishery’s continued operation poses an existential threat to the whales.

The plaintiffs in that case, Center for Biological Diversity v. (U.S. Commerce Secretary) Gina Raimondo, are asking the court to vacate a National Marine Fisheries Service “biological opinion” that serves as the basis for the new restrictions and conservation plan, saying they don’t go far enough to meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Lawyers for the lobster industry recently filed a legal brief arguing that the environmental groups are misreading the two laws and attempting to force the state’s lobster fishery under federal jurisdiction.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald