Saving Seafood

Maine fishermen charged with not reporting Atlantic herring catch to feds

January 31, 2022 — Five Maine fishermen and one fisherman from New Hampshire have been charged by federal investigators with catching and selling millions of pounds of unreported Atlantic herring.

Glenn Robbins, 75, of Eliot; Neil Herrick, 46, of Rockland; Andrew Banow, 35, of Rockport; Stephen Little, 56, of Warren; Jason Parent, 49, of Owls Head; Ethan Chase, 44, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were indicted Thursday on 35 counts of conspiracy, fraud and falsifying fishing records, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office. Also indicted was Western Sea, Inc., the business that owns the Rockland-based vessel used to catch the fish.

The six men are accused of making more than 80 fishing trips for herring in the Gulf of Maine on the vessel Western Sea between June of 2016 and September of 2019, and not reporting their catch to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA is tasked with maintaining accurate fishing records in order to set policies to sustain fisheries.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Report: $15M investment needed to bolster Maine aquaculture over next decade

January 27, 2022 — Maine’s aquaculture sector has been steadily growing in recent years, and a new industry report identifies over $15 million in resources that may be needed to continue that growth over the next decade.

The Maine Aquaculture Roadmap 2022-32 was released Tuesday by the Maine Aquaculture Hub, Maine Sea Grant and Maine Aquaculture Association.

The roadmap was developed with feedback from approximately 150 stakeholders representing nearly 100 different organizations and companies operating in Maine’s marine economy.

The plan is based on the premise that sustainable aquaculture has tremendous potential to bolster Maine’s coastal economy by providing good jobs, local food security and diversification opportunities for working waterfront families.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

 

Maine lobstermen could soon face another new gear regulation

January 26, 2022 — Lobstermen could soon face a new regulation that state officials say would be designed to protect future lobster populations. That comes as the industry is under pressure to comply with a slate of other recent rules that aim to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Maine’s lobster landings saw an unprecedented boom during the 2010s, but that’s dropped off some in recent years. And Patrick Keliher, Commissioner of the state’s Department of Marine Resources, says recent research shows that the number of juvenile lobster floating in the water column or settling to the bottom is declining for a third year in a row.

“We’re starting to pick it up in ventless trap surveys,” Keliher says. “We’re picking it up in settlement. These are tough conversations, they are very tough to have at a time when we’re dealing with the whale issue.”

To protect right whales from entanglement in trap rope, federal regulators recently imposed a four-month closure of a thousand-square miles of prime fishing grounds off Maine to traditional lobster fishing, and they are requiring some potentially costly gear changes as well.

Now Keliher says that lobstermen should also consider another new rule — to create a “trigger” mechanism for reducing the catch of juvenile lobster when their abundance falls below a certain level.

Read the full story at Maine Public

MAINE: Worries grow as deadline for whale-friendly gear draws near

January 24, 2022 — Lobstermen will have to start using weakened rope or special inserts to weaken existing rope beginning in May in some waters to help protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

But the rope and links aren’t yet readily available, causing consternation among lobstermen seeking to comply with the rules.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources has received numerous complaints that there isn’t a sufficient supply of approved ropes or the plastic links, a spokesperson told the Bangor Daily News.

The department plans to notify federal regulators of the problem so they’re aware of the potential compliance challenges.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Critics ramp up pressure on Jonesport fish farm, but others voice their support

January 21, 2022 — Critics of a land-based fish farm proposal from Kingfish Maine are getting louder, hoping to convince the local planning board that allowing the company to build a facility off Route 187 would be a bad idea. But local supporters also are speaking out, and seem to outnumber the opponents.

About 60 people attended an informational meeting hosted Monday by the company at the Jonesport fire station. Some at the meeting questioned Megan Sorby, Kingfish’s operations manager, and said information released by Kingfish was misleading or inaccurate, but others in the audience voiced their support for the project.

The area has long been reliant on the lobster industry, but with concerns about the long-term viability of that fishery and a need to shore up the local economy, the land-based fish farm could be what’s needed to help.

When someone asked for a show of hands, only about a dozen people raised theirs to indicate they were against it. Roughly two-thirds of the people in the room then raised their hands to show they are in favor of it.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Rising scallop prices please fishermen

January 21, 2022 — From the coast of Maine down to the large fish markets in Gloucester and New Bedford, Mass., scallops are fetching up to $30 a pound and even more, including $35 a pound for frozen, shipped scallops from Greenhead Lobster in Stonington.

Everywhere, scallop prices are up about 50 percent no matter where they come from in Maine, or in Massachusetts. The price may tick south the farther east you go, but local scallopers say the higher prices are well deserved, even if they’re not sure why prices are up.

Scallop fishermen are getting $10 more a pound locally for scallops, from dealers and from direct sales, over last year’s boat and retail prices.

Wood’s Seafood in Bucksport is asking $28 a pound, a price Ed Wood said has held steady six weeks into the season.

“We were selling for like $18 or $19 [a pound],” said Wood, who mainly sells retail. “It’s up about $10 this year from last year.” But sales are down, he noted. “Typically, especially around Christmas time, they used to buy them and give them away for presents. Not so much this year.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

 

MAINE: Lobstermen fear offshore tracking data would be used against them

January 20, 2022 — Maine lobstermen objected Tuesday to a proposal from interstate fishing managers that would require offshore lobstermen to have electronic trackers on their boats.

An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering implementing the tracking requirements on federally-permitted lobster and Jonah crab fishermen in order to collect data on where and how they fish. At a public hearing on Tuesday, commission officials laid out the proposal and heard concerns from lobstermen across the northeast.

The managers hope the data will help with fish stock assessments, interactions with protected species such as right whales, enforcement and ocean planning.

Lobstermen currently don’t have to report where they fish but competition for space could become more prevalent as other uses, such as aquaculture, marine protected areas and offshore energy, emerge. Officials said this data could help regulators understand how new uses could affect the fishery, something that’s currently challenging because they don’t know where fishermen drop their traps.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: American Aquafarms launches video series

January 20, 2022 — American Aquafarms is inviting the public to tune in to the first of its eight-part “Community Conversations” series starting Thursday, Jan. 20. In the introductory video, the Norwegian-backed company’s new American CEO, Keith Decker, paints his vision of Maine as a major food producer and the proposed $250 million Frenchman Bay salmon farm as being at the forefront of sustainable fish farming practices worldwide. As the pandemic persists, company officials see the online series as a way to disseminate information directly about the project and respond to questions from the public.

Archipelago Law, a Portland-based firm specializing in maritime and “Blue” commerce, which earlier this winter took over from Bernstein Shur as American Aquafarms’ Maine legal counsel, developed “Community Conversations.” One of the small firm’s founding partners, Benjamin E. Ford, serves as host in “Show 1” of the series created on the video hosting platform Vimeo. Decker and American Aquafarms’ Project Development Manager Tom Brennan are the only other two participants in the 15-minute segment available at https://vimeo.com/661319868/c983238d00.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

 

Maine lobstermen can’t find gear to comply with new federal regulations

January 19, 2022 — Chebeague Island lobsterman Jeff Putnam has been on the hunt for small plastic links that will meet new requirements set to go in effect this spring to help protect right whales.

Starting on May 1, lobstermen, depending on where they fish, will have to add inserts that will weaken their ropes or use ropes that are rated to break at 1,700 pounds of force to comply with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulations to help protect the endangered species.

The links are designed to weaken the fishing ropes that run between his buoys and lobster traps. But Putnam and other lobstermen say that they can’t find the gear they need to comply with the new rules, leaving them uncertain how they will proceed.

“I haven’t seen them at any stores yet,” Putnam said.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Future looks dire for lobster fishery, coastal economy

January 18, 2022 — The federal government has signaled its intention to nearly eliminate rope fishing for lobsters over 10 years, but the entire fishery may be closed even sooner than that, according to Pat Keliher, Maine Department of Marine Resources commissioner.

The reason: to save the endangered right whale.

Fishermen say there aren’t any right whales in the Gulf of Maine. The government not only says that there are, but recently announced they’re dying off even faster than previously thought.

“We think the threat of the closure of the fishery is increasingly significant,” Keliher said at a virtual Lobster Advisory Council Meeting on December 15.

He said the lobster industry faces multiple perils.

Read the full story at the Penobscot Bay Press