Saving Seafood

Lobstering union petitions U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Gulf of Maine closure

December 3, 2021 — Lobster harvesters were forced to remove their gear from a large section of the Gulf of Maine this week. Though their traps may no longer be in the water, the industry is not giving up its fight.

The Maine Lobstering Union filed an emergency application last week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate a lower court ruling and reopen the roughly 950-square-mile area, which is slated to be closed through January – and every subsequent October through January – in an effort to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

It’s the most recent development in a monthslong legal battle between members of the lobster industry, who say their livelihoods are at risk, and conservationists, who say the whales are headed for extinction.

Virginia Olsen, a lobsterwoman and a member of the union, said the group looks forward to continuing what it considers a fight to save the industry, and the families and communities that depend on it.

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald

Fishermen’s Forum cancels in-person events for second year

December 3, 2021 — The annual Fishermen’s Forum, a three-day event held in Rockport in early March, has been canceled for a second year due to coronavirus concerns.

The forum brings together scientists, seafood marketers, fisheries management specialists and more from across the commercial fishing industry. The guest list includes marketers, processors, representatives from the Department of Marine Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other government agencies. And fishermen, of course, who gather to talk shop, share information, hear new and upcoming legislation affecting their industry, and to swap stories.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Major land-based aquaculture projects near beginning of construction in Maine

December 3, 2021 — Three major land-based aquaculture projects – Atlantic salmon farms planned by Nordic Aquafarms and Whole Oceans, and The Kingfish Company’s yellowtail farm – are all set to initiate construction in coming months in the U.S. state of Maine.

Fredrikstad, Norway-based Nordic Aquafarms won a key legal victory in November 2021 and, in August 2021, it obtained the last permit it needed to begin construction on its land-based salmon farm in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A., where it hopes to grow up to 33,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon annually.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Heat, no food, deadly weather: Climate change kills seabirds

December 2, 2021 — The warming of the planet is taking a deadly toll on seabirds that are suffering population declines from starvation, inability to reproduce, heat waves and extreme weather.

Climate-related losses have hit albatrosses off the Hawaiian islands, northern gannets near the British Isles and puffins off the Maine coast. Some birds are less able to build nests and raise young as sea levels rise, while others are unable to find fish to eat as the ocean heats up, researchers have found.

Common murres and Cassin’s auklets that live off the West Coast have also died in large numbers from conditions scientists directly tied to global warming.

With less food, rising seas that encroach on islands where birds roost and increasingly frequent hurricanes that wipe away nests, many seabirds have been producing fewer chicks, researchers say.

And tern species that live off New England have died during increasing rain and hailstorms scientists link to climate change. Some species, including endangered roseate terns, also can’t fledge chicks because more frequent severe weather kills their young, said Linda Welch, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

New report finds threats to Maine working waterfronts, proposes solutions

November 30, 2021 — A new report says the lack of reliable access to infrastructure along Maine working waterfronts is a growing threat to the state’s fishing and marine industries.

The Island Institute — a Rockland-based nonprofit that works to develop local economies and climate solutions in Maine’s 120 island and coastal communities — recently published the report, called “The Critical Nature of Maine’s Working Waterfront and Access to the Shore.”

The report examines the state of working waterfront access in Maine, outlines the need for a broader strategy around access protection, and makes recommendations for immediate action steps.

Billion-dollar impact

At well over $1 billion per year, Maine’s fishing and related waterfront industries represent a major sector of Maine’s economy.

Working waterfront communities are grappling with pressures both from the sea and from the land, according to the report.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Regulators to decide on future of Maine shrimp fishery

November 29, 2021 — The latest chapter of Maine’s shrimp fishery is expected to be decided next month.

The fishery has been closed for nearly a decade after a collapse of the northern shrimp’s stock in 2013. A moratorium on the fishery has been in place ever since. It is set to expire at the end of this year and regulators plan to review an updated stock assessment and decide if the fishery should reopen.

The Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section plans to meet virtually from 9-11 a.m. on Dec. 17 to discuss the update and set the specifications for the 2022 shrimp season.

An advisory shrimp panel plans to meet the morning before to develop recommendations for the section to consider.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Surge in baitfish catch is a boon to Maine’s lobstermen

November 26, 2021 — A surge in the catch of a small species of fish called menhaden off the Maine coast has helped stabilize a bait crunch that’s plagued the state’s lobster industry for several years.

Maine’s lobster fishermen typically bait their traps with dead herring, but a scientific assessment in 2020 found that herring are overfished, and quotas for the fish were reduced dramatically. The loss of herring has increased the price of bait and made it harder for many fishermen to trap lobsters.

However, losing herring has been offset somewhat by swelling catches of menhaden. Maine’s catch of menhaden — also called pogies or bunker — grew from about 6 million pounds in 2016 to more than 24 million pounds last year.

Read the full story at the AP

Feds declare East Coast herring fishery a disaster

November 24, 2021 — US. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced a disaster declaration for the 2019 Atlantic herring fishery on Monday, Nov. 22.

“With this determination, we proudly support our fishing industry and will work with the affected communities to help them get back on track,” said Raimondo. “Resilient and sustainable fisheries are not only essential to our coastal communities, but play a vital role in supporting our blue economy and our nation’s overall economic wellbeing.”

The herring fishery historically supplied the bulk of the bait for the Northeast lobster fishery. In 2019, NMFS announced a 70 percent reduction in the catch quota, which left fishermen and bait suppliers scrambling for alternatives. The most complicating factor being that all bait species and types must be approved by NMFS. The herring fishery is based primarily in Maine and Massachusetts.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Maine lobstermen have two weeks to pull traps from whale protection area

November 22, 2021 — Virginia Olsen called the situation “beyond frustrating”.

Olsen is a lobster fisherman from Stonington and the political director for the Maine Lobstering Union.

Earlier this week, union members and all the other lobstermen in Maine lost a big fight in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston when judges reinstated the federal government’s closure of a 967-square mile area of ocean off the Maine coast.

The closure, originally scheduled to be in effect from Oct. 18 to Jan. 31, is part of a plan from NOAA Fisheries and the National Marine Fisheries Service to help protect endangered right whales from becoming tangled in lobster gear.

A federal judge in Bangor last month sided with the union’s arguments against the closure and imposed an injunction to stop it. The appeals court reversed that decision, and now the closure is in effect, according to NOAA Fisheries.

The Maine Lobstering Union and others in the fishing industry said there has been no hard evidence right whales are in that closure area. But federal regulators said there is evidence, including data obtained this year from underwater acoustic devices.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Slinky pots and ropeless gear: next angles for whale avoidance

November 22, 2021 — With new regulations turning whale avoidance into a top priority in the Gulf of Maine and off California, front-line fishermen sat Friday for a panel discussion at Pacific Marine Expo on what the future may hold for trap fisheries.

NMFS and the state of California are looking to ropeless gear for lobster and crab fisheries as the long-term solution, but such systems are still in development.

California’s Dungeness crab fishermen are yet again cooling their heels in port, awaiting an updated assessment of humpback whale movements and an all-clear from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to set gear, once the agency judges the danger of entanglements is lowered.

In recent years the usual November crab season opening has been delayed as whales congregate to feed before heading south for their breeding season, said Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.

The 2020 season opener was delayed into December — and then complicated when fishermen protested what they considered unfairly low prices for crabs. A price settlement and agreed-on opener didn’t happen until January.

Read the full story at National Fisherman