Saving Seafood

Regional Regulators Vote For 3-Year Closure Of Maine Shrimp Fishery

November 19, 2018 — A panel of regulators from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts voted Friday to put a three-year moratorium on the commercial fishery for Northern Shrimp, also known as Maine shrimp. Maine’s representatives at the meeting in Portland wanted some type of season preserved, but they were outnumbered.

The decision came after Katie Drew, a scientist with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, told the panel there was virtually no chance the shrimp would bounce back from depleted levels before 2022 and, in fact, might never recover. Above all, she says, the Gulf of Maine, has warmed to the limits of the shrimp’s reproductive capacity.

“The warmer the waters the less baby shrimp you have the next year,” says Drew. “And so we’ve had a lot of warm waters, and we’re just not getting a enough baby shrimp into the population. And in addition a lot of things like to eat northern shrimp.”

Predators such as red hake, spiny dogfish and squid, which are growing more abundant in some parts of the Gulf. The pressure they are putting on shrimp is a growing problem, even though one top predator, humans, haven’t been in the picture since 2014.

Historically, the commercial shrimp fishery, which traditionally started in December, has been dominated by boats from Maine. But it’s been closed for four consecutive years.

Panel member Mike Armstrong, assistant director in the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, says the regulators should bow to reality and proposed the three-year closure.

Read the full story at Maine Public

 

Regulators close Maine’s shrimp fishery for next 3 years

November 19, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — Regulators voted Friday to close the Gulf of Maine winter shrimp season for another three years, raising fears that the fishery decimated by rising water temperatures may never bounce back.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has been taking a year-to-year approach to determining whether to allow a winter season, but the panel decided to shut it down for 2019, 2020 and 2021 after receiving a dismal report on the depleted fishery.

The last time the fishery was open was 2014 in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

“The stock has shown very little signs of recovery. It’s considered a depleted resource,” said Tina Berger, spokeswoman for the agency.

Fishermen, the bulk of them from Maine, used to catch millions of pounds of the shrimp every winter.

But the warming ocean and predation have decimated the shrimp fishery. The shrimp are especially sensitive to changes in water temperature, Berger said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post

MASSACHUSETTS: Bay State Wind to host open house

November 19, 2018 — Bay State Wind will host an open house on Wednesday, Dec. 5, to hear from the public about the development of an offshore wind project off the southern Massachusetts coast, according to a press release. The open house will run from 4 to 6 pm at the Loft Restaurant, with a brief presentation about the project at 4:30 pm. Guests will hear about the status of the project and offshore wind in the region from Orsted staff and have a chance to discuss the environmental, economic, and technical issues, and to visit an offshore wind farm through a virtual reality experience, as well as to voice their opinion about Bay State Wind’s project.

Read the full story at The MV Times

Climate Change Looms as a Long-Term Threat to Aquaculture

November 16, 2018 — Aquaculture is on the rise in Massachusetts.  For many entering the business, shellfish farming seems like a more secure option than the marine fisheries.  But climate change looms as a long-term threat over the industry.

Paul Wittenstein always wanted to be a commercial fisherman.

Growing up in Harwich, he worked summer jobs at fish markets and on chartered fishing boats. In college, he started out studying fisheries technology, but it was a bad time for the industry. “All the while I was in school, I was watching the fishing industry struggling,” he said.  “I watched the cod disappear. I watched small boats battling big boats. At the same time, I saw this tiny little shellfish industry start to take hold.”

Read the full story on WCAI

MASSACHUSETTS: Film series presenting ‘Life by Lobster’

November 15, 2018 — The Dock-U-Mentaries Film Series hosted by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center continues on Friday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. with “Life by Lobster,” a 55-minute documentary that takes you inside the lives of five young lobster fishermen determined to pursue this proud traditional vocation against steadily mounting obstacles.

Contrasting the stark beauty of the Downeast Maine seacoast with the stark reality of earning a living there, “Life by Lobster,” a documentary by independent filmmaker Iain McCray Martin, takes audiences inside the lives of five young lobster fishermen determined to pursue this proud traditional vocation against steadily mounting obstacles, a press release from the center states.

Co-produced by LA television director J. Miller Tobin (“Gossip Girl,” “Num3ers,” “CSI”) and Maine-based Opera House Arts, LBL was selected as part of the Maine International Film Festival’s Best of 2009 collection and is partially funded by the Perfect Storm Foundation, among others.

“I began work on this film when I was 19, in the summer between my freshman and sophomore years at Emory University. During that first year away from the small island off the coast of Maine where I had grown up, I realized, like never before, the uniqueness of my home and the people who define it,” said Martin.

“Facing a myriad of economic and regulatory hurdles, not to mention trying to overcome youthful inexperience in a tough, competitive industry, these young men could be, I feared, a dying breed. Their story needed to be told.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Only $720 of $10K fine paid for illegal lobsters

November 15, 2018 — When James A. Santapaola Jr. got nabbed landing 183 illegal lobsters at a local lobster wholesaler two years ago, the Gloucester lobsterman eventually cut a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to 20 of the counts and pay two fines totaling $10,050.

Later, the state Division of Marine Fisheries suspended his state lobstering license for three months.

Now, nearly two years after the plea deal, Santapaola Jr. — who was arrested again last week on charges of possessing 47 illegal lobsters — has paid only $720 of the $10,050 in fines, according to the clerk’s office at the Gloucester District Court.

Melissa Teixeira Prince, chief court clerk, on Wednesday said Santapaola Jr. is scheduled for a status review with court officials on Monday, Nov. 19, to discuss the outstanding balance on the fines from the previous offenses.

Last Friday afternoon, the Massachusetts Environmental Police, operating with Gloucester police and officers from NOAA Law Enforcement, arrested the 42-year-old Santapaola Jr. for possessing five crates and one tote of illegal live lobsters which law enforcement officers estimated collectively to weigh between 500 and 600 pounds.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

As Lobsters Decline, Fishermen Switch to Jonah Crab

November 15, 2018 — The lobster industry in southern New England has been on the decline for decades. As waters warm, some lobster fishermen are adapting by switching their catch to Jonah crab, a crustacean once considered a trash species.

Mike Palombo is captain of a 72-foot lobster boat, but his main catch is crabs.

He leaves from the Sandwich Marina for three-day fishing trips, going out over 100 miles to haul traps in the Canyons. One day this fall, he and his crew returned with around 23,000 Jonah crab and 2,000 lobsters in big saltwater holding tanks. “It was a good trip, very productive,” he said.

Jonah crab are sturdy, hard-shelled creatures, with black-tipped claws. They’re about a pound apiece. You might not have heard of them, but Jonah crab are sustaining Southern New England fishermen left stranded by the decline of lobsters.

Tracy Pugh, a lobster biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, said there’s been a drop in the lobster population south of the Cape, in part because the water temperature is rising. “The Southern New England lobsters are experiencing the bad aspects of climate change,” she said, “because they’re already in the southern extent of their range.”

Pugh says the warmer water is causing the lobsters to experience physiological stress. It’s also bringing in new diseases that affect lobster, and an uptick in predators like black seabass and tautog.

Read the full story at WCAI

Coast Guard airlifts sick fisherman from New Bedford vessel

November 14, 2018 — A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod helicopter crew medevaced a sick 54-year-old man from the 87-foot fishing boat Generation Sunday night 42 miles off Nantucket. The captain of the Generation contacted the Coast Guard at approximately 5:20 p.m. and requested assistance for his sick crew member.

In a press release from the United States Coast Guard, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew arrived on scene and hoisted the patient to the helicopter. The aircrew flew the man to Massachusetts General Hospital for further care.

The patient was reported to be in stable condition at the time of the transfer.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Trimester 3 Effort Controls Revised

November 13, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts revised the effort control measures for the 2018 Area 1A Trimester 3 (October 1 – December 31) fishery. Board members, with input from industry, agreed to seven (7) consecutive landing days until 92% of the Area 1A sub-ACL is projected to be harvested. Vessels may only land once every 24-hour period.

  • Beginning on November 16, 2018: Vessels in the States of Maine and New Hampshire, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts may land Atlantic herring starting at 12:01 a.m. on seven (7) consecutive days a week.

Trimester 3 landings will be closely monitored and the directed fishery will close when 92% of the Area 1A sub-ACL is projected to be reached. Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip once the fishery is closed. For more information, please contact Megan Ware at 703.842.0740 ormware@asmfc.org.

Read the full announcement here