Saving Seafood

Gulf of Maine waters warmed to highest fall temperatures on record

January 13, 2022 — The Gulf of Maine – which has been warming faster than 96 percent of the world’s ocean areas – experienced its warmest fall surface water temperatures on record last year in what scientists tracking it call a “distinct regime shift” for the ecosystem.

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland announced its findings Wednesday in its seasonal warming report, which showed average sea surface temperatures in the gulf hit 59.9 degrees, or more than 4 degrees above the long-term average.

Last fall’s figures exceeded even those in the infamous “Northwest Atlantic Ocean heat wave” of 2012, which triggered a two-year explosion in green crabs that devoured clams and eelgrass meadows and led to the starvation of puffin chicks. That warming cycle also triggered the early shedding of Maine lobsters, which fueled armed confrontations between Canadian lobstermen and truckers trying to carry the soft-shell boon to New Brunswick processing plants at the height of Canada’s own lobstering season.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at the Portland Press Herald

 

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Fishery Moves to Four Landing Days Per Week Starting November 8

November 4, 2021 — 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 met November 4 via webinar to consider changes to days out measures for the 2021 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October through December) following the reallocation of 1,000 metric tons (mt) from the management uncertainty buffer to the Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery.

The Area 1A fishery will move to four (4) consecutive landing days per week starting November 8 at 12:01 a.m. Fishing for and possessing herring onboard prior to November 8 is allowed in accordance with published state regulations.

Estimates indicate approximately 1,083 mt of the Area 1A sub-ACL remains available to harvest, which accounts for the increase of 1,000 mt based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery, the overage from Season 1 (June through September), the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL).

Please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at efranke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740 for more information.

The announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/ChangestoAtlHerringDaysOutSeason2_11_4.pdf

 

NOAA Fisheries Announces Adjustments to the 2021 Atlantic Herring Specifications

October 28, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This action increases the herring Area 1A sub-ACL from 1,609 mt to 2,609 mt and the ACL from 4,128 mt to 5,128 mt for the remainder of 2021. Because herring landings in the New Brunswick weir fishery were less than 3,012 mt through October 1, NOAA Fisheries is required by the regulations implementing the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan to subtract 1,000 mt from the management uncertainty buffer and reallocated it to the herring Area 1A sub-ACL and the ACL.

For more details, read the temporary rule as published in the Federal Register today, and our permit holder bulletin.

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Maria Fenton, Regional Office, 978-28-9196

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

As right whales surge north, one death too many

June 17, 2019 — Before the leviathan was dragged to shore, before it was found floating at sea trailing a slick of blood, the massive creature had had its run-ins with its greatest nemesis: human beings.

This North Atlantic right whale — among the most endangered species on the planet — was known by researchers as Wolverine, for three propeller cuts on its tailstock that reminded them of the trio of blades used by the comic book character of the same name. In its short life of nine years, journeying through thousands of miles of dense fishing grounds, the whale had endured at least one vessel strike and three entanglements in fishing gear.

Now, Wolverine was decomposing on a grassy beach at the northernmost tip of New Brunswick’s Acadian peninsula, its large, black fins inert in the salty air, its wide fluke tangled in red rope that the Canadian Coast Guard used to haul its carcass in from the frigid waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The death of even one of the mammals poses a grave threat to the species, given how few remain. But almost as notable is that Wolverine was here at all.

Until recently, right whales were seldom seen this far north. Now about a third of the species regularly comes to feed in these frigid waters. It has proved to be a very dangerous migration.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Cooke Aquaculture sends more boats to help flooded communities

April 26, 2019 — The following was released by Cooke Aquaculture:

Cooke Aquaculture has diverted three more boats and marine staff from its Charlotte County fish farming operations to help with flood relief efforts in Grand Bay-Westfield and the City of Saint John in New Brunswick.

This is in addition to the two boats the local, family-owned company already sent to the Village of Cambridge-Narrows on the Washademoak Lake this week. The motor boats are all 21-25 feet long, equipped with safety equipment and are run by trained Cooke Aquaculture operators accompanied by local first responders.

The New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization (NBEMO) has advised the public that water levels have yet to reach their highest levels in a number of communities along the southern regions of the St. John River basin. And that residents living near the St. John River system should continue to exercise extreme caution and remain alert to rising water levels over the coming days.

“We encourage people to follow the Emergency Measures Organization advice to avoid boating, kayaking or other water activities this time of year as currents are strong and may carry debris,” said Joel Richardson, Vice President of Public Relations with Cooke Aquaculture. “In last years flood our boats retrieved everything from half-submerged building materials, gas cans, and tires to propane tanks from the water. People should stay away from the rivers and lakes until it is safer.”

Lobsters unharmed by Atlantic Canada salmon farm, 8-year study finds

March 22, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — An eight-year study of lobsters living below a salmon farm off New Brunswick’s Grand Manan Island found the aquaculture operation had no impact on the crustaceans’ abundance, size or growth.

The peer-reviewed, industry-funded study was published this month in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

Its authors say it’s the most in-depth examination of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

“There isn’t anything like this. Any surveys that have been done have been sort of cursory,” said Jon Grant, the study’s lead author and a Dalhousie University oceanographer.

How the study worked

The study involved divers visiting a sample area under the Benson Aquaculture salmon farm at Cheney Head off Grand Manan in 2008, and returning every August and September.

To establish a baseline, surveying started before the fish farm opened. The study covered two production cycles at the farm, which uses pesticides to control sea lice and has been opposed by lobster fishermen.

It also included a fallow period and a farm expansion to 336,000 fish from 10,000 during the second production cycle.

An identical survey was conducted about a kilometre outside the farm.

By the time the project ended in 2015, divers had counted 1,255 lobsters inside the farm and 1,171 outside.

What the study found

“In both cases, whether it was on the farm or off the farm, over those eight years the abundance of lobsters went up. A lot. By 100 per cent or more. And there was no difference in those lobsters in any way — in their size, in their sex or their abundance, whether on or off the fish farm,” Grant told CBC News.

“We don’t detect any evidence that the fish farm affected behaviour, growth or abundance of those lobsters.”

He said the study proved one hypothesis: the population inside or adjacent to the farm matched growth seen elsewhere in lobster fishing areas.

“It reflects the fact that the fishery is ongoing and it’s thriving and that fish farming does not seem to have impacted it, at least in eastern New Brunswick,” said Grant, who is funded by New Brunswick-based Cooke Seafoods and holds the NSERC-Cooke industrial research chair in sustainable aquaculture.

Surveys ordered by government regulators

The surveys were a requirement of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the New Brunswick government. The Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association funded the study.

The field work was carried out by SIMCorp, a New Brunswick-based marine environmental consulting firm that works for the aquaculture industry in Atlantic Canada and Maine.

SIMCorp is recognized as the standard for aquaculture, said Grant.

Tara Daggett, a SIMCorp biologist and co-author of the study, said the results are encouraging news for the aquaculture industry.

“We can fairly say aquaculture can coexist with fisheries and other species. It has a place,” she told CBC News.

However, Daggett cautioned the results only reflect what happened at one fish farm.

“The fish farm is typical of Grand Manan with sandy and cobbled bottom, but in science we don’t extrapolate. We need to test at other sites.”

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Cooke confirms deal for shrimp farmer Seajoy is close to completion

December 3, 2018 — Glenn Cooke confirmed the Canada-based, global seafood group that carries his family name is close to a deal for a shrimp farmer in Latin America, which Undercurrent News has previously reported is Honduras’ Seajoy Group.

Speaking at a roundtable in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, he said Cooke is in the final stages of acquiring “one of the largest” Latin American shrimp farming companies, the Telegraph-Journal reported.

“We are in the process of getting everything approved, but we have basically bought one of the world’s largest shrimp operations,” he said at the event, which was attended by the heads of other divisions from around the world and Karen Ludwig, a member of the Canadian Parliament representing the New Brunswick Southwest district.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Scientists and fishermen team up to help save North Atlantic right whale

August 23, 2018 — Whale researchers and fishermen are out at sea together on a two-week mission, combining efforts to help save the endangered north Atlantic right whale.

These two worlds have usually stayed far apart, but for the first time scientists are onboard a crab boat to do their field work.

It’s been a controversial fishing season in northern New Brunswick.

Whale protection efforts caused many fishing areas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to be closed off, angering fishermen who saw it as an attack on their livelihood — some even taking to protest.

Crab fisherman Martin Noel, captain of the Jean-Denis Martin boat in Shippagan, agreed to take scientists out in the gulf to help them carry out their research this year.

“We don’t want to be called whale killers,” Noel said. “We want to be called fishermen that are implicated in the solution.”

All season, fishermen begged Ottawa to involve them in fisheries management. They felt the federal government was imposing overly strict measures without consultation with industry.

Read the full story at CBC News

 

Border Patrol Stops Canadian Fishermen in Disputed Waters Off Maine

July 9, 2018 — As tensions rise between the United States and Canada, there’s a new clash in the cool waters off the northeast tip of Maine, which are rich with lobster, scallops and cod.

For more than a decade, American and Canadian fishermen largely have had a friendly but competitive relationship in an oval-shaped region of the Bay of Fundy known as the gray zone. But this summer that camaraderie has been threatened, Canadian fishermen claim, as officers with the United States Border Patrol have started to wade into the area, pull up aside their vessels and ask about their citizenship.

“We don’t want this to be a great international incident, but it’s kind of curious,” said Laurence Cook, the chairman of the lobster committee at the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association in New Brunswick. “They say it’s routine patrolling, but it is the first routine patrolling in 25 years.”

At least 10 Canadian fishing boats have been stopped by American immigration authorities within the past two weeks, Mr. Cook said, the latest escalation in a more than 300-year disagreement in the disputed waters off Machias Seal Island. Both countries claim the island, which is about 10 miles off Maine and home to two full-time residents (both Canadian), puffins, rocks and not much else, and say they have the right to patrol its boundaries.

Read the full story at the New York Times