Saving Seafood

Maine lobstermen fear lasting impacts on industry from new regulations

September 3, 2021 — Mainers that make their living fishing for lobster in the Gulf of Maine are coming to terms with new federal regulations this week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued new guidance for the fishery this week in an effort to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, but those in Maine’s lobster fishing community say the new rules go too far.

“We knew a lot of this was coming,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher. “But when it finally happens, it’s still a gut punch.”

Leaders in Maine’s fishing community have been working with NOAA for more than a decade to protect right whales. Fishermen told NEWS CENTER Maine that while they were not surprised to see the regulations, they were more extreme than expected.

“I see these regulations as having the potential of injuring fisherman, creating more ghost gear and debris on the ocean flood and costing us a lot more money to rig over for it, for something we’re not doing already. We’re not entangling these whales,” said Casco Bay-based lobsterman Steve Train.

The regulations will close a roughly 950-square-mile area in the Gulf of Maine to traditional lobster fishing from October to January. Rope-less fishing can continue there, but that technology has not been widely adopted in Maine.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

 

MAINE: New federal lobstering restrictions spark backlash from industry and elected officials

September 2, 2021 — After long hours hauling traps off the coast of South Thomaston on Wednesday, Barry Baudanza hadn’t had the chance to fully absorb all the changes headed his way after federal officials announced new rules governing the lobster industry the day before, but he knew one thing right off the bat: “This was the worst-case scenario.”

Among other changes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s newly released Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan will put more than 950 square miles of the Gulf of Maine off-limits to traditional lobstering from October through January – the area’s most lucrative season. The goal is to reduce risk to endangered North Atlantic right whales by at least 60 percent.

But lobstermen, the fishing industry and elected officials are pushing back. They say the new rules will be expensive, dangerous, burdensome and impractical, and won’t reduce the risk to whales.

And despite lobstermen’s concerns and protestations that they aren’t even seeing right whales in Maine waters, conservationists argue that the plan does not go far enough to protect the critically endangered animals.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

ALASKA: NOAA breaks ground on upgraded port facility in Ketchikan to host research vessel Fairweather

September 2, 2021 — A long-sought revitalization of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility in Ketchikan is officially underway. The project aims to give the NOAA ship Fairweather a permanent home.

Local, state and federal officials plunged gold-painted shovels into two long, narrow wooden boxes filled with dirt Tuesday morning.

The ceremonial groundbreaking marks the beginning of work on an $18.7 million project. There’ll be a new office building, utility upgrades and, most importantly, a floating pier to accommodate the NOAA research vessel Fairweather and its 50-plus crew.

NOAA Rear Admiral Nancy Hann says the facility will support fisheries research, hydrographic surveys — and the local economy.

Read the full story at KTOO

Reps. Bonamici, Young Lead Bipartisan Call for $10B Coastal Community Investment in Build Back Better Plan

September 2, 2021 — Today Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Don Young (R-AK) led 35 bipartisan Members of Congress in calling for a $10 billion investment in coastal communities with the inclusion of restoration and resilience projects in the Build Back Better Plan.

“We are encouraged that President Biden’s American Jobs Plan outlines the importance of protecting and restoring coastal ecosystems,” the Members wrote.“These investments will reinvigorate our coastal communities, protect and restore critical ecosystems, and create thousands of high-quality, good-paying jobs.”

The Members also requested robust funding to scale up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) ocean observations efforts. They noted NOAA’s finding that coastal communities contribute at least $7.6 trillion to the U.S. economy annually.

Read the full release at Rep. Bonamici’s House site

NOAA proposes National Estuarine Research Reserve in Connecticut

September 2, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA: 

NOAA and the State of Connecticut are asking for public comment on a proposal to designate a national estuarine research reserve in Long Island Sound. Estuarine reserves protect a section of an estuary and provide a living laboratory to explore and understand important areas where rivers meet the sea, thus promoting understanding and informed management of coastal habitats. If designated, this estuarine reserve in the southeastern part of the Constitution State would become the 30th such reserve in the national estuarine reserve system and the first in Connecticut.

“This proposal for an estuarine reserve in Connecticut demonstrates this Administration’s commitment to conservation and addressing the impacts of climate change,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “Protecting our special places and making them accessible for future generations improves our planet, our people, and our economy.”

Within the boundaries of an estuarine reserve, communities and scientists work together to address natural resource management issues, such as nonpoint source pollution, habitat restoration, and invasive species, on a local scale. Estuarine reserves contribute to the national effort to make the coasts more resilient to natural and human-made changes. Our nation gained its most recent estuarine reserve in January 2017, when the state of Hawaii designated the only reserve in the Pacific Islands.

“Partnerships are what make the estuarine reserve system successful,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service. “Each reserve brings together local stakeholders, scientists, land management professionals, and educators to understand coastal management issues and generate local, integrated solutions, while leveraging nation-wide programs.”

NOAA and the State of Connecticut will jointly hold two public hearings via webinar on October 7 to solicit public input on the draft environmental impact statement and draft management plan for the Connecticut estuarine reserve. Additionally, the comment period remains open through October 18, 2021. Connecticut, in collaboration with NOAA, then plans to prepare the final environmental impact statement and final management plan. Thereafter, NOAA plans to prepare designation findings and a record of decision. If the designation process follows its anticipated timeline, the estuarine reserve could be designated as early as January 2022.

 

Right Whale Conservation Groups ‘Disappointed’ By Long-Awaited Lobster Fishing Rules

September 2, 2021 — Federal officials have issued new regulations for the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries that are designed to protect North Atlantic right whales from entanglements in gear. But conservationists say the long-awaited rules don’t go far enough to save the critically endangered species.

The new regulations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) require lobstermen to add more traps per buoy line to reduce the number of vertical ropes in the water. They also restrict buoy lines in certain areas during seasonal whale migration south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and in the Gulf of Maine.

In addition, they require fishermen to make two significant changes to the ropes themselves: adding breakaway sections so that entangled whales can more easily break free, and markings to buoy lines to enable federal officials to differentiate gear by state.

Federal officials say the rules, which are four years in the making, will reduce the whales’ risk of death and serious injury by 69% — and more protections will be phased in over the next decade as part of a conservation framework.

But conservation groups say they wanted more aggressive measures, given the current status of the critically endangered whales. The population of North Atlantic right whales has declined sharply over the last few decades, and today an estimated 360 remain.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) was also critical of the new rules, saying that, in fact, the federal government has placed an “unwarranted burden” on the fishery.

“[The National Marine Fisheries Service] has mandated that Maine lobstermen reduce risk to right whales by an additional 98% over the next 10 years based on the worst-case scenario instead of using best available data and realistic assumptions,” said Maine Lobstermen’s Association executive director Patrice McCarron, “The final rule is just the first round of economic impacts to us, and future restrictions will likely destroy Maine’s iconic lobster fishery.”

The MLA takes issue with the size of the seasonal restricted area in the Gulf of Maine, a lack of “flexibility” for lobstermen to “innovate and propose equally protective yet less costly approaches,” and “last minute changes” to the gear marking requirements that they say could require lobstermen to purchase a second set of buoy lines.

Read the full story at New Hampshire Public Radio

 

After years of delay, federal regulators issue sweeping fishing rules to protect right whales

September 1, 2021 — Two and half years after calling for urgent action to protect North Atlantic right whales, federal regulators on Tuesday issued sweeping rules that seek to reduce their entanglement in fishing gear, among the leading cause of death and serious injuries to the critically endangered species.

The controversial rules, which advocates for the whales say don’t go far enough and come too late, aim to reduce the risk of death and serious injuries from entanglements by 69 percent, they said. The population of right whales has declined by a quarter over the past decade, with fewer than 400 left.

But they come with a significant cost for many fishermen, many of whom consider the rules unfairly onerous. Regulators estimate they will cost the fishing industry as much as $20 million in the first year and up to $91 million after six years, accounting for implementation and a diminished catch.

“The new measures in this rule will allow the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries to continue to thrive, while significantly reducing the risk to critically endangered right whales,” said Michael Pentony, regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in New England.

The rules will require reductions in the number of vertical lines that lobstermen and Jonah crab fishermen use to connect their traps on the seafloor to buoys at the surface. Those reductions will come as a result of new fishing closures and requirements that fishermen connect more of their traps to each other on the bottom with trawl lines.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

BANGOR DAILY NEWS: Right whales, wrong rules

September 1, 2021 — Federal fisheries regulators on Tuesday announced new rules for the northeast lobster industry. The rules, which are aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales, are more stringent and extensive than lobstermen and state officials had expected.

The timing of the new restrictions — which include a large area that will be closed to lobster harvesting during the height of the season — is especially problematic. To add to the frustration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration moved ahead with the new rules without essential information about whale deaths that lobstermen, the governor and the state’s congressional delegation have requested for years.

In a draft biological opinion issued earlier this year, the fisheries agency essentially acknowledged the lack of specific data on what causes whale mortality, particularly information on collisions between ships and whales. Yet, it went ahead with the restrictive rules, which also impact New England’s crab fishery.

According to data that accompanied the announcement of the new rules, NOAA was certain of the cause of death in fewer than half of the 13 right whale deaths in the U.S. since 2017. In two of those cases, gear was found entangled on the dead whale. Entanglements were suspected in five other U.S. whale deaths. The agency did not specify where the gear was from or what type it was. Three deaths were attributed to vessel strikes.

The most recent known Maine entanglement occurred in 2004, but the whale survived, the Portland Press Herald reported.

“The leading category for the cause of death for [these unusual mortality events] is ‘human interaction,’ specifically from entanglements or vessel strikes,” NOAA said in an introduction to the data.

This is a very imprecise rationale for rules that will have a significant impact on Maine’s lobster fishing industry, which is the state’s largest and most lucrative fishery.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

In Letter to Lobster Industry, Governor Mills Calls Right Whale Rule “Extremely Disappointing” & Pledges to Work with Maine’s Congressional Delegation to Fight It

September 1, 2021 — The following was released by Maine Governor Janet Mills:

In the wake of yesterday’s National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Rule, Governor Janet Mills last night sent a letter to Maine’s lobster industry expressing solidarity with them and calling the rule “extremely disappointing”. In the letter to Maine’s lobster harvesters, dealers, and processors, Governor Mills pledges to work with Maine’s Congressional Delegation to determine the best way to address the industry’s and administration’s concerns:

“While NOAA has accepted much of Maine’s proposal for Conservation Equivalencies, which the industry spent significant time developing, NOAA has finalized a gear marking scheme that is very different than what was in the proposed rule. NOAA also continues to include an offshore seasonal closure that is not rooted in right whale sightings or surveys. These types of changes – which disregard fishermen’s time, money, and safety – are extremely troubling,” wrote Governor Mills. “We are evaluating the rule closely and will work with the Congressional Delegation to determine the best way to address the concerns of our administration and those of the Maine lobster industry. While this issue has been brewing for several years now, I don’t care whether there is a Democrat or a Republican in the White House; I will always stand up for the interests of Maine’s lobster industry in the face of burdensome and undue regulations and we will continue to work with our partners in the lobster industry to support this vital part of Maine’s economy and heritage.”

Governor Mills and U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden expressed united opposition to the rule yesterday, and the Maine Department of Marine Resources also expressed its concern over the rule.

Governor Mills repeatedly stood up for Maine’s lobster industry and its working men and women in the face of the Federal government’s right whale proposal. Last year, she wrote to the Commerce Department urging it to deny a petition by Pew Charitable Trusts that asks for three seasonal offshore closures in the Gulf of Maine and that would prohibit the use of vertical lines in the American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries in four areas of the New England coast. She also filed comments with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the draft Biological Opinion for ten fishery management plans in the Greater Atlantic Region, focusing on the North Atlantic Right Whale, expressing “grave concern” and warning it will be economically devastating and will fundamentally change Maine’s lobster fishery.

The complete text of the letter is available here

Feds Announce New Lobster Fishing Restrictions To Protect Endangered Right Whales

September 1, 2021 — America’s lobster fishing industry will face a host of new harvesting restrictions amid a new push from the federal government to try to save a vanishing species of whale.

The new rules, which have loomed over the profitable lobster industry for years and were announced Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are designed to protect the North Atlantic right whale. The whales number only about 360 and are vulnerable to lethal entanglement in fishing gear.

NOAA said it expects the new rules will result in a reduction in nearly 70% of the risk of death and serious injuries the whales can suffer from entanglement. The rules had long been expected to focus on reducing the number of vertical ropes in the water, and they will.

The rules reduce the number of rope lines that link buoys to lobster and crab traps, NOAA said. The rules will also require the use of weaker ropes so whales can more easily break free if they do become entangled, the agency said. NOAA said the rules also expand the areas of ocean where fishing with trap rope is prohibited or limited.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WBUR