Saving Seafood

Biden announces USD 9 million for North Atlantic right whale recovery

August 15, 2024 — U.S. President Joe Biden has announced USD 9 million (EUR 8.2 million) in funding for partnerships aimed at conserving North Atlantic right whales.

“North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction with approximately 360 individuals remaining, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “It’s imperative we advance our collective actions to help recover this species, and these partnerships will help the science and conservation community do just that.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

North American lobster, Canadian snow crab downgraded to “avoid” by Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch

September 6, 2022 — The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch has released a new set of updated seafood ratings that place North American lobster and Canadian snow crab in the “avoid” category, primarily due to potential impacts the fishery could be having on North Atlantic right whales.

The updated Seafood Watch ratings, released in September 2022, reported the stock status of North American lobster (Homarus americanus) as “uncertain,” though it said overfishing is not occurring. However, it moved the fishery to its red “avoid” list, down from “good alternative,” due to the potential risks the fishery poses North Atlantic right whales. An estimated 330 North Atlantic right whales remain alive in the wild and the species is classified as critically endangered.

Maine lawmakers consider legal fund for lobster industry ahead of new whale protections

February 10, 2022 — Maine lawmakers are considering establishing a legal defense fund for the lobster fishing industry to help them navigate upcoming regulations meant to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.  

Republican state representative and lobsterman William Faulkingham proposed the measure, which would establish the fund — supported by license surcharges and lobster trap tag sales — and form a commission to govern it, The Associated Press reported. In a public hearing Tuesday, Faulkingham said the industry is facing “crippling regulations and industry collapsing lawsuits.”

Read the full story at The Hill

 

Maine lobster fishery has key sustainability label reinstated

October 4, 2021 — The Gulf of Maine lobster fishery has had a key sustainability label reinstated a year after it was suspended following the publication of a controversial set of new rules designed to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The American division of the Marine Resources Assessment Group announced last week that the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery is once again certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. The certification is retroactive to Sept. 1.

That means wholesalers and retailers who sell U.S.-landed Gulf of Maine lobster can again use the council’s trademarked “eco-label” of a blue-and-white fish that signals to buyers that the product is sustainable, meaning it is not overfished, that the fishery is well managed and does not harm another overfished or endangered species.

The council’s certification is considered the gold standard of sustainable seafood, embraced by high-volume lobster buyers such as Whole Foods, Hilton, Royal Caribbean and Walmart.

Marianne LaCroix, executive director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, said she was pleased with the reinstatement of the fishery’s Marine Stewardship Council certification, “but it hasn’t changed what we’ve always known – Maine lobster harvesting practices are among the most sustainable in the world.” 

Still, it can be a useful tool for customers who rely on such third-party sustainability marks to aid their purchasing decisions, she said.

Read the full story from Hannah LaClaire at Portland Press Herald

 

Maine legislators ask feds to reject petition that calls for seasonal lobster closures

August 24, 2021 — Maine’s congressional delegation called on U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to reject a petition to impose seasonal and dynamic closures on parts of the state’s lobster fishery.   

The Pew Charitable Trusts submitted a petition to close four areas of lobster fishing in Maine unless lobstermen used so-called “ropeless” fishing gear.   

“The petition submitted by Pew undermines our shared goal of both protecting the North Atlantic right whale and ensuring the future viability of our nation’s lobster fishery,” wrote Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine) and Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Jared Golden (D-Maine). “Unfortunately, this proposal would have a detrimental economic impact on Maine’s lobster industry and the coastal communities they support, while providing limited risk reduction. It is unfortunate to see this attempted circumvention of NOAA’s established regulatory process when lives, livelihoods, and the survival of an endangered species are on the line.”   

Pew petitioned former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in 2020 to call for closures throughout New England waters, including an area Downeast from August to October, to better protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale.   

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

MSC suspends Maine lobster fishery certification

August 4, 2020 — The Maine Certified Sustainable Lobster Association (MCLSA) has announced that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for the Maine lobster fishery has been suspended due to a recent decision on a federal court case.

The case, the Center for Biological Diversity v. Ross, found that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to include an “incidental take statement” for the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. As a result, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found that the U.S. lobster fishery is in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine lobstermen to federal regulators: We’re not killing whales

March 9, 2020 — Federal fishing regulators found themselves in the hot seat at this year’s annual Maine Fisherman’s Forum as the lobster industry sounded off about looming right whale rules that threaten to upend the country’s most valuable fishery.

Phillip Torrey, a sixth-generation lobsterman from Winter Harbor, told regulators it was unfair to ask Maine fishermen to give up any more than they already have to protect the endangered whale without proof that they are the ones causing them harm.

“If you could show us that we were killing right whales, we would do whatever you asked,” Torrey told regulators. “If it was a a court case, no district attorney in the world could put us to trial because they’d say they have no evidence against us, Maine fishermen.”

Torrey was one of more than 150 people who turned out to see the National Marine Fisheries Service field questions about its right whale policy, like why impose fishing restrictions on the $485 million-a-year lobster industry when data shows that it is Canadian fishermen and ships that are killing whales.

Fishing gear entanglement is the cause of most known right whale deaths or serious injuries, said Regional Administrator Michael Pentony. The agency is issuing draft regulations for the lobster industry this summer because it represents at least 90 percent of the gear in U.S. whale habitat, he said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Scientists weigh in on whale risk tool

February 27, 2020 — The word is out, almost, on what a panel of independent scientists thinks about the controversial “decision support tool” used by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service last spring when it drafted proposed rules aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales and other large marine mammals from entanglement with fishing gear.

When the fisheries service made its decision last spring on how best to reduce the risk to whales, it relied on a “decision support tool” based on a poll of Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) members, rather than extensive data collected over the years, as to where the whales are found and how much interaction there has been between them and Maine lobster gear. The team includes fishermen, scientists, representatives of conservation organizations and fisheries management officials from the federal government and from every state along the Atlantic Seaboard from Maine to Florida.

Data collected by NOAA show that, since the beginning of 2017, seventy percent of right whale deaths attributable to human-related causes (21) have occurred in Canadian waters while 30 percent (nine) occurred in U.S. waters. Not all of those deaths were clearly attributable to entanglement with fishing gear. Despite the disparity, NOAA insisted that U.S. interests must take steps to reduce the risk to right whales by 50 percent and is calling on Maine lobstermen to reduce the number of vertical lines that connect traps to surface buoys they use by half.

The TRT members from Maine objected to the use of the decision support tool because it had not been subject to the “peer review” process in which an independent panel of experts determines the adequacy of the data and methods to, in this case, form the basis for new management rules.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

North Atlantic Right Whales and the Dangers of Vessel Strikes and Entanglement

February 20, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, there are only about 400 North Atlantic right whales left and it is estimated that only 85 are reproductively active females. The survival and reproductive success of these remaining females and their offspring is critical to right whale recovery.

Female North Atlantic right whales are not living as long as they once did and more females than males have been reported dead in recent years. Today, females make up approximately 40 percent of the population. It is thought that the energetic stress of reproduction makes female right whales more susceptible than males to dying from entanglement or ship strike injuries.

Biologists also believe that injuries and stress caused by long-term entanglements is one of the reasons that females are calving less often. Studies suggest that more than 85 percent of North Atlantic right whales have been entangled in fishing gear at least once. About 60 percent have been entangled multiple times.

Read the full release here