Saving Seafood

Maine’s seafood industry in line for CARES Act relief

September 8, 2020 — Maine’s seafood industry could get a $20 million boost this fall through funds made available under the federal CARES Act.

Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher said state and federal officials are nearing final agreement on exactly how to allocate the funds.

Maine Public reports that individual fishing license holders and shellfish growers who qualify will get the same lump-sum payment, no matter how large or small the operation.

The funds will go to seafood-sector businesses that lost at least 35% of their revenues compared with the same period in previous years.

Read the full story at The Hour

New bureaucratic snags delay dispersal of $20M in pandemic relief to Maine’s seafood industry

September 4, 2020 — Federal regulators have disputed Maine’s plan to distribute $20 million in coronavirus relief to the state seafood industry by saying that individual recipients, not the fishery as a whole, must demonstrate a 35 percent revenue loss this past spring before they can qualify for assistance, officials said Thursday.

Maine Commissioner of Marine Resources Patrick Keliher had said on Tuesday that after some frustrating delays, state and federal officials were nearing agreement on exactly how to allocate the funds, by the end of October, from the federal CARES Act.

But newly-announced regulations are delaying the dispersal of funds, he said.

Maine has been in line to get $20 million, the fifth-highest amount of money out of the 31 states to receive fishing-industry bailout funding, since the allocation was first announced in May, but disputes over how to distribute the funds have slowed its dispersal.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Senator Collins, Congresswoman Pingree Urge Swift Disbursement of Relief to Maine Fishing Industry

May 22, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Susan Collins (R-ME):

Senator Susan Collins and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree today wrote to Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Commissioner Patrick Keliher, advocating for swift allocation of the more than $20 million Maine received through the CARES Act for fishing industry relief. The lawmakers encouraged DMR to quickly develop a plan for how the funding would be allocated in the state. Full text of Collins and Pingree’s letter is available online here and below this release.

“With each day that passes, the damage imposed upon Maine’s hardworking harvesters and seafood supply chain businesses worsens. As your team works to develop a plan for how this funding will be allocated within the state, we stand ready to assist the Department and to ensure that NOAA’s approval of the state’s ultimate plan occurs as quickly as possible,” said Collins and Pingree in their letter. “As your federal partners we are fully prepared to provide any additional support as implementation moves forward. As Congress considers further COVID-19 relief legislation, we will continue to advocate for additional fishing industry relief given that the market disruptions are not likely to dissipate soon.”

The Maine delegation has urged direct and substantial relief for Maine’s aquaculture and fishing industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 70% of seafood produced in the United States is consumed in restaurants and export markets have been hurt by travel and trade restrictions; Maine’s seafood industry has been almost completely shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Senator Collins and Representative Pingree worked with bipartisan groups of their colleagues from coastal states to secure $300 million in the CARES Act specifically to assist fishermen and fishery-related businesses such as dealers, processors, and aquaculture operations affected by COVID-19. Both Collins and Pingree wrote to the U.S. Department of Commerce to call on them to quickly release this urgently needed financial assistance to Maine fishermen.

Dear Commissioner Keliher, 

We are pleased that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has finally announced the allocation of $300 million in fishing industry relief provided by Sec.12005 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, of which Maine will receive more than $20 million. Your Department plays an essential role in ensuring that our fishermen and lobstermen are able to support their families and communities – a role that has become even more critical in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With each day that passes, the damage imposed upon Maine’s hardworking harvesters and seafood supply chain businesses worsens. As your team works to develop a plan for how this funding will be allocated within the state, we stand ready to assist the Department and to ensure that NOAA’s approval of the state’s ultimate plan occurs promptly. 

We appreciate the attention and effort that your Department is dedicating to the efficient and effective distribution of this critical funding, including your solicitation of input from the industry via survey on how this money would be best spent. It is absolutely critical that this assistance be provided as quickly as possible to those individuals working on the water whose livelihoods have suffered through no fault of their own. As Congress considers further COVID-19 relief legislation, we will continue to advocate for additional fishing industry relief given that the market disruptions are likely to persist well into the summer.

Again, thank you for your work on behalf of Maine. The Maine seafood industry and those who work within it are defined by resilience, and we are confident that – with the support of the state and federal government – this sector will demonstrate its resilience once again.

This press release can be found online here.

MAINE: Elver season opens with new safety measures in place

March 31, 2020 — Yes, Virginia, there will be an elver season this year after all.

Last Thursday, the Department of Marine Resources announced that the 2020 elver fishing season would open at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 30. Originally slated to open on Sunday, March 22, the season was delayed by DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher because of concerns about the spread of COVID-19. At the time, Keliher said he was concerned that some elements of the fishery, “as traditionally practiced,” made it difficult to adhere to social distancing recommendations from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Those include maintaining 6 feet of separation between people, in order to reduce the spread of this disease.

The announcement last week described a fishing season unlike any other in recent years.

For the first time, licensed elver harvesters will be allowed to fish for and sell the elver quota of other licensed harvesters instead of just their own quota. Dealers also have agreed to limit the number of transactions with harvesters during the season substantially by setting a minimum purchase quantity of 1 pound of elvers.

“Our objective is to reduce the population of harvesters congregating on the shores and at dealers’ shops,” Keliher said in a statement last Thursday. “Key to achieving this objective will be to allow those who are the most vulnerable to remain at home and have another harvester catch the elvers for them.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Maine’s eel season, delayed by virus, finally gets started

March 30, 2020 — Maine fishermen are expected to begin the state’s lucrative harvest of baby eels on Monday after the coronavirus outbreak forced the season to be delayed.

Maine fishermen catch the eels, called elvers, in rivers and streams every spring. They’re often worth more than $2,000 per pound, as they’re an important part of the worldwide supply chain for Japanese food.

Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher suspended the fishery earlier this month. It ordinarily would have started on March 22. Keliher said at the time that aspects of the fishery made it difficult to maintain social distancing and help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Fishers, brewers, distillers: What aid do they need to survive Covid-19?

March 25, 2020 — As the spread of the novel coronavirus disrupts business as usual across the country, food producers of all kinds are turning to the government for the help they say they need to stay afloat through the pandemic. From fishermen to produce growers to brewers, companies and organizations are lining up for federal aid as policymakers argue about the coming stimulus for small businesses.

In the fish sector, the closure of scores of restaurants and the destabilization of exports to China has forced the seafood supply chain to adapt to primarily servicing retail stores where possible. Yet even if some fishermen are able to shift to retail, the existing disruptions could be ruinous to many independent producers.

Take the Maine fishermen who catch elver eel. Roughly 1,000 fishermen in the state catch the baby eels and mostly send them to China, to the tune of about $20 million in revenue each year. Yet now they must wait at least two additional weeks to begin harvesting due to officials’ concerns about the spread of coronavirus. State policymakers say the nature of the fishing operations “makes it impossible to follow social distancing recommendations, including maintaining six feet from other people to reduce the spread of this disease,” according to Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Read the full story at Fern’s AG Insider

Delay of Maine’s elver season is the latest hit to state’s fishing industry from coronavirus

March 23, 2020 — The start of Maine’s annual, multi-million dollar commercial baby eel season, which had been scheduled to start Sunday, is being delayed for at least two weeks due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. It’s the latest example of the sizable economic hit Maine’s fishermen are taking as the global pandemic shuts down much of daily life.

The fishery might open on April 5, depending on the status of the outbreak, state officials said. In each of the past two years, Maine’s 10-week fishing season for baby eels — also known as “glass” eels or elvers — has generated totals of more than $20 million in statewide landings revenue for roughly 1,000 licensed elver fishermen.

“Portions of the elver fishery make it impossible to follow social distancing recommendations, including maintaining 6 feet from other people to reduce the spread of this disease,” Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Maine Department of Marine Resources, said Saturday. He added that, while he recognizes that the closure of the fishery may be “devastating” to people who rely on it, “the safety of our fishermen and their communities is our primary concern.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Keliher advises caution, communication

March 20, 2020 — Patrick Keliher, the state Commissioner of Marine Resources, said in a letter to the lobster industry Monday afternoon that he does not have “any immediate plans to close any commercial fishery in response to the coronavirus.” 

He advises fishermen and dealers to “actively communicate with each other about the realities of the market” and “refrain from landing product if there is no market for it.” But he does not have the authority, under the current circumstances, to order the lobster fishery to close. 

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Island

Maine counters NMFS rejection of right whale plan

February 14, 2020 — Maine officials said that the National Marine Fisheries Service’s rejection of its submitted right whale plan didn’t take enough of the state’s efforts into account.

The NMFS rejected the state’s plan via letter earlier this week. According to NMFS, the state’s plan only reduces risk to right whales by roughly 52 percent, short of the 60 percent that the Take Reduction Team was aiming for.

Read the full story at Seafood Source