Saving Seafood

In Maine’s last open lobster zone, a feud over limiting newcomers

May 25, 2016 — In most of Maine, adults who want to make their living trapping lobster must wait until a licensed lobsterman dies or forgets to file a license renewal.

There is only one place in the state, in the waters of eastern Penobscot Bay off Stonington, Vinalhaven and Isle au Haut, where a resident who completes the necessary training and safety classes can get a license to lobster without waiting for at least a decade. But the lobstermen who oversee Maine’s last open lobster territory are now fighting over whether to cap the number of lobstermen who can fish those waters, effectively closing the last open door to the state’s largest commercial fishery.

The debate is pitting islanders who worry that a cap would eliminate an incentive for adult children to return home against mainland fishermen who want to protect this lucrative industry from outside exploitation. After years of debate, the local lobster council has tried to put the issue to a vote twice before, but the meetings have fallen through, with members missing meetings or walking out moments before a closure vote could be held.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD: Warming Atlantic bodes poorly for lobster industry

May 13, 2016 — It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see one possible future for the Maine lobster industry. All it takes is a look south.

Warming water temperatures, the result of man-made climate change, have for decades been the primary factor in pushing the lobster population farther and farther north, first decimating the industry off the coasts of Rhode Island and Connecticut, then off Cape Cod.

And even though the industry has been booming in Maine, with record landings the last three years, the focal point of the catch has changed through the years, from Casco Bay to Penobscot Bay and, now, Down East, a signal of its vulnerability to change.

One of the state’s iconic industries, indispensable to and inseparable from so many communities, is being disrupted. The question is: How far will it go?

Fortunately, regulators are watching.

TAKING NOTICE

The Maine Department of Marine Resources will soon award contracts for studies exploring not only the full economic impact of the lobster industry, on which there is surprisingly little data, but also the impact of warming ocean temperatures on lobster biology and the ocean ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine.

Read the full editorial at the Portland Press Herald

Maine issues emergency closure to scalloping around Vinalhaven, Fox Island Thorofare

January 14, 2016 — AUGUSTA, Maine — The Department of Marine Resources in-season surveys conducted on Jan. 7 and 8, in specific scallop-fishing regions observed significant declines in scallop biomass densities, according to a Jan. 14 news release.They also determined that seed scallops were being illegally taken.

“An immediate conservation closure is necessary to reduce the risk of unusual damage and imminent depletion of the scallop resource in the Vinalhaven and Fox Island Thorofare and the Whiting and Dennys Bays,” said the DMR.

Therefore, DMR is adopting emergency regulations to close these areas Saturday, Jan. 16. In addition, a correction to the South Portland Harbor Targeted Closure will also be included to ensure enforceability of this area.

Vinalhaven and Fox Island Thorofare

In the Lower Penobscot Bay and Outer Islands Rotational Area, Marine Patrol, sea sampling, in-season surveys and direct industry reports indicate that the majority of fishing activity has been focused in the Fox Island Thorofare and around the inshore islands (Leadbetter, Hurricane, and Greens Islands) west and southwest of Vinalhaven.

Strong catches were reported during the first three weeks of the season, with upward of 20 vessels fishing and easily able to reach their daily landings limit by as early as 10 a.m. However, over the following weeks, Catch per unit effort decreased with vessels taking the majority of the day to reach their daily landings limit and the fleet began working in more exposed areas outside of the sheltered islands, indicating that the majority of legal sized scallops had been harvested from these areas.

Read the full story at Penobscot Bay Pilot

 

Shrimpers wanted for research program

December 19, 2015 —  The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is closer to embarking on its planned sampling program for the endangered Gulf of Maine northern shrimp stock and is looking for trawl and trap vessels to help collect shrimp and data.

The commission, which hopes to begin the test-tow portion of the the program in mid-January and the trap portion about a month after that, is looking for a total of four trawl vessels and two trap vessels from New Hampshire, Maine or Massachusetts, according to Tina Berger, spokeswoman for the ASMFC.

Anyone interested in participating in the project should contact Maggie Hunter at the Maine Department of Marine Resources by Jan. 4.

The $10,000 program is designed to catch the northern shrimp, Pandalus borealis, while they are in inshore waters to collect data on the timing of the egg hatch, as well as the size, gender and development stages of the shrimp.

The vessels will be expected to fish approximately once every two weeks until the shrimp no longer carry eggs, which Berger estimated will be some time near the end of March.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

MAINE: Industry confronts access issues as scallop season opens

December 1, 2015 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — The Maine scallop fishery opened Tuesday morning, with predictions that the boat price will be high, the season short and the pressure to let more people into the fishery intense.

Last week, Trisha Cheney, the Department of Marine Resources’ scallop resource coordinator, hosted an outreach meeting in Ellsworth to give industry members a heads-up about what to expect for the coming season and to hear their concerns about the fishery and the way it is managed by DMR.

The department is in the midst of developing a formal fishery management plan for scallops, but no draft will be available for industry review any time soon. In the near term, and of more immediate interest, Cheney said Downeast harvesters are likely facing “a lean season,” especially in Zone 2, which covers the waters from roughly the middle of Penobscot Bay eastward to Lubec.

This season, harvesters will have access to seven areas in Zone 2 that have closed to scalloping under the state’s 10-year rotational management program. Encompassing locations in and around Machias Bay, Wohoa Bay and Western bays, Gouldsboro and Dyer bays, upper Blue Hill Bay and the Union River, eastern Eggemoggin Reach and Southeast Harbor on Deer Isle, lower Jericho Bay and, finally, lower Penobscot Bay and the outer islands seaward of North Haven, the newly opened areas were closed for just one season. As a result, these areas have had less time during which the scallop resource would be undisturbed and allowed to rebuild.In 2014, scallop landings totaled 584,172 meat pounds (without the shell) compared to just 33,141 pounds in 2005. Value jumped from a low of $272,703 in 2005 to $7,464,690 in 2014. Because each scallop season extends over parts of two calendar years, the 2014 numbers reflect landings for the period January through April and the month of December. In recent years, DMR has frequently closed the fishery by the end of March.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Maine DMR plans meetings to set scallop, urchin seasons

September 8, 2015 — The Department of Marine Resources is proposing new rules to set the regulations and harvest season for the 2015-2016 scallop season and set rules and establish a closed area for the coming sea urchin fishery. Three public hearings are scheduled on the scallop regulations and one hearing is scheduled for the sea urchin rules.

For the 2015-2016 scallop fishing season, as in the past 2014-2015 season, there would be a statewide 15-gallon daily possession limit for scallop meats except in Cobscook Bay, where the limit would remain at 10 gallons for Zone 3.

In western Maine waters, known as Zone 1, draggers would have a 60-day season starting Dec. 15 and ending April 11, 2016. For divers, the 60-day season would start Dec. 1 and end April 15.

In Zone 2, essentially from Penobscot Bay east to Cobscook Bay, draggers would have a 70-day season starting Dec. 1 and ending April 13. For Zone 2 divers, the 70-day season would start Dec. 1 and end April 15.

Last winter, the season was 70 days in both zones, but the concerns for the scarcity of scallops throughout Zone 1 led the department and the Scallop Advisory Council to recommend a shorter season this year.

Read the full story from The Ellsworth American