Saving Seafood

Panel recommends reopening New England shrimp fishery

November 29, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — An advisory group is recommending regulators reopen New England’s long-shuttered shrimp fishery next year.

An arm of the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will decide on Wednesday in Portland if there will be a fishery this coming season. The advisory board’s recommendation clashes with an opinion from the commission’s technical committee, which wants to keep the fishery closed.

New England shrimp fishing is based in Maine and has been shut down since 2013.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bradenton Herald 

 

Decision coming about future of New England shrimp fishing

November 27, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — A decision is coming this week about whether New England’s long-shuttered shrimp fishery can reopen.

New England shrimping, largely based in Maine, has been shut down since 2013. Regulators say the shrimp are suffering from poor reproduction and warming ocean temperatures.

An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is meeting on Wednesday in Portland to decide if there will be a fishery this coming season.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Bristol Herald Courier

 

Maine’s shrimp fishery unlikely to open in 2018

November 22, 2017 — The Maine shrimp fishery appears headed toward another closed season in 2018 based on bleak stock assessments made earlier this year, according to federal officials.

If a panel meeting next Wednesday in Portland agrees with the recommendations released this week, 2018 would be the fourth year the small but much-loved winter fishery is closed.

“It was not a good result for shrimp this year,” said Max Appelman, who coordinates the fishery for the federal regulatory body, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, that oversees the fishery.

Abundance of the species was at a 34-year low in 2017, according to the commission. During the annual summer scientific survey, data showed that survival of the shrimp that spawned in 2016 was the second lowest observed in the history of the survey, which began in the mid-1980s.

Climate change is the likeliest cause for the crash in the fishery; Northern shrimp, or pandalus borealis, require cold winter water to spawn. Waters in the Gulf of Maine, the southern most waters the shrimp can survive in, are warming faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, according to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

The environment for shrimp is increasingly “inhospitable,” according to the report.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Maine’s Allowable Scallop Catch To Remain Same As Last Year

November 13, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Maine is allowing scallop fishermen to catch the same amount of scallops in the coming season as they did in the previous one.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources says its advisory council has approved the specifications for the 2017-18 scallop fishing season. Last year, fishermen were allowed to harvested 15 gallons of scallops per day in the Cobscook Bay area and 10 gallons per day in the rest of the state.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Maine Public

 

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Stocks Are Rebounding — But How High Should The Quota Be Raised?

November 7, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Fishermen up and down the New England coast say it has been decades since they’ve been able to catch so many Atlantic bluefin tuna, so fast. Once severely depleted, populations of the prized sushi fish appear to be rebuilding.

Now the industry and some scientists say the international commission that regulates the fish can allow a much bigger catch. But some environmental groups disagree.

Peter Speeches is a commercial fisherman who sails his 45-foot boat, the Erin & Sarah, out of a Portland marina. His rods and reels are racked, though, and the boat has been docked the past several weeks. That’s because tuna fishermen reached their fall catch quotas earlier than ever this year.

“There was more fish here than I’ve seen in 30 years, and I fish virtually every single day. This year we caught probably the same amount, but in half the time,” he says.

This year, Speeches says, the thousand-plus boats that fish bluefin off New England were blessed by day after day of good boating weather. Forage fish such as herring and pogies showed up in numbers — and they swam relatively near to shore, bringing the big tuna in to feast, where smaller boats could get at them pretty easily.

Above all, he says, there were just a whole lot of bluefin around, and biting.

“They were everywhere. When they hit this year in July, they hit from the Canadian border to New Jersey, and they were thick. And they got caught fast,” Speeches says.

Read and listen to the full story at Maine Public

Maine’s local food economy gets $1M boost from federal government

October 10, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — is getting more than $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support expanding the state’s local food economy.

The funding includes a $500,000 USDA Local Food Promotion Grant to Greater Portland Council of Governments for its “Scaling for Growth in the Portland Foodshed” project to address a lack of food processing infrastructure and an inefficient distribution network. The project will add processing capacity, reduce food waste by finding inefficiencies, and is expected to increase local food purchasing among retailers and institutions by $7.5 million.

“Increasing the production and consumption of local food represents a fantastic opportunity for Maine jobs and businesses,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine District 1, said in a news release announcing the awards. “From boosting local food processing in Greater Portland to marketing locally caught seafood, these federal investments will be terrific assets to building Maine’s food-based economy. That’s why I’ve advocated so hard for these kinds of investments in Washington and am actively working to strengthen them.”

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Decision soon on whether to keep Maine shrimpers shut down

October 3, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — Fishing regulators will decide in November whether it’s time to reopen Maine’s shuttered shrimp fishery.

An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission plans to meet on Nov. 29 in Portland to determine specifications for the 2018 fishing year. The fishery was shut down in 2013 amid concerns about poor reproduction and declining population.

The shrimp have been largely unavailable to American consumers since the shutdown, though they are also harvested by Canadian fishermen.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the News & Observer

ASMFC Northern Shrimp Section and Advisory Panel to Meet November 29th to Consider 2018 Fishery Specifications

September 28, 2017 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) and Advisory Panel (AP) will meet on November 29, 2017 to consider specifications for the 2018 fishing season. The AP will meet in the morning (10 – 11:30 a.m.) to formulate recommendations for the Section’s consideration, and the Section will meet in the afternoon (1 – 3:30 p.m.) to set the specifications. Both meetings are scheduled to take place at the Westin Portland Harborview, Hotel 157 High Street, Portland, Maine; 207.517.8822.

In 2016, the Section approved a moratorium for the fourth consecutive fishing season (2014-2017) based on the status of the resource, which is considered at record low levels and experiencing low recruitment since 2012. The Northern Shrimp Technical Committee is currently updating the 2017 Northern Shrimp Stock Status Report, the findings of which will form the basis of the Section’s determinations for the 2018 season.  This Report will be included in the meeting materials, which will be available in early November.

For more information, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Scallop RSA Program: 2018-2019 research proposals wanted

September 12, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The National Marine Fisheries Service, in coordination with the New England Fishery Management Council, is soliciting proposals for the 2018-2019 Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program.  The application deadline is November 6, 2017.

HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK:  The Scallop RSA Program was established through the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan to address scallop research priorities identified by the New England Council.  The Council adopted 2018-2019 research priorities at its June meeting in Portland, ME.

HOW IS THE RSA PROGRAM FUNDED:  Each year, 1.25 million pounds of scallops are “set aside” during the specification-setting process to carry out the program.  Awards are made in pounds, not dollars, and no federal funding is provided to conduct the research.  Proceeds generated from the sale of set-aside scallops are used to fund research activities and compensate vessels that participate in research activities and/or harvest set-aside quota.

2018-2019 PRIORITIES:  Projects funded under the Scallop RSA Program must: (a) enhance understanding of the scallop resource; or (b) contribute to scallop fishery management decisions.  For the current federal funding opportunity, priority will be given to proposals that address the New England Council’s list of 2018 and 2019 research priorities.  The complete list is spelled out in detail in the 2018-2019 Atlantic Sea Scallop Federal Funding Opportunity  notice, which also contains instructions for how to submit proposals.  In very general terms, the research priority categories include:

  • HIGHEST: (#1) Survey-related research
  • HIGH: (#2) Scallop meat quality research; and (#3) bycatch research
  • MEDIUM: (#4) Turtle behavior investigations and potential impact on the Mid-Atlantic/Georges Bank scallop fishery; (#5) scallop biology projects
  • OTHER: (#6) Dredge efficiency investigations; (#7) habitat characterization research; (#8a) projects related to water quality and environmental stressors; (#8b) spat collection and seeding projects; (#9) research to identify sources of management uncertainty and potential effects on projected landings; (#10) expanded survey coverage into new or minimally sampled areas; (#11) social and economic impacts and consequences of area rotation; and (#12) investigations of non-harvest scallop mortality.

REVIEW PROCESS:  All submitted proposals will be evaluated by: (1) technical reviewers for technical merit; and (2) a management panel comprised of scallop fishermen, fishery managers, fishing industry representatives, and others closely involved with scallop fishery management issues.

RSA BACKGROUNDERS:  Learn more at RSA and everything you ever wanted to know.

QUESTIONS:  For more information about the 2018-2019 solicitation and the Scallop RSA Program in general, contact Cheryl Corbett at (508) 495-2070, cheryl.corbett@noaa.gov.

Researchers find summer heat’s lasting longer in the Gulf of Maine

The warmer conditions endure two months longer than in the early 1980s, posing threats to the food chain and raising risks from more powerful hurricanes.

September 11, 2017 — New scientific research has revealed that summer temperatures in the Gulf of Maine, the second fastest warming part of the world’s oceans, are persisting two months longer than they were as recently as the early 1980s.

The findings, by a Maine-led team of scientists, have ramifications for marine life, fishermen and the strength of hurricanes, which appear in late summer and are fueled by warm water.

“What we found was quite astonishing in that almost all the warming is in the late summer and the winter is not contributing very much at all,” says the project’s lead scientist, University of Maine oceanographer Andrew Thomas. “You can think of impacts all across the food chain, from animals that have actual temperature tolerances to the distribution of species, their prey, and even their predators, not to mention the bacteria and viruses, which we have no idea how they will react.”

The researchers used daily satellite readings collected between 1982 and 2014 to map changes in sea surface temperatures along the Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to Nova Scotia, breaking out the data by month to reveal seasonal differences in warming rates. They weren’t surprised to find the strongest warming in the Gulf of Maine and adjacent Scotia Shelf – team members had worked with Andrew Pershing of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland to demonstrate this in a 2015 study – but the profound seasonal differences were unexpected.

The satellite data show warming trends across the Gulf of Maine for every month and very sharp increases during July, August and September, especially off the Maine coast. While the Gulf of Maine warmed by an average of 0.72 degrees Fahrenheit per decade during the 33-year period, the warming rate was twice that in the months of July through September, or 1.44 degrees F per decade.

Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald at Central Maine