Saving Seafood

Regulators say menhaden, a key ocean fish, in good shape

November 7, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Interstate fishing regulators say prospects are good for menhaden, a fish that is critical to the health of the ocean.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says menhaden are not experiencing overfishing and their reproduction is good. The commission says the amount of menhaden that die from fishing operations is well below targeted levels.

Atlantic Menhaden Board Chair Robert Ballou says the stock’s good condition gives regulators an opportunity to reevaluate how to manage the fish.

Menhaden are an important source of bait for commercial fishermen and they are also a critical piece of the ocean’s food web. They’re also used to make dietary supplements.

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

Registration Now Open For 2017 International Pectinid Workshop

November 2, 2016 — The following was released by the International Pectinid Workshop:

Registration for the 2017 International Pectinid Workshop is now open.

Please visit the webpage for more information: www.ipw2017.com

The 2017 International Pectinid Workshop will be convened in Portland Maine, April 19 – 25, 2017. Dr. Stokesbury is serving as co-chair with Drs. Sandra Shumway and Jay Parsons. The International Pectinid Workshop (IPW) is the premier scientific meeting for academic, government, and industry scientists carrying out research on scallops, and over its 40 year existence has increasingly attracted delegates and sponsorship from the commercial fishing and aquaculture industries.

Scallop fisheries, around the world, face similar challenges; meetings such as the IPW facilitate the communication of research on an international scale.  For example, stock-recruitment relationships are often poorly defined, but work in the English Channel, the Irish Sea, Georges Bank, the Gulf of Maine, and Iceland, are all leading to new understandings of stock connectivity. Marine Protected Areas are increasingly being employed as a management strategy to preserve stock spawning biomass and benthic community habitat, but the areas, and length of closures vary greatly depending on life history of the animal, purpose (increased production, sustainability, habitat conservation) and understanding of connectivity between aggregations. Disease, predation, bycatch, natural mortality, fisheries dependent and independent data sets, and stock assessment models are all measured and employed but vary a great deal between world fisheries, yet all these measures could be improved upon. Finally how to fund these research objectives is a key question.

We hope that many of you can join us in Portland for this important meeting.

For more information please visit the International Pectinid Workshop

MAINE: Two Men Charged with Lobster Theft

November 1, 2106 – The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Two men have been charged with theft after a month-long investigation by the Maine Marine Patrol revealed they stole lobsters from two dealers.

Troy J. Woodman, 34 of Warren and Shane Hall, 29 of Portland have both been charged. Woodman was arrested by Marine Patrol Sergeant Robert Beal Monday, October 17 and taken to Cumberland County Jail.

Hall is currently in Knox County Jail facing a total of six other charges including aggravated assault and kidnapping for allegedly forcing a woman into his car as she walked home in Rockland in late September.

The Marine Patrol investigation revealed that the two men stole lobsters from Quahog Lobster in Harpswell. According to Marine Patrol reports, the thefts took place between late-September and mid-October.

The thefts were uncovered through surveillance conducted by Marine Patrol Officers Rebecca Kavanaugh and Christopher Hilton as well as Sergeant Beal.

“We take cases like this very seriously,” said Marine Patrol Colonel Jon Cornish. “Theft of this magnitude deprives hard working, law abiding Mainers of their livelihood and undermines our coastal economy. I’m very proud of the Officers and Sergeant for their thorough investigation.”

Woodman has been charged with one count of Class C Theft for allegedly stealing lobsters from Quahog Lobster on September 17. Additional theft charges against Woodman are expected for thefts that occurred at Quahog Lobster on September 24, 25, 27, and October 6, and at Maggie’s Seafood in South Bristol on October 9 and October 16.

Hall has been charged with one count of Class D Theft and one count of Class C theft for allegedly stealing lobsters from Quahog Lobster on September 25 and 27.

A total of 19 crates filled with lobster were allegedly stolen by the two over the course of the seven days. The estimated value of the stolen lobster and crates exceeds $9,000.

In Maine Class C crimes carry a penalty of up to 5 years in jail and a fine of $5,000 while Class D crimes are punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a fine of $2,000.

An investigation into the sale and purchase of the stolen lobsters is on-going.

Herring shortage over, price of fish still vexes lobstermen

October 21, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine – Herring fishermen have begun catching herring in the waters far off New England, ending a shortage of the fish that has vexed the region’s lobster industry for months.

The Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/2esLoXg ) reports the price of the bait fish has remained high through the end of the peak lobster season, anyway. Lobstermen say the shortage has hurt their bottom line this year.

The shortage has not trickled down to affect consumer prices, although lobster prices have been higher than average at times this year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC 6

Herring fishing shut down along New England coast

October 19, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Herring fishermen are nearing their quota along New England’s coast and the fishery will be shut down until further notice.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says fishermen in the inshore Gulf of Maine have caught about 90 percent of their quota and the fishery was shut down early Tuesday morning. The inshore fishing zone ranges from Cape Cod to the eastern edge of the Maine coast.

Herring are an important bait fish, especially in the lobster fishery. A shortage of the fish in offshore waters caused a bait shortage in New England during the summer.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Daily Progress

Herring Fishing Shut Down Along New England Coast

October 18, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine – Herring fishermen are nearing their quota along New England’s coast and the fishery will be shut down until further notice.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says fishermen in the inshore Gulf of Maine have caught about 90 percent of their quota and the fishery was shut down early Tuesday morning. The inshore fishing zone ranges from Cape Cod to the eastern edge of the Maine coast.

Herring are an important bait fish, especially in the lobster fishery. A shortage of the fish in offshore waters caused a bait shortage in New England during the summer.

Read the full story at Maine Public Radio

Japan gives visiting Mainers the scoop on scalloping

October 18th, 2016 — A group of Maine fishermen from Cape Elizabeth to Stonington traveled to northern Japan this month to study mechanized techniques for growing scallops.

Funded in part by a grant from the United States-Japan Foundation, the 10-person group traveled to the coastal region of the Aomori prefecture to learn about the machines that the fishing and aquaculture cooperatives there use to grow scallops on vertical lines suspended in the sea, a farming method proven to speed up their growth. The group also learned about shellfish processing and value-added shellfish products.

“We want to get key people there to see what’s possible in scallop farming and to believe it can be replicated in Maine, although at a much smaller scale,” said trip leader Hugh Cowperthwaite, fisheries director for Coastal Enterprises Inc., which promotes rural economic development. “This exchange allows us to make new and deeper connections. Can this industry find its footing and create jobs in Maine?”

This isn’t the first time that Mainers have traveled to Aomori, which is more than 6,200 miles from Portland. The Japanese shellfish community started the information exchange in 1999, with a focus on how to collect wild seed and grow scallops from juveniles to adults. During Cowperthwaite’s first trip in 2010, he learned how Japan has mechanized several of the most labor-intensive steps of scallop farming.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald 

NOAA: Fishing gear killed endangered right whale

October 3, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Entanglement in a morass of fishing gear killed an endangered right whale spotted off Boothbay Harbor last week and brought ashore in Portland last weekend for a necropsy, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Speaking on Monday, Jennifer Goebel, a spokeswoman for NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Region in Gloucester, Mass., said scientists from the fisheries service had determined that “chronic entanglement was the cause of death” of the 45-ton, 43-foot-long animal.

Goebel also said that the New England Aquarium had identified the whale as No. 3694 in its North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog. According to Goebel, the whale was a female, believed to be about 11 years old, with no known calves.

The whale was first sited by researchers in 2006. Since then, the whale has been sited along the Atlantic Coast 26 times, most recently off Florida in February of this year.

According to Goebel, passengers on a Boothbay Harbor-based whale watching boat spotted the dead whale on Friday floating about 12 to 13 miles off Portland wrapped in fishing gear. Rope was reportedly wrapped around the whale’s head, in its mouth and around its flippers and its tail.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

Changes could come to East Coast monkfish business

September 30, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Interstate fishing regulators are working on a new plan to manage the monkfish fishery on the East Coast.

Monkfish are bottom-dwelling fish that are fished commercially and are a popular menu item in seafood restaurants. The New England Fishery Management Council has initiated a plan to create new fishing specifications for the fish for the next three years.

A spokeswoman says the council’s monkfish committee will work this fall on specifications for the fishery. Rules will be approved in November. The rules could also remain status quo.

Fishermen catch monkfish from Maine to North Carolina, though most are brought ashore in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Journal

Spate of whale entanglements could inform regulations

September 28, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — A recent spate of entanglements of rare whales off of New England could help shape future regulations to preserve the endangered animals, federal authorities said Tuesday.

A North Atlantic right whale was found dead about 12 miles off the Maine coast over the weekend, entangled in fishing gear. Two other right whales were also found entangled recently. One of them was reported alive, and researchers plan to reassess its condition.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the 45-ton animal’s death near Maine was still being investigated, including whether the gear can be traced back to its owner.

The agency is using gear recovered from the entanglements to see if the fishermen who owned them were in compliance with fishing regulations, NOAA Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Program Coordinator David Gouveia said. Gouveia said the investigation could also inform future regulations.

“We’re on par for the course with the averages for the year for entanglements,” he said. “Overall, if you look at entanglements of all large whale species, we’re a little bit above our average.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Boston Globe