Saving Seafood

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

The Maine Lobster Industry Celebrates National Lobster Day on September 25, 2016

September 23, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Lobster Marketing Collective:

PORTLAND, Maine — For the second year in a row, the Maine Lobster industry will celebrate its positive economic and cultural impact both in Maine and in the U.S. during National Lobster Day on September 25, 2016. Designated through a resolution by Senators Angus King and Susan Collins of Maine, National Lobster Day reinforces the hard work, sustainable practices and passion of Maine’s 5,600 independent lobstermen and women.

“The lobster industry is not only an iconic part of Maine’s image, but it’s also a significant engine in our local economy that supports families up and down our coast,” said Senators Collins and King in a joint statement. “By designating September 25 as National Lobster Day, the Senate has once again recognized lobster’s tremendous value for our communities while honoring the hardworking people in the industry. The thousands of Mainers who haul lobster from our shores, process it and distribute it ensure that this delicious Maine product can be enjoyed across the country and around the world. Lobster is a livelihood and a way of life for many Maine people, and we will always work to make sure this proud industry can continue its positive impact for generations to come.”

Last year, the Maine Lobster industry landed more than 120 million pounds for the fourth year in a row thanks to the self-governing, unparalleled sustainable practices that the industry has had in place for 150 years. Landings increase during peak season, typically June through November, allowing for nearly $1 billion in revenue to support citizens throughout Maine, and the tender sweet flavor of Maine Lobster to be shared with diners across the country.

“We are thrilled that the Senate has recognized the Maine Lobster industry by deeming September 25 as National Lobster Day again this year,” said Matt Jacobson, the Executive Director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative (MLMC). “We’re excited to have the national spotlight on our industry, especially during peak season, and we thank Senators King and Collins again for their support with this resolution.”

To further promote Maine Lobster and its rich heritage, the MLMC focuses on sharing the Maine Lobster story with national media, educating chefs about Maine Lobster’s diverse culinary applications to help them reimagine it as a key ingredient and connecting lobster lovers through social and digital platforms. Additionally, this year, the Collaborative released a video series that showcases the uniqueness of Maine Lobster and the industry’s impact across Maine.

“Maine Lobster’s strong sustainability story, beautiful flavor and versatility make chefs proud to serve it,” said Barton Seaver, chef, cookbook author and sustainable seafood expert. “National Lobster Day highlights these great qualities and the many people throughout the industry who bring Maine Lobster to our plates.”