Saving Seafood

Lobster industry and lawmakers await court decision to determine legality of new restrictions

June 8, 2022 — Maine and Massachusetts harvest more than 90% of the American lobsters sold in the U.S. and most lobstermen and New England lawmakers want to keep it that way.

Over the past year, a dispute over new federal regulations on Maine’s lobster industry, intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, have become heated as Maine’s lobster industry fights to protect the livelihoods of its workforce.

Mike Sargent, who became the captain of his own boat at 15, told Spectrum News Maine that things haven’t been too bad since the restrictions went into effect in May.

“Yes, it’s an added expense and something I’ll look into as I rewrite my business model for this year and for years in the future. But, it’s not a deal breaker yet,” said Sargent, who grew up in Milbridge and is now part of an advocacy campaign called Lobster from Maine.

The 29-year-old is worried, however, that if regulations adopted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2021 are ruled lawful by the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, that more expensive and stricter regulations could follow.

Read the full story at Spectrum News 1

Endangered whale numbers may be stabilizing after some bad years, but their future remains uncertain

June 8, 2022 — Yesterday, we reported a story about a new era for Maine’s lobstermen, who face new gear rules designed to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Today we look at how the whales themselves are faring with the changing patterns of their seasonal migration.

All in all, it’s been so far so good this year.

No dead right whales have been spotted. Fifteen calves were born — the second-largest number since 2015. And observers were impressed by the saga of one whale, a mother who, injured and entangled in fishing gear, managed to escort her calf a thousand miles up the coast

And researchers continue to keep tabs on how the species is doing.

Michael Moore, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, recorded a recent encounter with a right whale off Massachusetts.

“Now the swells have dropped down and it’s a couple hours before sunset and now the whale’s leveling out a little bit, it just blew. You can see a little bit more of its back,” he says in the recording.

Read the full story at Connecticut Public Radio

 

New England lobster, crab boats could begin using experimental ropeless gear with federal permits

June 6, 2022 — Federal fisheries officials are proposing a special permit to allow up to 100 New England lobster and crab boats to use experimental high-tech systems to retrieve their traps. That would mark a big expansion in the development of fishing systems that could help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The technology uses remote-control systems to locate and trigger traps or buoy lines to the surface, reducing the use of vertical rope lines that can entangle the right whales.

Henry Milliken supervises a prototyping program for the so-called “ropeless” gear at the Northeast Marine Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

Read and listen to the full story at Maine Public

New project aims to protect whales while developing offshore wind energy

June 3, 2022 — A new partnership between conservation and renewable energy is coming to Massachusetts.

The Right Wind project, through the combined efforts of the New England Aquarium, Cornell University, and LAUTEC US, aims to help offshore wind developers protect the North Atlantic right whale.

“We’re excited to be starting this project because it gives us an opportunity to develop tools that can help reduce the potential risks of wind energy development to North Atlantic right whales, a critically endangered species that numbers less than 350 individuals,” said Dr. Laura Ganley, an associate research scientist at the New England Aquarium.

Read the full story at Boston.com

‘Ropeless’ lobster gear could be put to test in area closed to protect right whales

June 2, 2022 — An application to test innovative fishing gear throughout New England could get some Maine lobstermen back into a nearly 1,000-mile swathe of offshore fishing grounds for the first time since the implementation of a seasonal closure last year.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center, a research arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is seeking a permit to work with fishermen to trial “ropeless” fishing gear in several parts of New England, including the 967-square mile closure area off the midcoast.

The lucrative fishing grounds were closed off last year for the first time as part of a slew of new regulations designed to protect the endangered right whale. From October through January — the heart of the offshore fishing season — lobstermen can only fish in the area with a permit and if they use ropeless technology, which is costly and unfamiliar.

But if the federal marine research program’s application is approved, a few fishermen may get to try loaned ropeless fishing gear during the next closure.

“This whole effort is to provide fishermen a tool so they can access those closed areas,” said Henry Milliken, a research fisheries biologist with the center.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

NMFS to expand Northeast ropeless gear trials

June 1, 2022 — Up to 100 commercial lobster vessels would be allowed to test alternative gear without static vertical lines, under an exempted fishing permit application filed by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Up to 30 of those boats would be allowed to fish using so-called ropeless gear in areas where conventional lobster gear with vertical line is restricted under the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, according to a notice issued May 31 by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The permit application, to be published in the June 1 Federal Register, is subject to a public comment period through June 15. NMFS is looking to on-demand or pop-up buoy retrieval systems in the lobster fishery as a long-term solution to reducing whale entanglements in lobster gear, particularly for the highly endangered northern right whale.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: Rep. Moulton introduces bill geared to lobstermen coping with right whale rules

May 31, 2022 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, has introduced a bill called the CLAW (Conserving Lobstering and Whales) Act that would establish a tax credit to make it easier for lobstermen to afford gear meant to reduce the chance of endangered right whales becoming entangled.

Hunted to the brink of extinction by the early 1890s by commercial whalers, it’s estimated there are fewer than 350 right whales in existence, according to NOAA Fisheries’ website. Vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are the leading causes of mortality, NOAA Fisheries says.

However, there is concern that regulations to conserve right whales, including seasonal area closures and the added cost for weak rope and inserts and gear marking requirements, have created an added cost burden to lobstermen.

Moulton said he and his office have been working on the legislation with various industry stakeholders, including the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and the Massachusetts Seafood Collaborative.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Rare Right Whale Sightings Reported Along New England Shoreline

May 24, 2022 — Several people have reported rare sightings of North Atlantic Right Whales this month along the New England coastline from Provincetown to Portsmouth.

“It is pretty rare to see them that close to shore,” Heather Pettis of the New England Aquarium said.

With its bristle-like baleen plates and distinctive callosities decorating its head to its massive size and characteristic tail flukes, the North Atlantic Right Whale has been entertaining New Englanders this spring with some shoreline shows.

“Sure enough, there was a right whale skim feeding right off of Route 1A,” Pettis said. “This time of year whales sort of leave Cape Cod Bay, where they’ve been feeding over the winter. They disperse and we have these opportunistic sightings pop up.”

Read the full story at NBC Connecticut

Lobstermen seek Boothbay’s help in right whale issue

May 18, 2022 — Maine Lobstermen Association is seeking allies against new federal regulations protecting right whales in the northern Atlantic Ocean. MLA is seeking a “war chest” in excess of $10 million to reverse National Marine Fisheries Service guidelines designed to protect the endangered right whale.

MLA is soliciting donations from coastal Maine communities whose economies rely on the lobstering industry. Boothbay lobstermen Mark Jones and Troy Plummer are MLA board members. On May 11, the two solicited Boothbay selectmen for a contribution. “This is a federal lawsuit based on how they calculated the risks associated with right whale. Their models overcalculated the risk posed by lobstering and are nonsense,” Jones said. “The federal government has all but ignored us, and don’t think we will fight back.”

According to an Aug. 2021 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s statement on their website, “The NOAA Fisheries and our partners are dedicated to conserving and rebuilding the North Atlantic right whale population, which is endangered and declining. The decline began in 2010, and accelerated most notably when 17 mortalities were documented in 2017, leading to the declaration of an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event. Since then, 34 right whales have died and 16 have been seriously injured, primarily due to entanglements and vessel strikes.

Jones and Plummer told selectmen environmental groups with deep dockets are pushing for more stringent right whale protections. They described three groups with large lobbying budgets pursuing even stricter fishing regulations. “We’re definitely outgunned in this battle. There are three environmental groups. One raises $15 million per year. Another $22 million, and a third with $80 million. So we need help in this fight,” Plummer said.

So far, MLA has received donations ranging from $100 to $10,000 for their legal defense fund. Among contributors are the town of York, with a $10,000 contribution, along with Friendship, Long Island, Casco Bay  and Vinalhaven. The lobstermen also reported Maine Chamber of Commerce Maine Office of Tourism and Ready Bros. Lobster Processing in Casco contributed to their fund.

Read the full story at the Boothbay Register

Study: Smaller Right Whales Have Fewer Calves

May 17, 2022 — A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and New England Aquarium has found that smaller North Atlantic right whales give birth to fewer calves.

The two organizations teamed up with multiple groups, such as the National Marine Fisheries Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to find this information.

Teams studied aerial photos of 41 female right whales taken between 2000 and 2019, finding that smaller mothers produced fewer babies.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com