Saving Seafood

NOAA delays enforcement of new lobster gear rules aimed at protecting right whales

April 21, 2022 — Enforcement of the new lobster gear regulations aimed at protecting the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale will be delayed because supply chain issues have made it too difficult for lobstermen to comply.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Wednesday that it will use a “graduated enforcement effort” from when the rules take effect on May 1 until the supply issues have been resolved.

The regulations require lobstermen to splice NOAA-approved weak rope or weak plastic links into the lines they use to connect buoys to traps on the ocean floor. But the approved gear has been in short supply as manufacturers struggle to produce enough to outfit the Northeast lobster and Jonah crab fishing fleets. The regulations are intended to prevent whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear, which can result in injuries and death. There are fewer than 350 North Atlantic right whales, according to NOAA.

“MLA is relieved that NOAA has finally listened to lobstermen, the state, and our congressional delegation, that despite lobstermen’s best efforts, lobstermen are unable to meet the deadline,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “Some have complied and had products recalled, others have complied and had devices fail, and many more have not been able to secure the materials they need.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Dealers scramble to supply lobstermen ahead of gear change deadline

April 12, 2022 — May 1 is the deadline for commercial lobstermen in Maine to trawl up, use weaker rope or insert weak links and mark gear with the state color purple. But will they be ready? 

The new federal gear requirements enacted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are aimed at reducing right whale entanglements with vertical trap lines. Weaker rope or weak links will allow whales to break free of the rope, while the state-specific gear colors will help determine where a whale was entangled.  

“Everyone’s hoping for a good year, hoping for a good price,” said Virginia Olsen, a Maine Lobstering Union Local 207 member who fishes out of Stonington. “We’re just going to do what we do. We’re gonna go to work.” 

But first, enough rope and weak links must come into local fishing gear stores to supply the approximately 4,500 commercial lobstermen in Maine, each of whom can haul up to 800 traps. 

That equals a lot of rope or links – even with the requirement to attach more traps per vertical line than before, depending on the lobster zone and whether the grounds are in federal or state waters. While NOAA has specified approved gear types and brands, many local lobstermen are on waiting lists at gear shops.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Massachusetts DMF Releases Ropeless Gear Feasibility Report

April 5, 2022 — The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) has wrapped up the first phase of a two-year project to characterize the issues and challenges that may come to light with the integration of ropeless fishing gear into New England lobster fisheries.

Ropeless or On-demand gear will replace traditional vertical buoy lines with an eye toward protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales and will feature new gear retrieval and marking methods.

Read the full story at SeafoodNews.com

 

Are the whales leaving? Gulf of Maine research raises questions about new lobstering rules

April 1, 2022 — As the Gulf of Maine’s waters warm, recent studies show the main food source of the endangered North Atlantic right whale is moving north, out of Maine waters. And the whales appear to be following them.

Such findings haven’t escaped the notice of the Maine lobster industry, which has been referencing them in its legal arguments as to why impending new federal restrictions on lobstering gear won’t help save the whales. Its members have pointed to recent studies that suggest the relocation of copepods – small aquatic crustaceans that make up the whales’ preferred diet – is not just a temporary phenomenon but a long-term trend.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service arguing that its 10-year conservation plan to protect right whales, primarily by requiring commercial fishing gear modifications such as using breakaway rope and deploying more traps per line, is not based on the best available science. The new gear restrictions are set to take effect May 1 despite ongoing legal challenges by the lobster industry and repeated protests by government officials.

“(The association is) asking the court to require the agency to develop a new plan based on sound science that would protect both the whale and the lobster industry,” said Patrice McCarron, the group’s executive director.

Read the full story at the Sun Journal

Maine’s leaders seek delay on whale protection rules

April 1, 2022 — A last-ditched request to delay new federal whale protection rules is being made by Gov. Janet Mills and members of the state’s congressional delegation, citing fears the state’s commercial lobstermen won’t be able to comply.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Riamondo, Mills and other officials urge federal fisheries regulators to extend the May 1 deadline to comply with the new regulations, which are aimed at protecting critically endangered north Atlantic right whales by setting a seasonal closure and requiring modifications to gear. They are requesting a July 1 deadline.

Mills, who penned the letter with Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and other congressional lawmakers, said the state’s commercial fishing industry is working “in good faith” to comply with the new rules but are facing supply chain issues and other complications with less than six weeks to go until implementation of the new rules.

Read the full story at The Center Square

Scientist says right whale protections critical for offshore wind

March 30, 2022 — Plans for 17 or more offshore wind turbine arrays off the U.S. East Coast mean more imminent peril for the endangered North Atlantic right whale – unless regulators and wind power developers implement sweeping new protection for the animals, according to one expert on the species.

Ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement already top the list of hazards for the right whale population, now estimated at less than 340 animals. Construction work and increasing vessel traffic around wind projects will add to the danger, says Mark Baumgartner, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute whose laboratory tracks and studies the whales.

“We’ve never found a right whale that died of old age,” said Baumgartner. “We find they die from industrial accidents.”

A presentation by Baumgartner is titled “The Fate of North Atlantic Right Whales in an Increasingly Industrialized Ocean.” In an online discussion hosted Monday by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service in New Jersey, Baumgartner gave a blunt assessment of the situation.

“Right now, it’s not good,” he said, “unless we change our industrial practices.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

$30 million fund to help lobstermen meet new rules gets strong support in Maine House

March 25, 2022 — A proposal to create a $30 million fund to help lobstermen comply with new federal requirements designed to protect endangered right whales received overwhelming and bipartisan support in the Maine House on Thursday.

Funding for the bill, sponsored by Rep. Holly Stover, D-Boothbay, would come from the state’s unallocated surplus and would help fishermen meet new federal requirements for fishing rope.

Those rules could cost the industry between $50 million and $80 million in lost revenue, additional gear, lost time and added labor, according to the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. One lawmaker estimated the new rules would cost the average fisherman tens of thousands of dollars.

Stover said the relief fund is needed to protect Maine’s iconic and valuable lobster fishing industry, which has had to constantly adapt to evolving federal regulations to prevent endangered right whales from being entangled in ropes.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Rep. Golden asks for more lobstermen on panel

March 24, 2022 — U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (ME-02) called on the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) March 16 to expand representation of lobstermen on its Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team by including members of Maine Lobstering Union Local 207.

The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team is charged with making recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for addressing rising North Atlantic right whale mortalities. Only four of the members of the 60-person team are Maine lobstermen.

“As the only industry organization comprised exclusively of lobstermen with active commercial lobster and crab fishing licenses, the MLU would bring an essential perspective to the ALWTRT,” said Golden. “For nearly a decade, the MLU has engaged with local, state and federal officials as well as the scientific community on various projects to improve our understanding of the distribution of right whales and their potential interactions with certain gear types and fishing effort.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Regulators say new whale-protection rules for Maine’s lobster fleet are on the horizon

March 24, 2022 — Federal regulators said they will soon start a process to create new whale-protection rules for Maine’s lobster fleet that will go beyond the controversial regulations going into effect on May 1. The rules are being imposed to reduce the risk that endangered North Atlantic right whales will be killed by entanglements with fishing gear or ship strikes.

Michael Pentony, the regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, spoke to an online meeting of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum today.

He said that the initial rules were designed to reduce the risk to whales by 60%, but recent evidence shows that the agency must act more quickly than planned to reduce that risk even more.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Maine lobster industry fights lawsuit that aims to shut down fishery

March 18, 2022 — While Maine’s lobster industry has been fighting an offensive legal battle against impending rules to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, it also is playing defense in a case brought by environmentalists that seeks to shut down the lobster fishery entirely.

Lobster industry groups are intervening in a case brought in Washington, D.C.’s U.S. District Court by the Center for Biological Diversity and other plaintiffs that argues the new federal restrictions aren’t adequate, and that the fishery’s continued operation poses an existential threat to the whales.

The plaintiffs in that case, Center for Biological Diversity v. (U.S. Commerce Secretary) Gina Raimondo, are asking the court to vacate a National Marine Fisheries Service “biological opinion” that serves as the basis for the new restrictions and conservation plan, saying they don’t go far enough to meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Lawyers for the lobster industry recently filed a legal brief arguing that the environmental groups are misreading the two laws and attempting to force the state’s lobster fishery under federal jurisdiction.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald