December 11, 2019 — Maine fishing regulators are implementing emergency closures in the state’s scallop harvesting industry for the first time this season.
Maine scallop fishing takes place every winter, and the state uses emergency closures to protect the valuable shellfish against overfishing.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources says it has closed Moosabec Reach, which is an area off Jonesport in Down East Maine.
November 20, 2019 — The idea of launching a commercial shellfish harvesting program in Scituate has generated discussions on the possible benefits the industry could bring. As the town’s boards and committees work to finalize the necessary policies and procedures, however, there is a strong current of opposition to the present plan site.
“It’s not that we are against shellfishing, we’re against the location they’ve chosen,” said Scituate resident Peter Marathas Jr. “We feel there is a better place they could put this.”
Marathas was one of a large group of residents from both Scituate and Cohasset who attended the Oct. 29 Scituate Board of Selectmen meeting, at which members of the Scituate Shellfish Advisory Committee presented an update on the proposed pilot program and on the rules and regulations that would go along with it.
November 13, 2019 — A Portland State University study found tiny pieces of plastic in the vast majority of razor clams and oysters sampled along the Oregon coast and noted that the primary source of contamination was from fibers used in synthetic textiles.
Those microscopic fibers can be shed by yoga pants, fleeces and other active wear made of synthetic textiles during a wash — up to 700,000 per load of laundry, according to the study, which was reported on Tuesday in The Oregonian/OregonLive. These fibers are in the wastewater from laundry machines that eventually winds up in the ocean, although some of the tiny plastic fibers could also come from derelict fishing gear, the newspaper said.
The shellfish in question were plucked from 15 sites, from Clatsop in the north to Gold Beach near the California border, in both the spring and summer of 2017. Of the roughly 300 shellfish analyzed, all but two contained at least some microplastics, Elise Granek, a PSU professor of environmental science and management, said.
The study was published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters.
October 22, 2019 — A Southwest Washington oyster growers association has abandoned a quest to use a controversial insecticide that combats burrowing shrimp, a creature that can make tidelands unfit for shellfish farming.
In a settlement reached last week, the Willapa Grays Harbor Growers Association agreed to accept a 2018 state Ecology Department denial of the proposed use of imidacloprid and drop an appeal to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board.
The growers wanted to use the insecticide to spray up to 500 annually of the more than 12,000 acres of tidelands used for shellfish cultivation in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. Without the spray, the growers say they lose productive tidelands to the shrimp, which churn up sediment and can cause oysters, as well as clams, to suffocate in the muck.
The proposed imidacloprid spraying was opposed by National Marine Fisheries Service because of risks to other marine life, and it triggered a public backlash led by some high-profile Seattle chefs.
October 15, 2019 — Combined commercial shellfish and seaweed aquaculture have significant potential to provide sustainable food and jobs while restoring marine ecosystems in Europe’s North Sea, the East China Sea, and Southern California.
A new study published in PLOS ONE finds that every inhabited continent has marine regions well-suited for the kind of shellfish and seaweed aquaculture that benefits both ecosystems and people by filtering polluted waters, providing habitat for commercially valuable species, and generating steady food and jobs. For shellfish, the potential was greatest in Europe, Oceania, and North America, while for seaweed, it was greatest in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and South America.
September 13, 2019 — As the demand for shellfish continues to increase, Scituate is perched to join 29 other Massachusetts communities in developing its own commercial shellfish operation.
And there is already plenty of interest.
It was standing room only on Sept. 4 in the Community Room at the Scituate Town Library when members of the Scituate Shellfish Advisory Committee gave a presentation on establishing commercial shellfishing in Scituate waters.
“We’re looking to bring something to the town that is very beneficial,” said Brian Kelly, chairman of the Waterways Commission. “This will bring a new environmentally-friendly business, it will bring new jobs, and some opportunities for town in marketing, such as serving Scituate-grown oysters in restaurants, having oysters become part of Heritage Days, and educational/tourist potential.”
August 28, 2019 — Underwater and out of sight are the makings of a major Alaska industry with two anchor crops that clean the planet while pumping out lots of cash: shellfish and seaweed.
Alaskans have applied for over 2,000 acres of new or expanding undersea farms, double the footprint from two years ago, ranging from .02 acres at Halibut Cove to nearly 300 acres at Craig.
Nearly 60% of the newest applicants plan to grow kelp with the remainder a mix of kelp and/or Pacific oysters, said Cynthia Pring-Ham, aquatic farming coordinator at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which issues the permits. Fish and Game partners with the state Department of Natural Resources, which leases the tidal and submerged lands for farms.
August 26, 2019 — Almost 1.26 million metric tons (MT) of fisheries products were caught by the Icelandic fishing fleet last year, an increase of 6.7 percent or 79,025 MT, and the total first-sale value of that catch rose 15.6 percent to almost ISK 128 billion (USD 1 billion, EUR 924.7 million), according to figures gathered by Statistics Iceland.
The largest contributor to these increases was the demersal sector, which saw its catch increase by 12 percent in volume, or 51,341 MT, to 480,224 MT. The value of these landings climbed 17.9 percent to ISK 90.8 billion (USD 726.4 million, EUR 656 million).
August 21, 2019 — Maine has recently lifted long closures of several shellfish harvest sites due to the potentially fatal biological toxin known as red tide.
The Portland Press Herald reports this year’s closure remained in place for three months in parts of southern Maine, nearly three times as long as the typical four to five weeks.
Jeff Nichols, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said the department hasn’t determined the cause of the longer red tide season.
Read the full story at The Associated Press at the Bangor Daily News
August 9th, 2019 — Last year Maine’s harvest of soft-shell clams was one of the worst in many decades, down to around 7 million pounds. That’s due in part to closures of polluted flats, and predation by the invasive green crab.
But harvesters and other observers say the fishery can bounce back — and new efforts to better protect the resource are emerging in more than a dozen coastal towns.
The Medomak River is Maine’s most prolific softshell clam fishery, and Glen Melvin has been picking them from the mudflats here, off and on, for more than four decades. Steering a beat-up aluminum outboard downstream from Waldoboro, Melvin sports a multi-colored bandana and mirrored sunglasses.
The boat flies past cove after cove, which in recent years have been frequently shut down to clamming because of pollution by fecal coliform.