Saving Seafood

Local Catch Network kicks off campaign raising awareness for local fisherman, seafood harvesters

August 23, 2022 — A social media campaign is kicking off this week to raise awareness for community-based fisheries across North America.

“It’s a campaign to promote local and regional values-based small scale seafood businesses across North America,” said Paloma Henriques, a graduate assistant at the University of Maine.

This is the second year of the campaign that started after researchers found the pandemic highlighted the need to build resilient local and regional seafood systems.

“The global supply chains really faltered and struggled. If you’re looking at seafood, it’s one of the most highly traded commodities. A fish can be caught in one country processed in another and consumed in a third country,” Henriques said.

Read the full story at WABI

 

On the horizon: National survey in support of a strong domestic seafood economy

July 13, 2022 — American seafood harvesters play a vital role in supplying healthy, high-quality food to people across the United States and around the world. But they also face serious challenges caused by market disruptions, competing ocean uses, environmental change, and fishing regulations.

Selling seafood directly to consumers, or direct seafood marketing, has become an increasingly common way for harvesters to sell their catch. A forthcoming national survey aims to strengthen the domestic seafood economy by understanding direct marketing practices of American seafood harvesters.

Surveys of direct marketing practices have been beneficial to the agricultural sector. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) surveys American farmers engaging in direct marketing of agricultural products through the Local Food Marketing Practices Survey (LFMPS). Data from these surveys helped the USDA develop grant programs and technical assistance to support small- and mid-sized farming operations.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Scientists see long-term hope for Maine’s lobster fishery despite warming waters

June 13, 2022 — Dire predictions about the effects of global warming on Maine’s lobster population may be exaggerated and underestimate the potential that conservation measures have to preserve the fishery into the future.

Rapid warming in the Gulf of Maine and the collapse of lobster fisheries in southern New England have fueled predictions that lobsters will likely move north out of Maine waters in the coming decades. But ongoing research at the University of Maine is revealing a more optimistic long-term view of the Maine lobster fishery.

The UMaine scientists are now projecting that temperatures in Gulf of Maine will likely remain within lobsters’ comfort zone because of the gulf’s unique oceanographic features, though changing ocean currents are harder to predict. The researchers cautioned that the dynamics of global warming are complex and make it difficult to project far into the future with certainty.

Ocean stratification – where water of different densities separates into distinct layers – is keeping the bottom temperatures colder on the Gulf of Maine’s western side, the scientists say, while strong tidal mixing in the eastern gulf and the Bay of Fundy helps moderate the water temperature there during the summer. Because Maine waters have historically been so cold, they say, even a couple of degrees of warming should keep Maine’s bottom waters below 68 degrees, the temperature at which lobsters begin to show signs of stress, according to the Atlantic States Fisheries Management Council.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Can Offshore Wind Energy Coexist With Maine’s Lobster Industry? Attempt Underway

June 9, 2022 — Researchers at the University of Maine are attempting to work ahead to prevent problems between one of Maine’s heritage industries and a new clean energy sector.

Over the past several years, Maine lobstermen have raised concerns about offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine and its potential to disrupt where and how they fish.

Hundreds of people in Maine’s lobster industry organized a protest in the state’s capital, Augusta, last year on the same day Gov. Janet Mills issued a moratorium on all new offshore wind development in state waters for 10 years, excluding some specific research projects. ‘

Roughly one week ago, UMaine announced it would try to “minimize” conflict by working with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and other groups to gather data on where fishing occurs, in order to inform offshore wind development.

“Right now, published maps suggest that lobster fishing is occurring everywhere. We hope through this effort to provide more spatial specificity about the most important fishing locations — where fishermen spend more time and effort,” said Kate Beard-Tisdale, a professor of spatial computing at the university who is leading this collaboration, in a statement released by UMaine.

Read the full story at NECN

UMaine and lobster industry team up on innovative collaboration to map Maine’s fishing effort

June 6, 2022 — The University of Maine is leading an innovative new research project to collaborate with Maine’s lobster industry to explore the potential to use data owned by commercial lobstermen to map fishing effort. These data may be used to minimize conflict from potential future offshore wind development.

The state of Maine has set an aggressive goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and is looking to floating offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine to supply renewable power, as well as economic benefit.

Participants in Maine’s commercial fisheries are concerned that offshore wind development could result in lost fishing grounds and pose significant navigation and safety concerns. While Maine’s lobster fishery accounted for 82 percent of the value of Maine’s commercial seafood landings in 2021, there are no comprehensive data on where and when Maine lobstermen fish. To minimize the impact on Maine’s lobster fishery, better data are needed on the location, type and intensity of fishing activity in the Gulf of Maine.

Kate Beard-Tisdale is leading this collaborative project to use data already being collected by commercial lobstermen to fill these data gaps.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

UMaine research defines lobster line requirements for whale entanglement risk reduction

May 4, 2022 — Efforts to reduce the risk of entanglement in lobster trap lines for the endangered North Atlantic right whale may need to consider more factors than just line strength if they want to be safe, effective and economical, according to new research led by the University of Maine and the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

North Atlantic right whales have the potential to get caught in the vertical line that runs from gear set on the bottom to the surface marker buoy in fixed-gear fisheries, like that of the American lobster fishery in Maine. Often whales can break free of the gear and are simply left with scars, but the risk of death increases as the lines are stronger and more densely distributed throughout the water.

To mitigate right whale injury and deaths, U.S. federal management agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have mandated weak points or weak ropes be inserted into vertical lines to limit strength and provide points at which right whales can break the ropes if they become entangled. New regulations on minimum trawl lengths — or the number of traps fished per vertical line — took effect on May 1, 2022, and caused increases in lobster fishery vertical line loads across all fishing grounds, considerably increasing with depth and distance from shore.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

New report sets broad goals for Maine’s aquaculture industry in the next decade

April 15, 2022 — In the last 8 years, Maine’s aquaculture harvest has more than doubled in volume and in value, and some predict that the state’s aquaculture exports could be worth as much as $800 million by 2025. A new report is recommending how that growth should be managed over the next decade. But critics say it’s too focused on expanding the industry, and gives short shift to other users of the ocean commons or the ecosystems that they all depend on.

The document sets broad goals for aquaculture’s next decade in Maine, starting with streamlined permitting for public water leases that “balances the rights of the applicant and the public.

And it identifies the potential costs of specific actions: $100,000, for instance, to support a state employee who would help applicants get through the permitting process and engage with host communities, $100,000 to integrate aquaculture into K-12 education, and a quarter million dollars to create a Maine Seafood Council to market both farmed and wild-caught seafood.

“It’s one tool that can be used along with the many tools the state has in thinking about the future,” said Gayle Zydlewski, who directs Maine Sea Grant, a federal-state program housed at the University of Maine that led a collaborative effort to create the so-called Maine Aquaculture Roadmap.

Read the full story at Maine Public

MAINE: Lobster fishery, coming off a record year, faces challenges ahead

March 18, 2022 — Maine’s lobster fishery scored a record-breaking value in 2021, with a 75% increase over 2020 and a 10% increase in landed weight.

But fishermen face increasing pressures, including difficulty finding and keeping crew, rising operational costs, competition for fishing grounds from other industries, new regulations affecting fishing gear and methods and coastal development pressure that’s squeezing waterfront access and opportunities to live they work.

There are plenty of long-term studies on the lobster side of the fishery. For example, the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute handles the American Lobster Settlement Index, which monitors larval lobsters and their environment.

Now a new study is underway to study the human side of the fishery.

“Last year’s season was the most valuable ever,” said Theresa Burnham, a University of Maine research associate and a member of the study’s research team.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Pingree, New England Colleagues Urge Biden Administration to Study Sustainable Offshore Wind Development in Gulf Of Maine

February 22, 2022 — The following was released by The Office of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree:

U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), and Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) are urging the Biden Administration to fund critical baseline research and scientific studies to advance sustainable offshore wind opportunities in the Gulf of Maine. In a letter to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Amanda Lefton, the New England lawmakers urged BOEM to prioritize two studies that are crucial in determining habitat use and distribution of species in the Gulf of Maine—information they say is needed to protect critically important habitats for American lobster and Atlantic cod.

“Our states have enormous potential to produce significant renewable energy as well as anchor a burgeoning industry and workforce through the responsible development of offshore wind,” Pingree, Moulton, Kuster, and Pappas wrote. “While our state governments are already engaging with leaders of our region’s fishing industries and other ocean users to lessen conflicts with existing users and marine life, it is still crucial that BOEM complete further stakeholder outreach and scientific research to inform the agency’s planning process before conducting lease sales.”

“BOEM’s work to support regional outreach and comprehensive habitat and wildlife data collection and analyses using the best available science will be essential to advancing offshore wind in a way that is environmentally and economically responsible,” they continued.

In late January, Maine Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also wrote to Director Lefton to highlight the significant potential for offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, but stressed that additional thorough research is needed to assess the impacts on local industries and ecosystems.

Pingree, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and current Chair of the House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which oversees funding for BOEM, has been a longtime supporter of the efforts to develop sustainable offshore wind power.

Full text of the letter is available here and below.

Dear Director Lefton,

As members of the Congressional delegations of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, we write in support of funding for critical baseline research and scientific studies to advance sustainable offshore wind opportunities in the Gulf of Maine. The recent announcement from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland outlining BOEM’s plans to pursue offshore wind leases in the Gulf of Maine by mid-2024 brings new urgency to commence key research studies that will ensure offshore wind development in this area is underpinned by robust scientific research.

Our states have enormous potential to produce significant renewable energy as well as anchor a burgeoning industry and workforce through the responsible development of offshore wind. While our state governments are already engaging with leaders of our region’s fishing industries and other ocean users to lessen conflicts with existing users and marine life, it is still crucial that BOEM complete further stakeholder outreach and scientific research to inform the agency’s planning process before conducting lease sales.

In BOEM’s National Studies List for 2022, the Office of Renewable Energy Programs identified two studies that would provide essential information and enhance BOEM’s capacity to assess, predict, monitor, and manage the potential environmental impacts of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine prior to inform the agency’s planning process. The two studies include an Ecological Baseline Study of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Off Maine (AT-22-12), and a Comprehensive Assessment of Existing Gulf of Maine Ecosystem Data and Identification of Data Gaps to Inform Future Research (AT-22-11).

We urge BOEM to invest in the Gulf of Maine as funding decisions are made for the fiscal year by prioritizing these two studies, in particular the Ecological Baseline Study (AT-22-12). As part of this study, BOEM should consider using targeted benthic habitat surveys collected via high resolution multibeam mapping and ground truthing of the data using sediment sampling and benthic fauna characterization to generate detailed habitat and sediment maps.

Existing bathymetric and benthic habitat data is extremely limited for the Gulf of Maine, yet it is fundamental to determine habitat use and distribution of species. This information is needed to determine areas of complex habitats, which are critically important for several important species including American lobster and Atlantic cod. This survey would also protect areas in the Gulf of Maine that have been designated as critical habitat for the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and other species. We also encourage you to prioritize a comprehensive marine mammal and wildlife surveys and the collection of fisheries data in coordination with NOAA and state marine resource agencies to inform our understanding of the potential impact of offshore wind development on regional fisheries and marine species.

Continuing engagement with regional stakeholders has identified gaps related to the socioeconomic and cumulative impact assessments of offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine. Accordingly, we support regionally specific research to investigate the projected economic impacts of offshore wind development on existing ocean users, as well as its cumulative impacts on our natural resources, existing uses, industries, and people.

The State of Maine spent more than a year working directly with fishermen and other stakeholders to put forward a comprehensive application to BOEM for a research lease. This project would use an innovative floating wind turbine technology developed at the University of Maine, which was developed with funding from the Department of Energy. We strongly support this research array application and believe it would contribute valuable and complementary data to an Ecological Baseline Study and a comprehensive evaluation of existing ecosystem data in the Gulf of Maine. Together, the resulting information will help advance floating offshore wind in the U.S. and build on our collective understanding of how to best minimize impacts to the fishing industry and the environment.

BOEM’s work to support regional outreach and comprehensive habitat and wildlife data collection and analyses using the best available science will be essential to advancing offshore wind in a way that is environmentally and economically responsible. We thank you for your attention to the Gulf of Maine and look forward to continuing to engage with you as you initiate these essential studies to aid in responsibly developing offshore wind.

 

‘Roadmap’ plots aquaculture’s needs, future in Maine

February 2, 2022 — As aquaculture and its contribution to the state economy grow, so does the need to support it. 

The Maine Aquaculture Association and Maine Sea Grant released the Maine Aquaculture Roadmap 2022-2032 last week, a 10-year plan developed with feedback from nearly 100 organizations and companies. It outlines four main goals and identifies $15 million in resources needed to strengthen the commercial aquaculture industry and working waterfronts across the state. 

“Aquaculture is clearly a priority for Maine, and we needed a forward-looking, research-driven plan to responsibly sustain Maine’s marine farming sector. Now we have one that supports Maine’s farm families and the future of the working waterfront,” said Fiona de Koning, a shellfish farmer and owner of Acadia Aqua Farms in Bar Harbor. 

A 2017 economic impact report by the Aquaculture Research Institute at the University of Maine noted that the economic impact of aquaculture tripled between 2007 and 2014, from $50 million to $137 million. 

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander