Saving Seafood

MAINE: DMC hosts a talk on the changing Gulf of Maine ecosystem

July 9, 2017 — On Friday, July 14, Dr. Jeffrey Runge will give a talk titled “Plankton, Right Whales, and Change in Gulf of Maine Ecosystem.”

The seminar will take place in Brooke Hall at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center beginning at 10:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested at tinyurl.com/y87uxsmw.

The Gulf of Maine ecosystem rests at the southern edge of the vast subarctic biome that stretches across the North Atlantic to the Barents Sea above Norway. The subarctic character and biomass of the Gulf of Maine plankton support the northern right whale population as well as the region’s distinctive fish and seabird communities. Ocean currents in the northwest Atlantic and in the Gulf of Maine work to sustain these subarctic properties.

Recent changes in the timing and abundance of zooplankton coincide with changes in right whale sightings, including a decline in number since 2010. In his talk, Dr. Runge will explore scenarios of future changes to the plankton in the wake of recent warming and ocean acidification.

Read the full story at the Boothbay Register

US House panel votes to keep funding marine research program

July 3, 2017 — In a vote Thursday by a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, lawmakers pushed back on President Donald Trump’s proposal to de-fund the national Sea Grant program.

The program, which is overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, provides approximately $1.2 million each year to roughly a dozen full-time researchers affiliated with the University of Maine.

Paul Anderson, who heads the Sea Grant program in Maine, said Thursday that a subcommittee of Appropriations that oversees funding for commerce, justice and science had voted earlier in the day to support funding the national Sea Grant program at $63 million.

If the subcommittee’s funding proposal makes it through to the final version of the 2017-2018 annual federal budget — which Congress is expected to approve by the end of September — it would keep alive a program that proponents say is vital to sustaining Maine’s $1.5 billion-plus commercial fishing industry.

“It’s way better than zero [dollars],” Anderson said of the subcommittee vote. “It’s very promising. We feel our advocacy [in support of the Sea Grant program] around the country has been effective.”

Regardless of the subcommittee’s support for the program, the chances of Trump’s proposed budget being approved without significant changes by Congress is unlikely, as several national media outlets have reported.

Congress has ultimate say over federal spending, not the president, and typically drafts its own budget proposals that then are revised through congressional committee negotiations before being approved and enacted.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Climate Change, and Cod, Are Causing One Heck of a Lobster Boom in Maine

June 15, 2017 — Maine has had a commercial lobster industry since the 1700s, and the lobster’s place in food has changed a lot during that time.

Today, Maine is faced with an unprecedented glut of lobsters–so many that the price of lobster is on the way down. But it wasn’t always so. And it may be different tomorrow.

In the 1600s and 1700s, writes Daniel Luzer for Pacific Standard, there were so many lobsters around Massachusetts Bay Colony, for instance, that they washed up on the beach in piles two feet high. “People thought of them as trash food,” Luzer writes. The ocean bugs were regarded as food for lower-class people and convicts, and used as fertilizer at times.

That began changing in the 1800s. Lobster prices–and interest in eating lobster–began to go up and down according to price, culinary innovations (like cooking lobster alive rather than dead) and availability. A century and a half later, he writes, “lobster was firmly established as a delicacy; lobster was something movie stars ate when they went out to dinner.”

On the coast of Maine, lobster culture became a way of life. But all was not well. .In the early twentieth century, once-abundant lobster had become rare, writes the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute, and “there were plenty of rumors about lobstermen turning to rum-running along the Maine coast during Prohibition days.”

According to Gwynn Guilford for Quartz, lobster stocks dwindled and the number of boats fishing lobster went up–a pattern, she writes, that looked like that of “other fisheries on the eve of collapse.” But today, Maine is in the midst of a lobster boom.

Maine now produces 80 percent of American-caught lobster, writes Justin Fox for Bloomberg View, and more than seven times the average take in a pre-2000 year.

Read the full story at Smithsonian.com

NOAA recommending $1.5 million for Maine

June 14, 2017 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced last week that it was recommending six Maine fisheries research projects for a total of $1.5 million in Saltonstall-Kennedy program grants.

In line for funding, but still subject to final approval, are grants to the following.

The Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education, $278,000 for demonstrating aquaculture technologies designed to increase the supply, quality and diversification of domestic seafood and field experiments with cultured arctic surf clams. Last Friday, the organization celebrated the groundbreaking of a $5.8 million expansion of its facilities on Beals Island.

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute, $288,888 to study the issue of “choke species” in a changing climate. Choke species are fish with very small landings quotas. Fishermen who haul them in as bycatch may be forced to stop fishing for other species.

The Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association, $141,092 to continue and expand the 2015 tagging effort studying lobster migration and growth on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine.

The Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, $298,932 to study the phytoremediation potential of farmed kelp in connection with shellfish aquaculture.

The University of Maine, $299,623 to evaluate the life history and stock structure of yellowfin tuna in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

The University of Maine, $275,308 to assess the potential for the sustainability of fishing-dependent coastal Maine communities in the face of environmental and socioeconomic change.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

NOAA recommends Maine fisheries research projects for $1.5M in funding

June 8, 2017 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has recommended over $1.5 million in Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program funding for six fisheries research projects in Maine.

The goal of the Saltonstall-Kennedy program is to fund projects that address the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries and increase other opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable.

The program has recommended the following projects for funding; final approval is pending:

  • Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education, $278,000: Demonstrating aquaculture technologies designed to increase the supply, quality and diversification of domestic seafood: Field experiments with cultured arctic surf clams.
  • Gulf of Maine Research Institute, $288,888: Addressing the issue of “Choke” species in a changing climate.
  • Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association Lobster, $141,092: Migration and growth: Continuation and expansion of 2015 tagging effort on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine.
  • Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, $298,932: A ‘Halo’ for shellfish aquaculture: Discovering the phytoremediation potential of farmed kelp.
  • University of Maine, $299,623: Evaluating the life history and stock structure of yellowfin tuna in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.
  • University of Maine, $275,308: Assessing the potential for sustainability of fishing-dependent communities in coastal Maine in the face of environmental and socioeconomic change.

In a news release announcing the NOAA’s recommendations, U.S Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, characterized the projects as “key to the future of the Gulf of Maine and the thousands of Mainers who make their living from it.”

Read the full story at MaineBiz

MAINE: Portland to host international lobster conference this week

June 5, 2017 — Scientists will meet in Portland this week to discuss how a changing ocean environment and global economy is affecting the biology and business of lobsters.

More than 250 biologists, oceanographers, fishery managers and industry members from 15 nations plan to attend the 11th International Conference & Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management, said University of Maine marine scientist Rick Wahle, a co-chairman of the symposium.

It is only the second time the U.S. has hosted the event, Wahle said. The first was in Florida in 2000. Since then, the American lobster fishery has exploded, he said.

“It was about time,” Wahle said. “It’s been hosted all over the world, but never in New England, which we all know to be one of the world’s lobster hot spots.”

American lobster is the country’s most valuable fishery, Wahle said. While they can be found as far south as the Carolinas, 80 percent of America’s lobster haul comes out of Maine waters. In 2016, Maine commercial lobstermen trapped more than 130 million pounds, or $533.1 million worth, of the greenish-brown creatures, making it a record-breaking year in both volume and value.

But they aren’t the only lobsters out there. Scientists at the conference will present research on the tiny orange-pink Norway lobster, the clawless Florida or Caribbean spiny lobster, and the European lobster, the species that almost sparked a European Union-American trade war in 2016. There will also be panel discussions on commercially important lobster-like species, such as the spiny lobsters of Australia and New Zealand.

As the host species, however, the American lobster will be the star of this year’s conference, as will the New England fishing system, Wahle said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area to be Surveyed this Summer through Scallop RSA Program

June 2, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

At the request of the New England Fishery Management Council, NOAA Fisheries intends to take action to facilitate survey work this summer in the southern portion of the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) Scallop Management Area. The additional coverage will occur through the Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program. The agency is working to amend two previously approved RSA awards for 2017 scallop surveys on Georges Bank so that both surveys can be expanded to include coverage in the Gulf of Maine as follows.

  • Coonamessett Farm Foundation will receive an additional 12,000 pounds of scallop RSA allocation to: (1) survey portions of Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge with HabCam, a habitat mapping camera system; and (2) conduct complimentary scallop dredge surveys to collect biological samples. And,
  • The School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth will receive an additional 1,734

During its mid-April meeting, the Council voted to send a letter to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) asking the center to explore options for including the southern portion of the NGOM area in upcoming 2017 scallop surveys. A 2016 survey conducted by the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the University of Maine indicated that biomass in the NGOM had increased substantially since the last time the area was surveyed in 2012, but no additional survey work was scheduled for 2017.

Fishing effort increased significantly in 2016 and 2017 in the area, especially off Cape Ann and the northeastern portion of Stellwagen Bank. Consequently, the Council determined it needed the most updated biomass estimates possible to help inform the management of the NGOM going forward.

Read the full release here

Maine’s climate already changing, with more to come

June 2, 2017 — Though people tend to talk most about climate change during a heat wave or in the wake of a terrible storm, the reality is that it’s a slow, subtle shift that’s scarcely noticeable except over the long haul.

But scientists say that Maine is very much feeling its impact.

From a rise in the number of ticks to the decline in the number of northern shrimp offshore, the state is seeing the consequences of an increase in the average annual temperature by 3 degrees since 1895.

The frequency of extreme weather events, from ice storms to torrential rains, has been increasing and will likely to become even more common as the world heats up further, scientists warn.

The accompanying rise in ocean levels, caused by melting glaciers, means that salt marshes are in trouble, flood zones are growing and agricultural zones shifting.

And some say it will get worse if the country fails to take action on climate change.

“Maine is especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, where our environment and economy are so closely linked,” said Lisa Pohlmann, the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s executive director.

“Rising sea levels will flood our coastal towns, smog from upwind states will harm the lives of those with asthma, fast-warming waters in the Gulf of Maine will put commercial fisheries at risk, and warming weather threatens vital elements of our economy, like skiing, maple syrup production and ocean fisheries,” she said in a written statement.

A 2015 study by the Climate Change Institute and Maine Sea Grant at the University of Maine that updated an earlier state report on the issue lays out a troubling scenario for a state that depends heavily on tourism, recreation, logging, farming and fishing — all of which are likely to feel the pinch if scientific projections of what’s to come prove prescient.

Already, though, historical data shows warming trends.

For instance, information from the U.S. Climate Divisional Dataset cited by the University of Maine study shows the state’s warm weather season is two weeks longer now than it was a century ago. It’s 34 weeks now, records indicate, compared to 32 in the two decades leading up to World War I.

Read the full story at the Maine Sun Journal

Maine scientists, academics condemn Trump’s decision on climate accord, see consequences for state

June 2, 2017 — Maine scientists, academics and physicians were dismayed by President Trump’s decision Thursday to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, saying his action will endanger the health of Mainers and harm the state’s fisheries and agriculture.

The move will make the United States look ridiculous in the eyes of world leaders who are trying to effect change, one prominent scientist said.

“China and Europe will become the heroes and we will look like fools,” said Paul Mayewski, director of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.

Mayewski has led more than 55 expeditions to some of the remotest polar and high-altitude locations on Earth, has been published in more than 450 scientific publications, and led climate-change research programs in Antarctica, Greenland and Asia.

Mayewski said that while countries such as China are taking steps to reduce carbon emissions, the U.S., under Trump’s leadership, stands to lose credibility because it remains the second-largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world. He noted that Syria and Nicaragua were the only countries that did not sign the Paris climate agreement.

“We’re giving up, at least politically, the high road on being a leader in climate change,” he said.

Mayewski said Mainers could be harmed by the president’s decision. As temperatures continue to rise and weather patterns become more unstable, extreme heat will make more people vulnerable, especially the sick and the elderly. Climate change also will impact tourism and lobstering, Mayewski said. Health care costs also could increase.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine environmental advocates warn of ‘crippling’ cuts in Trump budget

May 26, 2017 — President Donald Trump has not backed off on a wide range of federal budget cuts and program eliminations that critics have for months warned would devastate Maine’s economy and environment.

The cuts to discretionary programs would disrupt scientific research and social services, hack funding to public broadcasting and Maine universities and scientific research institutions, and disrupt the economic prospects of fishing, forestry and former mill communities.

“It’s pretty much a full-on attack on environmental protection in America and would have a crippling impact here in Maine, because we depend so heavily on clean air, clean water, and a brand identity that is defined by our environment,” says Pete Didisheim, advocacy director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “There hasn’t been any positive motion with this final budget, if anything it’s gotten slightly worse.”

If the White House has its way, it would mean the end of the University of Maine’s Sea Grant program – which provides research and technical expertise to fishermen and other marine trades – the likely closure of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm, the end of a successful partnership program to clean-up Casco Bay and beach water quality testing statewide.

Pine Tree Legal Assistance, which provides legal aid to indigent citizens to pursuit civil suits and whose volunteers helped uncover the national “robo-signing” mortgage scandal, would lose its funding from the federal Legal Services Corporation, which is also slated for elimination.

Read the full story at CentralMaine.com