Saving Seafood

September 8-14 is #FindYourSeafoodWeek

September 3, 2024 — The following was released by the The Local Catch Network:

The Local Catch Network (LCN), based in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, is facilitating the fourth annual #FindYourSeafoodWeek (#FYSW) to connect community members directly with fishing families and seafood harvesters and to raise awareness of community-based fisheries across the United States and Canada.

Find Your Seafood Week is a social media campaign that runs from September 8-14 and increases the visibility of domestic seafood harvesters and businesses that participate in direct marketing — in other words, selling their catch directly to consumers, rather than relying on complex and often murky supply chains.
The initiative is focused on highlighting the importance of community-based fisheries in building resilient local and regional seafood systems. Through extensive data analysis and calculations, University of Maine researchers found the U.S. could achieve seafood independence (Oyikeke, 2024). “There is a tendency to forget that seafood is an integral part of the nation’s food system, but achieving greater seafood independence can improve equity, health and buffers from climate change,” said Joshua Stoll, UMaine associate professor of marine policy. For home cooks, and restaurants wanting to be part of the solution, knowing how to find and support community-based fisheries that provide high quality, sustainably-harvested seafood is critical to the behavior change necessary to move towards domestic seafood self-reliance.
“If we want to see our oceans thrive for generations to come, it is critical that we vote with our dollars when we access the seafood system,” says Laughton Elliott-DeAngelis, Local Catch Network Coordinator, “Using the LCN Seafood Finder allows families to bypass the mega-conglomerate grocery stores whose global supply chains are often environmentally unsustainable, fraught with human exploitation and harmful to ecosystems throughout the world. Seafood harvesters within the Local Catch Network align with a set of core values and practices which ensure a triple bottom line. Profits shouldn’t be made at the grave expense of people and the planet”
The Local Catch Network invites community members to join the “boat-to-fork” movement by using the Seafood Finder to learn more about community-based fishing businesses, the locations they operate, the number of fishermen they partner with, and the types of catch they offer during #FindYourSeafoodWeek and beyond.
For information on how to participate in #FindYourSeafoodWeek, check out our campaign toolkit and follow LCN on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
To access the Seafood Finder tool, visit https://finder.localcatch.org/.
About Local Catch Network
The Local Catch Network, based at the University of Maine, is an inclusive, values-based network of 500+ seafood harvesters, researchers, and community organizations from across North America. LCN members support and promote safe, direct, transparent and profitable “boat-to-fork” systems of local and regional seafood distribution, such as Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) and similar models. Members of the Local Catch Network align with a set of core values that aim to create a higher level of accountability and trust, both internally within the network and externally to the public. LCN is governed by a volunteer Executive Committee responsible for supporting the growth and development of the network, with backbone support from the North American Marine Alliance. FMI: https://localcatch.org/.
For media inquires, contact Laughton Elliott-DeAngelis at info@localcatch.org

Transformation of ocean management is underway, study finds

May 12, 2024 — Marine ecosystem-based management (EBM) is a growing practice of ocean stewardship and conservation that offers benefits to the production of healthy, local food and the preservation of clean water, as well as recreation, habitation and storm protection in the Gulf of Maine and beyond.

Despite its benefits and recognition as a keystone practice of ocean stewardship and conservation, adoption of EBM has been slow to take hold. The first mention of EBM was included in U.S. fisheries management guidance documents more than 20 years ago.

Resource managers and policymakers need a proof-of-concept that this approach can occur incrementally with existing resources and tools. Previous management efforts have been implemented sector by sector focused on fisheries or navigation, but a transformation in ocean management to enable more ecosystem-based approaches is underway.

To support this change in ocean management, a group of researchers and practitioners, including University of Maine  professor Heather Leslie, have investigated the global progress of marine EBM initiatives.

Read the full article at PHYS.org

Who’s hungry for squid fins? The University of Maine is betting you will be

January 10, 2023 — When most people think calamari, they think of breaded rings with dipping sauce, a staple appetizer at many restaurants. What most folks may not know is that a large portion of squid caught for food is usually tossed out in the trash. Now, a joint project between a Rhode Island-based seafood company and the University of Maine at Orono is looking to address a major source of food waste associated with squid by preparing it in new ways.

“About half of it is usually disposed of in landfills,” said Denise Skonberg, a professor of food science at the university who is heading up the project.

Squid have fins which, while often cut off and discarded, are just as edible as any other part of the animal. The university’s project aims to prove to people that they can be just as delicious. The two-year project seeks to develop new products made from squid fins that can be mass-produced and frozen for foodservice companies that already carry and sell the calamari.

The project is a joint effort between the university and The Town Dock, a wholesale calamari product company based in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Read the full article at Spectrum News

Bed-scale impact and recovery of a commercially important intertidal seaweed

February 17, 2023 — A study led by the University of Maine captured how entire rockweed beds recover from harvest, and the practice has a smaller impact than previously thought.

Rockweed wields immense influence over its intertidal habitat. Its tangled branches form the backbone of a rich ecosystem that shelters and feeds an abundance of marine life. Everywhere rockweed grows, invertebrates, fish and fowl follow.

The marine alga has also been valued as a soil amendment for centuries, and more recently as crop biostimulants. The Maine Department of Marine Resources reports that commercial  has more than tripled over the past 20 years. Rockweed grows back following harvest, with biomass recovering faster than height. This change, combined with climbing harvest pressure, has led to concern regarding the practice. Harvesters, landowners, ecologists and community scientists want to understand how cutting and removing rockweed affects the ecosystem it creates.

Read the full article at PHYS.org

Salmon deplete fat stores while stopped at dams, UMaine study shows Avatar photo

February 10, 2023 — Restoration of the critically endangered Atlantic salmon is an important issue in the rivers of Maine. Dams on Maine rivers have long been known to impact fish populations, but a new study led by the University of Maine quantifying the time and energy lost by Atlantic salmon stopped by dams indicate that the structures might have even more of an impact than once thought.

Atlantic salmon return to the rivers of Maine from the ocean every spring to make the long, arduous swim upstream to spawn in freshwater. When the fish are stopped by dams, they are stuck in warmer waters for longer than expected, which can deplete the fat they have stored up to power their journey. The stored energy isn’t just used for migration, but also producing gametes, developing secondary sexual traits and spawning.

“Salmon limit the food they eat in freshwater, so excess energy lost during their migration doesn’t get replaced,” says Sarah Rubenstein, who completed her masters of science in wildlife ecology at the University of Maine in 2021. “However, spawning takes a lot of energy, so the more energy reserves salmon have left after migrating and during spawning, the more likely they will be at successfully reproducing. This is particularly important here in Maine where Atlantic salmon populations have been on the decline since the 1800s.”

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

U of Maine Lobster Study Aims to Protect State’s Vital Fishing Industry

December 28, 2022 — Researchers at the University of Maine are studying how warming Arctic waters flowing into the Gulf of Maine are affecting the region’s lobster population, in an effort to protect both the famous shellfish and the communities that depend on it.

Already, scientists say warming ecosystems have caused a decline in the survival rates of larval lobster and forced some lobster populations to move to colder areas further north.

Richard Wahle, director of the University of Maine Lobster Institute, said what happens in the Arctic unfortunately doesn’t stay there.

“Lobsters are now the elephant in the room,” Wahle emphasized. “And if things turn down for lobster, it’s going to have some really important consequences.”

Read the full article at Public News Service

 

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