Saving Seafood

MAINE: Lobstermen Down East throw cold water on state plan to protect whales

January 10, 2020 — Fishermen in the heart of Maine’s $485 million lobster industry don’t like a state proposal to protect endangered right whales from buoy lines, arguing that it forces them to give up too much to fix a problem they aren’t causing.

About 75 people packed a local lobster board meeting in Deer Isle on Thursday night to vent about the plan, which they argue is overly complicated, puts them in danger and is unlikely to help the species it is trying to save.

“I wonder why the state made it so confusing and so difficult,” said Richard “Dick” Larrabee Jr. of Stonington. “This is stupid. I don’t want you to pass this because this does not work. It makes us look like a bunch of monkeys.”

The Deer Isle meeting was the first stop in the state Department of Marine Resources’ monthlong presentation of its right whale plan to the local lobster zone councils in each of Maine’s seven lobster fishing zones, from Whiting to Kennebunk.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Baby right whale spotted with deep wounds off Georgia coast

January 10, 2020 — A newborn right whale spotted off the coast of Georgia was suffering from deep cuts on either side of its head, dismaying conservationists who closely monitor the southeast U.S. coast during winter for births among the critically endangered species.

The S-shaped gashes, roughly 2 feet (0.6 meters) apart, were likely inflicted by the propeller of a boat, said Barb Zoodsma, who oversees the right whale recovery program in the U.S. Southeast for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

She said Thursday humans may be helpless to do anything to treat the injured calf.

“If this was a human baby, this calf would be in the NICU right now,” Zoodsma said, referring to a hospital’s intensive care unit for babies. “… And it’s highly unlikely that we can fix this animal.”

Crews searched by air and by boat Thursday in an attempt to relocate the wounded whale and its mother, which were first spotted Wednesday. But they couldn’t be found, said Allison Garrett, a National Marine Fisheries Service spokeswoman. She said inclement weather moving into the area could prevent further searches until next week.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

MAINE: DMR submits whale rule proposal

January 8, 2020 — Nearly 10 months ago, Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher shocked Maine lobstermen with an announcement that the National Marine Fisheries Service had determined that right whale mortalities resulting from interactions with fishing gear would have to be reduced by 60 to 80 percent.

In late spring, the fisheries service proposed rules recommended by its Large Whale Take Reduction Team that would force lobstermen to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines in the water by as much as 50 percent and use weaker rope.

Those rules raised safety and practicality concerns within the fishing community and many lobstermen said they would have little or no impact on whale mortalities in the Gulf of Maine.

Last week, DMR submitted a detailed counterproposal to the federal fisheries agency that, according to Keliher, addressed those issues.

“This proposal is the result of a rigorous analysis of data combined with critically important input from industry,” Keliher said Friday. “The outcome is a plan that will not only protect right whales, but will also safeguard the lives and livelihoods of Maine fishermen.”

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Why Scientists Are Counting Whales from Space

January 7, 2020 — Scientists from the New England Aquarium and the Massachusetts-based engineering firm Draper are teaming up to save the whales. The researchers are weaving together a myriad of data in order to create a probability map of where whales might travel to and why. Knowing where whales go can help scientists better understand the environmental conditions that most impact the various species, reports 90.9 WBUR.

Changing water temperatures, for example, can shift where populations of krill, plankton, and fish—common food sources for whales—may go. Shipping lanes can also impact how whale populations travel: From 2010 to 2014, there were 37 reported ship strikes along the east coast of Canada and the U.S. and in the Gulf of Mexico, according to NOAA Fisheries data. Recent evidence has suggested that the ocean is getting noisier, which can stress whales and alter their behavior. (Luckily, groups like the U.S. Navy are taking note.)

In order to track these whales, the team plans to tap reliable sources of sonar, radar and satellite data to keep a watchful eye on our planet’s largest mammals. Eventually, the team hopes to input this data—collected from European Space Agency satellites to amateur radio operators—into an algorithm that will process that data and then track whales’ movements.

Read the full story at Popular Mechanics

US state of Maine moves forward with kinder, gentler whale reg recommendations

January 7, 2020 — The US state of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) on Friday moved forward with its earlier-proposed recommendations for helping to preserve endangered North Atlantic right whales by putting all of the emphasis on federal waters.

Maine, which is responsible for the largest share by far of the United State’s North America lobster production, submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) a lengthy set of online documents.

The plan is similar to one put forth in October by the state.

Ultimately, it’ll be up to NMFS to publish a proposed rule, also taking into consideration a tougher set of recommendations shared by the US’ Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, a NOAA advisory panel made up of fishermen, scientists, conservationists, and state and federal officials from Maine to Florida, in April 2019.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Canadian snow crabbers outraged by US lawmakers’ call for ban

January 7, 2020 — Robert Hache, director general of the Association Des Crabiers Acadiens, a trade group that represents some 115 snow crabbers in Canada’s Gulf of Saint Lawrence, has a few choice words for the four US state of Maine lawmakers who recently sent a letter to Wilbur Ross, secretary of the US Department of Commerce.

The letter calls for the president Donald Trump administration to ban the import of Canadian snow crabs, suggesting their fishing practices are more responsible for the decline of endangered North American right whales than those of Maine lobster harvesters.

“I find it so demoralizing to see public figures use fake facts or lies to simply put blame on an industry in order to support their own political interests,” Hache told Undercurrent News. “This is very saddening.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

REMINDER: Ad Hoc Southern Resident Killer Whale Workgroup to meet January 8-9, 2020

January 7, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Workgroup (Workgroup) will hold a two-day meeting that is open to the public.  The meeting will begin Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time and recess at 5 p.m.  It will continue at 9 a.m. Thursday, January 9, and will end at 2 p.m. The meeting times are an estimate; the meetings will adjourn when business for the day is complete.

Please see the SRKW Workgroup meeting notice on the Council’s website for further details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Ms. Robin Ehlke  at 503-820-2410; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

Maine Seeks to Aid Lobstermen as Federal Whale Protections Loom

January 6, 2020 — Maine is making its voice heard as a federal effort to stop right whales from dying takes shape.

On Friday, the state’s Department of Marine Resources released a plan it says protects the endangered whales and lobstermen, whom the feds say need to do more to prevent traps and lines from killing the whale.

Maine’s suggestions include having lobstermen use ropes with weak points the whales could easily break and calls for a 25% reduction in the amount of vertical trap lines.

“It’s been a really difficult process, no question about it,” said Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Maine’s DMR. “We spent a lot of time with the industry, we made some people happy and some people mad.”

Read the full story at NBC 10

West Coast fisheries took steps to protect whales, turtles in 2019

January 6, 2020 — West Coast fisheries cleaned up their act in 2019, with new rules to promote sustainable fishing practices and new alliances to protect ecological and economic interests.

The changes include approval of new gear that reduces unwanted catch, safeguards for delicate bottom habitat, and guidelines for managing whole ocean ecosystems, instead of handling species separately.

Those regulations reflect input from regulators, conservationists and fishermen and represent unprecedented compromises among groups that often have been at odds.

In September, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council approved new “deep set buoy” gear for swordfish, to avoid snaring turtles, marine mammals and other unintended catch. Swordfish have typically been caught using vast drift gillnets set overnight, which often ensnare other fish species, sharks, and marine mammals. The new method allows fishermen to drop hooks into deeper waters where swordfish forage during the day, catching the prized fish without ensnaring other animals.

Then, in November, the body voted to uphold an existing ban on longline fisheries on the open ocean off the West Coast. That fishery had been closed to West Coast fishermen since 1989 because of the high numbers of non-target fish and other animals that were caught.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

Maine Plan Aims to Reduce Lobstering Impact on Right Whales

January 3, 2020 — Maine‘s proposal for protecting endangered right whales from entanglements in lobster gear would maintain the status quo for inshore waters where most traps are located while reducing the number of trap lines farther offshore, officials said Friday.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources submitted the proposal to the federal government, which plans to issue new rules in the spring or summer for protecting North Atlantic right whales. The whales number only about 400 and are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.

The proposal would make no change to an inshore area that comprises more than two-thirds of state waters, while total trap lines would be reduced farther offshore.

The proposal would also set requirements for “weak” points in trap lines that would allow an entangled whale to break free and require unique color markings to differentiate Maine lobster lines from trap lines used by fishermen from other states.

The rules come at a time when lobstermen are concerned about a drop in the catch of the state’s signature seafood.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News