State and Local Archives - Page 3 of 899

MAINE: Scallop fishermen face tough choices after the federal fishery is paused

April 15, 2025 — Maine fishermen who participate in the federal Northern Gulf of Maine scallop fishery are stuck in regulatory limbo after the federal agency charged with implementing annual catch limits shut down the fishery temporarily last week.

Policy changes under the Trump administration sidelined the quota system last week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had set “default” quotas while a final funding decision was pending, but that 350,000-pound limit has been reached. Normally quotas run closer to 675,000 pounds, or 200 pounds per day, per fisherman.

The closure on Friday occurred just 11 days into the season.

While the early shut down is unprecedented, it should be temporary, according to Togue Brawn, who operates Bremen-based Downeast Dayboat Scallops and is a member of the New England Fishery Management Council, which recommends scallop quotas to the NOAA.

Read the full article at Mainebiz

MASSACHSUETTS: State setting new albie, bonito restrictions

April 15, 2025 — Island fishermen will likely need to pay close attention to their false albacore and Atlantic bonito catches this summer as Massachusetts regulators, for the first time ever, are poised to set a new, 16-inch length minimum and a combined, five-fish daily catch total for the two species.

The Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission approved the recommendation in late March in a 5-2-1 vote; final regulations are expected to be in place before the albie and bonito arrive to Vineyard waters in the summer.

The state’s division of Marine Fisheries has stated that the measures are precautionary, as there is no formal stock assessment for either species of fish. But while no formal study, the state has noted that recreational fishing of the two species has increased over the last few years across New England, and that is leading advocates to push for precautionary measures. State officials say that Atlantic bonito landings spiked this past year in Massachusetts, nearly six-fold the time-series median. The increase, state officials have noted, could be driven in part by a changing environment and warmer water temperatures increasing their local summertime availability, while other species have become less abundant.

While many Island fishermen are understanding of the Division of Marine Fisheries move to protect both of the species — two of the most popular sport fishes locally — some are questioning why the two are combined under one regulation and are pushing for bonito and albie to have individual sets of regulations.

Read the full article at MV Times

OREGON: Oregon’s Congressional delegation urges fishery disaster declaration

April 14, 2025 — U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley is leading his Democratic colleagues in the Oregon delegation—Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Val Hoyle (OR-04), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), and Janelle Bynum (OR-05)—in urging the U.S. Department of Commerce to declare a federal fishery resource disaster for the 2024 Oregon troll salmon fishery.

“We write to urge your expeditious approval of Oregon Governor Kotek’s request for a fishery resource disaster declaration under section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act for the Oregon troll salmon fishery. This declaration is critical to provide economic relief to Oregon’s fisheries and coastal communities in addition to protecting the sustainability of wild salmon populations,” the lawmakers state in a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce Director.

In 2024, Oregon’s troll salmon fishery struggled amid worsening effects of climate change, increased drought, shifting ocean conditions, and other impacts leading to poor salmon returns, the release states. Facing these significant challenges, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) estimates that 2024 Chinook salmon population levels were below forecasts, with 2025 Chinook salmon populations likely “not high enough to allow for target summer Chinook fisheries.

Read the full article at Cottage Grove Sentinel

MASSACHSUETTS: Massachusetts Commercial Fisheries Commission Holds Inaugural Meeting

April 11, 2025 — On April 8, 2025, the Massachusetts Commercial Fisheries Commission (CFC) met for the first time to discuss the purpose, role, and direction of this new public body created to strengthen coordination, communication, and support for Massachusetts nation-leading seafood industry for generations to come.

“The Healey-Driscoll Administration fully supports Massachusetts’ vibrant, iconic and economically valuable commercial fishing industry,” said EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “We are proud to establish Commercial Fisheries Commission and look forward to working with the seafood industry representatives to improve opportunities for our commercial fishers, seafood processors, dealers, restaurants, and other industry participants.”

“Commercial fishing is the oldest of industries in Massachusetts and critically important to the culture, economy, and identity of our coastal communities,” said DFG Commissioner Tom O’Shea. “We need to work collaboratively with the industry to ensure that we achieve conservation of our marine resources, long-term sustainable harvest, and a bright future for the people who depend on the incredible abundance and diversity of Massachusetts fisheries.”

“An important aspect of our mission is to promote and support the Commonwealth’s fisheries and seafood industry. The CFC will provide a valuable venue for interests from various ports and sectors of the seafood industry to come together and address the challenges and opportunities facing the industry state-wide,” said DMF Director and co-chair Daniel McKiernan. “I anticipate this will provide an opportunity to collaborate to promote economic development, address critical infrastructure upgrades, enhance input into offshore energy development projects, and promote strategies to secure the short and long-term sustainability of this legacy industry. I look forward to the opportunity to co-chair this public body and steer it towards success.”

Read the full article at Mass.gov

DELAWARE: Conservationists and fishing industry wrangle over how or whether to protect horseshoe crabs

April 11, 2025 — Delaware conservationists and the commercial fishing industry are still searching for ways of protecting horseshoe crabs and the species that depend on them while allowing fishermen to make their living without being further restricted by state quotas.

Ahead of the springtime arrival of thousands of horseshoe crabs to spawn on Delaware beaches, environmentalists and some state lawmakers are discussing a possible bill that would ban the harvest of the ancient creatures in Delaware waters.

But the case for banning the harvest for bait – as New Jersey did in its waters more than a decade ago — is weakened by data from several credible sources showing that the population of the ancient creatures in Delaware Bay is increasing, thanks to a ban on the harvesting of female crabs imposed since 2012 by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a federal regulator.

Still, it’s not clear whether growing numbers of horseshoe crabs spawning on the beaches are also increasing the quantity of crab eggs that sustain shore birds, notably the red knot, during their globe-spanning migrations. Egg-density, a crucial measure of the crabs’ ability to feed the birds, is still just a fraction of what it was before red knot numbers crashed starting in the late 1990s when too many horseshoe crabs were removed from bay beaches by the commercial fishing industry.

The knot’s failure to recover in any significant way since then was cited by the commission in its decision for the last two years to continue its ban on harvesting female crabs, while issuing quotas to Delaware and the three other bay states – New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia – for the harvest of the far more numerous male crabs.

After deciding for the last two fishing seasons against allowing the female harvest to resume, the commission is now considering extending that for multiple years, and held a public hearing last month to gather comments.

Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, which implements horseshoe crab quotas set by the commission, said it remains opposed to any restart of the female harvest.

Read the full article at Delaware Public Media

WASHINGTON: Washington commission approves new line marking rule for Dungeness crab fishery

April 11, 2025 — State regulators in Washington have approved a new line marking rule for traps used in the state’s Dungeness crab fishery in the hopes of reducing the risk vertical lines pose to whales.

“These proposed regulations are instrumental in advancing conservation efforts around whale entanglements,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Coastal Marine Fisheries Whale Entanglement Coordinator Megan Hintz said in February, when the changes were first proposed.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Southeast king salmon harvest limit cut by 60,000 this year

April 10, 2025 — The 2025 Southeast Alaska harvest limit for king salmon will be almost 40% less than last year, a drop of 60,000 fish.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game on April 1 announced an overall allocation of 130,800 treaty king salmon — fish that don’t originate in Alaska hatcheries — for all gear groups targeting kings in waters off Southeast Alaska and Yakutat.

In recent years, Southeast Alaska’s all-gear allocation has ranged between a high of 355,600 treaty kings in 2016 down to 130,000 in 2018, Fish and Game records show. The regionwide king quota for all commercial and sport fishermen averaged about 200,900 kings a year from 2020 through 2024.

This year’s all-gear catch limit was set based on measures of king abundance calculated by the Pacific Salmon Commission’s “chinook model,” and did not incorporate annual data from the winter troll fishery in Sitka Sound, which the commission had used in recent years through 2023 to estimate the abundance of kings in Southeast and to set the all-gear allocation for the region.

The commission is tasked with implementing the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty. It regulates the catch for migratory king populations along the west coast of both countries.

The commission allocates the king salmon catch between the U.S. and Canada, and the Alaska Board of Fisheries approves management plans to split Alaska’s catch between different gear types and user groups, such as sport and commercial.

Read the full article at Wrangell Sentinel

ALASKA: Alaska accuses prominent Kodiak family of widespread fishing permit fraud

April 10, 2025 — State prosecutors have accused Kodiak fisher Duncan Fields and other members of his family of defrauding the state and fish buyers through a coordinated scheme that involved committing perjury and manipulating permits.

Court documents filed Monday state that Fields and his family, who operate Fields and Sons Inc., illegally earned more than $1 million by temporarily transferring various salmon setnet permits to crew members, allowing the family to bypass state limits on individual ownership.

Fields, whose family has been setnetting in Kodiak since 1961, denied the state’s claims, saying by text that the “charges stem from the gifting of limited entry permits to family and crew, something my family and I have done for more than 30 years. This is a common practice in the industry, and we believe that our family has been singled out to try to set an example with a unique application of existing statutes. The charges are not supported by the facts.”

The criminal accusations against the Fields family — which include multiple felonies — surprised fishers and have implications beyond Kodiak.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

MAINE: Students help scientists count baby scallops

April 10, 2025 — Students from Deer Isle-Stonington High School, all members of the Eastern Maine Skippers Program, gathered on April 4 at the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries in Stonington to count scallop spat in an effort to predict where beds of the bivalve mollusk might appear.

Spat is the term researchers use to describe post-larval, or juvenile, scallops. These tiny creatures, measuring roughly 1/8 inch, will mature over time into the delicious scallops treasured by diners.

The spat, members of the species Plactopecten magellanicus, or Atlantic deep-sea scallop, are found from North Carolina to the Gulf of St Lawrence. Local scallops are either harvested in the wild near shore or raised in one of several local aqua farms in and around Penobscot Bay.

Read the full article at Penobscot Bay Press

MASSACHUSETTS: What’s new with wind projects off Massachusetts and beyond?

April 9, 2025 — By sight, the offshore wind industry seems to be moving forward on the East Coast. Gargantuan, bright white turbine towers stand tall against New Bedford’s busy waterfront, and poke above I-95 as cars whiz by over the Thames River in New London. But the future of the industry beyond these active projects is uncertain at best under a hostile Trump administration.

In late March, Massachusetts announced another delay of contracts between state utilities and two projects that together promise to power more than 1.5 million homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The state said uncertainty about federal policy was a factor.

The Trump administration, through executive order, effectively froze new permits for offshore wind in January. That has empowered opponents to mount even more legal challenges to projects — including some in March from Nantucket town officials and activists.

The federal government could pause still-pending projects for at least the next four years, eventually leaving New Bedford and New London’s purpose-built marine terminals empty once again. And in an extreme scenario, the administration could even try to stop the projects that are already under construction.

Yet Massachusetts is counting on offshore wind to meet its climate goals of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and achieving net-zero emissions (meaning the state offsets or removes as much carbon as it emits) by 2050.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light