State and Local

August 19, 2014 — Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Tuesday the creation of the Virginia Oyster Trail, a major tourism development project that includes King George, Stafford and Westmoreland counties.

The trail, which is under development, will help connect travelers to Virginia oyster purveyors, raw bars, restaurants and the watermen culture throughout coastal Virginia, the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula and Eastern Shore.

“Virginia produces the best oysters in the world and as the oyster industry continues to grow, we want to let it be known that Virginia is also the oyster capital of the East Coast,” McAuliffe said in a news release.

“In addition to growing, harvesting and selling the best oysters, our watermen are providing good jobs in their communities, generating revenue and tax dollars throughout their region, and helping improve the environment of the Chesapeake Bay as their oysters filter millions of gallons of water each day,” he said.

Read the full story from the Fredericksburg Freelance-Star

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — August 19, 2014 — A parade of boats powering bright lights at night is showing up between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara, very close to shore.

"We have a squid run going on right out in front of Santa Barbara," said Santa Barbara Harbor Operations Manager Mick Kronman.

Squid fishermen who normally find their catch by the Channel Islands, Monterey, Gaviota or Malibu, have located a massive population  just a few minutes off the coast between Ventura and Santa Barbara.

"This is a highly sustainable fishery. It's regulated by quotas  even though 118 thousand tons a year seems like a lot this is a massive volume of  fish they are fishing on," said Kronman.

What's caught the public's eye at night are the bright lights off each boat. They bring the squid to the surface, and the haul is caught in large nets. Then it's off to the markets, and not necessarily close to home.

Read the full story and watch the video from KEYT

August 18, 2014 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The state Department of Fish and Game is sending representatives to New Bedford and Gloucester this week to help commercial groundfishing permit holders fill out the forms necessary for receiving a share of the $6.3 million in fisheries disaster aid approved by Congress earlier this year.

The New Bedford session will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Coast Marine Fisheries Station, Quest Center, 1213 Purchase St.

Forms were mailed to 201 entities home ported in Massachusetts after those entities received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Service, telling them they may be eligible for assistance.

The qualifications are based on the reported groundfish landings history. Permit holders who qualify will receive $32,500 for each permit.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

August 18, 2014 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher has appointed the members of the group that will determine criteria for ecologically sensitive areas that should be closed to rockweed harvesting on the Maine coast. The Rockweed Working Group (Working Group) consists of scientists and others with expertise in relevant issues outlined last year by the team that developed the statewide management plan for rockweed.

"The group I selected for this important effort has a remarkable depth of relevant knowledge, expertise and experience,” said Commissioner Keliher. “I appreciate the commitment each is showing to this fishery and to Maine’s coastal ecology.”

Members of the Working Group include Dr. Brian Beal, Professor of Marine Ecology at the University of Maine, Machias. Dr. Beal has published numerous peer-reviewed studies on marine organisms including clams, lobster, quahogs, eelgrass, kelp, rockweed and scallops. Dr. Beal was also a member of the rockweed Plan Development Team (PDT).

Also on the Working Group is Dr. Jim Gilbert, a retired Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Maine. Dr. Gilbert is best known for marine mammal research, having served on the Northeast Atlantic Seal Research Consortium, the Atlantic Marine Mammal Species Status Review Group, and the Guild of Maine Pinniped-Aquaculture Interaction Task Force. Dr. Gilbert has also authored or co-authored peer-reviewed publications on marine mammals, seabirds and other sea life.

Dave Preston, an expert in the area of mechanical harvesting is also among the Working Group members. Preston is employed by North American Kelp in Waldoboro where his responsibilities include quality control, organic certification, and harvester management. Preston is a current member of the Maine Seaweed Council and served on the rockweed PDT.

Nancy Sferra, the Director of Science and Stewardship at The Nature Conservancy will also serve on the Working Group. A former PDT member, Sferra brings expertise in wildlife biology and land conservation experience to the Working Group. Prior to becoming the Director of Science and Stewardship, Nancy served as the Southern Maine Preserves Manager and Land Steward for The Nature Conservancy.

Lindsay Tudor, a Wildlife Biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will fill the final spot on the Working Group. Tudor is the current non-game bird specialist for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife focusing on conservation planning, inventory, research, and outreach for shorebirds, terns and harlequin ducks. Tudor has conducted research on birds throughout Maine and has co-authored two peer-reviewed publications on shorebirds.

The Department solicited nominations for the Working Group in July, seeking individuals with expertise not only in rockweed harvesting and ecology, but also in areas relevant to discussion of protection for sensitive wildlife areas and conserved lands.
The Working Group was recommended by the rockweed fishery management PDT as a way to create guidelines for establishing areas along Maine’s coast that are closed to harvesting rockweed.

The rockweed PDT worked last year on the first fishery management plan (FMP) authorized by the legislature. Management plans will also be developed for lobster and other marine resources. FMPs will serve as guidance documents that include such things as management goals and objectives, biological information, a description of the fishery, stock status, current management measures, recommendations to achieve goals, current research and future research needs, and an ecosystem based characterization of the resource. 

The Working Group will likely hold its first meeting in late September 2014 and will conduct monthly meetings through January 15, 2015 when it will present a report to the Marine Resources Committee. Notices of the meetings will be published in the media and on the Maine Department of Marine Resources website.  Each meeting will provide an opportunity for public input and will feature outside experts on issues including shorebirds and marine mammals.

A copy of the rockweed Fishery Management Plan and other related information can be found on the Department of Marine Resources website at http://www.maine.gov/dmr/rm/rockweed/index.htm. For more information on the rockweed Working Group, contact DMR Policy Development Specialist Chris Vonderweidt at 624-6558.

CONTACT: Jeff Nichols, Maine Department of Marine Resources, 207-624-6569

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (NECN) — August 15, 2014 — In Maine, lobstermen like the lobsters to arrive at the same time as the tourists – in July.

That hasn't been the case the last few years, with warming ocean waters causing the soft shell lobsters to come in long before anyone expected to see them. This summer, those in the industry are enjoying what they say is a return to normal.

Bayley's Lobster Pound in Scarborough will go through 300,000 pounds of lobster a year, and in the summer, they can serve more than 2,000 customers in a day.

Busy, yes – but without the stress of the last two years, when warming ocean waters lead lobsters to molt too early, causing a glut on the market when no one was in Maine to eat them.

Read the full story and watch the video from WCSH

August 18, 2014 — Annual memorial service honors those lost at sea.

Gloucester’s annual Fishermen’s Memorial Service, held Saturday at the city’s Fishermen’s Memorial and in the shadow of its iconic Man At The Wheel statue, paid tribute to those within the fishing industry who have “gone down to the sea in ships” over nearly four centuries of fishing out of America’s Oldest Seaport.

But this year’s event also offered poignant reminders of the faces of those left behind from the more than 5,000 names inscribed on the Memorial’s Cenotaph, with family members from some of the more recent tragedies at sea turning out.

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times

 

August 18, 2014 — Fishermen and permit holders eligible for the federal direct financial assistance contained in the $14.5 million headed to Massachusetts can get hands-on help filling out the state vendor forms on Friday at the Division of Marine Fisheries Annisquam Station office on Emerson Avenue.

The DMF and state Department of Fish and Game have scheduled the workshop, set for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., to answer questions and assist in the completion of the forms.

The scheduling of the workshop comes less than a week after NOAA announced it has approved Massachusetts’ grant application for the distribution of the $6.3 million in direct financial assistance to about 200 permit holders, each of whom will receive a check for $32,500 per permit.

Permit holders must become state vendors in order to receive the assistance. Those who do could receive their assistance checks within the next two or three weeks.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

PORTLAND, Maine — August 15, 2014 — Maine regulators want to shut down several waterways to scallop fishing in the upcoming season as they continue attempts to rebuild the fishery.

The news comes as Maine's Department of Marine Resources is warning fishermen that the coming season will likely include emergency closures depending on the amount of scallops harvested. The season runs from December to April.

State officials are considering a plan released this week that would shut down Eastern Casco Bay, Damariscotta River, Ocean Point and Lower Muscle Ridge.
Another area, Muscle Ridge, would be open twice a week. Municipal mooring fields in Blue Hill Harbor, Western Blue Hill Bay, Bartlett's Harbor, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor and Somes Sound Harbor would also be shut down for scallop dragger boats, officials said.

The regulations are designed to "rebuild the scallop resource" while giving scalloping fishermen a chance to fish, said Trisha DeGraaf, a coordinator with the marine resources department.

Maine's scallop catch typically exceeded a million pounds of meat from the late 1970s to the mid-'90s, but then declined dramatically, spurring new state regulations. The fishery bottomed out at 33,141 pounds in the 2005 calendar year before starting to recover. Fishermen caught 424,547 pounds in 2013 — the highest mark since 2000.

Read the full story at SFGate.com

 

HONOLULU, Hawaii — August 11, 2014 — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hosted a town hall meeting to discuss the possible expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument located in the south-central Pacific Ocean. KITV had the opportunity to speak with both environmental and fishing advocates in attendance.

While environmental advocates promote the need to preserve a greater percentage of the ocean, fisheries advocates at the meeting emphasized the economic toll that such restrictions would take on Hawaii's fishing community.

Watch the video from KITV

August 14, 2014 — There’s a great big target on the backs of predator green crabs now, thanks to rule changes by the Maine Department of Marine Resources that went into effect this week.

As of Aug. 10, commercial fishermen no longer need a special license to harvest and sell green crabs and don’t have to report their green crab harvests to the state. Lobstermen will now be allowed to take them as bycatch. And when the Sheepscot, Damariscotta and Medomak rivers are closed for fishing other species of crabs between Dec. 1 and April 30, fishermen will still be able to harvest green crabs from those waters.

Public and private efforts are underway to rid Maine’s coastal waters of the invasive species, which preys on the state’s valuable shellfish population and wreaks havoc on eel grass. Although the crustaceans, which can be anywhere from 2½ to 5 inches long, have been reported in Maine for more than a century, scientists speculate that warming ocean temperatures have allowed the crabs to multiply.

The crabs feast on bivalves such as softshell clams, which are Maine’s third most lucrative fishery. In 2013, 10.6 million pounds of softshell clams were valued at $16.9 million. But that was down from 11.1 million landed in 2012, according to the DMR, a decline partly attributable to damage from green crabs.

In December, hundreds of researchers gathered at the University of Maine in Orono to discuss the issue at a Green Crab Summit. In February, Gov. Paul LePage ordered the creation of a task force to study their impact and potential solutions. A a result, Brunswick, Freeport, West Bath and Harpswell are studying the most effective ways to trap green crabs.

Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald