February 15, 2024 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources, in cooperation with the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, seeks four industry participants for the Regional Ventless Trap Program through a competitive bid process. This is an opportunity to participate in a cooperative research project between industry and scientists from Maine through Rhode Island.
MASSACHUSETTS: Lobstermen press pols to ease access to restricted areas
September 23, 2016 — Bay State lobstermen want federal fishing regulators to work with them to ease restrictions on lobstering in Massachusetts Bay and two areas east of the South Shore, proposing new safety measures that would allow boats to continue to operate while also protecting endangered whales.
Local lobstermen and leaders of the South Shore Lobster Fisherman’s Association met Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the State House with legislators and representatives for members of the state’s Congressional delegation to discuss their pitch for preventing whale entanglements without having to remove all traps from February through April.
John Haviland, president of the association who lobsters out of Green Harbor, said lobstermen are proposing to open three sections – representing a fraction of the larger 2,965 square nautical mile restricted area – for parts of the three-month ban as long as traps are retrofitted with sleeves for their vertical lines that would break every 40 feet under 1,575 pounds of pressure.
Haviland said the line-safety improvement proposal is based on research done by the New England Aquarium and Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute showing that right whales would be as much as 85 percent less likely to become entangled in lines engineered to break at those specifications.
“The point is not to repeal the closure. It’s to reach a compromise,” said State Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester.
MASSACHUSETTS: South Shore lobster fishermen seek exemption from closure
June 9, 2016 — Finding ways to share the seas with important marine creatures, such as right whales, while keeping business afloat is a priority for local lobstermen and fishermen.
Representatives from local fishermen’s associations may have a solution they hope can lead to an exemption in a federally mandated closure that grounds local fishermen from Feb. 1 to April 30.
The closure encompasses nearly 3,000 square nautical miles, including parts of Massachusetts Bay and the waters around Cape Cod. It was first implemented in 2015 and affects fishermen who use vertical lines, such as lobster fishermen.
The goal behind the closure is to protect the right whale from possible entanglements. Since before the closure began, the fishermen have been looking for a compromise so they can help protect the endangered species without hurting their livelihoods.
“The commercial lobstermen want to coexist with the right whale. I don’t want to kill the whale, and I want to catch lobsters. We need to come up with a plan to make everyone happy,” said John Haviland, a Marshfield fisherman and president of the South Shore Lobster Fisherman’s Association.
The solution that may be the key to an exemption is a type of sleeve local fishermen have been trying out for about two years.
The sleeves wrap around the vertical lines, which are cut into 40-foot segments. Though the lines themselves break at around 4,000 pounds of pressure, the sleeves break with about 1,700 pounds of pressure—about the strength of the whale.
Massachusetts lobstermen want to create in-state processing industry
March 12, 2016 — With two of the top five lobster ports in the state, the South Shore could see newly created jobs and increased income for its local fisherman if legislators pass a law clearing the way for lobster parts to be processed in Massachusetts.
The bill to allow shell-on lobster parts to be processed, transported and sold in the state passed the State Senate in January and is waiting on action by the House, possibly before April, said co-sponsor Rep. James Cantwell, D-Marshfield.
Approval would allow Massachusetts to compete with Maine lobster processors that are going up against the dominant players globally – lobster meat processors based in Canada’s Maritime Provinces.
The dynamics of the international lobster processing market are starting to shift. America exported about 69 million pounds of lobster to Canada in 2014, and the 2015 figure was less than 67 million, federal data show.
Massachusetts lobstermen are eager to enter this market, especially on the South Shore.
Andy Mays Honored with Maine DMR Award of Excellence
March 14, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:
Andy Mays a scalloper and lobster fisherman from Southwest Harbor has received the first annual Maine Department of Marine Resources Award of Excellence. The award, presented by DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher during the Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport, recognizes industry members who participate with the Department to ensure a sustainable future for Maine’s commercial fisheries. Mays was honored for his long-term service on DMR advisory councils.
“Through his work on DMR advisory councils over the years, Andy has set an exemplary standard of engagement and active participation for industry. As Commissioner I have come to rely on Andy for his informed, colorfully blunt and straightforward opinions and ideas. His advice and input is always a welcome and valuable contribution to the fisheries management process. There is no one more deserving of this first annual award.”
(Caption: Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher presents Andy Mays of Southwest Harbor with the first annual Award of Excellence. Photo courtesy of Mark Russell Photography)
RHODE ISLAND: Loberstermen Dispute Finding That New England Lobsters Are At Record Lows
March 4, 2016 — It’s been months since the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission released its latest report on how lobsters are faring in the Atlantic Coast. But it’s still a hot topic among fishermen in the Ocean State.
The latest lobster stock assessment found lobsters in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank are doing well; but lobsters in southern New England are not. Most southern New England fishermen disagree with that assessment, according to David Spencer, president of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation and a lobster fisherman.
“I don’t think all the fishermen are saying that things are tremendous and rosy,” said Spencer, “but I think the biggest disagreement seems to be in the severity of the assessment and fishermen think that the resource is actually a little bit better than that.”
Spencer said most fishermen have seen an uptick in the lobster population in the last couple of years and the assessment doesn’t reflect that progress because it’s based on data through 2013.
The assessment doesn’t include more recent data because it takes time to collect, enter and analyze data, explains Toni Kerns, director of the Interstate Fisheries Management Program at the commission.
MAINE: Questioning our Changing Oceans’ panel discussion at forum
March 1, 2016 — Climate change and its impact on the ocean and the fishing industry is the topic of the March 3 session of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, the Boothbay Register reported.
Thursday’s session will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.
“As a fisherman, I’m seeing things on the water that I have never experienced before, and I have questions about what this means that I can’t easily answer.” Gerry Cushman, a lobsterman out of Port Clyde and board member for the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, told the newspaper. “I spend most of my life on the water so the Maine Fishermen’s Forum is one of the few times, as a fisherman, I have the time to focus on the future of my industry.”
Read the full story at Maine Biz
Maine lobster industry wary as warm waters suggest repeat of disastrous 2012 season
February 4, 2016 — For those in the lobster industry, any sign of a return to the conditions of 2012 is cause for high anxiety.
Researchers say the industry needs to be prepared for that possibility because warming trends are laying the groundwork for a potential repeat of the disastrous season of four years ago.
“We learned a hard lesson in 2012,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.
Because of warm waters in the Gulf of Maine, peak harvesting started in May that year, weeks ahead of schedule. The catch jumped more than 20 percent, from 104 million pounds in 2011 to 127 million pounds in 2012. The shedding season, when lobsters lose their hard shells and grow new ones, typically happens in June and results in soft-shelled lobsters that are difficult to transport. In 2012, shedding began almost as soon as the lobstermen started pulling in traps, and extended into the fall.
As a result, prices paid to lobstermen fell to as low as $2 a pound.
Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, said Thursday that the stage is set for a possible repeat of 2012, at least weather-wise.
Pershing said five buoys that measure water temperatures around the gulf are all running above average, and three are at record highs.
“The average surface temperature across the entire Gulf of Maine is now slightly warmer than during the 2012 ocean heat wave,” Pershing said.
Read the full story at Portland Press Herald
Regulators postpone plan to try to preserve lobsters in southern New England
February 2, 2016 (AP) — Interstate fishing regulators have decided to hold off on starting the process of crafting a plan to try to preserve the dwindling southern New England lobster stock.
A board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Tuesday to postpone authorizing a new management plan for the fishery. A plan could address issues such as trap reductions and closed seasons for lobster fishermen.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at Portland Press Herald
MAINE: Port Clyde lobsterman recounts how he rescued fellow fishermen
January 29, 2016 — PORT CLYDE, Maine — A Port Clyde fisherman is being credited with saving the lives of two fellow lobstermen after their boat caught fire four miles south of Port Clyde.
Gerry Cushman was out on the water Thursday morning at around 10 a.m. when he heard a distress call from the Miss Lynn.
The mayday call said there was an engine fire.
Cushman realized he was only about three miles away from the boat and he rushed to the area.
When he found the distressed vessel it was engulfed in flames and the two men aboard were at the tip of the boat with the fire just about a foot away.