Saving Seafood

News for the New England Region

MAINE: Town maps fishing areas in effort to reduce aquaculture conflicts

November 20, 2024 — Harpswell’s Aquaculture Working Group has created a new map of local commercial fishing areas, urging state officials to use it when evaluating applications for aquaculture leases to help avoid conflicts with fishermen.

However, a Maine Department of Marine Resources official told the group at a recent meeting that a locally generated map can’t be used as the sole basis for denying a lease application. Still, the official praised the effort and said the map would be helpful for planning and information purposes.

The Harpswell Select Board created the working group in May based on a recommendation from the town’s Marine Resources Committee.

Read the full article at the Harpswell Anchor 

RHODE ISLAND: U.S. Coast Guard investigates report of diesel spill from vessel that ran aground in Narragansett

November 19, 2024 — The United States Coast Guard is investigating the report of diesel in Narragansett Bay around Austin Hollow after a vessel ran aground Monday morning.

Virginia Wave, a commercial fishing vessel, ran aground 1 nautical mile north of the Beavertail Light, and was reported listing, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Motor vessel Deep Cygnus responded and aided in the rescue of all four of Virginia Wave’s passengers, and the Jack M commercial fishing vessel took the passengers on board.

Later that morning, the Virginia Wave was able to successfully float due to the incoming tide and the crew was transferred back to the vessel.

During the Jamestown Police Marine’s initial response, units reported it noticed the smell of diesel and a visible sheen coming from the Virginia Wave.

Read the full article at ABC 6

MASSACHUSETTS: Town Turns Its Attention To Next Wind Farm On The Horizon: SouthCoast Wind

November 18, 2024 — Even as the town continues to address the fallout from the July 13th blade failure at Vineyard Wind, it is now turning its attention to the next offshore wind farm slated to be built in the waters off Nantucket.

SouthCoast Wind is a 2,400 megawatt offshore wind project slated for an area approximately 23 miles southwest of the island consisting of 149 wind turbines, each standing 1,066 feet tall – even higher than Vineyard Wind’s turbines which are 853 feet tall. The project recently secured key state permits and completed an environmental review by the federal government.

The final environmental impact statement for SouthCoast Wind released by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) concluded that the visibility of SouthCoast Wind’s turbines “would have long-term, continuous, and moderate impacts on the Nantucket Historic District.”

The town is already objecting to SouthCoast Wind’s proposed mitigation efforts – just $150,000 for historic property surveys and archeological assessments – to limit the impact of the offshore energy development on the island.

Read the full article at Nantucket Current

MAINE: Ocean wind power supporters ponder future in Maine after Trump win

November 18, 2024 — On the campaign trail, president elect Donald Trump lashed out against ocean wind energy and declared he would stop the industry’s development.

But offshore wind power supporters in Maine said while they expect roadblocks ahead, a single presidential administration is unlikely to derail the state’s long-term plans.

Chris Wissemann, the CEO of Diamond Offshore Wind is clear-eyed about what a second Trump administration means for his industry.

“I think it’s inevitable that commercial scale offshore wind slows down,” Wissemann said.

But he doesn’t expect Maine’s plans to build the first floating offshore wind array in the U.S. will come to a dead stop.

Diamond Wind, a Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary, is the state’s commercial partner on a planned 10-turbine demonstration project in leased federal water in the Gulf of Maine. It’s the first stage of the state’s plans to become a regional epicenter for a new floating offshore wind industry.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Environmental NGO plans lawsuit against Cooke over alleged water pollution at Maine-based salmon farms

November 18, 2024 — The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has sent a letter to Cooke Inc. CEO Glenn Cooke announcing its intent to sue the company over alleged Clean Water Act violations at its salmon farms in the U.S. state of Maine.

“Cooke is in full compliance with the laws set forth by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Department of Marine Resources and its operating permits,” the company said. “Cooke’s Maine Atlantic salmon farms are routinely inspected by state regulators and subject to regular monitoring reports. These laws are designed to protect Maine waters as well as Maine’s heritage fisheries.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

The Gulf of Maine is warming up. To see potential effects, consider the lumpfish.

November 18, 2024 — The lumpfish is small. As its name suggests, it’s rather lumpy – not streamlined, like the fish that interest most recreational and commercial anglers. It isn’t eaten or harvested in New England. Until recently, lumpfish populations in the Gulf of Maine haven’t been studied much.

But to anyone who has interacted with one, the lumpfish is beloved, says University of New Hampshire researcher Elizabeth Fairchild.

“They love to come swim up to the top of a tank to check out anybody who walks by,” she said. “They’re very personable. They’re very curious and they’re hungry all the time, so they come right up to you thinking that you’re going to feed them.”

Fairchild has focused on studying lumpfish in part because they have a special quality. They’re a “cleaner fish,” eating parasites that cling to other fish. Salmon farmers in other parts of the world have used lumpfish to help manage sea lice, a small crustacean that attaches to fish and can cause health problems.

Instead of using harsh chemicals or thermal baths to get rid of the sea lice, farmers can let lumpfish eat the parasites instead.

Read the full article at nhpr

MASSACHUSETTS: Cuban-born net maker shares his journey from Havana to New Bedford’s working waterfront

November 15, 2024 — When he had his chance, Cuban-born net maker Miguel Sanchez escaped his home country, jumping from a Cuban fishing boat aboard a ship heading to Canada.

The young law student escaped to start a new life, far away from Cuba and its oppressive dictatorship, the only member of his family to escape.

Sanchez left Havana abruptly on March 24, 1996, before heading to Canada, arriving in Nova Scotia on April 15, 1996.

A year ago, after spending more than 20 years in Nova Scotia, he got a call to work at Reidar’s Manufacturing on the New Bedford waterfront. His skills as a net maker were in demand.

Read the full article at the The Standard-Times

New England herring fishery restricted through year’s end

November 14, 2024 — Federal fishing regulators are limiting the amount of herring that fishermen can catch off New England until the end of the year. The fish is used for food and bait.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s implementing a 2,000-pound herring possession limit per trip in the inshore Gulf of Maine through Dec. 31. The inshore Gulf of Maine, known as Atlantic Herring Management Area 1A, touches coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

The agency says it’s taking the step because 92% of the catch limit in the area will have been harvested Wednesday.

The catch limit goes into effect Thursday at 12:01 a.m. Vessels that enter port before 12:01 a.m. Thursday may land and sell more than 2,000 pound of herring from Management Area 1A from that trip, provided that catch is landed in accordance with state management measures.

Also effective Thursday at 12:01 a.m., federally permitted dealers may not attempt to or purchase, receive, possess, have custody or control of, sell, barter, trade, or transfer more than 2,000 pound of herring per trip or calendar day from Area 1A.

NOAA Fisheries has declared Atlantic herring as overfished and has created a plan that will require years for the stock to rebuild.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

SouthCoast Wind clears federal environmental hurdle

November 13, 2024 — A 147-turbine offshore wind project planned off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard will not harm local species and habitat any more than climate change already is, according to a federal review published on Friday.

One exception: North Atlantic right whales, which could face “moderate adverse” direct and indirect impacts from the SouthCoast Wind project that would not otherwise exist, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s report. The report specifically named vessel noise as potentially disruptive to marine mammals, especially fin and endangered right whales. However, it does not link these disruptions to whale deaths, a contention which has been largely debunked by scientists, including within the federal government. 

“There is no relationship between offshore wind and dead whales,” said Bob Kenney, an emeritus marine research scientist at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.

The 2,400-page environmental impact statement on SouthCoast Wind marks a significant step — though not the final sign off — in the multilayered, multi-step regulatory process governing offshore wind. Project developers are still awaiting federal approval on a construction and operations plan — a date for which has not been set — alongside a host of state-level reviews, including several in Rhode Island.

Read the full article at the Rhode Island Current

MASSACHUSETTS: How to get a job on a fishing boat? There’s no easy answer

November 13, 2024 — It’s an early fall morning, and Pat Avila is watching the sun crack over New Bedford Harbor from the passenger seat of his car. His trunk is loaded with a neon-yellow laundry sack for his foul-weather gear and a camo duffle holding everything else he might need on a fishing trip lasting anywhere between two days and two weeks.

Route 18 commuters aren’t yet on the road, and the waterfront is just beginning to stir. There is the clanging of fishermen mending their gear and the sighing brakes of freezer trucks. A baby blue scallop boat peels past the hurricane barrier, its diesel engine murmuring, as it heads to the open ocean beyond.

Avila, 39, with a wiry stature and tightly cropped haircut, eyes the ship in the distance as it heads out to sea. He isn’t on a boat this morning. At least, not yet. Instead, he is plying the docks in pursuit of landing a spot on a commercial fishing trip.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light