Saving Seafood

News for the New England Region

MAINE: Maine lobster industry threatened by loss of eelgrass

March 29, 2023 — A critical marine habitat is rapidly declining off the Maine coast.

It’s happening so fast that experts said it’s been cut in half in only about four years.

Mike Doan, a staff scientist at Friends of Casco Bay, is concerned about the recent loss of eelgrass in Casco Bay.

“Eelgrass is a true flowering perennial, a true plant, not a seaweed,” Doan said. “It’s found just offshore, just below low tide out to about 20 feet of water.”

A 2022 report conducted by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection shows staggering results.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

MASSACHUSSETS: Blue Harvest suspends New Bedford processing operations, plans groundfish fleet upgrade

March 27, 2023 — Blue Harvest Fisheries is temporarily suspending operations at its processing plant in New Bedford, Massachusettsm U.S.A. as part of an overall strategy shift to “realize potential” of its groundfish operations.

The company announced on 24 March it is planning to continue a shift further into the New England groundfish fishery. It said as part of the shift, it was halting operations at its processing plant, laying off 64 employees, the New Bedford Light reported.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Winds of Change, Pt. 2: Maine fishermen share concerns with proposed offshore wind farms

March 26, 2023 — Earlier this week, we looked into incoming offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine from the economic and energy perspective.

But the Gulf is also a workplace for thousands of Maine fishermen whose business might be impacted by these floating turbines.

They share their biggest concerns with the “Winds of Change” in part two of this special report.

“I don’t think we own the Gulf of Maine,” lobsterman Stephen Train said. “But, we’ve been using it for so long, we have trouble with the concept of displacement, and it’s justified. We’ve been the caretakers. We’ve been harvesting a very successful resource, or multiple resources, out of this gulf managed very well for a long time.”

Thousands of lobstermen generations deep have used the fertile waters of the Gulf of Maine to make their living. But many today fear that offshore wind may just blow them out of the water.

Read the full article at WABI

MASSACHUSETTS: Offshore wind in New Bedford: A guide to what you need to know

March 26, 2023 — An already busy port of New Bedford will be even busier when the full effect of the offshore wind industry hits.

A direct impact on the New Bedford/Fairhaven Harbor is already being felt, and seen, most recently with the demolition of the former Eversource plant chimney to make way for the New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal on the New Bedford waterfront.

With Massachusetts preparing for a fourth round of funding for offshore wind projects, what comes next?

Offshore wind companies, electric companies and local leaders from Greater New Bedford have weighed in on changes that should be made to the process during this next round. Vineyard Wind was the winning bidder in the first round, Mayflower Wind Energy LLC won the second round, and Commonwealth Wind and Mayflower Wind LLC were the winning bids in the third round. Massachusetts is preparing for bid submissions for a fourth round of offshore wind contracts.

Read the full article at SouthCoastToday

MAINE: Maine lawmakers consider bill to keep funding lobster legal defense

March 26, 2023 — Maine’s lobster industry is asking the state to continue bankrolling its legal defense fund by diverting a cut of its licensing fees intended to market the state’s signature crustacean into its court battles to fight federal whale protections that threaten the fishery’s future.

“We’re in the fight of our lives here,” House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham said. “Without the fishermen, there is no lobster to market. If we don’t win our lawsuits, there won’t be any fishermen left. That hurts all of Maine. It’s really that simple.”

The Winter Harbor Republican and lobsterman made his pitch for funding Thursday to the Marine Resources Committee at a public hearing on his bill, L.D. 710. It would give 20% of the industry’s license surcharges — about $380,000 a year — to the legal defense fund through 2030.

The fund was created to cover legal fees incurred by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and the Maine Lobstering Union in the fight to overturn the National Marine Fisheries Service’s new whale protections and defend against environmental groups that want even tougher protections in place.

Originally, Faulkingham had sought a $1 million contribution over two years from the general fund, but after discussions with state officials, he changed it to a 20% cut of a marketing surcharge paid out of Maine lobster licenses, for a total of $2.3 million.

Read the full article at Yahoo Life

MAINE: Maine legislative panel votes down aquaculture regulation bill

March 26, 2023 — A legislative committee voted Thursday to kill a bill that sought to establish additional regulations on Maine’s industrial aquaculture sector.

The Sierra Club-backed measure sought to require the Department of Marine Resources to ensure that new land-based aquaculture facilities would not degrade water or air quality or increase carbon emissions.

It also would have put in place strict new standards for feed sources.

Read the full article at Spectrum News

MASSACHUSETTS: SouthCoast Wind Environmental Report Draws Divergent Views

March 26, 2023 — Falmouth residents joined others from across Massachusetts in a lively expression of their frustrations and hopes for SouthCoast Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm during a virtual public comment session on the project’s draft environmental impact statement.

Work on the nearly 2,000-page impact statement, prepared by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), began in November 2021.

BOEM’s SouthCoast project coordinator Genevieve Brune presented the statement’s findings to the 71 participants at the session, held online Monday, March 20. The evaluation is required under the National Environmental Policy Act and will guide permitting judgements by state and federal authorities, including the Army Corps of Engineers.

Read the full article at The Enterprise 

MASSACHUSETTS: From spawners to tuna sampled in the Annisquam, GMGI talk focuses on sustainable fisheries

March 26, 2023 — Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute’s 10th anniversary just happens to coincide with 400th anniversary of the nation’s oldest and one of its most storied working seaports at a time when the fishing industry has been snagged by state and federal regulations meant to keep the local fishery sustainable.

A community talk as part of the Gloucester 400+ celebration with 100 people in Kyrouz Auditorium in City Hall on Wednesday showed how the use of advanced molecular techniques at GMGI can be used to support sustainable fisheries into the future.

A team at GMGI has figured out how to identify Atlantic cod which spawn in winter versus those that spawn in the spring. Its staff have used environmental DNA techniques to survey the types of fish found in the Annisquam River, among other things.

GMGI fisheries research scientist Tim O’Donnell talked about how his team’s research may help keep fisheries sustainable so future generations “can also have the privilege of having access to the bounty of the ocean.”

When it comes to fisheries science and management, O’Donnell said, various entities collect data on their local fisheries through classic surveys or by analyzing fish biology. But certain species or areas in the ocean can be hard to study and that can create gaps in the data.

Read the full article at Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Lobstermen Would Rather Wait Than Switch

March 23, 2o23 — A 21-year-old North Atlantic right whale known as Porcia was observed in Cape Cod Bay on March 18. The whale was seen swimming with her 2023 calf by her side. And last week, before this first mother-calf pair of the season was spotted, Scott Landry, director of the disentanglement team at the Center for Coastal Studies, estimated there were already between 30 and 40 right whales in the bay.

That means Cape Cod lobstermen are on land, waiting out the whales.

Elsewhere in Massachusetts waters, however, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is running an experiment that gives lobster fishermen exempted fishing permits to work in areas that are otherwise restricted. What they are testing is something called on-demand fishing gear — gear operated via an app to minimize the time that lengths of rope stay in the water.

Landry wants to see “our absolute reliance on rope to harvest our food” go away. But for the time being Cape Cod Bay is not the site of any on-demand gear experiments.

Lobsterman Mike Rego, who lives in Truro, is glad about the cautious approach. He sees the strict closures, though they shorten his season, as too important. “I don’t want to lose four months of my fishing season, but I don’t want to kill a whale either,” he said. “The whales are protected while they’re here. Why jeopardize any of that?”

The North Atlantic right whale is a critically endangered species with only some 340 animals remaining in the world. The majority of those whales feed in Cape Cod Bay during their thousand-mile spring migration from their calving grounds off the coasts of Georgia and Florida to Canada, where they summer.

Read the full article at The Provincetown Independent

MAINE: Winds of Change, Pt. 1: How offshore wind will impact Maine’s economy, energy

March 22, 2023 — Offshore wind is coming to the Gulf of Maine.

It’s part of a push from state and federal government to develop renewable energy.

But how soon will the wind hit the water – and how will it benefit Mainers?

Details on the state’s vision in part one of a special report: “Winds of Change.”

The winds blowing off the Gulf of Maine are strong, and consistent. It’s gotten some thinking – what if there was a way to use this resource to benefit the whole state?

That’s only part of the premise outlined in Gov. Janet Mills’ Offshore Wind Roadmap – a document that spells plans for hundreds of wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine.

“We are striving for a balance that includes moving away from fossil fuels, continuing to support existing ocean industries and also providing additional economic opportunities throughout the state,” Stephanie Watson, the offshore wind program manager at the Governor’s Energy Office, said.

Offshore wind is just one way Maine is striving to meet its goal of using 100% renewable energy by 2050 – along with solar, onshore wind and storage.

Read the full article at WABI