Saving Seafood

Suit: Agencies fail to protect marine species from oil

January 27, 2022 — A conservation group says in a lawsuit that the U.S. government failed to protect endangered whales and other animals by underestimating the potential for an oil spill like a recent crude pipeline leak off California’s coast.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday saying Interior Department agencies and the National Marine Fisheries Service didn’t ensure offshore oil and gas production wouldn’t jeopardize endangered and threatened species in accordance with U.S. law.

The lawsuit says the Service found in a 2017 analysis that oil and gas production wouldn’t likely have an adverse effect on threatened marine life off California’s coast, there was a low likelihood of an offshore oil spill and if one occurred, it would likely involve no more than 8,400 gallons (31,800 liters). The suit asks the court to vacate the analysis and bar new oil activity unless government agencies comply with the law protecting endangered species.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

 

Climate Extreme Intensifies Conflict Between People and Whales

December 2, 2021 — New research looks at how a climate extreme intensifies tensions between ocean life and people, and what can be done about it. The study was recently published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B.

Researchers show that many strategies are insufficient during prolonged, anomalous warm water events called marine heatwaves. Instead, they recommend combining several approaches, including improved forecast systems, technological innovations, and understanding human behavior.

Over the past few years, marine heatwaves have dramatically affected natural resources along the U.S. West Coast, including economically valuable fisheries. Still, we know very little about how and when management actions can dampen their impacts on marine life and the people who rely on the ocean for their livelihoods.

An ecological pileup of recent unprecedented changes in the ocean off the West Coast led to record numbers of reported entanglements of humpback and other whales. These conditions put California’s Dungeness crab fishery, the region’s most valuable commercial fishery, at odds with the conservation of several at-risk whale species.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

 

A guide to understanding the fight over whales and lobster gear in the Gulf of Maine

November 26, 2021 — Right now, lobstermen are hauling their gear out of a 967-square mile stretch of ocean, roughly 30 miles offshore, in the Gulf of Maine.

Lobstermen don’t want to vacate the area, especially during the lucrative, deep-water, winter fishing season but federal courts and lawsuits are forcing them to do so.

Last week, the Federal First Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a seasonal prohibition by the National Marine Fisheries Service on lobstering with buoys and lines in that area. The closure, running October through January, is an attempt to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales from deadly entanglements in lobster gear.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

 

Slinky pots and ropeless gear: next angles for whale avoidance

November 22, 2021 — With new regulations turning whale avoidance into a top priority in the Gulf of Maine and off California, front-line fishermen sat Friday for a panel discussion at Pacific Marine Expo on what the future may hold for trap fisheries.

NMFS and the state of California are looking to ropeless gear for lobster and crab fisheries as the long-term solution, but such systems are still in development.

California’s Dungeness crab fishermen are yet again cooling their heels in port, awaiting an updated assessment of humpback whale movements and an all-clear from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to set gear, once the agency judges the danger of entanglements is lowered.

In recent years the usual November crab season opening has been delayed as whales congregate to feed before heading south for their breeding season, said Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.

The 2020 season opener was delayed into December — and then complicated when fishermen protested what they considered unfairly low prices for crabs. A price settlement and agreed-on opener didn’t happen until January.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Maine Lobstering Union Files Suit for Emergency Relief Against NMFS

October 4, 2021 — The Maine Lobstering Union (MLU) became the latest from the lobster industry to file a federal lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) due to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan Modifications announced on August 31.

The MLU filed a civil action in the United States District Court for the District of Maine, seeking emergency relief related to fishing ground closures that will come into effect due to the recent modifications. Fox Island Lobster Company of Vinalhaven and Frank Thompson, a sixth-generation fisherman, who together with his wife Jean, own and operate Fox Island; and the Damon Family Lobster Company of Stonington are also Plaintiffs on the case.

The Complaint names as Defendants the Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, and the Assistant Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NMFS.

Read the full story at Seafood News

 

Oceana filing with USMCA demands US federal action on right whales

October 4, 2021 — Non-governmental organization Oceana announced on 4 October it has filed the first-ever Submission on Enforcement Matters against the U.S. government under the recent United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Signed in 2019, the USMCA is a free-trade agreement between the three countries that includes mechanisms such as the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). Under the new agreement, a person or organization can file a “Submission on Enforcement Matters” with the CEC if one of the three countries in the USMCA is not enforcing its environmental laws.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Maine’s Next Generation Of Lobstermen Brace For Unprecedented Change

September 20, 2021 — The latest federal rule, announced on Aug. 31 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is part of a plan to stop endangered North Atlantic right whales from getting caught in fishing gear by 2030.

The agency estimates that the population’s decline has accelerated in recent years, with 368 right whales remaining. NOAA has documented 34 right whale deaths since 2017, with at least nine of those mortalities confirmed to have been caused by entanglements in fishing gear, including gear used by commercial gillnet or lobster and crab fisheries on the East Coast.

NOAA’s new rule requires lobstermen to use gear with state-specific markings that can be traced if a whale gets caught, among other modifications such as weak points in fishing lines that allow entangled whales to break free. The rule will also allow lobstermen to use so-called ropeless gear — a costly and controversial new technology that’s still in the early stages of development — in fishing areas that will be closed in certain seasons.

“The beauty of the lobster industry is that there’s been a place for everybody,” says Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “We’re at risk of putting too many barriers in that are really going to create winners and losers, so it’s scary.”

McCarron says fishermen want to do their part to protect whales, but she says no Maine lobster gear has ever been confirmed to have caused the serious injury or death of a right whale. A NOAA spokesperson counters that its scientists are unable to determine the source of most entanglements and nearly half of mortalities go unobserved.

Read the full story at NPR

 

Maine plans to intervene in lawsuit over new lobstering regulations

September 17, 2021 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources plans to get involved with a lawsuit over new lobstering regulations intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale – regulations that will impact the state’s lucrative lobster fishery.

Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher told lawmakers in the U.S. state during a hearing on 14 September that the department plans to intervene in an existing lawsuit that environmental groups brought against the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the new rules, according to the Portland Press Herald. Keliher told lawmakers that the department has hired an attorney and that Maine Governor Janet Mills has committed the state to covering all legal fees.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Maine won’t sue over right whale restrictions, but isn’t giving up fight

September 15, 2021 — Maine won’t be suing federal regulators over new commercial lobstering restrictions intended to protect an endangered species of whale, but it isn’t giving up the fight entirely.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources has been advised against suing federal officials over a controversial new set of rules designed to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale from being harmed by the lobster industry, but Commissioner Patrick Keliher told Maine lawmakers during a briefing Tuesday that the department has not abandoned all plans for legal action.

Instead of suing over the rules directly, he said, the department is planning to intervene in an existing case against the National Marine Fisheries Service that was filed by a group of environmentalists who contend the agency hasn’t done enough to protect the critically endangered whales.

The department has hired Linda Larson, a lawyer specializing in environmental and natural resource law, from Nossaman LLP in Seattle. According to Keliher, Gov. Janet Mills has already committed to covering legal fees in what he said will be a “very expensive process.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Bipartisan group of 151 Maine legislators call on Biden to rescind new lobster fishing regulations

September 10, 2021 — State legislators have submitted a letter to President Joe Biden requesting that his administration take steps to immediately rescind new regulations on lobster fishing.

The new regulations, which are intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, were announced on Aug. 30 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Maine lawmakers are now asking federal agencies to re-engage with the state of Maine to find a different path forward. Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, a lobster fisherman, initiated the letter. It includes signatures from 151 Republican, Democrat, and Independent state legislators from across Maine.

Read the full story at News Center Maine