AROUND THE COASTS
Atlantic Maine lobstermen seek survival under whale plan
Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative/Patrick Daly
NMFS biological opinion could require ‘complete reinvention’ of the fishery
Maine lobstermen haul traps in Stonington, the state’s lobster capital.
ith NMFS moving toward new northern right whale protections to meet a May 31 court deadline, Maine’s lobster fishing community and state officials contended the measure will fall hardest on a region that poses less danger to the endangered species. In a Feb. 19 letter to NMFS’ Northeast regional administrator Michael Pentony, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said
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the agency’s recent biological opinion and its call for a 98 percent risk reduction over the coming decade will “require the complete reinvention of the Maine lobster fishery as we know it.” “After two decades and numerous regulations, the Conservation Framework now tells them that for all of their effort, they will face additional hardship and additional regulatory actions, because we can’t adequately account
MARKET REPORT: Squid
vaccinated and excited to go out to eat. Cala-
Recovery slow, but Rhode Island harvesters welcome restaurants
M
for, or frankly influence, the measures being taken by the Canadian government,” wrote Mills. “Maine, and other U.S. fisheries, should not have to pay an ever-increasing price for the risk facing right whales as they travel into Canadian waters.” Ship strikes and crab gear entanglement have killed right whales there, and the Canadian government is trying to get better control. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, while building a war chest for legal defense of the industry, gave NMFS a list of responses on behalf of a dozen New England fishing groups pointing to legal and scientific flaws they see in the agency plan. “How can our government hold Maine lobstermen accountable for right whale deaths that we know are happening somewhere else? It’s just not right, and it will not save the whales,” MLA president Kristan Porter said in a March 22 statement. The group says the last confi rmed whale death entangled in U.S. lobster gear was in 2002, while 12 right whales died in Canada in 2017 and another 10 in 2019. One dead right whale recovered off South Carolina in February had been dragging a rope “far larger than that fished in the Maine lobster fishery,” as
mari — and seafood, in general — has also enjoyed year-over-year growth in retail and
ore than half of all squid landings
disruptions, and now, the Suez Canal issue,
grocery stores. The demand is very good;
in the Northeast come from Rhode
all of which have supply chain impacts for
once the supply chain has sorted itself out,
Island. But last year, as a result of
seafood and many other industries.”
we are excited for the opportunities ahead.”
the pandemic, some Rhode Island fleets saw earnings dip by 30 percent.
Two Town Dock products, says Smith,
Much of the squid catch is exported,
Rhode Island calamari (longfin inshore squid)
says Diane Lynch, chairwoman of the Rhode
Coming off a troubling year has taken
and premium domestic calamari (northern
Island Food Policy Council. But “consumer
great effort. Kat Smith, director of marketing
shortfin squid), which are both caught in
demand for local food has risen steadily," she
and communications at Town Dock, a large
Rhode Island and are Marine Stewardship
adds, "driven by many different factors but
processor distributor based in Narragansett,
Council certified sustainable, are always
most notably by the consumer preferences of
R.I., says “at this point, things are still not
popular.
millennials. As part of this, consumer demand
back to normal — although we’re glad that
“When we look at our foodservice offer-
for locally caught, locally processed, locally
the light at the end of the tunnel gets closer
ings, we are certainly better than this time
consumed fish has been steadily growing in
every day. There continues to be a global
last year — restaurants are ramping up with
Rhode Island and around the U.S.”
shipping container shortage, covid-related
states’ reopening plans, and more people are
10 National Fisherman \ June 2021
— Caroline Losneck
www.nationalfisherman.com
