Monthly Archives: March 2025
Jack Merrill steps down from lobster board after 40 years
After roughly 40 years, Jack Merrill has stepped down from his seat on the Board of Directors of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), where he has spent the last several decades representing the lobstering community of Little Cranberry Island. The MLA, which according to its website is the oldest fishing industry association on the East Coast, “advocates for a sustainable lobster resource and the fishermen and communities that depend on it.” The decision to leave his post with the MLA was one Merrill had been contemplating for some time. “It is quite a time commitment,” he said, “But well worth it.” But before leaving, he wanted to make sure there would still be a voice on the board for the Little Cranberry lobstering community. “I wanted the island to still have representation,” he said, adding that a younger perspective will be a valuable addition to the board. He found that in Richard Howland of Islesford, who was elected to the board to take Merrill’s place. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:36
ASP takes provincial government to court, alleging ‘political interference’ over pushing crab price deadline
The Association of Seafood Producers is accusing the Newfoundland and Labrador government of interfering in the price setting process for the annual snow crab harvest, and it’s launching legal action against the province as well as the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union. The deadline for price setting was April 1, but last week Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne shifted the date to April 13. According to documents filed at the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, the ASP has turned to the courts to quash that order. “This matter is urgent. The fishery was to have started on April 1, 2025. The fisheries minister had improperly interfered with the operation of the panel as the purported date change in ultra vires,” wrote lawyer Stephen Penney in the ASP’s application. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:06
Blue crab management plan revision runs into rough waters
A proposal to limit commercial fishers’ harvest of blue crabs treads rough waters after advisory committees to the state Marine Fisheries Commission agreed the rule should not move forward. The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries’ recommendation targets catch of mature female crabs. The proposed move comes as fisheries officials are looking to manage a species they say has been on a decline in the state’s coastal waters. Earlier this month, the commission’s northern and southern regional advisory committees and the shellfish/crustacean advisory committee, voted in separate meetings to keep the current rules detailed in Amendment 3 of the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:45
A West Yarmouth resident complained. Now lobsterman ordered to stop sales from his home.
Jon Tolley has been selling fresh lobsters from his home in West Yarmouth since 1975, and his father did the same for nearly 30 years before that from the same house. Now he has been told to stop. “I’m 66 and I have been a fisherman my whole life,” Tolley said. He fishes out of Sesuit Harbor in Dennis. “Everyone knows I sell lobsters,” he said. Yarmouth Building Commissioner Mark Grylls has ordered Tolley to stop selling his lobsters from his home at 23 Iroquois Blvd. in West Yarmouth because retail sales in a residential zone are not allowed under zoning regulations. “The town is trying to say that no one has sold lobsters in the history of the town,” Tolley said, and recalled his father and his grandfather, who sold fish from his home in Yarmouth Port from 1930 to 1972. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:50
State Approves Extension Of Nantucket’s Scalloping Season
The state Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) has approved the town’s request to extend the bay scalloping season on Nantucket through April 11 due to the abundance of adult scallops in the harbors. The extension includes both commercial and recreational scalloping. “DMF has determined that in proportion to immature seed bay scallops there is an abundance of adult bay scallops that will not be harvested prior to the termination of the normal bay scallop season on March 31, 2025,” DMF director Daniel McKiernan wrote to the Select Board on Friday. “Furthermore, it is believed that most of these adult scallops are unlikely to live long enough to spawn again this coming summer.” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:43
NCFA WEEKLY UPDATE FOR March 31, 2025
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s (SAFMC) Mackerel Cobia Advisory Panel (AP) is meeting this week in Charleston, SC. During the meeting, the AP will review the Mackerel Port Meetings, including the sessions held in Hatteras, Morehead, Wilmington, and Manteo. For-hire reporting will also be discussed at this meeting. Detailed information can be found at the Meeting Webpage. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:35
Waste of the Day: Over $1 Billion for Foreign Shrimp
The U.S. contributed to over $1 billion spent promoting shrimp farming in foreign countries from 1998 to 2023, which members of Congress say may have violated a federal law protecting American industries from overseas competition. The money came from various United Nations agencies that the U.S. helps fund, including the Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Finance Corporation, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance, an advocacy group representing American fishermen. More than $500 million went to companies in Ecuador. The Philippines, China, India and Indonesia each received more than $100 million. Peru, Mexico, Belize and other nations in Latin America and Southeast Asia received funds as well. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:49
The offshore wind debate could influence this federal election and it’s already an ‘absolute blood-fest’
“Get out of our town, Albo!” the man yelled. “We don’t want your wind farms!”
The Illawarra, on the NSW south coast, can be hostile territory for Australian politicians. In 1939, Robert Menzies was booed by thousands of placard-waving locals as police escorted him down the Bulli Pass to meet striking waterside workers in Wollongong. Fast forward to 2025 and it was Anthony Albanese’s turn to feel the heat down near the steelworks. During a February press conference announcing his new candidate for Whitlam, he copped a gobful from a man dressed in a tan shirt and black shorts. “Get out of our town, Albo!” the man yelled. “We don’t want your wind farms!” That protester was financial adviser Alex O’Brien, who is not just another local resident. Mr. O’Brien is, in fact, president of a not-for-profit association called Responsible Future (Illawarra Chapter) or RFI, whose purpose is to tank Labor’s proposed offshore wind project in the Illawarra. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:53
Already hit by China, Nova Scotia’s seafood sector braces for U.S. tariffs next week
Stewart Lamont, managing director of Tangier Lobster Company Ltd., on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore, said the lobster sector is “incredibly anxious” as it waits to see how prices are affected. Lamont’s company exports live lobster to 13 countries around the world. “People are nervous,” he said in an interview Friday. “We have received more calls than normal from dealers on whether we would be interested in buying lobster from them this spring.” Meanwhile, Osborne Burke, general manager of Cape Breton-based seafood processor Victoria Co-operative Fisheries Ltd., said the pending U.S. tariffs are particularly concerning to the crab fishery because of the heavy reliance on the market south of the border. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:02
Beach Town Poised to Use Green Left’s Favorite Legal Strategy Against Massive Offshore Wind Project
The town of Nantucket, Massachusetts looks set to use one of the green left’s go-to legal strategies against a massive offshore wind farm supported by liberal environmentalists. Environmental groups have used “sue and settle” tactics — wherein plaintiffs sue an aligned administration to kill a disfavored project, which the aligned administration effectively does via settlement — for decades to impede infrastructure projects they oppose. Now, Nantucket is suing the Trump administration and alleging that key procedural laws were not followed in Biden-era approvals for the massive SouthCoast wind farm off the island’s coast, teeing up a potential “sue and settle” situation that could derail a major project supported by the green left. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:44
Book review: A salty tale of rivalry and superstition
Garrett Carr’s earthy, witty novel is narrated by the combined consciousness of an entire town. That would be Killybegs, in the 1970s and ’80s, when trawler fishing was just about the only thing that kept the wolf from the door. One rainy morning in 1973, the sturdy and stoical townsfolk are going about their salty business when something strange occurs. Mossy Quinn, a local oddball, walks into town with a baby wrapped in a towel. “It’s a gift from the sea,” Mossy insists, claiming he rescued the child from a tinfoil-lined barrel that had floated in on the tide. To everyone’s surprise, a hardy fisherman called Ambrose Bonnar takes a shine to the infant and promptly adopts him. Brendan Bonnar will be his name. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:03
Challenges facing elver fishers as season opens
We’re nearly a week into elver season. The baby eel fishery on Maritime rivers has been plagued by shutdowns, poaching and illegal activity over the years. The federal Fisheries department decided to open the season last weekend, with several changes. A new app is now in place to track the catch, and a new quota plan gives more commercial catch to First Nations. Stanley King with Atlantic Elver Fishery Ltd. says some of his quota was taken without compensation. “First Nations now hold 53 percent of the fishery. We’re a shell of our former company, and other commercial license holders are feeling the same way. At this point, we’re trying to make ends meet,” said King. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:02
Seafood operator applauds NOAA Fisheries cutbacks
One local seafood market owner is not sad to see the fisheries arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scaled back. NOAA Fisheries keeps track of fish stocks, determines when certain fish can be caught and sets catch limits. Last month, the Trump administration fired more than 160 fisheries employees. Those who rely on NOAA Fisheries say the cutbacks mean that stakeholders have lost a voice needed to manage coastal fisheries. But Gerald Pack, who owns Safe Harbor Seafood Market in Mayport, would be glad to see NOAA go. “If they laid NOAA off, it won’t bother the fishing industry,” Pack said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:55
RI Delegation Introduces Bill to Secure Fair Representation on Catch Quota Decisions
Rhode Island’s congressional delegation is making a renewed push to give the state’s fishermen a voice in federal fishery management decisions. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Representatives Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo, have reintroduced the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act (S.1152/H.R.2375). The bill would grant Rhode Island voting representation on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), which oversees regulations for key commercial fish stocks—including squid, one of the Ocean State’s most valuable catches. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:14
DFO claims it can and will enforce law on First Nations fishers
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is claiming that it has the authority to enforce fisheries laws on two Nova Scotia First Nations, and that it can and will send officers into First Nations to enforce its regulations. In a March 18 letter to Sipekne’katik Chief Michelle Glasgow, DFO’s Maritimes region director general Doug Wentzell refuted claims that a series of court rulings deprived his department of authority to manage First Nations fishers.“The courts have repeatedly upheld the Crown’s role in regulating the fishery, as well as the use of licensing as part of fisheries management, even when regulating the exercise of Aboriginal or Treaty rights,” reads Wentzell’s letter, obtained by The Chronicle Herald. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:52
NOAA Hired an Anti-Wind Activist as Its Top Lawyer
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has hired a new general counsel who was, until recently, pursuing legal challenges to offshore wind farms on behalf of the fishing industry, Heatmap has learned. NOAA’s Fisheries division, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service, regulates species protection within U.S. waters. Activists have sought to persuade the Trump administration to review the division’s previous and future approvals for offshore wind projects that interact with endangered marine life, which would be a huge win for the “wind kills whales” movement. Enter Anne “Annie” Hawkins, NOAA’s new general counsel, who comes to the agency after serving for years as the executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, an organization founded in 2017 that has fought offshore wind projects on behalf of the fishing industry. Hawkins stepped down as RODA’s executive director last fall, shortly after Trump won the presidential election. Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:22
Lobster landings fall to 15-year low; higher prices offset decline
the smallest total catch in 15 years, Maine’s lobstermen saw the second-highest price per pound ever paid at the dock in 2024, according to figures released by Maine’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR). The year’s total catch of 86.1 million pounds was nearly 11 million pounds less than the 93 million pounds reported for 2023. By comparison, from 2010 through 2019, the state’s lobstermen caught more than 100 million pounds every year, with a record catch of 132,604,691 pounds in 2016. Offsetting the decline in the total catch numbers, the price per pound that lobstermen received at the dock rose to a near-record $6.14 from just $4.97 for the previous year, trailing only the $6.71 paid in 2021. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:28
Cod War captains meet for first time since clash
Some of the 43 trawler captains who were on opposite sides in the Cod Wars have met for the first time since the conflict to discuss how to commemorate the battle. Between the 1950s and 1970s, the UK sparred with Iceland over fishing rights in the North Atlantic, in what became known in the British press as the “Cod Wars”. The Icelandic ex-fishermen visited their British counterparts at the Hull Fishing Heritage Centre on Wednesday to learn how to mark the dispute in their native country. Jerry Thompson, chairman of the heritage centre and former fisherman, said: “We had three Cod Wars with Iceland and at the end of the day we are still absolute partners.” Photos, more. >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:30
Maine town celebrates as its oldest resident turns 104 years old
Edgar Post isn’t used to hearing applause in his honor. After a lifetime working as a lobsterman and then a quiet retirement, Edgar isn’t what most would consider a celebrity. But in the small village of Spruce Head, he is very much a person to be celebrated. Edgar Post, who has spent all but three years of his life here, just turned 104 years old. So, when he walked into the Community Hall on a recent Saturday, Edgar received a standing ovation from a sizeable crowd of old friends and neighbors. “He’s the oldest man in town” is how Edgar’s nephew, Buzzy Kinney, explains his uncle’s popularity. But it goes beyond that, he says: “Well, he’s got a good reputation in town.” Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:57
Hawaiʻi longline fishers experience ‘all-time low’ in profits
Hawaiʻi’s longline fishers are facing record lows in profits, according to a recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For years, NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center has collected data on fishing trip costs and earnings for Hawaiʻi’s commercial longline fishery and surveyed 60 fishers to get data for 2022. PIFSC found that the average fishing vessel made around $808,000 in gross revenue that year. Of that, 54% went to trip costs like fuel, ice and bait, and 22% went to labor. After other costs, boat owners took home an average of 5%. Adjusted for inflation, that’s an average of about $44,000 in profit. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:51
Nantucket officials, group challenge 3 offshore wind projects
On Thursday, the town sued the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, requesting that the government “set aside” its record of decision approving SouthCoast Wind. Nantucket wants the government to restart its environmental review — a process that took more than three years to complete and culminated in key permits allowing the project to move forward with construction. Meanwhile, the Nantucket-based ACK for Whales (formerly known as Nantucket Residents Against Turbines) is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to rescind permits it granted to Vineyard Wind and New England Wind to construct and operate their offshore wind farms. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:37
Back to the pricing board: Panel to hear submissions on NL snow crab pricing while union requests slight delay to season starting
After a busy week away from the negotiating table, the focus of the Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab season will shift to a hearing before the province’s Standing Fish Price Setting Panel on Saturday, March 29. Despite hopes to avoid having to resort to the panel to determine the minimum price for crab again this season, the union representing the province’s inshore fish harvesters and plant workers and the organization representing fish processing companies were unable to reach enough common ground for a new collective agreement. That means both sides will present their respective submissions to the panel, which will decide who has the most reasonable offer for pricing crab landings this coming season. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:41
Shreveport restaurants found misleading diners with imported shrimp
A new report has cast a harsh spotlight on Shreveport’s restaurant scene, revealing that more than half of sampled eateries are misleading customers about the origin of their shrimp. Genetic testing conducted earlier this month found that 58% of the 24 sampled restaurants falsely advertised or implied that their shrimp were wild-caught from the Gulf of Mexico, when in fact they were serving farm-raised imports. The investigation, commissioned by the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force and carried out by SEAD Consulting, uncovered the highest mislabeling rate in the state to date. Six restaurants went a step further, explicitly labeling their dishes as “Gulf shrimp” despite serving foreign-sourced seafood. “This is not just about a menu mistake. This is food fraud,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “Consumers believe they’re supporting local fishermen and eating a premium, domestic product. Instead, they’re being served something entirely different — often at the same price.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:45
North Carolina’s Deadliest Inlet
On a sunny day in late January, the commercial fishermen hanging around Etheridge Seafood in Wanchese shared their inlet horror stories.
In March 2024, two fishermen and a dog set out south from Virginia Beach on a 35-foot Scopinich boat. Both were seasoned mariners—one of them, Charlie Griffin, even starred in Wicked Tuna, a reality television show about daring bluefin anglers. That day, Griffin and his friend, Chad Dunn, had been hired to deliver a boat to Manteo, on the northern tip of Roanoke Island. To reach the island from the open Atlantic, sailors must navigate through Oregon Inlet, a 3-mile-wide stretch of sea that separates Pea Island from Bodie Island on the Outer Banks. Oregon Inlet is infamous for its treacherous waters, and that night, changing tides had made it much rougher than the open sea. But Griffin had been navigating it since he was 9 years old. He grew up in Wanchese, a fishing village on the south side of Roanoke Island and had piloted everything from skiffs to 60-footers through the inlet. So, when Griffin and his dog, Leila, failed to show up that night, his family in Wanchese didn’t worry at first. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:48
Lobsterman Michael Joseph “Skip” Alessi of Saugus, Mass. has passed away
It is with deepest sorrow and heavy hearts that we announce the unexpected and abrupt passing of Michael Joseph “Skip” Alessi, age 60, of Saugus. He was born in Lynn at Union Hospital on June 7, 1964, to the late Joseph and Barbara Alessi. Michael grew up in Nahant and was an avid sportsman. Upon graduating High School, he turned down a full football scholarship to Connecticut College and thumbed home to follow his true passion of lobstering. Michael was a revered lobsterman, going out when others said the seas were too dangerous and on more than one occasion was told he thought like a lobster. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:31
P.E.I. snow crab fishers to start 2025 season grappling with reduced quota, trade concerns
Snow crab fishers on Prince Edward Island are preparing to start their fishing season next week facing a 33 per cent reduction in the amount they’re allowed to catch. The reduction is based on recommendations from scientists with the federal Department of Oceans and Fisheries, who have expressed concerns about the health of snow crab stocks. The stocks tend to rise and fall on a 10-year cycle, and the crab population is now at a below-average mark. “We’re kind of on a downhill swing here,” said Carter Hutt, president of the P.E.I. Snow Crab Association. The quota reduction for the 2025 fishing season comes as P.E.I.’s seafood industries are wondering about the impacts of U.S., and Chinese tariffs on one of the province’s major exports. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:01
COMMENTARY: It’s time for collaborative management of North Carolina fisheries
After two weeks of fisheries meetings and numerous comments from stakeholders, it’s clear that our current system of fisheries management leaves much to be desired. Since the General Assembly passed legislation in 2010 requiring overfishing to be ended in two years, or less, and sustainable harvest to be achieved within 10 years (with management that has at least a 50% probability of success), we have seen nothing but declining harvest limits across every fishery. This law – pushed by the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and then DMF Director Louis Daniel – has made North Carolina the most restrictive state in the Nation when it comes to fisheries management. Even California has less restrictive mandates! more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:17
The cost of Maine scallops
If you’ve got a yen for succulent, right-off-the-boat Maine sea scallops, now is the time to get them. Most consumers can’t get scallops that really are “right off the boat” unless they live in the Midcoast or Downeast and, perhaps, know a fisherman. For those with the opportunity, it’s well worth a drive down to the harbor to buy a gallon or two of freshly shucked scallops when the boats come back from fishing. Even if they’re not right off the boat, good, fresh scallops are readily available, if expensive. In Portland, the waterfront Harbor Fish Market was recently offering fresh “dayboat” scallops at $32.99 per pound for “mediums”—a mix of 10-20 per pound—and $38.99 for “jumbos” all weighing in at fewer than a dozen per pound. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:23
Liberals face headwinds in Atlantic Canada fishing communities
Can Liberal Leader Mark Carney shed his party’s handling of the fishery in coastal Atlantic Canada? “We tried everything to get a meeting with Sean Fraser, our Nova Scotia representative in the Liberal cabinet, and he would never meet with us,” said Colin Sproul, a Delaps Cove fisherman. “After having rebuffed all our attempts to meet with him, we were in Ottawa last year and he came out of a room and literally ran right into me. He then turned and ran the other way without even acknowledging our presence. He didn’t make time for fishermen, and he didn’t speak up for the great concerns with his government’s handling of the fishery.” Sproul is also president of the United Fisheries Conservation Alliance, which he noted is an apolitical association and that he doesn’t speak for the political views of his membership. Video, Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:21
Sea lamprey control program receives OK to rehire federal workers, after initial scare
The Great Lakes’ Sea lamprey control program has the OK to rehire three dozen federal employees it needs to combat the eel-like, invasive fish species. That’s after staffing cuts and hiring freezes from the Trump administration last month threatened the work, which the Great Lakes Fishery Commission said would have led to more than $200 million in lost fishing potential. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is a Canadian American commission which coordinates lamprey control across the Great Lakes region. Each year, the commission contracts workers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to set traps and apply lampricide in rivers, stopping lamprey before they enter the Great Lakes. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:40
