Tag Archives: lobster industry
Trapped by heroin: Lobster industry struggles with its deadly secret
Maine lobstermen are plagued by opioid addiction, leading to deaths, ruined lives and even fishing violations to pay for the habit. Some in recovery also recognize the challenge: Getting help to an intensely independent breed that rarely asks for it. Until last year, when he finally kicked a 20-year heroin habit, Tristen Nelson had always been too high to even notice the best things about being a lobsterman in Down East Maine, like the beauty of a Bucks Harbor sunrise or the freedom of fishing two dozen miles offshore. He loves those things about his job now, but for two decades the 35-year-old Machias man only lobstered to make the quick cash he needed to buy heroin. He would spend all his money, up to $60,000 for six months of work, on drugs. And he would end every fishing season broke. continue reading the story here 08:13
Lobstermen cheered! LePage removes lobster fee increase from proposed budget
Lobstermen cheered Saturday when Gov. Paul LePage announced at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum that he was pulling an increase in the lobster fishing license fee out of his proposed state budget. The extra money was going to be used to fund new lobster research, new technology for state fisheries researchers and raises for Maine Marine Patrol officers, among other things.,, Under the proposed fee increases, a lobsterman with two deckhands would have paid $114 more a year for his license, bringing the cost of securing a license to more than $1,000 for the first time. Read the story here 16:47
Lobster prices high as catch drops and China imports climb
Lobster lovers are used to adjusting to high prices, but this winter, they’re shelling out even more for the cherished crustaceans because of a lack of catch off of New England and Canada and heavy exports to China. Winter is typically a slow season for U.S. lobster fishermen and an active one off Atlantic Canada. But catch is slow in both countries this year, in part because of bad weather, industry sources said. And the winter months are also an important time for exports to lobster-crazy China, which celebrates its New Year holiday Jan. 28. It’s increasingly popular to celebrate the Chinese New Year with American lobster. That’s causing demand at a time when supply is low. Read the story here 17:54
Effort to protect deep-sea coral has lobster industry on alert
Over 400 Maine lobstermen could lose their traditional fishing territory under a proposal to protect deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Maine. The New England Fishery Management Council is considering a plan that would ban fishing in four designated coral zones spanning about 161 miles of federal waters in the Gulf of Maine – Mount Desert Rock, Outer Schoodic Ridge, Jordan Basin and Lindenkohl Knoll. Here, often on steep rock walls deep under water where sunlight cannot penetrate, scientists have found dense, delicate and slow-growing coral gardens of sea whips, fans and pens. During the cold-weather months, when 52-year-old Jim Dow usually fishes for hard-shell lobsters in deep federal waters, his buoys will encircle Mount Desert Rock, where the lobster is so plentiful that boats will sail for hours to drop traps there. As a result, fishermen call it the Meeting Grounds. He said word is just starting to spread about the coral protection plan, but he said the fishermen he has talked with say they didn’t even know there was coral in the deep canyons below. Read the rest here 10:16
Lobster industry supports emergency closures along Kaikoura coastline
The NZ Rock Lobster Industry Council and the Canterbury Marlborough Rock Lobster Industry Association have added support to the declaration of an emergency temporary closure to lobster fishing along the South Island coast from Cape Campbell to the Conway River. ‘Fine scale data collection over the next few weeks should provide an assurance that the lobster fishery will be resilient to the after effects of the earthquake’, said NZ RLIC Chief Executive Officer, Daryl Sykes. ‘There is an extensive inventory and long time series of rock lobster fisheries data collected by industry participants and independent observers, and it should not take too long to reference current lobster abundance and distribution against the historical record. The fleet of vessels still has approximately 70 tonnes of catch to land in the current season which ends in March 2017. Read the rest here 13:23
Coldwater Lobster Association wants more members, says many issues facing Nova Scotia industry
Coldwater Lobster Association, covering Lobster Fishing Area 34 in southwestern Nova Scotia, says there are issues that could have dire outcomes on the lobster industry. The association has around 80 members but says it would have more clout at the table with DFO and other groups if it was speaking for a larger percentage of the industry. One issue is a pending decision on whether to list cusk under the Species at Risk Act. COSEWIC(Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) is collecting opinion online and through consultations until March 18. The committee says the mature portion of the cusk population has declined by 85 per cent over three generations. Read the rest here 11:29
America’s lobster industry sending less lobster to Canada as processing grows
U.S. lobstermen, clustered in the coastal New England states, have long sent a large amount of their catch to Canada’s Maritime Provinces, where some two dozen companies process millions of pounds of lobster meat every year into everything from vacuum-sealed lobster meat packages to lobster pate. The processed lobster ends up in products like lobster ravioli and lobster pot pie that are growing in popularity with consumers. But the dynamics of the processing industry are slowly changing. America exported about 69 million pounds of lobster to Canada in 2014, and the 2015 figure was less than 67 million, federal data show. Read the rest here 11:13
Canada’s new Liberal government says it is currently developing priorities for the lobster industry
Canada’s new Liberal government is in no rush to implement Stephen Harper’s promise aimed at wooing voters in Atlantic Canada during the recent federal election of $20 million in funding for lobster promotion and research. Harper made the pledge Sept. 10 in New Annan, P.E.I. and promised $5 million for research and $15 million over three years to the Halifax-based Lobster Council of Canada to promote lobster sales. Fisheries and Oceans Canada would not address Harper’s promise, saying new Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo is developing priorities. Read the rest here 08:44
Green crab pathogen research raises concern for Nova Scotia lobster industry
New research is raising more concerns about the potential transfer of diseases from the invasive green crab to lobster in Nova Scotia waters. “Our worry is there could be a pathogen transfer and it could damage our lobster industry. We are finding at least two pathogens of concern,” research scientist Fraser Clark says. He adds human health is not at risk. Clark released a study earlier this year showing high levels of a parasite in green crab is being found in areas of southern Nova Scotia where the crab has been introduced as a lobster bait. Read the rest here 08:50
Censored Maine Fishermen Seek Assurances that Searsport Dredging Won’t Harm Bay
“My name is David Black and I’m from Belfast and I fish in this area out here. Wayne fishes beside me. We are the face of the destruction that this might cause out here.” Black says he worries the material will harm the bay’s fisheries. And he says state and federal regulators have not been listening to fishermen’s concerns. “I went to a hearing on the dredging for the Department of Marine Resources in Searsport about three weeks ago,” he says, “and I wanted to make comments about the disposal site out here, and I was told that my comments were not appropriate – I could not make comments on this disposal site.” Read the rest here 08:31
Prince County Fishermen’s Association president pleased with where lobster industry is heading
O’LEARY — The president of the Prince County Fishermen’s Association has an optimistic outlook for 2015 as he prepares for the organization’s annual meeting on Thursday. Lee Knox said members were pleased to receive 75 cents to a dollar more per pound for their lobster in 2014 than what they were paid in 2013. As well, he said, many of the fall lobster fishermen saw their catches increase over the previous year. Knox believes there is room for further price increases this year Read the rest here 14:37
Lobster trade may profit from Canada-EU trade deal, says Shea
“The lobster industry, it’s a market of supply and demand, so, we as a government are working on the demand side opening trade agreements around the world to create more markets, but the industry has to soon step up and do that marketing,” said Shea. Read more here 08:46
Maine’s lobster industry feeling pain of slow start – Some say the crustaceans are ‘back on the old time clock’
David Cousins, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and a South Thomaston lobsterman, said lobstermen expect shedding to pick up and catches to escalate at the end of this month, if not the end of the week. He said the slow season indicates that Maine lobster are “back on the old time clock” of shedding later in the summer. Read more here 09:13
“This meeting is a sham and a shame,” ‘You are going to bury [the lobster industry]’: Skeptical crowd rips Searsport dredging project
BELFAST, Maine — The conference room at the Hutchinson Center in Belfast was standing-room only on Tuesday afternoon as more than 200 people came to a public information meeting about a controversial Searsport Harbor dredging project. Read more here 21:23
Lobster industry needs to stop infighting, fisheries minister says
Enough already. Knock it off!
Shea says the federal government wants to work with lobster fishermen to resolve challenges, but the industry needs to take the lead. Read more here 09:07
Island silverside fishery sees strong prices
Fishermen catching Atlantic silverside on Prince Edward Island are seeing a rise in demand as the lobster industry increasingly uses the small fish as bait. Read more here 11:22
Lobster industry must reduce on its own, says Shea
Taxpayers should not have to fund another lobster licence buyout, says federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea. Shea said industry associations have their own fish quotas that were provided to help rationalize fleets. She noted that in Newfoundland the industry has had success in reducing its own capacity. Read more here 14:27
Lobster fishermen wary prices will sink industry
Lobster fishermen in Nova Scotia say if they don’t find a way to get more cash for their catch when the season opens in November, the entire industry will flounder. more@cbcnews 06:39
Linda Bean’s path to becoming one of the major players in the state’s lobster industry came late in life.
“I was 67 at the time and going through a divorce,” Bean said about her decision to try a new career in the lobster industry. “This gave me a new lease on life.” Bean, who is the granddaughter of L.L.Bean’s founde
r, had a home in Port Clyde and about a quarter mile away was the Port Clyde General Store, the Dip Net restaurant, and down the road, the Bay Lobster wharf where lobstermen unloaded their catch. continued@ bdn.com
Linda Bean buys Rockland building to meet demands of growing lobster business
BDN – ROCKLAND, Maine — Linda Bean, who has become a major player in the lobster industry, has purchased an 11,000-square-foot building from a Canadian company that had planned to convert the facility into a lobster processing plant. continued
