Tag Archives: Maine’s Department of Marine Resources
Lobstermen who harvest federal waters will be required to install electronic trackers
East Coast lobster and Jonah Crab fishermen who harvest federal waters will be required to install electronic trackers on their boats, giving federal regulators unprecedented detail on where fishing activity is taking place. A vote by the regional American Lobster Management Board approved the measure Thursday. Ware and the co-chair of the Maine Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee, Democratic Senator David Mirament, voted for the measure, over objections from the third member of Maine’s delegation, lobsterman Steve Train. >click to read< 09:32
Maine Lobstermen Face 50 percent Trap-Rope Reduction To Protect Right Whales
Representatives from 14 Atlantic coast states participated in the four-day consensus-building project, including fishermen scientists, state regulators and conservation groups. The stakes were highest for Maine’s lobster industry, which landed $484 million worth of the crustaceans last year – the most valuable single-species fishery in the nation. The Cape Cod Times reports that Massachusetts and New Hampshire agreed to a 30% cut in the number of vertical lines, and to use ropes that break at a reduced weight. “The regulations proposed here today are a big ask,” says Patrick Keliher, the commissioner of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources. >click to read<13:06
NOAA – Team Reaches Nearly Unanimous Consensus on Right Whale Survival Measures ->click to read<15:50
ASMFC to require Maine to collect catch reports from all lobstermen
An interstate fisheries commission voted Tuesday to require all licensed lobstermen in Maine to start filing catch reports within the next five years. Lobstermen in Maine, where currently only 10 percent of licensed lobstermen are required to file catch reports, overwhelmingly have been opposed to such a requirement. Other states, all of which have lobster fisheries smaller than Maine’s, already require 100 percent of active lobster harvesters to file daily catch summaries. Maine’s Department of Marine Resources also has opposed requiring all lobstermen to file reports. >click to read< 16:08
Waters Warm, and Cod Catch Ebbs in Maine
In the vast gulf that arcs from Massachusetts’s shores to Canada’s Bay of Fundy, cod was once king.,,“A fisherman’s job isn’t to get an unbiased estimate of abundance. It’s to catch fish,” said Michael Fogarty, the chief of the ecosystem assessment program at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency that monitors sea life. “The world they see is a different world than we see in the surveys.”. Read the rest here 09:48
Regulators Reject Lobster Restrictions in Gulf of Maine Cod Spawning Areas
The 
was considering a proposal to prohibit lobster gear from those areas out of concern over unintentional cod by-catch. (Other gears allowed in spawning areas are mid water trawl gear, and recreational fishing gear.) Read the rest here 18:51
Maine elver fishing quota may be slightly reduced – Department of Marine Resources is advocating for status quo
Maine elver fishermen will oppose the quota cut at the meeting, said Jeffrey Pierce, director of the Maine Elver Fishermen’s Association. “They can’t keep cutting it every year. Our markets need to know there is stability they can count on,” Pierce said. Read the rest here 06:58
Fish in the Northwest Atlantic Are Going Hungry New Science From Maine’s Department of Marine Resources Helps To Explain Why
We posted this link about Bigelow Lab and its phytoplankton surveys in the Gulf of Maine, conducted from the back of a truck while utilizing the belly of the Nova Star ferry to do its work. This was an important story that took a back seat to the unbelievable Gulf of Maine Cod survey (click here) , and its predictable affects. Dozens of articles have been spawned because of it. This article (click here), written by John Johnson on Wed Sep 7, 2011 and the Bigelow Lab article should be read to understand the complexities of the situation, and point out the simple minded notions of the Pew/CLF groups are hyperboly, at best. 22:10
Maine’s scallop fishery to face more closures
The regulations are designed to “rebuild the scallop resource” while giving scalloping fishermen a chance to fish, said Trisha DeGraaf, a coordinator with the marine resources department.The state will hold three public hearings on the proposed rules in September Read more here 08:12
V-notched lobster decline is a threatening sign in Maine
Lobstermen’s efforts to mark egg-bearing female lobsters with a V-notch on their tail have been on the decline since 2008, which could put pressure on the future health of the state’s most lucrative fishery, state officials said. Read more here 16:04
