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L A N D I N G S
NEWS & VIEWS FROM MAINE'S LOBSTERING COMMUNITY
In January 2013, the MLCA launched Landings, a monthly newspaper which balances
its content amongst science, history, resource sustainability, economic development,
and human interest stories. Through Landings, MLCA educates the public and lobster
industry stakeholders about the unique characteristics of Maine’s lobstering traditions,
its history and heritage, ongoing research to maintain the sustainability of the resource,
and its non-harmful and non-wasteful commercial fishing practices.
Distributing more than 6,500 copies of this 24+page publication free via mail each
month to all of Maine’s commercial lobstermen, state government agency staff, elected
state officials, Congressional delegation, subscribers, marine businesses; and to the
public at various locations around the state including ferry terminals, marine supply
stores and annual educational forums.
New gear marking and trawling up rules in effect June 1
First published in Landings, May 2015. After five long years of drafting, public hearings and negotiations, the new whale rules go into effect on June 1. In Maine, these rules affect only lobster gear fished outside Maine’s exemption line. Under the new whale rules, all buoy lines fished outside Maine’s exemption line must be marked with three twelve inch red marks; one near the top, one near the middle and one near the bottom of the line. The previous rule had only required
May 4, 20153 min read
Lobster landings, price strong throughout coast
First published in Landings, April, 2015. The total value of Maine’s commercial marine resources landed in 2014 jumped by more than $44 million compared to 2013 and reached an all-time high of more than $585 million. The overall rise in value can be attributed largely to an $86 million increase in the value of lobster and an additional $1.8 million in the value of scallops. For the third straight year, Maine lobster harvesters landed over 120 million pounds. The fishery incr
Apr 30, 20151 min read
2014 menhaden assessment optimistic for stock
First published in Landings, April, 2015. Lobstering requires a strong back, a sturdy boat and a whole lot of bait. If you don’t have good bait and enough of it, you are not going to catch many lobsters. So when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) in 2012 cut the allocation of menhaden that could be caught, it affected Maine’s lobstermen. Menhaden, also known as pogies, are the second-most used bait among the state’s lobstermen, according to data compiled
Apr 17, 20153 min read
Alewife harvesters of Maine takes stock
First published in Landings, April, 2015. In April, Maine lobstermen begin to think about a small anadromous fish whose presence in local rivers heralds the advent of spring. Alewives come back to the rivers of their birth in order to spawn the next generation of the small silvery fish much desired by lobstermen as bait. Forty Maine towns hold the rights to fish for alewives as they run up into local lakes. Twenty-four of those towns currently have active alewife fisheries. T
Apr 15, 20153 min read
Maine Lobstermen’s Association update: April 2015
MLA Annual Meeting The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) held its 61st annual meeting on March 7 during the Maine Fishermen’s Forum at the Samoset Resort in Rockport. The meeting began with a welcome to all members from David Cousens, MLA president. He requested permission from the members to waive reading the minutes from the 2014 annual meeting and approve them as written, which was granted unanimously. Patrice McCarron, executive director of the MLA, noted that both
Apr 8, 201518 min read
Zone Councils discuss licenses, habitat amendment
First published in Landings, March, 2015. Despite snowstorms and severe cold, the seven lobster zone councils met during the month of February. Council representatives discussed a multitude of topics, including double tagging in zones A and B, the June 1 start date of the new whale rules designed to reduce the number of vertical lines in the water, bills related to lobstering proposed in this session of the Legislature, and of course, the proper shape of a V-notch. Among the
Mar 18, 20154 min read
DMR winter shrimp sampling underway
Published in Landings, February 2015. Four shrimp trawling vessels were selected by the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to collect northern shrimp samples in the eastern Maine, mid-coast Maine, western Maine, and Massachusetts/New Hampshire border region beginning in late January. The purpose of the DMR project is to collect northern shrimp samples during the winter period when the shrimp are in inshore waters, to gather data on the timing of the egg hatch, and the size,
Feb 28, 20152 min read
Court case could affect seafood imports
First published in Landings, February 2015. In early January, the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York concluded that the U.S. government must adopt new rules under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to ensure seafood imported into this country meets U.S. standards for protecting whales and dolphins. The ruling will require foreign fisheries to meet the same marine mammal protection standards required of U.S. fishermen or be denied import privileges. The case wa
Feb 22, 20152 min read
Air transport of Nova Scotian lobster an issue
First published in The Vanguard, January, 2015. Reprinted with permission in Landings, February 2015. There’s a growing hunger for Atlantic lobster in Asia but fishermen and shippers from southwestern Nova Scotia face a monumental challenge – how to get it there. Last fall, the Zhangzidao Group, a Chinese seafood giant, purchased a lobster processing plant in Eastern Passage. Its subsidiary – Capital Seafoods International – will be exporting up to 10 million pounds of lobste
Feb 10, 20154 min read
State, MLA weigh in on habitat amendment
First published in Landings, February, 2015. The 90-day public comment period for the New England Fishery Management Council’s (NEFMC) Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2) closed on January 8. The Council held public meetings throughout the Mid-Atlantic and New England states over the three months to get public comment on the six-volume amendment whose provisions, once implemented, will apply to all fishery management plans within those regions. The most signific
Feb 9, 20155 min read
Maine ports still strong in landings
First published in Landings, December 2014/January 2015. Each year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publishes a report on the commercial fisheries of the country. Fisheries of the United States 2013 provides statistics on what was landed and where. We present here selected information related to New England fisheries drawn from the report. American lobster landings were over 149.3 million pounds valued at $460.1 million—a decrease of 227,000 pounds, but an
Dec 30, 20142 min read
Cod bycatch in lobster fishery requires further study
First published in Landings, December 2014/January 2015. The possibility that the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) would prohibit lobster fishing in areas recently designated as closed to protect spawning codfish caused an uproar in Maine’s lobster industry in mid-November. On November 10, John Bullard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northeast administrator, announced six-month emergency closures of both recreational and commercial
Dec 26, 20143 min read
Yarmouth finally gets harbor dredged
First published in Landings, December 2014/January 2015. It takes a long time to get a small harbor in Maine dredged. At least, that’s the way it was for the town of Yarmouth, which lobbied the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) for ten years to have the Royal River cleared of mud and silt. The $2 million project finally began in October this year, the result of “persistence and political pressure,” said Nathaniel Tupper, Yarmouth town manager. The ACOE mandate is to keep the nat
Dec 18, 20143 min read
Maine Lobstermen’s Association update: December 2014/January 2015
MLA Directors Meeting The MLA board met on November 11 in Belfast and discussed the outcome of the election. MLA will congratulate...
Dec 16, 20148 min read
Maine fisheries still strong
First published in Landings, December 2014/January 2015. It wasn’t a cheerful fall. Fishermen along the coast lamented the closure, once again, of the winter fishing season for Northern shrimp. Groundfishermen bemoaned the emergency six-month closure of the Gulf of Maine cod fishery, followed by the New England Fisheries Management Council’s decision to cut the 2015 cod quota by 75%, to 386 metric tons. And Maine’s elver fishermen were rankled by the Atlantic States Marine Fi
Dec 16, 20146 min read
Winter scallop season regulations
Zone 1 & 2: 15 Gallons Zone 3: 10 GallonsSEASON LENGTH: December 1 start. Zone 1 & 2: 70 days. Zone 3: 50 days. LIMITED ACCESS AREAS:...
Nov 21, 20141 min read
Maine Lobstermen’s Association update: November 2014
First published in Landings, November, 2014. MLA Directors’ Meeting MLA Directors met with Scott Smithwick of Smithwick & Mariners Insurance in a closed session to review the rating structure and details of the MLA vessel insurance program. The goal of the vessel insurance program is to provide high quality, affordable vessel insurance for MLA members. The MLA board believes that the program is doing a good job of serving the membership, but the program must continue to ensur
Nov 17, 20149 min read
DMR seeks changes to whale rules
First published in Landings, October, 2014. In June, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued its final rule regarding the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP). The rule is designed to remove vertical lines from water in order to reduce the chance that an endangered whale might become entangled. The rule goes into effect in June, 2015. The Final Rule caused angry ripples along the Gulf of Maine coast. In Massachusetts, for example, lobstermen found tha
Oct 24, 20144 min read
Second MSC certification for Gulf of Maine lobster underway
First published in Landings, October, 2014. In September a group of New England seafood companies made application to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to certify “the Gulf of Maine Lobster Fishery” as a sustainably caught seafood. The application came as a surprise to many because Maine lobster had already achieved MSC certification in 2013 after a seven-year effort orchestrated by three Maine lobster companies, Shucks Maine Lobster, Goat Island Maine Lobster, and Linda B
Oct 20, 20145 min read
Guest Column: Follow the rules of the road in Penobscot Bay
First published in Landings, October, 2014. Over the past year, the Maine Marine Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard have received a growing number of complaints about conflicts between commercial lobster fishing and commercial ship traffic in Penobscot Bay. These complaints have come from both sides of the issue and involve gear loss and vessel safety. Marine Patrol Officers are spreading awareness about the problem and offering solutions to minimize these conflicts. The Marine
Oct 12, 20143 min read
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