Commercial Fishing
Maine Divided Over Lobster Bycatch Fine
Portland Press Herald: lawmakers are divided over a proposal to remove penalties for Maine-based groundfishing trawlers that catch lobsters in federally regulated waters. The proposal, L.D. 1549, is designed to ensure that the state’s dwindling groundfishing fleet can...
Fishing Industry’s Day of Reckoning in Here
SouthCoastToday: Sharp new cuts in fishing quotas mark the start of the fourth year of fishing catch shares and sector management in the Northeast, NOAA’s prescription for rebuilding fish stocks and streamlining the fishing industry. Today...
Plan to Open No-Fishing Zones Stirs Opposition
Portland Press Herald: A proposal by the New England Fishery Management Council could open up portions of protected, closed areas of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank to commercial fishing to compensate for dramatic cuts in catch limits...
Bill Would Allow Trawlers to Keep Lobsters
Portland Press Herald: A proposal to allow fishermen to keep and sell lobsters they scoop up in trawling nets has rekindled an old debate between those who hope to revive Maine’s groundfishing industry and lobstermen who guard the state’s...
NOAA Report Reveals Important Fishing Data
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has published its annual report, Fisheries Economics of the United States 2011 (the 2-year lag allows for data collection, analysis, and peer review). It provides economic statistics on U.S. commercial and recreational fisheries...
Maine Shrimpers Prep for Lean Year
Working Waterfront: In December, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announced a 72% cut for the 2013 shrimping season, and Maine’s shrimping community is scrambling to adapt. The commission announced to set a quota of 625 metric tons, down...
Senate Approves Bill with Fisheries Aid Package
Portland Press Herald: The U.S. Senate passed a $60 billion disaster relief bill Friday that includes funding to support struggling groundfishing fleets in Maine and other Northeastern states. On a 60-35 vote, senators defeated an attempt to strip $150...
Feds Return $500,000 in Commercial Fishing Fines
Portland Press Herald: The acting U.S. Commerce Secretary on Friday ordered federal regulators to return about $544,000 in unjust fines collected from 14 fishermen or fishing businesses, most of whom worked Northeast waters. Secretary Rebecca Blank also directed the...
Feds Seek to Increase Redfish Catch
Boston.com: Federal fishing regulators have proposed a new way to help struggling fishermen target the plentiful Acadian redfish. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants to allow fishermen to use nets with smaller mesh sizes to better catch the...
Fishing Quota Reductions will Hurt New Bedford Area
SouthCoastToday: They say bad news comes in threes, and that seems to be the case in the New Bedford fishing industry these days. On top of a recent declaration from the secretary of commerce that the groundifsh industry in...
