Category: Fisheries

NY Times: A Gilded Lobster Trap?

| Posted in Fisheries

An article in today’s New York Times explores the idea that Maine’s reliance on the lobster fishery creates a “gilded trap” for Maine fisherman.

Maine lobsters, prized for their succulence and briny sweetness, are so abundant, and so lucrative, that they support fishing communities up and down the coast.

And that is just the problem, says Robert S. Steneck, a marine biologist at the University of Maine.

In a paper in the current issue of Conservation Biology, he and a team of researchers say the lobstermen, their communities and the state economy are caught in “a gilded trap,” in which short-term profit outweighs long-term social and environmental risks.

Lobstering Licenses and the Brentwood Farm

| Posted in Fisheries, Farming

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes articles on how Maine regulates who does and does not get a lobster fishing license,

The central question is whether the rules governing lobster licenses should remain as they are — open to residents under age 18 at little cost, but effectively off-limits to almost everyone else — or whether anyone should be allowed to fish as long as he can afford to buy a license from another fisherman who has one.

and an essay by Elizabeth Tarasevich on the Brentwood Farm community garden in Deering.

Last year, neighbors and several local businesses joined to build a beautiful and bountiful urban garden. It includes plots for 65 families, 20 common share beds, community orchards, herb beds and berry patches for all local residents to enjoy.

Maine Shrimp Fishery

| Posted in Fisheries

Both the Press Herald  and MPBN has reported on proposed changes to the way the Maine Shrimp fishery is regulated that would limit the number of shrimp licenses issued.

“This fishery still remains open access, however the section has put in a control date which is June 7th, 2011. The purpose of that is that participants before that date may be treated differently than participants that come after that date,” [Michael] Waine says.

While Gulf of Maine shrimp populations are not thought to be directly threatened at the moment, Waine says there is concern that the amount of shrimp being caught over the last two years has exceeded the recommended catch limits.

Review of Ruski’s, Fool’s Gold, Red Tide

| Posted in Fisheries, Beer, Reviews

Ruski’s received 4 stars from the Eat & Run review in today’s Press Herald.

The other marvelous thing about Ruski’s is the brunch menu, which is available all day. From eggs and hash to waffles and omelets, they’ve got the bases covered. With a friendly staff, the Red Sox game on mute and some good old-fashioned staples, I dare say I may soon become a Ruski’s regular.

Today’s paper also includes an article about the low levels of red tide in Maine this year,

Maine and the rest of New England have had a second straight year of mild red tide outbreaks, bringing relief to the clamming industry after two consecutive years of widespread clam flat closures because of red tide.

and the latest installment of the What Ales You column.

Fool’s Gold is Sebago’s version of a California common ale, the most common of which is Anchor Steam Beer out of San Francisco. Although it’s made with lager yeast, it’s fermented at room temperature instead of the cooler temperatures usually used for a lager.

SoPo Angelone and Mussel Aquaculture

| Posted in General News, Fisheries

Today’s Press Herald included articles about the Calendar Island Mussel Company,

The Calendar Island Mussel Co. — named after an old term for the Casco Bay islands — joins similar aquaculture operations near Clapboard, Bangs and Basket islands, in the western part of the bay, that are growing mussels, oysters and seaweed.

They’d like to make a dent in shocking international trade statistics that show about 85 percent of seafood sold in the United States comes from other countries, and about half of the imported seafood is farm-raised. Shrimp from Thailand. Salmon from Norway. Mussels from Chile.

and about the South Portland branch of Pizza by Angelone,

Neither Mains nor her mother, Trina Angelone Mains, plan on being around when the bulldozers show up here at the corner of Broadway and Ocean Street.

The metal-wrapped building with distinct rounded corners, built as a gas station in 1940, will be demolished to make way for a new branch of the Bath Savings Institution. The gas station was converted into a pizza shop by Jack Angelone in 1969, as he expanded his pizza franchise from his home restaurant at Monument Square.

Oysters & Willard Square

| Posted in Fisheries, General News

Today’s Press Herald includes a profile of two Scarborough River oyster farmers,

[Nate] Perry and Abigail Carroll, another fledgling farmer, are among the first to try oyster aquaculture in the Scarborough River. The location, with its tidal currents and particular nutrients, creates oysters that they try to describe with such adjectives as briny, sweet, creamy and grassy.

“That’s what an oyster is — it’s the taste of the sea where it came from,” Perry said.

and a reprise of the recent activities in Willard Square that led to a 3-month building moratorium and two entrepreneurs reevaluating their plans to open a market in the Square.

Encouraged by the city’s planning office and zoning that calls for up to six more businesses at Willard Square, the partners envisioned a small market that would be built next to Perry’s two-story apartment house.

What they didn’t foresee was the opposition.

Sectors, 18/21, Liquor at a Profit

| Posted in Fisheries, General News

Senator Olympia Snow penned a Maine Voices article for today’s Press Herald about progress in the management of Maine fisheries.

When the New England Fisheries Management Council charted a new course in 2009 that gave fishermen more tools to better manage their stocks, I looked no further than Maine’s own industry for critical input in the development and evaluation of national fisheries policies going forward. Two years later, I am pleased to report that preliminary data is promising.

and the Portland Daily Sun wrote about two alcohol related proposals before the Maine Legislature.

One proposal, LD 901, would bar individuals under the age of 21 from being in Class A lounges licensed to sell alcohol, even if alcohol is not being served during an all-ages event. Another, LD 902, would require establishments to sell liquor at a profit — targeting events like 25 cent beer nights which some say encourage irresponsible drinking habits.

Oysters Threatened & a Stonewall Kitchen Profile

| Posted in Fisheries, Profiles, People

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a report the parasitic disease MSX that’s threatening the oyster industry in Maine,

It was always thought that Maine waters were too cold for the parasite to take hold — until last July. That’s when dead oysters began to show up in the holding rafts, where they are stored for a couple of weeks of de-silting after being harvested from their muddy beds farther up the river.

and profiles of Stonewall Kitchen and its two founders Jonathan King and Jim Stott,

When the partners launched Stonewall Kitchen in 1991, they just wanted to earn a few extra bucks to pay off student loans.

But the market for specialty jams, jellies and sauces, which the partners initially cooked in King’s grandparents’ summer cabin, proved bigger than they imagined. Much bigger.

Portland Shellfish Co.

| Posted in Fisheries

There were a flurry of news reports yesterday about the Portland Shellfish Company. According to a report in the Boston Globe,

Portland Shellfish Co. agreed to temporarily stop shipping its ready-to-eat lobster, shrimp and crab products to retailers in Massachusetts and other states, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday. The company violated the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA alleges, by shipping food across state lines that was “prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions.”

MPBN interviewed owner Jeffrey Holden and learned more about what the company is doing to address the issue,

“In this plant we’ve put in new suspended ceiling, new roof, re-did the floors, repainted everything in the facility, we’ve put in new cleaning systems,” he says. The FDA, Holden says, is currently reviewing the paperwork associated with these upgrades, and will then send in inspectors to take a look.

With most of the company’s 150-strong workforce laid off until the problem is resolved, Holden says it’s essential to get FDA approval as soon as possible.