CLF Plans to Sue Cooke Aquaculture Over Maine Salmon Operations
The Conservation Law Foundation announced in November that it intends to sue an aquaculture giant for allegedly polluting Maine waters. The Conservation Law Foundation said Cooke Aquaculture’s Downeast salmon pens release fish feces, fish food, and pieces of dead salmon, polluting the water column and the ocean floor. CLF claims Cooke’s aquaculture operations in Maine have violated conditions of its Maine Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits and the Federal Clean Water Act. Cooke responded immediately to the allegations, stating CLF’s claims that the company has violated the Clean Water Act and its permits are “false, misleading, and lack any substantiating evidence.” The CLF lawsuit is targeting 13 different Cooke sites: three sites near Swans Island, three sites near Eastern Bay, four sites in Machias Bay, and three sites in Cobscook Bay.
Maine Research Array Wind Energy (MeRA) Area
Maine Wind Research Area Bottom Trawl Survey Begins in January
The bottom trawl survey of the Maine Research Array Wind Energy Area, previously scheduled to begin on October 15, 2024, has been re-scheduled to take place between January 13 and March 1, 2025. The actual sampling period is not set; the survey will be conducted during 7-10 days within this timeframe. The exact dates will be weather dependent. Operations will be conducted during daylight hours. The F/V Northern Lights, a 55’ trawler, will transit from Portland to the sampling area. The crew will conduct approximately 37 tows over 7-10 days of sampling.
U.S. Seafood Landings, Value Down in 2022
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s “Fisheries of the United States,” lobster was the second most valuable commercial fishery in the nation in 2022. Seafood landings and value at U.S. ports, however, were down. Landings fell 2.6% to 8.4 billion pounds while the value of the catch dropped 11% to $5.9 billion. The port with the highest volume of catch was Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for the 25th consecutive year. The port with the highest value catch was New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the 22nd consecutive year. U.S. consumers ate slightly less seafood in 2022. Per capita consumption fell about 3% to 19.8 pounds. However, 2021 was a historically high year for seafood consumption. In 2022 the top ten most consumed species made up 79% of total consumption, showing that consumers are diversifying their seafood choices.
Maine’s Last Seafood Cannery to Close
Bar Harbor Foods, Maine’s oldest seafood cannery, will cease operations on December 14. Sea Watch International, which bought Bar Harbor Foods in 2016, operates a more efficient processing plant in Milford, Delaware, and that plant will produce Bar Harbor Foods products. The cannery, located on the shore of Machias Bay, produced clam juice, tins of fish, and other seafood products for more than 100 years. In the past, hundreds of canneries operated along Maine’s coast, employing thousands of workers. But the industry began to decline in the decades after World War II, and by the 1980s the vast majority had closed. The state’s last sardine cannery, in Prospect Harbor, closed in 2010.
Whale-Saving Ship Speed Rule Remains in Limbo
A proposed federal rule seeking to limit speeds of ocean-going vessels 35-feet and longer during the annual North Atlantic right whale calving season is awaiting final action by the Biden administration. The amended rule, intended to protect the critically endangered species from deadly ship strikes, is in the Office of Management and Budgets and is listed online with a final action date of “11/00/2024,” giving rule proponents and opponents no indication of its fate in the final months of the Biden administration. Proponents of the rule say slowing ships 35-feet and longer to 10 knots is the most effective way to protect the whales from ship strikes. Opponents of the rule, which already applies to ships 65-feet and longer, say it is too restrictive and will hurt businesses, such as charter fishing operations.
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