Harpswell Information

Coastal Harpswell
Fishing links

Contents

• General

• Information

• News

General

• 2/21/10: Lubec's fishermen turn to the sea, and a life on the edge
  LUBEC, Maine — The wall of her grandfather’s boathouse told the story.
  “On the inside of the big doors at the front of the boathouse, he had written every name of every person he knew that had been lost at sea,” Julie Keene recalled recently.
  When asked how many names were on that list, Keene,52, could only close her eyes and say, “Too many. Too many.”
  Note: This is an excellent article on the perils of the sea.

• 8/25/06 Reason: Pick Your Poissons: Economic and ecological diversity for fisheries
  The pitiful state hof America's ocean fisheries provokes perennial handwringing. In its July 31st issue, The New Yorker profiled historical ecologist, fisher and MacArthur genius Ted Ames. Mining the memories of old fishers and historical documents, Ames has rediscovered the former spawning and feeding grounds of ghost cod populations in the Gulf of Maine that were destroyed by overfishing. The hope is that that knowledge will aid in some day restoring them. The profile notes that with modern fishing methods "[e]ntire populations of fish can be erased." In fact, New England's once vast cod fishery is all but gone today.

Information

• 5/20/04 Lincoln County News
  Waldoboro Board Denies Dock on Clam Flats

• 2/22 The Herald News
  Fishermen’s health plan launches survey
  BOSTON -- A health plan providing coverage to Massachusetts fishermen and their families is about to launch a survey to determine how many fishermen are having trouble paying for health care and how many more fishermen would join the plan if they could.

•  Northeast Groundfish Amendment 13
  This site seems to have a lot of information about Amendment 13, as well as links to many other related sites

• NEFMC
  New England Fisheries Management Council

• Seafood Choices Alliance
  Bringing sustainable fishing to the table. Some may disagree with this site. Send me a note; I'll post it.

• Northeast Regional Cod Tagging Program - Home page

News

• 9/2/09: Change is seen in Atlantic from climate, fishing
  PORTLAND, Maine — The basic makeup of the ocean waters off the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic region has fundamentally changed in the past 40 years because of climate change, commercial fishing pressures and growing coastal populations, according to a new report.
  The 2009 Ecosystem Status Report says fish populations in U.S. waters from North Carolina to Maine have moved from their traditional home grounds because of a changing environment and human activities.

• 7/30/09: Tide may be turning for overexploited fish stocks
  Fishery scientists are having a glass-half-full moment. A new global survey of commercial fish stocks concludes that many threatened ecosystems are on the mend, thanks to good stewardship.
  And the other half of that glass? Sixty-three per cent of the fish populations they surveyed are still at unsustainable levels, with things looking grimmest in the developing world.

• 7/23/09: Modest Fisheries Reduction Could Protect Vast Coastal Ecosystems
  ScienceDaily (July 23, 2009) — A reduction of as little as five per cent in fisheries catch could result in as much as 30 per cent of the British Columbia coastal ecosystems being protected from overfishing, according to a new study from the UBC Fisheries Centre in Canada.

• 6/17/09: Rebuilding the swordfish stock
  Unlike some fish stocks making headlines these days, the Atlantic swordfish is a great success story in rebuilding. Yet the U.S. fleet that fishes for swordfish faces the unique problem of not being able, due to a variety of reasons, to catch its U.S. quota. It is catching only half the base quota.

• 6/13/09: Poll shows strong support for a new management system for groundfish
  Overfishing a concern for Maine and Massachusetts voters
  On Monday, the Pew Environment Group released the results of a public opinion survey conducted with voters in Maine and Massachusetts, which showed that voters overwhelmingly support a new management system for the groundfish (cod, flounder, haddock) that have been a cornerstone of New England's economy for centuries.
  The poll, conducted by City Square Associates, Inc., a research and consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, addressed voter attitudes toward overfishing as well as major changes the New England Fishery Management Council is considering that will improve sustainable management of these important fish populations. The council will vote on these changes during its meeting in Portland, Maine, June 22-25, 2009.

• 5/26/09: Did The North Atlantic Fisheries Collapse Due To Fisheries-induced Evolution?
  ScienceDaily (May 26, 2009) — The Atlantic cod has, for many centuries, sustained major fisheries on both sides of the Atlantic. However, the North American fisheries have now largely collapsed. A new article from scientists at the University of Iceland and Marine Research Institute in Reykjavik provides insights into possible mechanisms of the collapse of fisheries, due to fisheries-induced evolution.

• 3/28/06 VillageSoup - Sports & Outdoors News - VillageSoup
  Report examines threat of 'Roving Bandits' to local fisheries
  ORONO (March 25): A recent study published in the journal Science by UMaine researchers and others has identified a growing threat to the health of local fisheries across Maine and around the world: the so-called "roving bandits" of the seas. [except lobster fishermen]

• 2/20/05 BBC NEWS Science-Nature Fish shrinkage threatens survival
  The shrinking size of fish due to their overexploitation has dire consequences for the recovery of depleted stocks, scientists have claimed.

• 11/27/04 Herring Boats Fined, Haddock Hard to Avoid
  ELLSWORTH — The coastal herring fishery will close tomorrow for the remainder of 2004. Having reached 53,840 metric tons of the 60,000-ton Area 1A total on Nov. 6, regulators decided Monday to close the area to all but incidental herring catches starting Nov. 19, the same date it closed in 2003.

• 10/9/04 Rep. Frank asks for quick action on haddock grounds 10- 8- 2004
  Granting fishermen immediate access to haddock-rich fishing grounds in Georges Bank is necessary to relieve New Bedford's "beleaguered groundfish fleet," according to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank.

• 9/16/04 Boston.com - News - Local - Ways to revive clam beds explored
  HAMPTON, N.H. -- Declining clam populations, clam mortality rates, and shellfish bed closures in Hampton/Seabrook Harbor will be the focus of a forum on the status of New Hampshire's shellfish tonight in Hampton.

• 5/26/04 The News@Ellsworth American.com
  Amendment 13 Lawsuits Abound

• 5/14/04 The News@Ellsworth American.com Groundfisheries Group Explores Area Management
  There's only two fulltime ground fishermen east of Vinalhaven

• The News@Ellsworth American.com Amendment 13 in Effect, Changes Already Afoot
   

• 4/28/04 Wired 12.05 The Bluewater Revolution
  Interesting article about an open ocean aquaculture experiment by the U. of N.H. which is taking place near the Isle of Shoals with cod, haddock and halibut

• 4/28/04 Fishermen cry foul over new regulations 4- 28- 2004
  News, south coast of MA

• 4/2 Boston.com - News - Local - Mass. - Fisherman facing new catch limits
  Last November, New England fishermen cheered when a government agency accepted a plan that would allow them to spend more days at sea. But on May 1, when the Amendment 13 fishing regulations take effect, most fishermen who catch groundfish -- such as cod, flounder, and white hake -- will actually be working fewer days

• 3/31 The News@Ellsworth American.com
  Funds Restored For Pending Fishing Rules
  Collins Says Freeze Was Impetus For Regulation Changes

• 2/5 Fishupdate.com Haddock baby boom detected on Georges Bank
  Woods Hole, Mass. Resource surveys conducted by US federal fishery scientists in late summer and fall of 2003 have detected evidence suggesting that spawning haddock on Georges Bank have produced the largest incoming group of young fish in forty years, and perhaps the largest on record for the stock.

• 1/23: Maine senator withdraws opposition to fishing plan 1- 23- 2004

• 1/15 Frank targets fishing rules 1- 15- 2004
  U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., wants to change the federal fishing laws, and he says he has the support to put it on Congress' plate this year.

• 12/30 Projo.com Providence Local News
  Fishing rules remain unsure A Maine senator's actions on behalf of commercial fishermen in her home state don't sit well with other New England fishermen who thought new regulations were finally ready to be implemented.

• 1/5: JuneauEmpire.com Local Cold water coral war 01-04-04
  A battle heats up between trawlers, environmentalists

• 1/5 (CA) Mercury News 01-05-2004 Losing a way of life
  Interesting description of problems facing groundfishing in California