Category: March ’16

A year in the life of a lobster: Part 3 – Lobsters in spring

Six months ago, I laid out a plan for telling the story of what lobsters do and what temperatures they confront through the seasons based on observations and other data gathered by The Lobster Conservancy’s research programs. In Parts 1 and 2, I took a balanced approach examining behavior in the Friendship Long Island lobster …

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FISH SAFE: The RESCUE Manual

Preparation, response, and resilience in fishing communities How do communities, specifically fishing communities, cope with the news of a fishing fatality? What happens first? Who is involved? Who should be involved? How does the process move from first responders to support for the families involved? What are the short-term and long-term needs? The close-knit fishing …

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CFN Shakedown Cruise: Dixon 45

By Brian Robbins Welcome to another CFN Shakedown Cruise. Periodically, we will focus on a new launch and dig a little deeper into what went into the project – whether it be a new model or a hull well known to the New England commercial market.  What we hope to do is provide insight and …

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2016 Maine Fishermen’s Forum: record trade show; events galore

ROCKPORT, ME – The Maine Fishermen’s Forum (MFF) turns 41 this year with a jam-packed three days scheduled at the Samoset Resort from Thursday, March 3 through Saturday, March 5. Spread the word: Capt. Keith Colburn from the Discovery Channel’s popular television series Deadliest Catch will be returning to the Samoset for this year’s forum.  …

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NE council: Robust discussion on localized herring depletion; GB/GOM haddock catch cap AM tweaked

PORTSMOUTH, NH – At its Jan. 26-28, 2016 meeting here, the New England Fishery Management Council reviewed a slew of issues from the Atlantic herring committee. Topping the list was approval of a new way to evaluate multiple and conflicting objectives during the development of Amendment 8 (AMD 8) to the Atlantic herring fishery management …

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New critical habitat areas for North Atlantic right whales

GLOUCESTER, MA – Effective Feb. 26, NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) was designating two expanded North Atlantic right whale critical habitat areas to replace the existing critical habitat boundaries established in 1994. NMFS proposed the new areas last year under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) after a decade of reviewing new research into the distribution, calving, feeding, …

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EDITORIAL: Tread cautiously before making lobster license changes

It would appear, as this issue goes to press, that a controversial bill to change some elements of the Maine lobster licensing process may be stuck in committee. If so, we think that is probably not a bad thing. The bill, widely discussed and well-covered by media within the state, would – among other things …

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A progress report from the executive director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Cooperative

Telling the Maine lobster story to chefs, media, and consumers by Matt Jacobson PORTLAND, ME – The election season is upon us – and, as we all know, it lasts a long time.  For the candidates, they hold their rallies, make their calls, and broadcast their advertisements so that on Election Day they get as …

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NOAA Navigator – March 2016

SPECIAL 8-Page Insert  (Click HERE to Download) from the March 2016 Commercial Fisheries News