Statewide fisheries are reporting record lows for their harvest for 2022.
According to the Bangor Daily News, despite some recent record highs in value with fisheries such as lobster and softshell clams, Maine’s overall catch fell below 200 million pounds for the first time since 1975. State data shows a much bleaker picture, with the cumulative volume of Maine’s commercial fisheries dropping by more than 120 million pounds between 2012 and 2022.
Climate change is a factor in this decline, with species such as the Northern Shrimp migrating out of the Gulf of Maine due to warming waters. The number of softshell clams caught have declined as well, with their lowest ever documented total harvest volume in 2022, despite their highest valued year in 2021.
But regulatory catch limits have also been an issue for industries, with Herring catches down from 92 million pounds in 2012 to less than 4 million last year, a devastating blow for a fish that’s the preferred bait for lobstermen. This came after a report in 2020 that found that Herring are overfished, prompting the federal government to declare it a “fishery disaster”.
Patrick Keliher, head of the state’s Department of Marine Resources, says that the industry has to prepare for peaks and dips in harvest volumes. He also said that fishery managements need to look at protecting ecosystems as a whole, rather than just individual species. Seaweed, crabs, scallops, lobster and other species often occupy the same habitat during certain times, he said, and so the impact of one species on another needs to be considered.
Ben Martens executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, also said that boosting the market value of species such as flounder, pollock, and monkfish, could help Maines seafood production, citing the success of boosting the market for scallops.
“We need to find homes for our fish,” Martens said. “You’ve got to tell the story and get people to come to you. There’s nothing more real in Maine than seafood.”
To read to original Bangor Daily News article, click here.
