The aid is part of a $5 million package to assist New England shell fishermen affected by last year’s red tide outbreak. The money was included in the fiscal year 2006 supplemental spending bill and will be disbursed by the National Marine Fisheries Service to assist shell fishermen who experienced economic losses as a result of the 2005 outbreak. Red tide led to the closure of shellfish beds along New England’s coast for much of May through September 2005. Fisheries from Portland to Gloucester, Mass., suffered significant losses from closures. In Massachusetts, 1.3 million acres or 77 percent of marine waters were closed to harvesting shellfish, such as mussels, oysters and clams. In June 2005, the Department of Commerce declared the outbreak a commercial fishery failure eligible for assistance under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Maine’s major shellfish fisheries are soft-shell clams, mussels, oysters, and mahogany quahogs. There is also a limited fishery for surf clams. All of these species can be affected by red tide. Whelks and snails, which are not shellfish, can also be affected by red tide. There is also a limited fishery for those species. According to DMR licensing information, more than 2,000 individuals held licenses in sectors affected by red tide in 2005. There were 1,666 commercial shellfish license holders — the license held by clam harvesters, as well as 36 mussel dragger license holders, 21 hand harvesting mussel licenses, and 66 mahogany quahog licenses. Oysters are grown and harvested primarily from aquaculture lease sites. Whelks and snails do not have their own license, but are harvested under a commercial fishing license. There is no set season for clam harvesting. Some people do it all year round, but peak activity is in the summer. There is also no season for mussels or quahogs, but there is a federal quota for Maine mahogany quahogs of 100,000 bushels. European oysters may not be harvested from June 15 to Sept. 15. Harvesters of all these species were affected by the red tide closures. The outbreak also resulted in bird and whale deaths off Massachusetts. Not affected were lobsters, shrimp, crabs, finfish or periwinkles. Red tide is responsible for the production of marine biotoxins that cause Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) in people consuming affected shellfish. The algae blooms create a neurotoxin that accumulates in filter-feeding shellfish and other parts of the marine food web. The enormous bloom closed down shellfish flats along the coast, although some inland areas in Maine were not affected. Marine experts declared the bloom, in geographic scope and abundance, among the most extensive they had seen in 30 years. It began in the Gulf of Maine in early May and spread into Massachusetts Bay. At their July 25 meeting, directors of the Maine Seafood Alliance voted to recommend that the $2 million go to harvesters of wild shellfish. The MSA plans to distribute petitions for support of its recommendations. “During our discussion, a strong consensus emerged that individual harvesters of wild shellfish who are able to demonstrate a loss of income due to red tide closures should be the only beneficiaries of disaster relief funding,” an MSA statement says. However, the MSA also recognizes the need for further red tide research, according to the statement. “We support the Department of Marine Resources in its efforts to obtain new and better testing equipment and will pursue every avenue in assisting the DMR with its funding as needed,” the statement says. The MSA began to come together in the fall of 2005, when a group of folks involved in the shellfish industry Down East decided it was time that harvesters, processors, and dealers of shellfish and seafood needed a strong voice. The MSA (546-2368) receives assistance from the Cherryfield-based Down East Resource Conservation and Development Council, which itself receives technical assistance from the US Department of Agriculture.
• Promote confidence and cooperation among persons engaged in the seafood industry in Maine; • Represent and advocate for persons engaged in the seafood industry in Maine; • Establish high standards of quality and consumer safety within the seafood industry in Maine; • Promote any and all activities relating to the seafood industry and it continuing growth; • Offer guidance, support and assistance to persons engaged in the seafood industry in Maine; and • Do all such other lawful acts as may be deemed beneficial to those engaged in the seafood industry in Maine. The board of directors is made up of three harvesters and three business representatives from east of the Penobscot River and the same number from west of the Penobscot, as well as five at large members with no geographic or membership category restriction, for a total of 17 members. On July 14, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) submitted a proposal to the National Marine Fisheries Service on what to do with the funds. The proposal remains under review. The proposal was submitted with the assumption that the federal money would become available to the state by August. On July 17, the DMR learned the grant will actually start in September at the earliest. Therefore, the timeline associated with the aid to industry piece will be adjusted accordingly. The proposal incorporates several studies: • A small-scale biotoxin depuration study, to determine if wild caught, toxic, commercially viable species of molluscan shellfish in Maine can be depurated effectively in a controlled environment. The DMR proposes to study the clearance rates of five species; soft shelled clams, mussels, mahogany quahogs, American oysters and European oysters. Work would take place during red tide season, May-October, over a period of a year. • Participation in the development and use of a new and faster analytical chemistry method to detect PSP levels, and acquisition of the needed equipment the state’s biotoxin laboratory upon approval by the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference. The method is currently in development in Australia and New Zealand and is expected to increase accuracy. • Expanding bay studies and management with inshore quantitative phytoplankton monitoring, based on a DMR/ Casco Bay Estuary partnership last spring to set up a fine-scale PSP monitoring program in Casco Bay, in the hopes that this new level of monitoring would result in more clam flats staying open during a red tide event. About 50 buoy stations were established throughout Casco Bay with sentinel mussel bags attached, where nutrient data, phytoplankton samples, and basic water profile data were collected. The increased monitoring allowed more areas to remain open during a May red tide event. The DMR proposes expanding the model to include other major bays and watersheds such as Cobscook and Penobscot bays. • Enrich enforcement and monitoring through advanced communication, particularly between the DMR’s Maine Patrol and the Public Health Division. • Develop eligibility criteria to determine possible approaches for disbursing funds allocated for direct aid to industry members identified as having been impacted by last year’s unusually severe red tide event. Specific criteria will be developed for: harvesters (clams, mussels, and mahogany quahogs); aquaculturists (mussels and oysters); and wholesale seafood dealers. |
