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Gov. Janet Mills criticized the feds' process, saying “it is unconscionable for NOAA to only hold a single public hearing" on the proposed measures.
The group said the updated listing “is counterproductive to decades of proactive efforts made by the fishery.”
Leaders said the watchdog organization is holding the Maine lobster industry to an impossible “guilty until proven innocent” standard.
The industry directly employs about 10,000 people and interacts with other sectors such as real estate, hotels, restaurants and trucking companies.
The update was attributed to risks to the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Maine's fishery hasn’t had a documented interaction with the species in nearly 20 years.
A former teacher in Cranberry Isles' two-room schoolhouse has built an aquaculture business that recently took a top prize in the Mount Desert Business Boot Camp. She explains how her business has grown, one oyster at a time.
The stewardship organization depends on its fleet of workboats to carry out its mission of caring for island and mainland sites. Now it has a storage facility for those essential watercraft.
The goal is to make the proposal for a salmon farm on Frenchman Bay acceptable within Department of Maine Resources criteria. “We’re not going anywhere,” said a company spokesperson.
Not everyone is comfortable cooking the variety of seafood harvested by Maine fishermen. A stew developed for retail and restaurant sales might help change that feeling about one species.
Voters rejected a moratorium that would have put the brakes on land-based aquaculture operations.
The court said the balance “tips heavily in favor of protected species” compared with hardships posed by the seasonal ban to the lobster industry.
Draft guidance considers financial compensation to fishermen in cases of gear or income loss. But, said one industry leader, “You’re a long way into this process without having any understanding of how the industry will deal with these losses.”
A federal judge said regulators might find other measures to reduce deadly run-ins between whales and fishing gear, or might find those interactions are fewer than estimated.
Dirk Lesko will serve as the next president of Canada’s Irving Shipbuilding Inc., which builds warships for the Royal Canadian Navy.
The founder-CEO and an executive vice president have stepped down, and now a Mainer will serve as interim CEO of the U.S. business. The transition comes with projects underway in Belfast and in California.
The money, for infrastructure and other business investments, comes amid an “unprecedented level of uncertainty” that has affected the industry during the pandemic.