August 2014 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 13. MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS


Atlantic Salmon Federation Tracking Fish


St Andrews, N.B.—The Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) is tracking fi sh from the sea to inland spawning sites in the St. Croix River this summer, in the fi rst phase of a new international restoration project. The fi ndings will help to document the fi rst re- turn of sea-run alewife and closely-related blueback herring to the upper St. Croix wa- tershed after removal in 2013 of the Grand Falls barrier. The Grand Falls barrier was among the blockages imposed by the State of Maine in 1995. Cooperating with ASF are the Maine Department of Marine Resources, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Passamaquoddy Tribe, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- istration, International Joint Commission and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. In June, 30 alewives entering the St. Croix River were captured at the Milltown head of tide fi shway, implanted with acous- tic tags and released to continue upstream. The tags send out ‘pings’ every 20-40 sec- onds that will be recorded by underwater receivers located up to 80 miles inland in the river and its fl owages. For three months, the receivers will track the route of these fi sh into the watershed to spawn and follow them on their return to saltwater. That’s if they are lucky.


“We hope the study will give early information on how alewives may be return- ing to their historic spawning grounds, but tracking just 30 fi sh in a watershed of this size, with its many predators and obstacles, leaves a lot to chance,” says Jonathan Carr, ASF’s Executive Director of Research and Environment.


The 30 tagged fi sh were among the 27,312 alewives and blueback herring that returned to the St. Croix in 2014. Histor- ically, the St. Croix River, located on the Maine-New Brunswick border, supported one of the region’s largest alewife runs. The runs declined in the 1900s due to dam barriers and pollution. When these were largely addressed, they began to recover in the 1980s, reaching 2.6 million fi sh in 1987. In 1995, the Maine Legislature reacted to demands from smallmouth bass interests who insisted that alewives would decimate their sport-fi shing economy, and closed state-controlled fi shways to 98% of the alewive’s spawning habitat. In response, alewife numbers plummeted to a low of just


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900 fi sh in 2002.


After further study, the State Legisla- ture lifted the last of its barriers in 2013 to allow alewives to again begin their recovery. Earlier scientifi c studies suggested that the St. Croix might be capable of producing 31 million of these fi sh annually, with signifi - cant benefi ts to many freshwater and marine food chains and a commercial fi shery. Ale- wives act as a buffer to predation of smolt moving out to sea. While current population estimates are lower; the widespread ben- efi ts of alewife restoration have now been well-documented.


When compiled this fall, the tracking study results will provide information on what parts of the St. Croix watershed the ale- wives are using now, so that future research can be targeted appropriately.


The tracking study is being funded, in part, by the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund which conserves state wildlife and open spaces through the sale of lottery tickets. The Fund awards approximately $700,000 in grants annually; see www.maine.gov/ifw/ MOHF.html for more information.


NEAMAP Receives Dedicated Funding from NOAA Fisheries


ARLINGTON, VA – In June, NOAA Fisher- ies announced it will provide funding to the Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP) beginning in FY2015. NEAMAP is a cooperative state/federal fi shery-independent survey and research program for coastal waters from Maine to North Carolina. Information from the NEA- MAP surveys is critical to understanding the distribution, abundance, and condition of marine fi sh and shellfi sh populations throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The Program is comprised of three surveys: the Maine-New Hampshire Inshore Trawl Survey, the Massachusetts Inshore Trawl Survey, and the Southern New En- gland/Mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA) Nearshore Trawl Survey, which samples inshore waters from Martha’s Vineyard, MA to Cape Hat- teras, NC. The new funding will support the SNE/MA Nearshore Trawl Survey, which is currently funded through the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Research Set-Aside (RSA) program; and the Maine- New Hampshire Inshore Trawl Survey, which is now partially funded by NOAA Fisheries Northeast Cooperative Research Program.


“We are thrilled NOAA Fisheries has pledged support for the NEAMAP surveys starting in FY2015,” stated Steven Heins of the New York State Department of En- vironmental Conservation and Chair of the NEAMAP Board. “NOAA Fisheries’ direct support will free up funding opportunities through the Mid-Atlantic RSA and the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Cooperative Research Programs to address other high priority survey and research needs. It is our hope that NOAA Fisheries will continue NEAMAP funding over the long-term to ensure the longevity of the valuable time series of data the surveys produce.” Collectively, the three NEAMAP sur- veys gather and disseminate distribution, abundance, biomass, and life history infor- mation (e.g., growth, size, diet) for more


Lobstermen Have Marine Patrol and Good Samaritan to Thank After Nine Hours in a Life Raft


Two lobstermen spent the better part of Tuesday, July 15 fl oating in a life raft in pea soup fog near Vinalhaven after their fi shing vessel, the Kendra and Maysie, reportedly hit a ledge and sank. Luckily for them, a good-Samaritan and the Maine Marine Pa- trol were nearby.


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than 150 fi sh and invertebrate species. Data collected by NEAMAP and other state and federal fi shery resource surveys form one of the world’s largest, longest-running marine biological and oceanographic data sets. The data are used by fi sheries scien- tists and managers throughout the region for abundance indices, stock assessments, annual specifi cation setting, and other man- agement activities for more than 30 fi sh- eries, including American lobster, Atlantic croaker, bluefi sh, black sea bass, butterfi sh, river herring, scup, sea scallop, skates (all species), spiny dogfi sh, spot, summer fl ounder, weakfi sh and winter fl ounder. For more information on NEAMAP, please contact Shanna Madsen, Fisheries Science Coordinator, at smadsen@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.


NEWS FROM DMR The two men, Richard Bickford of


Vinalhaven and his sternman William Deane Jr. of Friendship later reported to the Marine Patrol that they hit the ledge at approximate- ly 4:45 am Tuesday morning in the stretch between Leadbetter Island and Lawrys Is- land known as Lawrys Narrows and quickly began taking on water. They deployed their


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