NOAA scientist: right whales do not migrate in Maine state waters; Fed rules an over-reach?

Dorm RVs a solution for workforce housing on MDI? Is MRC committing DTE 2.0?

ISLESFORD, Oct. 1, 2022 - Will the 17 lobster boats and their crew here in one of Maine’s storied fishing communities survive the fractious face-off with the federal government over the entanglement of endangered right whales in fishing gear?

The Feds are mandating break-away lines and experimental ropeless traps ($4,000 a piece), to ensure the whales can easily escape entanglement. The lobster fishers say the new contraptions won’t work, especially in the roiling tides of Downeast, and will only cripple the industry.

The harbor here is just one of hundreds on the coast of Maine which have sheltered lobstermen for more than 200 years. Entire towns like this one, Stonington, Vinalhaven and Jonesport, have had their identity, culture and economy determined by lobster fishing.

This beautiful film by Andrew Lyman-Clarke captured the essence of this lobster community in a touching profile of a father-son team as they face their uncertain future.

Another fisherman, David Thomas, who has been fishing from here for almost 50 years, said he once counted 87 jobs directly connected to lobster fishing, including employees at the lobster co-op, dock workers and crew.

That’s a substantial percentage of the 160 year-round residents in this town. No other industry penetrates the soul of such coastal communities in Maine like the lobster industry.

The remedies to protect the whales are so onerous, lobster fishers say, Maine would see a quick death to a way of life captured by Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth and generations of artists who lushed their canvas with sparkling reflections of the romance of Downeast lobstermen.

Only it doesn’t feel so romantic now.

That whales have died from entanglement is not disputed.

But since 2004, no one can cite any physical evidence of a whale which died from entanglement in Maine waters.

Instead, environmental groups which successfully sued the federal government based their case on statistical modeling - a scientific guess if you will - asserting that for every confirmed death for which there was a carcass, 2.8 other whales whose bodies could not be sighted died.

I was persuaded by that argument until I interviewed Richard Pace, the chief scientist behind the foundational study, “Cryptic Mortality of North Atlantic right whales,” the centerpiece of the environmentalists’ case - that entanglement and ship strikes are the two major causes of the decline of the population of North Atlantic right whales to only about 350 still extant.

I taped the interview, only so that I may get his scientific points down accurately. The chief counsel for the environmental groups told me that Pace’s work was the basis for the lawsuit to force the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency to protect the endangered species.

I called Pace on March 1, 2021 on a phone line on the NOAA website which listed his direct number. I was shocked when he answered.

You may listen to the entire interview here. But more importantly, starting at Minute 29:20, Pace stated clearly that the majority of Maine lobstermen do not fish where right whales migrate. Some have estimated the catch in state waters closer to shore to be about 90 percent of the entire annual take in Maine.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OIo89t-5lr33-qsJwwi2muM4kztjji5u/view?usp=sharing

“I've always thought it was incredible that the guys who fish only in state waters, all these guys that are on small boats, that are within a three-mile buffer of state waters, didn't throw the offshore guys under the bus,” Pace told me.

Pace and others have calculated that right whales migrate farther off shores in federal waters known as Lobster Management Area 1, where fishing is restricted from Oct. 1 to Jan. 30. Only a small percentage of Maine lobster boats, mostly in Stonington and Vinal Haven, venture out that far.

I have posted this interview before but it seemed particularly alarming now because it indicates a lack of certitude and conviction about the claims of entanglement in Maine waters. NOAA’s scoping sessions end Oct. 11 at which time the rule-making will begin in earnestness, lending a palpable urgency to the debate.

In 2021, six months after Pace published his study, U.S. District Judge Lance Walker, blocked the implementation of a seasonal ban on lobster fishing in LMA1 stating it was “based on what appears to be a markedly thin statistical modeling methodology.” Walker, who attended UMaine law school and was a Trump appointee, was over-ruled by a federal appeals court which restored the seasonal ban.

The plaintiffs in the case chose the friendlier confines of Washington, D.C., where District Court Judge James E. “Jeb” Boasberg, a cookie cutter Ivy League jurist nominated by President Obama, first sided with the environmentalists in 2021 and then reinforced his ruling by rejecting the industry’s appeal this summer.

This week, NOAA and Maine’s feisty lobster industry edged up to the precipice.

More than 700 persons - most of them fishing families - packed rooms in Ellsworth and Brunswick Tuesday night or dialed into the “scoping” hearing held by the NOAA as part of the process to develop rules to comply with Boasberg’s ruling.

It was profoundly moving to hear a lobsterman brought to tears by the looming threat to his livelihood as was the case with the last speaker, Justin Emery of Jonesport. https://otter.ai/u/bYOsMJljF5dtQTGz_J2EhSA7PwA

The plight of whales became a huge story in 2017, when 17 mortalities were documented. Twelve of the deaths occurred in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where five live entanglements also were recorded. But Canadian fishers, similar to those in Stonington and Vinalhaven, venture out into deeper waters and use heavier gear.

Environmental groups reacted with fervor. The Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation and Defenders of Wildlife joined forces to challenge NOAA’s weak enforcement of rules to protect the whales. They claim the right whale’s population has declined from 455 to 336.

The coverage of this enormous story has been spotty. Maine’s daily newspapers covered the judge’s affirmation of his earlier decision. Then there’s been no follow-up.

Neither the Portland Press Herald nor the Bangor Daily News covered the Tuesday scoping session.

The issue also has not garnered much attention in the race for governor. I have no idea what the state senate candidates’ position is in my district. It’s been surprisingly under the radar until 700 persons showed up Tuesday.

Pace’s name was invoked Tuesday night by NOAA staffers who attempted to define “cryptic mortality.”

“So that is we don't see those bodies, they occur somewhere offshore, or somewhere else in the ocean and are never seen. And that is what we mean by cryptic mortality.”

I have attempted to reach Pace since our last conversation, but he has not returned several messages left on his voice mail. I wanted to ask him if he’s changed his opinion.

Lobster fishing is said to be one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world, one which was not over-fished like cod as the fishermen themselves imposed limits on size and the taking of fecund females.

Why not access the impact of the limits on LMA1 and see how that goes before incinerating the entire industry?

Lobsterman David Thomas sounded weary and tired when I talked to him late afternoon Tuesday.

He mustered enough energy to say how the lobster industry was being railroaded and outspent by environmental groups, which sends out post cards and emails raising millions, while the Maine Lobster Association is begging for nickels to fight its case.

He said all the fancy pants alternatives - marking ropes, swivels and ropeless tech - are a “bunch of bullshit.”

“We’re screwed,” Thomas said.

Somewhere in Woods Hole, Mass., Richard Pace still goes about his task as a biologist for NOAA. Will history be kind or critical of his role?

Could dormitory RVs help solve MDI’s workforce housing crisis?

TOWN HILL - They offer denser occupancy, are safer than stuffing more persons per house in violation of fire code and preserve the existing housing stock for year-round residents.

Kampgrounds of America’s dormitory RVs at its luxury glamping site Terramor here were so successful that the company has applied for permits for more.

Could it be a model for all of MDI?

The company received permits in 2019 for four dormitory trailers on a lot not visible to campground guests.

Now it wants to remodel three existing trailers (each sleeps 4), add two trailers (each sleeps 5), a two-unit trailer (sleeps 4), a trailer used for employee laundry, a mess hall trailer and a 24 by 48-foot laundry building.

The Planning Board will review the application at its meeting Wednesday.

‘Jack and Jill’ employee dorm rooms in RVs proposed by Terramor

Terramor can do this because it has the land.

Hotelier David Witham Doesn’t. His seasonal employees are housed in various dwellings in town, in some cases driving out the year-round residents and pushing fire and other codes to the limit when they stuff these abodes beyond their capacities.

A fire in one of Witham’s workforce houses last year prompted the town to propose stricter regulation of employee housing.

Dalen Mills, former chairman of Southwest Harbor’s planning board, has an idea where land is available for workforce housing on MDI - hundreds of acres of unused parkland off of the “fire road” which connects Seal Cove and SWH.

It would require an Act of Congress which was exactly what it took to approve the transfer of 50 acres of parkland in Town Hill earlier this year as a site for workforce housing.

The QSJ asked for an interview with park superintendent Kevin Schneider about the feasibility of Mills’ idea but Schneider did not reply. He recently lamented that the park was able to hire only 116 seasonal workers this year when it needed 165.

(Dorm RVs are springing up on college campuses and other such institutions to offer housing at a steep discount to the current cost. The national average for dorm expenses is $19,000 a year - more than $76,000 for four years of campus housing. At the University of California at Santa Cruz, students pay between $385 and $428/month.)

Another site for potential housing is the Conners Emerson School in Bar Harbor, which is considering spending $50 million to build a new building even in the face of sharply declining enrollment, having lost more than 150 students since 1998.

Town Council member Joe Minutolo wants to consider consolidating the middle school grades with Mount Desert, which has suffered a similar steep decline in enrollment, and then turning one of the buildings into much needed housing.

The Mount Desert school was once a high school with a gym and other features which would accommodate a middle school well. Bar Harbor has already spent $3 million on preliminary design work for a new school.

Have investors been lined up to operate Hamden waste plant? MRC offers opague answers

MOUNT DESERT - Is Municipal Review Committee about to commit DTE 2.0?

It announced this week plans to sell the shuttered waste-to-energy plant in Hampden to Revere Capital Advisors on Nov. 10 without stating whether Revere has obtained the necessary financing to operate the plant, similar to its embarrassing act in 2021 to hand the keys over to Delta Thermo Energy. That deal eventually collapsed when DTE failed to raise the money.

Now comes Revere with the same promises, and yet the MRC has not stated whether the company actually has committed investors.

“The term sheet specifies that Revere will acquire a controlling interest in Municipal Waste Solutions, LLC , with the MRC retaining minority ownership,” the MRC announced.

“As the majority owner, Revere will supply the financial capital needed to reopen the facility while the MRC's minority stake will provide it with a seat at the table.”

So is this a conclusive statement that financing has been affirmed?

MRC director Michael Carroll did not reply to an email seeking details.

Its statement added:

“We are encouraged by Revere’s continued interest in this project and significant efforts to bring it to completion. The additional time agreed to today is necessary to finalize legal documentation, to allow Revere to complete its due diligence and to work with facility operators and project managers on the details of a financial and operating plan to implement the profitability improvement program (PIP) and biogas upgrade to restart the facility and operate it profitably.”

Revere is still doing due diligence?

It’s been three years since the highly touted $90 million waste-to-energy plant opened to great fanfare in Hampden, after years of the MRC pursuing this singular goal to do its own thing instead of relying on a partnership with an incinerator in Orrington.

The plant lasted about seven months before the operator, Coastal Resources of Maine, ran out of money.

Since June 2020, the 115 towns in the MRC consortium have seen their waste burned in Orrington or trucked to landfills. Some towns have since developed their own recycling programs but not nearly as robust as the years before the Hampden plant.

Many towns have lost patience with the ignominious MRC board.

Mike Smith, a selectman in Edgecomb, a town north of Boothbay, has often compared sending refuse to a landfill to “burying it in somebody’s backyard.” He has concerns about the long-term negative environmental impact it has on the planet.

LINCOLN’S LOG

If you missed the debate for the 2nd Congressional race, you may view it here:

https://www.newscentermaine.com/video/news/politics/voice-of-the-voter/maines-cd2-candidates-face-off-in-news-center-maine-debate/97-dc852dcf-61fd-4807-b9df-d5c265789d7b

Tremont Democratic Chair Carey Donovan posted the following debate schedule:

Gubernatorial Debates

There will be 4 that will include Janet Mills and Paul LePage. Sam Hunkler, an Independent running for governor, will participate in some of the debates.

Oct. 4 - Hosted by Maine Public and the Portland Press Herald, 8 to 9:30 p.m.

Oct. 24 - WGME and the Bangor Daily News will host an in-studio debate at the CBS affiliate’s Portland studio.

Oct. 27 - News Center Maine debate (NBC).

Nov. 3 - WMTW of Portland, WABI of Bangor and WAGM of Presque Isle.

League of Women Voters Downeast debates registration: www.lwvme.org/Events

Oct. 3, State Senate seat, Nicole Grohoski and Brian Langley, moderated by Jill Goldthwait, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 4, House District 14, Stephen Coston and Lynne Williams, moderated by Faith DeAmbrose, 7:00 p.m.

Oct. 5, House District 15, Holly Eaton and Jason Joyce, moderated by Nat Barrows, 5:30 p.m.