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President of Kikkoman International, Inc. Observes Lobster Institute Bait Testing
Masaru
Ogihara, newly appointed president of Kikkoman International, Inc. recently
journeyed to Maine to get an up-close look at the success of the Lobster
Institute’s testing of soy-based lobster bait.
He and northeastern regional manager Charles Rodriquez joined the
Institute’s executive director, Dr. Bob Bayer, associate researcher, Dr. Juan
Carlos R. Souza, and volunteer fisherman Herb Hodgkins on a trip out on a
lobster boat to pull traps baited with the new alternative bait.
As you can see from the picture below, the bait proved successful.
Mr. Masaru Ogihara (l) and Mr. Charles Rodriguez (c) of Kikkoman International, Inc., and Dr. Juan Carlos R. Souza display their catch from traps using soy-based test bait.
Kikkoman International, Inc. has been an ongoing sponsor of the
Institute’s soy-based bait research, and Kikkoman products are key ingredients
in the current formula of the test bait. The project started as a collaboration
with Purdue University, with
The Institute has progressed from the proof of concept stage to the production of several prototypes and subsequent alpha testing. The testing was designed to make field evaluations of various formulas containing expelled soybean meal. More than 20 different bait formulations using a combination of Maine-produced soybean meal (SBM), salted fish, fresh crab meat, fish extracts, hydrolyzed fish, vegetable oils and soybean related products were pre-evaluated in the laboratory and then the most satisfactory were evaluated in the field. Catches were higher than the control (herring) for three of the five levels of soybean tested. (see graph below).
The
present work indicates that soybean meal can be effectively used as an
ingredient to formulate lobster bait when combined with appropriate attractants.
Enhancement
and adjustment for multi-species utilization are subsequent logical steps toward
commercial success for this alternative bait package.
As the soy-based baits also showed to be a remarkable attractant for
crabs, an industry that presents the same constrains with baits observed in the
lobster industry, future studies will evaluate a re-formulated bait for use with
the snow crab industry.
Anderson Named Director of Maine Sea Grant
Paul
Anderson has been named to lead the Maine Sea Grant program.
Prior to his full-time appointment this summer, Anderson had been serving
in that role on an interim basis. As
director, Anderson will provide leadership and programmatic as well as budgetary
oversight for Maine Sea Grant. He will continue in his role as Marine Extension
Team leader, coordinating marine outreach activities for the University of
Maine.
The Marine Extension Team, a collaboration between the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant, has nine staff members based along the coast from Wells to Eastport. The team works with coastal communities to share scientific information, provide technological assistance, and bring the most pressing local concerns to the awareness of researchers and managers. “We have an excellent relationship with Cooperative Extension. This allows us to have a more robust extension team,” says Anderson. “What is most exciting to me is the role the extension team plays in helping communities recognize their own assets and limitations and take responsibility for solving the problems that come up in their region.” z
Readers may contact the Lobster Institute for more
detailed information on any of the projects reported.
v
Maine Technology Institute Seed Grant Funds Help Further Bait Studies–
With a $9,950 Seed Grant from the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) (and matching
funds from the University of Maine and Bangor Business Services) Lobster
Products, Inc. of Hancock, Maine has partnered with the Lobster Institute to
develop a business plan and pursue additional sources of funding designed to
bring a new soy-based lobster bait to commercialization.
Herring is the primary bait used by lobstermen, but the unstable supplies
coupled with fluctuating costs can be troublesome. According to the president of
Lobster Products, Inc., Daniel Hodgkins, “Formulating effective alternative
bait would alleviate key problems currently experienced with fish bait.”
During
the project, the Lobster Institute will also explore reformulating the soy-based
bait for the crab fishery. A sample
of the most effective prototype has been shipped to the Marine Institute at
Memorial University in Newfoundland. Fisheries
Researcher Philip Walsh has distributed the bait to local crab fishermen for
preliminary field-testing.
v
University of Maine to Conduct Herring Tagging Study–
With grants of $10,000 from the Maine Department of
Marine Resources, $5,000 from Connors Bros., Ltd. of New Brunswick and $10,000
from both Starlight, Inc. of Camden and UMaine, Philip Yund of the School of
Marine Sciences (SMS) is coordinating an intensive herring tagging project.
Funds will support research by J. Kohl Kanwit, a SMS master's student. The goal
is to provide information to fisheries managers to help them determine the total
allowable catch limits in the four herring management areas from Cape Hatteras
to Labrador. The Atlantic herring
is one of the most important species in the Gulf of Maine. A food source for
many species of fish, mammals and sea birds, about 60 percent of the annual 200
million ton harvest is used as lobster bait.
v
New Concept for Lobster Hatchery Being Tested
-- The Lobster Institute has constructed a prototype of a lobster hatchery
device designed to hatch and rear lobsters in large quantities.
Nicknamed “the nest, the device may be floated in harbors or coves,
Dr.
John Riley displays “the nest” -- a new concept in lobster hatcheries.
Permits
have been secured from the Maine Department of Marine Resources for initial
testing at Tidal Falls in Hancock, Maine.
If successful, this inexpensive system could be deployed from a number of
wharfs, with the lobster being released in appropriate areas once they are large
enough to find bottom cover and fend for themselves.
This concept uses a floating frame of lobster trap wire, donated by Riverdale Mills, with a fine mesh insert. Lobster Institute Executive Director Dr. Bob Bayer, and John Riley, University of Maine Professor of Bio-Resource Engineering did the engineering work and construction.
v Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Funds Lobster Snack Food Research – With a grant of nearly $80,000 from the National Marine Fisheries Services’ Saltonstall Kennedy Program, Drs. Denise Skonberg, Al Bushway and MaryEllen Camire from the University of Maine’s Food and Human Nutrition Department will resume work with the Lobster Institute this fall on a project entitled, “Optimizing Crustacean Resources with the Development of Extruded Snacks from Processing By-products and Green Crab”. Building on their previous work in this area, the researchers’ goal is to utilize a mince derived from lobster and crab processing waste (discarded shells) and processed green crab as a primary ingredient in the production of a tasty, nutritious, high-value snack food product. Crustacean shells are high in calcium and chitin and it is anticipated these qualities will translate to the snack food product being developed. z
Thistle Marine Electronic Log Books Used in Two New Data Collection Projects
Thistle Marine Electronic Logbooks are now being used in data collection
projects in both Connecticut and Massachusetts, in addition to the ongoing
project coordinated through the Maine DMR.
According to Thistle Marine president, Rich Arnold, the Connecticut DEP
has purchased 25 units to distribute among fishermen in Long Island Sound.
The logbooks were adapted for use in counting the number of shell
diseased, legal healthy, dead or dying, and egged female lobsters. They have
begun deploying the units and fishermen are already sending in data.
In addition, 20 units are ready for fishermen in Massachusetts.
According to Arnold, the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association
obtained a grant from the NEC to collect data in that area, and units should be
New features have also been added to the units. “We have added the
capability to collect bathometric data while the fisherman is hauling traps,”
says Arnold. “So in addition to a
connection to the on-board GPS we can also support a connection to their depth
sounder. Every time a fisherman
presses the "Enter" button to record their catch we will also record
the depth of the water. This depth
measurement can be corrected for tide and the location of the transducer.”
Beta testing for this feature will begin in August.
Thistle Marine Electronic Logbooks were first introduced to the Maine lobster
fishery in 1999. The Maine
Department of Marine Resources (DMR)has been distributing these logbooks to
lobstermen over the past three years in an effort to collect important fisheries
resource information that lobstermen can gather each time they haul their traps.
These on-board electronic devices are connected to a fisherman’s onboard GPS
and provide a uniform means of collecting demographic data at the touch of a
button. Lobstermen keep track of
such data as catch type and quantity and download this information over the
phone to a data storehouse. The information is kept confidential, and fishermen
receive an individual report on their effort and fishing success.
DMR will use the information for population assessment to guide them in
management decisions. According to DMR, “The
Thistle Marine Electronic Logbook can make great strides in …showing DMR what
fishermen see everyday.”
