Lobster shell disease creeping northward to Maine

PORTLAND, Maine — A shell disease that has plagued the southern New England lobster industry for years by making lobsters unsightly and in some cases unmarketable appears to be creeping northward to the lobster-rich grounds off the coast of Maine.

The number of lobsters suffering from shell disease remains tiny in Maine — only three out of every 1,000 lobsters sampled last year had the disease. But scientists and lobstermen are concerned because the prevalence grew fivefold from 2010 to 2012.

The disease, which is not harmful to humans, first became noticeable in southern New England waters in the 1990s. About one in every three or four lobsters caught in waters off southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island in recent years has been diseased.

Carl Wilson, the state lobster biologist with the Department of Marine Resources, said people should be concerned — but not alarmed — by the numbers. People who look only at the percentage increase could get spooked and say, "Oh, my god, that's a huge increase," he said.

"But it's not, considering all the sampling we have and all the caveats of our sampling design," Wilson said. "But it's something we are watching."

Lobster is one of the most important fisheries in Maine and New England, valued at more than $400 million to fishermen and hundreds of millions more to coastal communities.

The fishery in southern New England waters has already been hurt by the so-called epizootic shell disease, which is caused by bacteria that eat away at a lobster's shell, leaving behind ugly lesions. Diseased lobsters can still be processed but are unmarketable in the more valuable live market. The disease stresses lobsters and can sometimes kill them but doesn't taint their meat.

When biologists first began sampling for the disease in Rhode Island, the prevalence was small: less than 1 percent in 1996 and 4 percent in 1997. But in 1998, the percentage jumped to nearly 20 percent; since then, it's ranged from 18 to 34 percent a year.

A similar story has played out in Massachusetts south of Cape Cod, where an average of 22 percent of sampled lobsters have been diseased from 2000 to 2011. The rate peaked at 38 percent in 2011.

Shell disease could be linked to a number of pressures such as rising water temperatures, pollution and low oxygen levels in the water, said Kathy Castro, a fisheries biologist at the University of Rhode Island Fisheries Center. Young lobsters can molt out of the disease when they shed their shells and grow new ones; egg-bearing females have the highest prevalence because they don't molt while they're carrying eggs. Lobsters can die when the infection gets particularly bad and prevents them from properly molting.

Shell disease is much less prevalent in the colder waters of the Gulf of Maine, which stretches from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, than it is in southern New England. But it's still around.

In Massachusetts waters north of Cape Cod, about 3 percent of sampled lobsters have had the disease since 2000, with no upward trend.

Tracy Pugh, a fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, isn't overly concerned about the Gulf of Maine lobster stock because the waters are cold.

"It's certainly something to keep an eye on. But in terms of our perspective of Gulf of Maine shell disease, we don't see it as something to get particularly concerned about," she said. "The rates are pretty low. We don't see a pattern."

From 2008 to 2010, observers found about one diseased lobster for every 2,000 sampled in Maine. In 2011, that rate rose to four diseased lobsters in 2,000, and in 2012, it rose to six.

It's not a large number, but it's high enough to get lobstermen's attention.

"From talking to fisherman from Massachusetts on up, it seems like each year it's moving its way north a little bit," said South Bristol lobsterman Arnold Gamage Jr., who's been fishing all his life.

Still, he tries to keep it in perspective.

"If we go all day long and I see a few that have shell disease, I think to myself, 'That's a lot,'" Gamage said. "And I suppose it is a lot compared to none. But it's still a very small number; it's way less than 1 percent."

Given the sudden increase in shell disease over a short period in southern New England, Maine's lobstermen, scientists and regulators have good reason to be worried, said Jeffrey Shields, a marine science professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who's been hired to assess some of the diseased lobsters caught off Maine.

His advice: "Keep an eye on it. Keep monitoring it. Lobby federal and state agencies to fund research to understand more about it."

For now, it's too soon to say if the uptick in Maine is the beginning of something more or simply an anomaly, given the record-high ocean temperatures of 2012, said Wilson, the state of Maine lobster biologist.

But he's confident that the incidence of shell disease in Maine won't replicate what happened in southern New England. Still, with lobster accounting for 65 percent of the value of the Maine's commercial seafood harvest, it's understandable that fishermen are keeping a close eye on the disease.

"I think when you have such a high dependence on single fishery, how could you not have a concern?" Wilson said. "There can be threats to the lobster population that are completely out of the influence of the fishermen, so any change is going to be a concern."

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City eyes authority on liquor licenses

A Boston city councilor is making a fresh push to wrest control of Boston's liquor licensing process from the Legislature, arguing that giving the city the power to increase the number of licenses issued would help revitalize neighborhoods by reducing costs for prospective restaurateurs.

"This is not about changing Main Street into New Orleans' Bourbon Street," City Councilor Ayanna Pressley said. "One of the critical factors I see for thriving neighborhoods are successful restaurants."

State lawmakers have had control of the number of liquor licenses in the city since the 1930s. Pressley's home rule petition seeking the change is scheduled to be vetted at a public hearing Wednesday.

Pressley also wants to stop licenses being moved from empowerment zones, urban renewal districts and transit-oriented developments.

"The current law is hurting small business," Pressley said. "There's a limited number of licenses, so there's not enough to go around, and they just go to the highest bidders."

Restaurants can sell their licenses for as much as $350,000 for an all-alcohol version — and $500,000 in the Back Bay, where residents oppose adding new licenses.

Boston's 1,030 liquor licenses are given out with wide divergences in neighborhoods. Of 99 North End licenses, 91 are for restaurants and bars while 17 of Roxbury's 26 licenses are for liquor stores.

"There's a disparity issue," Pressley said. "The city should be able to work with neighborhoods and decide how best to allocate them. Clearly, a restaurant cannot be successful without a beer and wine or full alcohol license. Most of your profit margin is not going to come from your food, it's going to come from your bar."

She will face some pushback from the restaurant industry, which is concerned about disruption if more licenses are given out, with a resulting drop in the value of licenses.

"Existing restaurants have based their whole business model ... on an asset with a certain value," said Massachusetts Restaurant Association CEO Bob Luz. "To negate that value now would be unfair to existing businesses."

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Report: Bundesbank sees new Greece bailout in 2014

BERLIN — German news weekly Der Spiegel reports that the country's central bank believes international creditors will have to agree a new bailout for Greece by early next year.

The move would come months after Germany's Sept. 22 general election. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative government has been at pains to appear firm on Greece's international bailout, which is unpopular with many Germans.

Der Spiegel reports Sunday that the Bundesbank told Germany's Finance Ministry and the International Monetary Fund that a recent 5.7 billion euros ($7.62 billion) payment to Greece was approved "due to political constraints."

The central bank reportedly also described the risks of the current rescue program for Athens as "unusually high" and the performance of the Greek government as "hardly satisfying."

A Bundesbank spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

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Retailers keeping tabs on consumers' return habits

WASHINGTON — It's not just the government that might be keeping tabs on you. Many retailers are tracking you, too — or at least your merchandise returns.

The companies say it's all in the name of security and fighting fraud. They want to be able to identify chronic returners or gangs of thieves trying to make off with high-end products that are returned later for store credit.

Consumer advocates are raising transparency issues about the practice of having companies collect information on consumes and create "return profiles" of customers at big-name retailers such as Best Buy, J.C. Penney, Victoria's Secret, Home Depot and Nike.

They say consumers should know upfront when they buy an item that they may later have their returns tracked if they bring back the merchandise.

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Rhode Island lawmakers seek answers on 38 Studios

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It's taken more than a year, but Rhode Island lawmakers are trying to find out what led up to the state's costly gamble on Curt Schilling's now-defunct video game company, sifting through thousands of documents in hopes of learning how to avoid similar debacles.

The House Oversight Committee began its review last week of some 15,000 pages from emails, letters, meeting records and other documents relating to the state Economic Development Corp.'s $75 million loan guarantee awarded to 38 Studios. The committee is now considering whether to ask key figures involved in the deal to testify — with the option of subpoenaing any individuals who say no.

Questions about the state's involvement in 38 Studios continue to reverberate around the Statehouse about the company's decision to file for bankruptcy, making the state responsible for $90 million in outstanding debt. The EDC is now suing Schilling, former EDC Deputy Director Michael Saul, former EDC Executive Director Keith Stokes and others involved in the deal, alleging they withheld information about 38 Studios' finances from the board and gave it false information.

For lawmakers and other individuals still upset about the bad investment, several questions loom: Did top lawmakers support legislation creating the loan guarantee program knowing 38 Studios would be the largest beneficiary? Did officials at the EDC know that 38 Studios would need additional money to succeed? Did the EDC board, former Gov. Donald Carcieri and top lawmakers do their homework on 38 Studios before pushing for the state's investment?

Lawmakers approved the $125 million loan guarantee program in 2010, but rank-and-file lawmakers have said they weren't told that 38 Studios was involved. Yet documents released as part of the oversight process show clearly that efforts to help 38 Studios were behind the proposed loan guarantee program.

In the minutes from an EDC executive session in June 2010, an EDC attorney briefed the board on the loan guarantee program legislation, which was then pending in the General Assembly. The attorney said, "The legislature is aware of the Schilling matter and has done some due diligence in its consideration of this program," according to the minutes.

In a letter to Neil Steinberg, president of the Rhode Island Foundation, Stokes wrote that 38 Studios was a "catalyst for the $125 million Job Creation Guaranty Program. Without the tangible prospect of a company like this coming to Rhode Island, the opportunity to create the program would likely not have materialized."

The documents led state Rep. Karen MacBeth to accuse legislative leaders of misleading her and other lawmakers.

"We're taking votes based on untruths or lies," said MacBeth, D-Cumberland. "These documents absolutely show without a doubt that the key players here did know about it."

House Speaker Gordon Fox has said he knew of efforts to lure 38 Studios to Rhode Island, but the loan guarantee program was a separate discussion. His spokesman Larry Berman said the EDC — not top lawmakers — was behind efforts to pass the loan guarantee legislation to aid 38 Studios.

"The legislature was aware of the Schilling matter — at least some of the members were," Berman said. "We created the program that would provide the funding, but whether 38 Studios qualified for that funding, that was left up to the EDC."

The oversight committee could invite former executives from 38 Studios or former EDC officials to testify at the committee. But committee chairman Michael Marcello, D-Scituate, said it's unlikely those individuals would want to speak in light of the pending litigation.

"If I were their lawyer, I would tell them not to testify," he said.

The committee could vote subpoena witnesses, but the subpoenas would require Fox's approval.

Sen. Dawson Hodgson, R-North Kingstown, said it's vital that the committee attempt to ask questions of the individuals involved. Hodgson called for a special investigative committee to look into the 38 Studios episode, but his proposal failed in the General Assembly.

"I'm glad we're seeing some kind of serious post-mortem of 38 Studios, but no real oversight will be complete without calling in the principal actors," he said.

Schilling, the former EDC officials and former executives at 38 Studios are seeking to dismiss the EDC's lawsuit. Messages were left with several individuals involved in the deal. Stokes declined to comment, citing the lawsuit.

Critics of the oversight process note that it comes more than a year after 38 Studios filed for bankruptcy. They also question whether the committee will look closely at questions about the General Assembly's own role in passing the loan program that benefited 38 Studios.

"I don't think many people in the state buy the idea that they didn't know," said Randall Rose, who as a member of the group Occupy Providence has called on the state to default on the 38 Studios debt. "This may be an effort to run out the clock."

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Home-mortgage interest deduction may be in danger

WASHINGTON — Since Congress has taken off on its annual summer recess, you might assume that nothing is happening on Capitol Hill that could affect the taxes you pay on your home. Quite the reverse.

Members of Congressional tax-writing committees are putting together legislative drafts that may determine the fate of real estate's most prized tax benefits: first and second home-mortgage interest deductions, property tax write-offs, capital gains exclusions and others.

Committee chairs have promised major tax reform proposals. They've been evaluating deductions, credits and loopholes in terms of revenue costs and economic benefits, including the more than $70 billion yearly expense of the mortgage interest writeoff. The process represents the most serious effort to simplify and reorganize federal tax law since the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

On the Senate side, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) asked colleagues in both parties to submit recommendations on which tax preferences should be preserved, starting from a "blank slate" where all current benefits are eliminated. To provide senators political cover and deniability, the committee put all recommendations under a 50-year top-secret classification, and restricted access to them to just 10 staff members.

On the House side, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) instructed staff to move ahead with drafts during the recess, allowing the committee to consider a final tax reform bill in October. That would tee up the legislation for a possible full House floor vote.

So what's really on the chopping block? Is there a possibility that as part of a comprehensive tax reform bill, preferences for home ownership could be reduced or phased out?

Here's a quick overview: The House bill under construction seeks to reduce individual and corporate marginal tax rates across the board. Camp has said he wants to clear out deductions, exclusions and other longtime tax code subsidies enough to lower individual taxes to a top marginal rate of 25 percent, down from the current 39.6 percent. He also wants to eliminate the alternative minimum tax and slash corporate tax rates.

The problem, though, is that lowering tax rates to these levels would cost trillions of dollars in lost revenues over the coming decade and would only be partially paid for by eliminating or cutting the vast majority of current tax preferences, including for homeowners. Lowering the top marginal rate for individuals to 28 percent — instead of the proposed 25 percent — would help, some analysts say, but still might not close the lost-revenue gap.

Another complication: Major tax benefits that have been in existence for decades, such as the mortgage interest and property tax deductions, are so welded into the system that eliminating them, or sharply reducing them, would shock the national economy.

The Tax Foundation, a Washington-based think tank that describes itself as nonpartisan, released a study at the end of July projecting that an elimination of the mortgage interest write-off would cut the gross domestic product (GDP) by $254 billion based on incomes in 2012, and would result in the loss of 659,000 jobs. In a separate study, the Tax Foundation projected that elimination of homeowner property tax deductions would lower GDP by $94 billion and trigger the loss of 216,000 jobs.

Findings such as these lead housing proponents to believe that neither the House nor the Senate bill can afford to make drastic reductions to long-standing homeowner tax benefits.

Other industry analysts aren't so sure. Not only did a panel of prominent economists slam the housing write-offs as inefficient and heavily tilted to benefit higher-income taxpayers, but Camp's own make-or-break income tax cut targets could take precedence over retaining current deductions.

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Lobstermen union meets for 1st time

BANGOR, Maine — Lobstermen who want to form a union to lobby for them in Augusta and to negotiate prices for their catch are meeting for the first time.

Fishermen who are forming the Maine Lobstering Union are gathering Sunday in Bangor at the Ramada Inn. Opening remarks will be open to the public, then the meeting will be closed to begin the process of nominating officers and beginning a process for nominating officers.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers has been recruiting fishermen fed up with low prices for their catch and growing expenses.

The Maine Lobstermen's Association, a trade group with about 1,200 members, has questioned whether negotiating lobster prices would run afoul of federal antitrust laws.

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Fallout follows after herring protection rejected

BOSTON — A plan to protect the important Atlantic herring from what many believe is its biggest threat has been shelved indefinitely after years of work devising it — and even after winning support from the very vessels being targeted.

Last month, federal regulators at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rejected a measure that would have required independent catch observers aboard every trip taken by mid-water trawlers, which can scoop herring out of sea hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time.

Critics believed the observers would find that the vessels dump large amounts of herring and often inadvertently catch and kill critical marine species, such as cod or haddock. But trawler owners said the observers would vindicate them.

The New England Fishery Management Council approved the beefed-up observer coverage in June 2012. But federal regulators disapproved it last month. John Bullard, the Northeast's top federal fishing regulator, said that it amounted to an unfunded mandate and that the council should have known that before it voted.

"We don't have that money," Bullard said. "It's like requiring us to do something that we can't do."

It's a lot of fuss over a fish that's no more than a foot long, sells for about 15 cents a pound and is caught mainly as bait for more coveted species, such as lobster.

In the ecosystem, though, herring are a key prey food for everything from whales to striped bass to seabirds. That leaves a host of groups passionately interested in their good health: recreational fishermen, commercial fishermen, environmentalists and whale-watch boat owners, among others.

NOAA's decision riled a few of them and particularly stung some on the New England council.

Council member Tom Dempsey called it a "slap in the face," and council Chairman Rip Cunningham wrote Bullard on Aug. 1 that the supposed partnership between their agencies was dysfunctional.

"To steal a phrase from P.J. O'Rourke, where we are now is 'like giving car keys and whiskey to teenagers,'" he wrote. "There's gonna be a crash."

Worse, said Steve Weiner, a Maine harpoon tuna fisherman, the trawlers now won't be held accountable, leaving herring and other struggling species vulnerable to them.

"I believe it puts at risk the herring, and all the other fish that are flocking to the herring to eat," he said.

Anecdotal stories abound about the ability of mid-water trawlers — which can be as long as 165 feet — to clear out areas of ocean. But trawler owners say their critics seem impervious to the lack of evidence of their charges.

"I've seen a lot of fish going on boats and off boats and I find their allegations to be, I don't even know the right word. Outlandish. Highly exaggerated," said Mary Beth Tooley, of the O'Hara Corp. in Rockland, Maine.

Tooley, who is also a council member, supported the observer requirement but with payment shared between the industry and NOAA. A target of $325 per day from the industry was set, but the observers cost more than that. Bullard estimated annual costs of about $2.5 million and said even if the industry kicked in the target amount, his agency would be left on the hook for $2 million it doesn't have.

Dempsey said NOAA seemed to lack the will to find a way to enact a clear council priority and the centerpiece of the long-awaited plan, even after the herring industry finally was willing to accept more observers.

Roger Fleming, of the environmental legal group Earthjustice, noted that a team that was supposed to work to find a way to fund observers met just once since the council vote and that NOAA took 13 long months to make its final decision.

"This is fairly absurd, even by government standards," he said.

Bullard rejected the charge that his agency was disengaged. He said that before the June vote the agency repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of funding for added observers, including in four letters over three years. In a letter to Cunningham dated Thursday, Bullard also said his staff often expresses concerns no one likes to hear, and the council often disregards them.

Bullard added that he knows the council is frustrated, but increasing observer coverage for mid-water trawlers isn't a dead issue.

"We're not giving up on this," he said.

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Judge indicates Bay Area transit strike reprieve

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Bay Area commuters are set to get a reprieve from a potential transit strike after a judge indicated at a hearing Sunday that he would grant California Gov. Jerry Brown's request for a 60-day cooling-off period in negotiations.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow is expected to issue a formal order granting the injunction later Sunday. Bay Area Rapid Transit trains would run for at least the next 60 days while the two sides are expected to negotiate further.

Brown's request came after a panel appointed by the governor to investigate the labor dispute concluded that a strike would cause significant harm to the public's health, safety and welfare.

BART, the nation's fifth-largest rail system, serves more than 400,000 commuters each weekday.

The unions went on strike last month, shutting down BART service for four days.

BART and two of its largest unions returned to the bargaining table on Saturday.

Union leaders had warned commuters that they were prepared to strike and shut down BART on Monday for the second time this summer if they didn't reach an agreement on a new contract over the weekend.

Brown argued in a court filing that a strike would endanger "public health, safety and welfare."

The parties remained tens of millions of dollars apart on wages, pensions and health care benefits last week. BART said workers from the two unions now average about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime annually. The workers pay nothing toward their pensions and pay a flat $92 monthly fee for health insurance.

Negotiations began four months ago. BART workers went on strike for four days in July, snarling traffic on roadways and leaving commuters facing long lines for buses and ferries.

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Mass. gets grants to assist in public housing

BOSTON — Federal housing officials say more than $50 million in federal grants will go toward improving public housing units in Massachusetts.

They say the grants are used for housing upgrades that can include new roofing, or the replacement of old plumbing and electrical systems.

The Boston Housing Authority will get more than $18 million under the program.

Housing authorities in several other areas will get more than a million dollars, including those in Cambridge, Brockton, Fall River, Lowell, New Bedford, Springfield and Worcester.

Barbara Fields, Housing and Urban Development's New England regional administrator, says the money will help improve housing for many families and especially seniors.

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