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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 2
October 2008
Maine proposes major scallop season cutbacks
HALLOWELL, ME – Troubled by the “dire status of the resource,” the Maine Department of Maine Resources (DMR) is proposing to close vast areas of the coast to scallop fishing and dramatically shorten the length of the state’s inshore season.
Multiple back-to-back years of record low landings prompted the department to take significant action, said Togue Brawn, DMR’s resource management coordinator.
DMR statistics indicate that 2007 scallop landings, which were based on voluntary – not mandatory – dealer reporting and are still preliminary, totaled 157,736 pounds in terms of meat weight. This stunningly low figure is down roughly 96% from a 1981 peak of 3.8 million pounds.
“The scallop resource is, without a doubt, in poor shape,” said Terry Stockwell, DMR’s deputy commissioner for external affairs.
The DMR has scheduled four public hearings for Oct. 6, 8, 9, and 20 in Ellsworth, Scarborough, Machias, and Rockland respectively (see box for details) on the following proposed effort reduction measures:
A 52-day scallop season, shaved back from last year’s 132-day season, to run Dec. 1 through Feb. 28 with fishing allowed only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays;
The creation of six large closed areas where scallop harvesting would be prohibited for three years (see chart below for locations); and
A commercial harvest limit of 200 pounds per day.
The DMR’s goal is to have new regulations in place in time for the Dec. 1 season start.
“These are very draconian steps. We acknowledge that upfront,” said Stockwell. “But I don’t look at this as any more than a temporary action. We need to recharge the system and then figure out how to open up the fishery in some wider, controlled fashion.”
The state’s action, coupled with the federal development of a Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area, is intended to restore the fishery and create a long-term sustainable harvest program.
Said Brawn, “This is just one step on a long path. The Scallop Advisory Council is talking about area management and scallop enhancement over the long term.”
Fishing days
While the DMR appears to be firm in its intent to limit the season to 52 days, officials said they were not wedded to the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday fishing schedule.
The draft rule-making proposal states the DMR would “establish a season to start no earlier than Dec. 1 and end no later than March 31, not to exceed 52 days.”
Scallop Advisory Council Chairman Dana Temple of Bristol Seafood Inc. in Portland said the issue was sure to generate numerous comments.
“Everyone is going to have a different opinion of which days they want to fish,” he said.
The advisory council itself will meet again to develop its own final recommendations and, at that meeting, plans to take into account what fishermen said during the four official public hearings.
“We’ll consider anything if people have a valid argument,” said Temple.
Legislative changes
Besides the actions being proposed by DMR, Maine scallopers will be operating under other new laws this season as a result of LD 2071, An Act to Amend Maine’s Scallop Laws, which was approved by the state Legislature this past spring.
The law contains a long list of directives, one being an increase in the minimum scallop drag ring size from 3-1/2" to 4". Another new provision requires a scallop license holder now to be physically on board the vessel while the boat is fishing for scallops.
The new law also reduced the recreational scallop harvest limit from four quarts to two quarts per day and significantly increased fines for violations.
And it established a limited-entry system that will be implemented in 2009.
The Legislature stipulated that DMR cannot issue a 2009 scallop fishing license to an individual unless that person held a state scallop license in 2005, 2006, 2007, or 2008. If a person is relying only on a 2008 license to qualify, it had to be purchased before May 1 of this year.
Furthermore, the DMR won’t be able to issue a scallop license to any person in any subsequent year after 2009 unless that person possessed a license the previous calendar year.
The limited-entry provision was written to sunset on July 1, 2012.
License count
DMR officials say they’re not quite sure what will happen to scallop licenses in 2008 given the new law, though it’s likely more people will enter the fishery to preserve their right to scallop in the future.
In 2007, DMR statistics show that 508 individuals held scallop dragging licenses and 113 individuals held “hand” licenses, commonly referred to as diver licenses.
Strategic plan
LD 2071 also directed the DMR and Scallop Advisory Council to develop a “strategic plan to rebuild and manage Maine’s scallop resource” and report recommendations to the Legislature by Jan. 5, 2009.
The directive contained suggestions to give the DMR and advisory council “guidance” – a starting point for discussion.
Some of this guidance ended up being the basis for the DMR proposals going out to public hearing in October – coastal closures, adjustments to season length, and possession limits.
Other ideas, such as scallop enhancement, which could mean the relocation of adult scallops or allowing seed or spat to grow out in designated areas for future harvest – and rotational management, are the subject of intense, ongoing discussions by the Scallop Advisory Council.
The scallop enhancement prospect has been particularly intriguing for the advisory council, which hired a graduate student to review available literature and speak to US and Canadian experts on the subject to determine the potential for scallop enhancement in Maine.
The final report will be used to develop possible enhancement options in Maine as early as next year, said Brawn.
Despite this effort, the DMR approached its advisers this summer emphasizing the need for immediate action to begin rebuilding the scallop resource.
Dana Temple supported moving forward.
“Enhancement is a tremendous thing,” he said. “But you’re talking about a long-term investment. Enhancement alone is not going to fix our problem.”
Advisers offer input
Many advisory council members, however, were taken aback by the magnitude of what DMR was proposing.
But after being convinced the DMR was moving ahead one way or the other, the industry advisers put their heads together to offer suggestions.
Brawn said, “We told them, ‘We feel we would benefit from your input on this.’”
According to Temple, the advisery council had various suggestions regarding season length, but the DMR clearly was pushing for something on the order of six or seven weeks. Advisers did recommend the idea of selected fishing days as a way to extend the season.
At the public hearings, the DMR will present the exact area closures sketched out by the scallop advisers, recognizing their hard work to fairly distribute the pain of the closures along the coast.
“I thought it was very well done,” Temple said of the closure selection process. “It wasn’t haphazard by any means.”
As a buyer/processor representative on the council, Temple acknowledged his understanding of fishing grounds was limited. But he gave considerable credit to the harvesters on the council, who “clearly” knew the bottom.
“They knew where the good scallop grounds were,” he said. “They knew where the good scallop habitat was.”
Necessary action
Stockwell said the DMR is well aware that its proposed effort-reduction regulations will cause considerable hardship in the industry. But pointing to the last seven or so years of “abysmal” landings, he said the DMR had no choice but to act.
“Maine has long had a winter scallop fishery, and we saw our culture and our history eroding in front of us,” he said.
Temple agreed with the need to get back to a sustainable resource.
“It’s not healthy right now,” he said. “We’re trying to bring this back in as short a time as possible. This is very difficult, and the decisions are tough, but we can’t ignore the fact that fishing has a significant impact on what happens to the population. You need a population of significant size and density to have substantial spawning.”
Janice M. Plante
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