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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 4
December 2006
ME begins red tide relief distribution; clammer applications due Dec. 12
AUGUSTA, ME – Shellfish harvesters, growers, and primary dealers in Maine are inching closer to receiving compensation for their losses from the devastating red tide event that shut down the industry for months in 2005.
The state has received a congressional disaster relief appropriation of $2 million, which is being distributed by the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR).
In mid-November, DMR sent out the first round of applications to those who held a 2005 Maine commercial shellfish harvesting license.
Compensation will be based on the number of days shellfish harvesting was closed in the town in which the applicant held a 2005 license. Those applications must be returned postmarked no later than Dec. 12 in order to be eligible for compensation.
DMR was still in the process of developing applications for mussel harvesters (hand and drag), primary dealers, and aquaculture leaseholders for affected species, but those applications were expected to be sent out shortly.
Department officials hoped to be able to mail out relief funds to all eligible applicants by Jan. 31, 2007.
Research, monitoring
DMR held three public meetings last summer – one each in Whiting, Portland, and Ellsworth – to explain its proposed plan for distributing the $2 million. The comments heard at those meetings convinced the agency to increase the amount of funding applied to direct industry payments.
The remaining funds will be used to finance two programs intended to reduce the economic impact of future red tide events. The first program will investigate the feasibility of making red tide-tainted shellfish safe for human consumption through depuration.
A second program will implement fine-scale monitoring for paralytic shellfish poison toxins in four Maine bays. This monitoring approach will be based on a highly successful program that operated in Casco Bay in 2006 and resulted in allowing more than 11,000 acres of clam flats that otherwise would have been closed to remain open during red tide season.
“At the Portland meeting, harvesters expressed great support for the program and requested that it be continued,” DMR said in an early November press release.
Gov. John Baldacci expressed his appreciation to the members of the state’s shellfish industry who came out for the August public meetings and offered advice.
“The department has worked diligently to ensure that those valued harvesters and buyers who suffered losses in 2005 receive compensation,” Baldacci said. “Importantly, the federal funds also will support programs that will improve how we detect and respond to red tide in the future. I thank our harvesters, whose input was crucial in developing this plan.”
Anyone with questions about the program may contact DMR’s Togue Brawn by phone at (207) 624–6591 or e–mail <togue.brawn@maine.gov>. /cfn/
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