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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 4
December 2007
Maine Zone C lobstermen debate limited entry
BROOKLIN, ME – Things may be about to change in the only one of Maine’s seven lobster management zones that doesn’t limit entry into the fishery.
At the beginning of November, some two-dozen Zone C fishermen gathered in Brooklin to discuss the possibility of adopting a limited-entry plan for the zone. The informational meeting was one of three held in the zone, which extends from eastern Penobscot Bay to western Blue Hill Bay and encompasses some of the state’s most productive lobster fishing areas.
The Zone C management council is scheduled to vote on Dec. 4 on whether to start the formal process that could lead to closing the zone.
For now, anyone who holds a Maine commercial lobster license can fish in Zone C. Open entry also means that anyone who completes the state-mandated two-year apprentice program in Zone C can get a license and start fishing in the zone immediately.
However, Zone C was the first zone to control entry by requiring apprentices to do their training time in Zone C and have a sponsor who has been a Class I, II, or III licensed lobsterman in the zone for at least 5 years.
All of the other zones require that a certain number of existing licenses be retired before a new license can be issued to fish in the zone. These “exit ratios” range from 3:1, meaning three licenses have to be retired before one is issued, in Zones A and B Downeast to 5:1 in the four zones that lie between Zone C and the New Hampshire border.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) maintains chronological waiting lists of applicants for commercial lobster licenses who want to start fishing in each of those zones.
Pros, cons
It was evident at the Brooklin meeting that Zone C lobstermen are divided over whether to support limited entry. Some said there were already far too many traps in the zone’s water.
Others said that people should be able to fish wherever they want and that closing the zone would create a hardship in small communities where there are few jobs for young people other than lobster fishing. Several islands, whose only connection to the mainland is by boat, are part of the zone, including Isle au Haut, Vinalhaven, North Haven, and Matinicus.
In 1998, DMR issued 1,120 total licenses in the zone. Last year, the number was 1,148. Over the same period, the number of trap tags sold in the zone increased from 471,593 to 552,475. That’s a 17% increase in the number of traps in Zone C. Leaving the zone open could lead to a significant increase in those trap numbers.
“If all the other zones are closed, anybody can come into this zone,” said Hilton Turner, a Stonington lobsterman who chairs the Zone C council. Each newcomer could put as many as 800 traps in the water.
“I’m certain there’s areas in Zone C where I’m sure they wouldn’t be welcome,” one fisherman said to widespread laughter. “That’s why I want it closed. Nobody wants to cut off anybody’s traps, but there just doesn’t seem to be an end to it.”
Questionnaire
The debate over whether to limit entry into Zone C isn’t new, according to Sarah Cotnoir, DMR resource coordinator.
“People have talked about closing it for a long time (but) the council didn’t send out a questionnaire,” to take a straw vote on the issue, Cotnoir said.
That changed this year.
In August, the Zone C council did send out a questionnaire to all of the zone’s holders of commercial lobster licenses, including student apprentices. Described as being solely to provide information for the council to use for discussion of the issue, the questionnaire asked a single question: “Do you support limited entry in Zone C?”
Sending out a questionnaire is the first step in a detailed process set up by rule-making to ensure that the decision to close entry is made by the licensed lobstermen in a zone.
The council received 330 replies to the questionnaire. Of those, 233, or 71%, favored limited entry. Eight of the nine districts in the zone supported closure, though sometimes by a narrow margin. The sole exception was the island community of Matinicus, where the vote was split 11-10 against.
To the surprise of some at the meeting, lobstermen on Vinalhaven supported limiting entry by a 57-13 vote. That may reflect a feeling that it is more important to protect what has been an extremely valuable fishery than to assure the availability of lobster licenses for everyone.
Key Dec. 4 vote
The absence of a quorum at the zone council’s August meeting, which meant there could be no vote on going forward with the limited entry process, proved to be a disguised blessing.
Although the questionnaire seemed to indicate strong support for limiting entry, Cotnoir said that the number of returns was small enough and the DMR received enough questions to suggest that fishermen needed more information before the council took any formal steps.
If the council votes Dec. 4 to head down the limited-entry path, the stakes for Zone C fishermen will be high.
The council vote will actually be on whether to submit the limited-entry question to a formal referendum among license holders in the zone. However, as soon as he receives notice of an affirmative vote, DMR Commissioner George Lapointe will freeze entry into Zone C for up to one year.
That means apprentices who have logged less than 92% of their required time – 1,000 hours and 200 fishing days – before DMR freezes the zone, won’t be able to get a commercial license when they complete the program without going on a waiting list unless the referendum fails and the zone reopens.
Referendum
Freezing entry into the zone allows the council to send out a referendum on limited entry that each Class I, II, and II licensed fisherman can vote on. Apprentices, students, and Class I license holders under the age of 18 can’t vote in the referendum.
The referendum also could propose several possible exit ratios. The process requires holding a public hearing to take comment on those ratios.
If approved by two-thirds of the lobstermen voting, the referendum would pass and the zone would remain closed for at least three years. The exit ratio could be adjusted after two years.
If the referendum were not supported by at least a two-thirds vote, DMR would reopen the zone to new fishermen. No new limited-entry referendum could be held for at least three years.
With so much riding on the council vote, a heavy turnout is anticipated at its next meeting, scheduled for 6 pm Dec. 4 at the Jewett School Community Center in Bucksport.
One fisherman suggested to Turner and council Vice Chairman Mike Sherman that, because of a possible “intimidation factor,” the council vote should be by written ballot. He also urged fishermen with a strong view on the limited-entry issue to turn out for the meeting.
“It can get pretty nasty, and these guys need your support if you want them to vote,” he said.
Stephen Rappaport
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