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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 5
January 2007
Maine shellfish alliance branches out from Downeast inception
SCARBOROUGH, ME – A lively crowd of about 40 people, most of them clam harvesters, attended a Nov. 28 meeting of the Maine Seafood Alliance to hear about how they could be involved with the new industry group.
Also in attendance were shellfish wardens from the towns of Scarborough, Freeport, and Brunswick, and a few wholesale and retail shellfish dealers. Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Shellfish Sanitation Program Director Amy Fitzpatrick and Darcie Couture from the DMR Biotoxin Monitoring Program in West Boothbay Harbor were there to provide information and answer questions.
Stan Bayley of Bayley’s Quality Seafood Inc. and his daughters hosted the meeting at the family’s restaurant.
The alliance started organizing Downeast after the horrible double hit of red tide and rain closures in 2005. The publicity red tide had generated was bad. People were scared to eat shellfish, explained Jim Markos, the group’s president.
DMR preliminary data for softshell clams shows more than a 2-million-pound drop in 2005 landings compared to the 11,049,549 pounds harvested in 2004.
“We told each other we’ve got to stop talking and get together,” Markos said.
The alliance is very active in the Downeast area, but needs to be a statewide organization with a common voice, he added.
“We all think we have specific problems in our area, but you may have an issue in the Scarborough River and we have the same issue in the Machias River,” said Albert Carver, an alliance board member who traveled to the meeting from Beals Island.
When a clam digger asked why the group is called the Maine Seafood Alliance, Dan Rogde, alliance vice president, said it was because the organization represents every aspect of seafood.
However, Markos added that it isn’t the alliance’s intention to preempt any other group, including ones that do a good job representing an individual species like lobsters.
Reopening questions
Many in the audience expressed frustration with the DMR on preemptive rain closures, rainfall sampling, conditional areas, and the lag in time getting areas reopened.
“When we get closed for rain – we don’t always know when reopening will happen,” said one audience member.
Markos explained that there were a lot of misconceptions and misinformation on both sides, industry and DMR.
“We decided before meeting with DMR that this would be a nonconfrontational approach,” Markos said.
DMR’s Fitzpatrick explained that the Shellfish Sanitation Program staff consists of six people responsible for monitoring and managing shellfish safety over 7,800 miles of coastline.
Emergency bill LD 1915, “An Act To Increase Supervision of Red Tide on the Maine Coast,” sponsored by Rep. Anne Perry (D-Calais), established four additional seasonal conservation aide intern positions to be used for water monitoring purposes.
These seasonal positions were funded for April 1, 2006 to Sept. 30, 2006 and April 1, 2007 to Sept. 30, 2007. LD 1915 has helped in providing manpower and funding relief, Fitzpatrick said, but she pointed out that the funding was only for two years.
Funding for testing and monitoring were not the only issues clam harvesters had with DMR. Fitzpatrick explained that many of the regulations DMR enforces are Federal Food and Drug Administration’s National Shellfish Sanitation Program requirements that come out of the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference held each year.
Alliance role
A clammer from Scarborough asked the alliance organizers what more could be done to help DMR help the shellfish industry.
“None of us want to be out of work, but none of us want to be out of work for good,” he said.
Rogde encouraged the people in the audience to join the Maine Seafood Alliance.
“Currently, we have six members on the board of directors, but we have seats for three harvesters from east and three from west of the Penobscot River and five at-large seats,” he said.
Added Carver, “We want help and need help. Your issues are our issues.”
The alliance wants to be proactive and to discuss what to do before the closures, to assist with educating the public on red tide, and to continue to go to bat for the DMR with the Legislature on funding issues, said Markos.
Stan Bayley was convinced.
“The shellfish industry better pay attention to what they’ve got and get involved,” he said.
For more information or to join the Maine Seafood Alliance, call Gary Edwards of the Down East Resource Conservation & Development Area Office at (207) 546-2368 or e-mail him at <gary.edwards@me.usda.gov>.
Rosanne Mizzoni
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