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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 5
January 2008
Gray Zone conflicts trouble Maine lobstermen
CUTLER, ME – Almost one month after losing his thumb in a tangled lobster trawl, Patrick Feeney’s four-fingered hand has slowly begun to heal. Still fresh, however, are the troubles that continue to plague lobster fishing in the 110-square-mile Gray Zone.
The territory, at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy and around Machias Seal Island, has long been fished by both Canadian and American lobstermen. In recent years, tensions mounted as the number of fishermen frequenting the waters grew and competition for limited fishing bottom increased.
In addition, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) began to let a small number of mostly Grand Manan fishermen continue to haul their trawls during the fishery’s previously closed summer months.
Feeney, a 31-year old Cutler fisherman, lost his thumb in early November trying to haul his trawl, which was snarled with a Canadian fisherman’s gear.
“He lost a thumb but he was within half an inch of losing his life,” said John Drouin, chairman of the Zone A lobster zone council and vice chairman of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Lobster Advisory Council. “Had he gone overboard, he would have gone straight to the bottom.”
Feeney’s thumb was recovered the day after the incident, still entangled in the same trap line. According to Drouin, a friend of Feeney’s and a fellow Cutler fisherman, gear in the Gray Zone is tangled daily.
“It’s not a wake-up call,” Drouin said of Feeney’s accident. “We know the danger we’re in every day by hauling our gear. This is something I’ve feared would happen for the past five years, though I prayed it wouldn’t.”
Although the same sentiment can be echoed by fishermen everywhere, those in the Gray Zone are facing a number of significantly different challenges. Currents in those waters can be swift. Tides can run 15' or more. As a result, American fishermen anchor each end of their 12-trap trawls with 250-300-pound weights and run up to 700' of buoy line.
In addition to the difficult rig, snarled gear makes things extremely cumbersome, according to Drouin.
“We’re all trying to put our gear where it will fish the best, but their fishing practices are different. They’re setting in total disregard to what was set there before them,” Drouin said of his Canadian counterparts.
“If you have a tangle, it takes a good hour to clear out of it. An hour for 12 traps can ruin your day,” he continued. “Then again, losing a thumb is not peaches and cream.”
Complicated problem
DMR Commissioner George Lapointe said he was aware of the differences between how Canadians and Americans set their gear. Lapointe visited the area in the fall and observed the situation from Drouin’s boat.
“Right now, they set their traps crosswise,” Lapointe said. “If they set parallel, fishing would be much easier and safer.”
But as both Drouin and Lapointe noted, the depths of the issue extend beyond such a simple answer.
“Sharing bottom is tough and it’s a problem everywhere. It’s more difficult in this situation because there are two nations with different rules and different traditions,” said Lapointe.
Differences
The Canadians set longer, 25-trap trawls. Unlike Maine fishermen who can fish year-round as the weather permits, the Canadian season is limited. Traditionally, it begins in November and ends in June, although, the DFO has allowed exceptions to that rule in recent years.
Canadian fishermen are not required to comply with the same maximum size limit for lobsters or the whale protection rules that American fishermen are. Laws protecting egg-bearing and v-notched females also differ between the two countries.
“You catch big lobsters, egg-bearing lobsters, you throw them back in the water. It ends up in their traps and they take it to market with them the next time,” said Drouin.
Seeking resolution
A meeting between the law enforcement agencies of both nations – already twice postponed – is expected to occur in the near future, although the date has yet to be determined.
This will not be the first time that the DMR and the DFO have come to the same table to try to reconcile the gear conflict that is acknowledged by both sides.
“These are clearly big issues that require potentially formalized agreements among countries,” Lapointe said. “They’re difficult. We know because we’ve been looking at this for five or six years.”
The foggy matter of fisheries jurisdiction ties into broader issues in the Gray Zone, he added, including the still-unresolved US/Canada boundary in the vicinity of Machias Seal Island. Neither country has formally agreed on the sovereignty of the island.
“Disputes over international territory are done nation to nation. If this becomes a Washington-to-Ottawa dispute, our concern is that our influence locally will be diminished,” said Lapointe.
While Lapointe said it is unlikely that the upcoming meeting will result in a complete resolution, he does hope it will improve communication between the two law enforcement agencies.
“We have to move forward in small steps because we have been unable to move forward in large steps. It’s a baby step, but one that we can take,” he said.
Cutler fishermen are willing to discuss a solution, according to Drouin.
“Something has to be done,” he said. “We’re not the type that says, ‘Pray for today, to hell with tomorrow.’ You protect what’s at home. This is where we’re going to fish year after year.”
Lauren Simmons
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