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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 5
January 2009
LAC: More work needed on tiered lobster licenses
HALLOWELL, ME – On Nov. 17, the Maine Department of Marine Resource’s (DMR) Lobster Advisory Council (LAC) met to discuss an early draft proposal for a possible tiered license system that distinguishes full-time from part-time lobstermen as a way of reducing the number of traps in the Maine fishery.
The council is working on the proposal because the DMR anticipates mandated trap reductions to come out of the next round of federal whale protection regulations and possibly as a result of next spring’s lobster stock assessment.
The DMR sees a tiered license system as a way to potentially protect full-time lobstermen from the most serious economic blows these rules may deliver.
“The rationale for the tiered system is to ensure that any future trap reductions are shared proportionally by both full-time and part-time fishermen,” explained DMR Deputy Commissioner David Etnier.
In summary, the proposal suggested defining three separate tiers of lobstermen:
Tier 3 – Lobstermen who could prove they held at least 600 tags in the previous licensing year, fished the tags they held, landed more than 20,000 pounds, and derived the majority of their income from lobstering would be eligible to purchase up to 800 tags, except in Zone E where the limit would be 600 tags;
Tier 2 – Lobstermen who held at least 200 tags in the previous licensing year and could prove landings of at least 1,000 pounds would be allowed to purchase a maximum of 400 tags; and
Tier 1 – Lobstermen not able to establish tag or landing history would be allowed a maximum of 150 tags.
Licenses would vary in price with Tier 3 being the most expensive, Tier 2 being moderately priced, and Tier 1 being low priced.
After some very heated debate, the council came to a consensus that its tiered license subcommittee should continue working to develop a proposal. The discussion revealed many of the complicating factors involved in making such a fundamental change to the state’s lobster licensing system.
Define “full-time”
The council has long debated who is and who is not a full-time lobsterman. For the time being, deriving most of one’s income from lobstering is being used as the yardstick to measure whether someone is a full-time or part-time lobsterman.
A week prior to the Nov. 17 council meeting, the tiered license subcommittee met with the Maine State Revenue Service to ask if there was a way the DMR could use lobstermen’s tax records to determine how much of their income each lobsterman has earned from lobstering.
“The short version is that it can be done, but it will take a terrific amount of manpower and expense,” reported council Chairman Bob Baines.
Furthermore, on numerous occasions, the council has discussed basing a tiered license system on “historical participation,” meaning the actual amount of fishing effort each lobsterman has put into the lobster fishery as opposed to the number of tags a lobsterman has purchased and held over time.
However, determining how many traps each Maine lobsterman has really fished has proven to be extremely difficult for the DMR.
“There is no real good way to get at commercial landings,” said Etnier. “Landings are, out of all the options, the best way we can determine the tiered system.”
Landing slips
Dealer landing slips are another potential way the DMR could determine how much poundage each lobsterman has landed. Starting in 2008, dealers have been required to keep records documenting lobster landings from the individual lobstermen selling to them.
However, because the reporting system is new, it is not perfect, so relying on dealer landing slips to determine which tier a lobsterman falls into may present challenges.
The DMR cited several potential snarls associated with using landing slips: some sales may not be captured when lobstermen retail their own lobster; some landings may be recorded under crewmembers’ names; some landings are not easily tied to a particular lobsterman because the lobsterman’s name or license number is not unique; and dealers may fail to report for a variety of reasons, including going out of business or being opposed to the reporting system.
Tag freeze
Over the last year, various council members have stressed the importance of enacting a trap tag freeze before moving forward on a tiered license system. The tiered license subcommittee agreed a tag freeze was in order.
“What we are recommending to the full council is a two-year freeze to keep everyone where they are while the council works on a comprehensive plan,” Baines said.
Zone B council member Jon Carter offered a motion for a two-year freeze exempting student lobstermen in the apprentice program. Council member Elliott Thomas seconded the motion.
Zone D council member Gerry Cushman argued that the motion must be across the board for his zone to support it.
“I am not against kids,” Cushman said, “but it is very unfair to take a man who is trying to support three kids and tell him he cannot build up, while some kids can keep building up.”
Additionally, several council members pointed out that some state legislators have already said they will not support a trap-tag freeze unless it is implemented across the board.
The motion was defeated.
Motions fail
Cushman offered a second motion requesting an across-the-board trap-tag freeze for two years using Nov. 17, 2008 – the date the council held its meeting – as the control date.
A control date essentially means that individuals with licenses issued after the date could be treated differently than individuals who held licenses prior to the control date depending on what new rules are formally adopted in the future.
If a lobsterman held less than his zone’s tag limit, he would be allowed to purchase up to 100 additional tags per year under the current rules even after a control date was set. But, if new legislation were passed in the future, this lobsterman could lose the right to fish the tags he purchased after the control date.
Several members expressed concern students would be frozen out of the industry if the motion passed.
Deirdre Gilbert, assistant to the DMR commissioner, explained that, if a freeze were to go through with a 2008 control date, the DMR’s position would be to exempt students eligible for a license in January 2009.
Consideration also would be given to lobstermen currently under license suspension and those coming off the waiting list eligible for a license but not yet having any tag history.
When put to a vote, the second motion failed by a narrow margin.
Thomas then put a third motion on the table, requesting the use of Nov. 17 as a control date for any future trap tag freeze. That motion, too, was voted down.
What are the goals?
Several council members and others in attendance questioned what goals the DMR hoped to reach through developing the tiered license system.
The subcommittee presented the council with three initial goals:
Assist with maintaining the traditional structure of Maine’s lobster industry;
Ensure that any future trap reductions are shared proportionally by full-time and part-time fishermen; and
Move toward an overall trap reduction from current levels.
Some council members expressed concern over bringing such a significant change to the lobster industry.
“Doing something this big, this drastic, makes me a little nervous,” said council member Dana Rice.
Zone E council member Larry Knapp commented that the current economic downturn might reduce traps in the water without the DMR taking further action.
“This year, in my zone alone, we have lost over 25 lobstermen because of the economy,” he said.
Others voiced similar predictions, prompting Rice to ask, “Are we jumping through a hoop we don’t need to jump through just yet?”
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