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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 6
February 2007
Maine lobstermen oppose dragged lobster bill
AUGUSTA, ME – Lobster industry representatives are united in their fierce opposition to LD 170, a bill that proposes to allow Maine groundfish vessels to land 100 offshore-caught lobsters per day and up to 500 per trip.
“There’s no way we’re even going to talk about them landing lobsters on draggers,” said David Cousens, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA). “I can guarantee you that every lobsterman in Maine is against this.”
As for the argument that Massachusetts and other neighboring states allow the practice, Cousens said, “Just because the other states are wrong, why should we join the club? We’re fighting to get to zero everywhere and we’re not backing up. No other country in the world allows this.”
Cousens said the “three cornerstones of lobster management in Maine” are: no dragging for lobsters; v-notch protection for egg-bearing females; and the maximum size restriction, which lobstermen say protects their broodstock.
“You start targeting lobsters by draggers and you won’t have a healthy lobster fishery anymore,” he said. “If you open that door, it becomes a resource issue. A lot more people would do it.”
Mike Dassatt of the Downeast Lobstermen’s Association said his group held the same position.
“We are adamantly against the dragging of lobsters and always have been,” he said. “This is not a conservation measure. What we’ve been conserving for 45 years will go right out the window with this.”
Dassatt further worried about high-grading.
“They’re going to be cycling through 500 lobsters all the time until they get the 500 biggest ones,” he said.
Effort, markets
Dassatt pointed out that lobstermen for years have been forced to reduce their effort on lobsters through trap reductions and other measures.
“They want us to cut back and cut back and cut back, and now they want to let more people take lobsters under a different practice? This just should not be done,” he said.
Patrice McCarron, executive director of the MLA, said many lobstermen were particularly worried about what would happen to the reputation of Maine lobsters if dragged product entered the Maine marketplace.
“We worked hard to create the market for our lobster,” she said. “This would undermine our Maine brand, our market, our price, and our conservation. We think this is a very narrow, short-term, naïve proposal.”
Would it help?
MLA representatives also remain unconvinced that a change in the law would keep Maine groundfish vessels in Maine.
“What contract are people going to sign to say, ‘OK, if we put this in, you won’t go to Gloucester,’” said McCarron. “There are still incentives for vessels to go to Gloucester. I don’t see this solving things.”
McCarron said she wished the situation had never come to this.
“The MLA has always wanted to support the groundfish industry, and we want to find ways to help the groundfish industry,” she said.
But the MLA’s bottom line is that it cannot endorse legislation that it believes will undo the lobster industry’s successful conservation efforts.
“Maine should not support a practice that harms our resource,” she said. “If the groundfish industry is at a point where they feel they have to fundamentally dismantle the way we handle lobsters, then this is a problem. We need to turn this into something positive.”
“Very unfortunate”
When asked about LD 170 and his opinion of allowing Maine groundfish vessels to land offshore-caught lobsters, lobsterman and MLA board member Pat White was clear on one point.
“I think it’s an inappropriate way to harvest lobsters,” he said.
But above all, White, who has been moderating discussions on several fronts in an effort to better unite Maine fishermen, said he was “saddened” by the legislative initiative and was “very sorry” it had to happen at all.
“I think this is a very divisive issue and there are a lot of people who are going to come out of it hurt,” he said.
“This is a time when those of us who are left in the fishing community should be working together and trying to stand together. This is going to leave a sour taste and I think that’s very unfortunate,” White said.
Janice M. Plante
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