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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 7
March 2010
ME Stinson plant closes; herring TAC blamed
PROSPECT HARBOR, ME – Worst fears about the possible consequences of recent dramatic cuts in Gulf of Maine herring quotas were realized on Feb. 17 when Bumble Bee Foods announced it would cease operations at the Stinson Seafood plant here on April 18.
“Regrettably, the dramatic reductions in herring catch limits within this region over the last six years have made it impossible for us to sustain operations at the plant,” said Chris Lischewski, Bumble Bee’s president and CEO. “After exploring all our options, we have made the difficult decision to cease all production at the plant.”
The news was shattering for this Downeast community. The Prospect Harbor facility, located in the town of Gouldsboro with a population of approximately 2,000, provided nearly 130 jobs. Other than lobster fishing, the cannery is the last large-scale employer in the area following the 2002 closure of the US Navy base at Schoodic Point.
The plant closing was announced just before Commercial Fisheries News went to press in mid-February, and everyone reached for comment was still digesting the terrible news.
“It’s horrible. It’s devastating, economically and in every other way, too,” said Dana Rice, a local lobster business owner and chairman of the Gouldsboro Board of Selectman. “The whole town is shocked. It’s going to take days just to get over the shock.”
Bumble Bee assured workers that the company would do what it could to help them.
“Support for our employees is our immediate priority,” said Melody Kimmel, Bumble Bee’s spokesman. “We are providing employment transition support to our workforce, including severance (pay) and outplacement counseling. The company management also is working very closely with local authorities to identify job opportunities where possible.”
Kimmel added that Prospect Harbor workers would receive preferential consideration for jobs at the company’s other plants in positions for which they were qualified. However, it was questionable if many people would take advantage of the offer since those plants are located in California, New Jersey, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, and Canada.
End of an era
The Prospect Harbor facility, reportedly the last sardine-specific packing plant in the US, has been in operation as Stinson Seafood for more than 100 years.
“It’s the end of an era,” Rice said.
While Bumble Bee and local, state, and federal officials will work to find a new business to start up operations in the facility, hardly anyone at this point believes it will be another sardine canning company or provide such a large number of jobs. And that makes filling the hole all the more challenging.
“If you don’t pack sardines there, you’re going to have to change it around,” Rice said. “It’s a huge plant. Just to turn the lights on and keep it lit up is expensive.”
Other concerns include the limited transportation routes in and out of Prospect Harbor.
In a statement, Maine Gov. John Baldacci said the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development and the Maine Department of Labor would work with Bumble Bee, local officials, and affected workers.
“This is a tough day for Prospect Harbor,” Baldacci said. “During the next two months, we will do everything we can to put people back to work and find a new use for the plant.”
TAC role
Even though the closing announcement was a painful blow, the plant’s days were, by several accounts, numbered. Bumble Bee was committed to continuing sardine production in Prospect Harbor at least through the end of 2010 as part of a consent decree to address antitrust concerns.
The agreement, which was renegotiated several times in recent years, reportedly contained a clause allowing the company to close sooner under certain circumstances. And the recent quota cuts apparently fit the bill.
In November, acting on recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee, the New England council adopted herring specifications that included an annual biological catch (ABC) for fishing years 2010-2012 of 106,000 metric tons (mt), a sizable reduction from the 2009 ABC of 194,000 mt. Most critically, the Area 1A total allowable catch (TAC) for 2010 is proposed to be 26,546 mt, down from 45,000 mt last year.
“We have put significant effort into working with state and federal regulators to keep our plant operational. But now, prohibitively low catch levels bar us from meeting production levels that would assure the plant’s long-term viability,” said Lischewski. “And there is no consensus among scientists and regulators as to if there will ever be sufficient fish availability to allow increased catch levels.”
Said George Lapointe, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, “A lot of us wondered what would happen when the TAC went so low. This was one of our worries.”
Lorelei Stevens
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