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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 8
April 2008
Beal, Cushman receive 2008 MLA awards
ROCKPORT, ME – The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) once again used the closing banquet of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum to honor two individuals who have made a significant difference in the commercial fishing industry.
The association’s annual Officer of the Year Award went to Maine Marine Patrol Officer Robert Beal of Topsham, and the Golden V-notch Award went to Gerry Cushman of Port Clyde. MLA President David Cousens presented both awards on March 1 at the Samoset Resort here.
This is the 15th year in a row the MLA has paid tribute to the state’s Bureau of Marine Patrol by honoring one of its top officers.
According to Cousens, Beal was selected as this year’s award recipient because “he just stood out.”
Beal grew up in Southwest Harbor, where his extended family still owns Beal’s Lobster Pier, and he began lobstering on the stern of his dad’s boat when he was six or seven years old.
Cousens said Beal’s personal history in the fishery and his clear dedication to the lobster industry were obvious to the MLA’s board of directors, which also valued Beal’s commitment to solving hard-to-crack cases, including those involving trap molesting and short lobsters.
“This guy has a nose for it,” said Cousens. “He had some really good busts.”
Diligence pays off
Beal became a marine patrol officer just over two years ago. His first patrol was the Spruce Head/Owl’s Head area, and then a year later, he transferred to his current patrol in the greater South Harpswell/Freeport area.
His first week in the new area turned out to be memorable. Barely settled in, Beal went right to work following up on a complaint and, after staking out the suspect boat, caught a Freeport fisherman with 39 short lobsters.
“He made an immediate impact on his new patrol,” said Lt. Jon Cornish, who heads up the bureau’s Division I region and now supervises Beal.
“He’s very diligent about working his complaints. He’s an officer who does a lot of surveillance. He’s willing to stay out in the field as long as needed to get the job done, and he uses excellent discretion. He’s done some really outstanding work,” said Cornish.
He added that Beal’s upbringing in the lobster industry has been a tremendous asset. Lobstermen appreciate Beal’s insight into the business.
“He works very well with local fishermen,” Cornish said. “In South Harpswell, fishermen have high expectations, and we get good feedback from industry there.”
Community effort
Contacted following the award presentation, Beal attributed his success to the strong support he’s received from the fishing industry, the bureau of marine patrol, and his family, especially his wife, Brooke.
“I feel very fortunate to have good people around me,” he said. “It really takes the whole community to do this job. You need to have the fishermen behind you. If they didn’t care about preserving the resource, this wouldn’t work.”
While the Officer of the Year Award is presented to an individual, Beal said, “The award itself is very symbolic of the relationship between the Bureau of Marine Patrol and the fishing community from Kittery to Eastport.”
In conclusion, he said, “I love being part of the industry and I think you can make a real difference in this job.”
Bureau Chief Col. Joe Fessenden said only two high-level awards are given out each year to marine patrol officers. One is presented by the Northeast Conservation Law Enforcement Chiefs Association at the annual Northeast Fish and Wildlife Conference, and the other is presented by the MLA.
Recipients of the first award are selected by enforcement officials, but the MLA award comes from industry, which gives it greater meaning among marine patrol officers, said Fessenden.
“It’s looked at as a prestigious award among our ranks, and it means a lot to the officers,” Fessenden said. “It’s a very special award.”
Golden V-notch
The MLA began giving out its Golden V-notch Award seven years ago to recognize one of its own members who has gone “above and beyond the call of duty to help preserve” the lobster industry.
But this year’s recipient, Gerry Cushman, was picked for even broader reason – his universal and steadfast dedication to keeping commercial fishing overall alive and well in Maine.
“He really has done a lot to preserve the working waterfront,” said Cousens, “and he sits on just about every board there is.”
Not only does Cushman serve on the MLA’s board of directors, he’s a member of the Zone D lobster council and sits on the state’s Lobster Advisory Council.
He’s also on the board of directors of both the Port Clyde Fishermen’s Co-op, whose membership consists primarily of lobstermen, and the Port Clyde Draggermen’s Co-op, and he’s part of the Port Clyde Community Groundfish Sector.
Cousens said one of Cushman’s greatest achievements was helping to secure a $340,000 Land for Maine’s Future Grant for the Port Clyde Fishermen’s Co-op to build a new pier and secure the property for the commercial fishing industry.
Once the work is complete – possibly by early summer – the expanded pier facility will become the renovated home of not only the lobstermen’s and draggermen’s co-ops, but to two bait companies as well.
For the future
Cushman said he was happy to receive the MLA award because it gave him the sense that people noticed he was trying to make a difference – both in sustaining healthy fisheries and in preserving waterfront access and dock space for the future.
“What we leave for the next generation is important,” he said.
Acquiring the $340,000 grant, along with an additional $130,000 in funds from other institutions, was truly a crowning achievement for Cushman and all Port Clyde fishermen.
“There are a lot of people who want us to preserve what we’ve got here and keep it that way,” Cushman said. “I feel so much better knowing that if something happened to me tomorrow, I’ve worked hard to secure that piece of property for the fishing industry for the future.”
Janice M. Plante
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