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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 11
July 2009
DMR, SAC prepare Maine scallop plan; public hearings in July
HALLOWELL, ME – Maine scallopers will get a chance to review a proposed area closure plan during public hearings that are expected to take place in late July.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and the DMR’s Scallop Advisory Council (SAC) have been going back and forth in an effort to come up with a plan that will protect and rebuild the state’s scallop resource while not putting fishermen from any particular area at an unfair disadvantage.
Following a series of public meetings held in April, the DMR put together a recommendation for eight closure areas based on an analysis of suggestions heard at the meetings, survey data, and consultation with the Maine Marine Patrol.
“A wide variety of suggestions was offered at these April meetings, with some groups recommending one unified plan and others offering contradictory advice,” explained DMR Resource Management Coordinator Togue Brawn.
At their May 21 meeting, SAC members reviewed the DMR recommendations. In the end, the SAC: accepted five of the closures as proposed; redrew three closure areas; and added a ninth closure to protect sublegal scallops in upper Blue Hill Bay.
“The SAC also voted to support a Cobscook Bay Fishermen’s Association proposal to close part of Cobscook Bay – Whiting and Denny’s Bay – to the harvest of both scallops and urchins,” Brawn said. “This approval was given with a recommendation that DMR and the association work with Maine’s Sea Urchin Zone Council to develop the plan.”
In addition to its closure recommendations, the SAC gave the DMR advice on how to distribute the recommended 70-day season.
Brawn explained that, after debating several options involving a four-day or five-day week, the SAC’s final recommendation was to support a split season – Dec. 1 to Jan. 4 and Feb. 25 to March 31.
However, Brawn said the lack of a firm consensus prompted the SAC to encourage fishermen from throughout the state to make their own recommendations concerning the season during the public hearing process.
In mid-June, the DMR was reviewing the SAC proposal and planned to release a proposed rule later in the month, with the hearings to follow in late July.
“This schedule should allow the DMR Advisory Council to vote on the scallop season and closures at its September meeting,” Brawn said.
For more information, call Brawn at (207) 624-6558 or e-mail her at <togue.brawn@maine.gov>. /cfn/
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