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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 1
September 2006
Maine DMR seeks scallop advisers, survey boats
HALLOWELL, ME – The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) is looking to fill three vacant seats on the Maine Scallop Advisory Council and has put out a request for proposals (RFP) seeking scallopers interested in conducting this fall’s inshore scallop survey.
The 13-member advisory council was established by the state Legislature in 2003 to advise DMR’s marine resources commissioner on general matters of interest to the scallop industry and on research projects supported by the industry-sponsored Scallop Research Fund.
The DMR needs one scallop dragger, one diver, and one wholesale dealer to fill the council’s vacant seats. Overall membership on the advisory council is made up of:
• Four scallop harvesters who hold current hand-fishing scallop licenses;
• Four scallop harvesters who hold current scallop dragger licenses;
• Two wholesale seafood license holders who deal in scallops;
• Two scientists who have expertise in marine resources management; and
• One member of the public.
The DMR commissioner makes the appointments. Each term lasts for two years. David Sinclair of Wayne is the advisory council’s current chairman. The council last met on June 28 and is expected to meet again this fall.
According to DMR Resource Management Coordinator Cindy Smith, advisory council members at past meetings have expressed a strong interest in supporting cooperative research projects, particularly in the area of stock enhancement.
Some members also have supported temporary closures of selected areas to allow scallops to grow and repopulate historically productive bottom. However, Smith said the advisory council’s deliberations were ongoing and covered a wide array of topics.
Anyone interested in filling one of the vacant seats should call Smith at (207) 624-6558. Her e-mail address is <Cindy.Smith@maine.gov>.
Scallop surveys
The advisory council has spent considerable time discussing Maine’s relatively new state-waters scallop surveys, which are conducted aboard commercial fishing vessels in cooperation with DMR biologists.
Maine conducted its first scallop survey in 2003-2004 with funding from the Northeast Consortium. Since then, the survey has been funded by industry through the Scallop Research Fund. Money for the fund is collected through an annual license fee.
The Scallop Advisory Council endorsed the use of money from the fund to support a 2005-2006 survey in the western half of the state. It also supported a fall 2006 survey in eastern Maine from east Penobscot Bay to Cobscook Bay.
In mid-August, the DMR put out the RFP for the fall survey. The department is looking to contract with one or more “suitable” vessels that have “experienced captains with local knowledge of scallop habitat” to conduct the survey during October and November. The survey may take up to 24 days to complete.
The DMR also is looking to contract with one vessel to serve as a diving platform for up to five days during that time. This vessel will need to provide the services of two divers per day, along with dive gear and air tanks.
Not only will the divers be collecting scallops within the dredge paths in Cobscook Bay to help scientists determine dredge efficiency on the survey boat, they’ll conduct surveys in locations that can’t easily be dredged, possibly in Machias Bay and Gouldsboro Bay.
Cooperation needed
According to DMR, the primary objective of the survey is “to gather data on Maine’s scallop resource in order to provide information on geographic variability in population size structure, relative abundance, seed occurrence, recruitment patterns, and meat yield.”
Furthermore, the department wants to develop a long-term time series of survey results.
The biggest impediment to the scallop survey’s success is the presence of fixed gear in the survey area, which is considerable in Maine given the time of year and that lobstering is the largest segment of the state’s commercial fishing industry.
The DMR is hoping lobstermen will be amenable to temporarily moving gear just long enough for the survey vessel to make designated passes through the area. The department is planning to publicize dates and locations of survey tows once the time draws near to make it as easy as possible for lobstermen to track the survey’s path.
DMR will be mailing out postcards with the RFP announcement to all 561 fishermen holding Maine scallop dragger licenses and all 146 fishermen holding Maine scallop diver licenses.
For more details, download the RFP from the DMR web site at <www.maine.gov/dmr/rfp/index.htm> or call or e-mail Glenn Nutting at (207) 633-9414, <Glenn.Nutting@maine.gov>.
The deadline for proposals is Sept. 8.
Janice M. Plante
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