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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 1
September 2009
Lobster industry values worth protecting
The tension along the Maine coast could hardly be thicker. Trap cuttings, vessel scuttlings, threats, intimidation, and even a shooting have all marred this summer’s lobster fishery.
Territorial conflicts among lobstermen are nothing new, but it’s a good bet that some of these recent incidents have been aggravated by the intense pressure many fishing families are under as lobster prices and lobstermen’s incomes have plummeted. The mortgage, medical, and food bills keep coming but the money is not there to pay them. With few supplemental earning options available, it’s no wonder that frustration is high and tempers sometimes erupt in this tremendously competitive business.
Yet no matter how isolated – or even how understandable – these episodes may be, we all know they reflect badly on the lobster industry as a whole. That’s especially true at a time when the Maine Lobster Promotion Council and other groups are intensively working to win public support for the industry and boost demand for lobster.
So while the prospect of being rigorously scrutinized by wardens may be unsettling, the Maine Marine Patrol has done the right thing by recently restating its commitment to “aggressively pursue all fishery dispute complaints.”
In mid-August, marine patrol monitoring led to the apprehension of at least one person caught in the act of cutting traps in the Midcoast area, where fuses have been particularly short.
Trap molesting is a civil offense that carries a harsh penalty – a mandatory three-year loss of license, along with a ban on working on anyone else’s lobster boat as a crewman. But that price is small compared to the cost of escalating gear conflicts among fishermen or maybe even someone killing someone – an action that can’t be taken back once the anger simmers off and heads clear.
Nearly as troubling as the potential for altercations and vandalism is the increasing concern among many in the industry that people are being targeted simply for voicing their opinions.
As discussed at the Aug. 13 meeting of the Maine Department of Marine Resources Lobster Advisory Council, the very ability of the lobster zone councils to function as they were designed is being called into question by this “intimidation factor.”
It’s hard to understate the seriousness of this problem. It has the potential to undermine the zone process and demoralize the scores of volunteer zone council and lobster advisory council members who give so much of their time and energy to co-management – the extraordinary partnership between state government and the industry.
Despite the difficult, even desperate circumstances some in the industry are experiencing this year, Maine lobstermen are nothing if not proud, hardworking people committed to the core values of this country. First among these values is the right to free speech and the exchange of ideas unhampered by threats to livelihoods and personal safety. Most people understand and believe this, and everyone who does needs to be moved to say so. /cfn/
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