Edward French

"Deer Islanders -- we're just shocked," says Joyce Stuart, the chairman of the West Isles Local Service District committee, about the plan to reduce ferry service to the island to only one vessel for a four and a half month period each year.

One body was found and Coast Guard crews, other local agencies and fishermen were searching by air and sea for a second person in Cobscook Bay on Thursday morning, March 26, after a 34-foot fishing vessel from Roque Bluffs with two people aboard sank Wednesday afternoon, March 25.

The Domtar shutdown for an indefinite period will directly affect approximately 90 people at the port of Eastport, including close to 50 longshoremen and about 30 truck drivers, along with tugboat crews, harbor pilots and office staff.

While the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) has decided to open the area from Lubec to Cutler for scallop fishing during the second half of the season, Cobscook Bay fishermen are upset that the bay will remain closed while other areas of the coast are open for fishing.

A February 12 public hearing on the emergency closure of six areas of the coast, including Cobscook Bay, to scallop fishing during the second half of the season is not expected to significantly change the areas that are closed.