New Rockweed harvest plan sparks debate

The beginning of a rockweed harvest in Cobscook Bay this month is again raising concerns among some fishermen, conservationists and landowners around the bay about the impacts on habitat for other species from the cutting of the seaweed resource. In New Brunswick, harvest plans must be approved by the government, but Maine has no such regulation. Also, questions about ownership of the resource and whether property owners can prohibit a commercial harvest on their lands are unresolved.

Acadian Seaplants Limited, based in Dartmouth, N.S., planned to begin a rockweed harvest in Cobscook Bay and other areas of Washington County during this past week. Approximately 10 to 20 harvesters from the area, using 10 small skiffs, will be using hand-cutter rakes, with no mechanical harvesting being done. Acadian Seaplants is a Nova Scotia-based company that employs nearly 1,000 harvesters in the Maritime provinces. It has a small processing facility in Pennfield.

In 2000, Acadian Seaplants had planned a commercial harvest in Cobscook Bay but did not continue with the harvest following strong opposition in the area. In 2000, those opposing a rockweed harvest in Cobscook Bay sought a moratorium on any commercial harvesting, but the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) declined to support a moratorium. In 2001, proposed legislation to require landowner permission for harvesting of rockweed was defeated after questions were raised about the ownership of the resource.

Fishermen and conservationists are concerned about rockweed harvesting because the seaweed provides essential habitat for many species, including fish, lobsters and clams, during their life cycles. Julie Keene, a fisherman from Trescott, points out, "There are hundreds of families that depend solely on the harvest of clams, periwinkles, lobsters, urchins, mussels and scallops. We are very unique in this aspect as there is so little other work. Our ocean is our life. Our work is our very existence." She asks, "Our rockweed is a huge part of the bay's ecosystem, and if you remove that element from our bays what is going to happen?"

She urges area residents to contact the DMR and local representatives to try and stop the rockweed harvest. "We need emergency legislation to stop this. Before it's too late."

Acadian representatives, though, maintain that the company harvests the seaweed in a sustainable manner. According to Linda Theriault, director of public and government relations for Acadian, "The 2007 harvest will be conducted using the company's world-class sustainable and scientific resource management procedures and its specially-designed harvesting tool to ensure an environmentally sustainable harvest takes place. The company has been harvesting marine plants in an environmentally sustainable manner for 26 years. The company always trims significantly less than the marine plants' annual re-growth as a conservative and environmentally sustainable approach to harvesting the resource. In fact, research proves that areas harvested by Acadian Seaplants actually produce greater biomass than those areas left untouched."

Her point is echoed by Gavin Hood, president of the Maine Seaweed Council, based in Brunswick, who says a bay near Casco Bay, which has been harvested every year since 1975, has had its rockweed biomass increase every year, while Cobscook Bay, which has not been harvested, had one of the lowest increases in biomass, according to an assessment conducted along the entire coast. If the harvest is done correctly, it can improve the habitat, "the same as pruning a bush," Hood says. He favors management of the resource through the council, instead of through the legislature. The seaweed council, a coalition of seaweed industry representatives, seaweed farmers and researchers, can serve as a watchdog group for overharvesting, since companies such as Acadian, which is a member of the council, conduct biomass assessments before and after a harvest and report their findings.

Acadian, though, declines to publicly release its limits for harvesting of the biomass. A fact sheet about rockweed, prepared by Acadian, states, "The exploitation rate is extremely low and does not affect the standing biomass." In New Brunswick the maximum exploitation rate allowed by the provincial government for a given area is 50%.

The Maine Seaweed Council has been working on a rockweed management plan for a number of years, but has been delayed, according to Peter Thayer, a marine scientist with DMR. Although the company is not required to give the DMR information about their harvest plans, Acadian has been doing so verbally as a courtesy, according to Thayer. During their first year of harvesting in Maine in 2000, Acadian did inform the DMR over its harvest plan, but the DMR could not hold the information as confidential, and Acadian has not given a written plan to the DMR since then. Paul Gallant of Acadian Seaplants was scheduled to meet with DMR Commissioner George Lapointe this week to discuss the company's harvest in Maine.

Also, in preparation for this year's harvest, representatives of Acadian, including Joe Hunter of Pembroke, Rex Hunter, the vice president of resource management, and the company's resource scientist, Raul Ugarte, met with members of the Cobscook Bay Fishermen's Association at a regular meeting on December 14. They indicated that they planned to harvest in Cobscook Bay from Leighton's Point in Pembroke to Birch Point in Perry from June to October, and a number of people in the Pembroke area are interested in harvesting. They stated that last year in the Jonesport area the company harvested 742 tons of rockweed. In New Brunswick, Acadian harvests 12,000 metric tons a year. The Acadian representatives asked for a vote of support from the fishermen's association, but no vote has been taken, according to Will Hopkins, executive director of the Cobscook Bay Resource Center.

Alan Brooks points out that even if Acadian Seaplants harvests in a restrained manner, there is no regulatory mechanism to prevent overharvesting in Maine, since there is no oversight. The DMR does have a minimum cutting height regulation for rockweed harvesting and a reporting requirement for all seaweed harvesting. In 2000, the minimum cutting height was changed from 12 inches to 16 inches. Those are the only regulations, though. Thayer notes that at present there is no move in the state to add more restrictions to rockweed harvesting.

In New Brunswick, a formal harvest and management plan must be annually submitted by the company to the government prior to any harvesting, and the plan must be approved by the federal and provincial governments. In 1995, Acadian Seaplants began rockweed harvesting in the province, after the provincial government negotiated a harvesting agreement with the company. The harvest had been opposed by fishermen and the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. The agreement with the province outlines criteria for the harvest, including that no mechanical harvesters can be used, minimum cutting heights that must be adhered to, and a monitoring program that should ensure that the harvest is undertaken in an environmentally sustainable manner. Areas have been set aside where no harvesting is allowed, and a total annual harvest limit is set. Ninety percent of the rockweed resource in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick is under licensed management, with companies holding licensed territories and paying royalties to the government based on the quantities harvested.

However, a management plan that considers a sustainable harvest for rockweed may not take into account the effect on other species. Robin Seeley, a shellfish biologist from Cornell University, points to some of the ecological concerns about a rockweed harvest in the bay. "When people talk about a sustainable rockweed harvest or harvest management plans, they are only talking about how much plant material can be harvested so that the seaweed grows back in a few years. But when rockweed is more than just a marine plant, it serves as habitat for a whole community of animals. When rockweed is harvested, the 'bycatch' of invertebrates  animals living on the seaweed that drop off the seaweed into the bottom of the boat as the rockweed is cut  can be significant." Since larval fish, as well as snails and other small organisms, use the rockweed as habitat, the impact on these organisms of a rockweed harvest in Cobscook Bay is unknown, she says.

Ownership questions
In addition to the impact of a harvest on habitat, the question of ownership of the resource is another issue being debated. A number of landowners around Cobscook Bay state that they will not permit commercial harvesting of rockweed on their properties. They include the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge and the Quoddy Regional Land Trust (QRLT). QRLT owns properties with 4.6 miles of shorefront and holds conservation easements on properties with another 8.4 miles of shorefront on the bay. In 2000-01, in response to an expected rockweed harvest, the QRLT established a registry of landowners who wished to go on record as not permitting commercial harvesting, with 36 landowners owning 44 parcels signing on, according to QRLT Executive Director Alan Brooks. With commercial harvesting now about to begin, QRLT will re-establish the registry and notify Acadian Seaplants of those properties.

The Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge recently restated its position that commercial rockweed harvesting is prohibited on its lands, which includes Birch Island, Hallowell Island, Dram Island and Burnt Island, and 18 miles of shoreline on Cobscook Bay, along Hobart Stream, Bellier Cove, Dennys Bay, Whiting Bay, Ox Cove, Young's Cove and all of Cobscook Bay State Park. According to refuge Manager William Kolodnicki, ownership of most parcels of refuge land extends to the mean low-water mark. Not all refuge holdings have been completely posted, but it is the responsibility of rockweed harvesters to know the location of refuge lands. Maps of refuge lands may be found at <http://picard/fws.gov/refuge1/moosehorn/bnd/edm_statmap.pdf>.

However, Brooks notes that, with shoreline owned by Moosehorn, QRLT and landowners on the registry off limits to harvesting, the great majority of the shoreline around the bay would still be open to harvesting.

At a May 14 meeting, QRLT's board of trustees reaffirmed its previous position supporting an immediate moratorium on commercial harvesting in the bay. In August 2000, QRLT submitted petitions with 540 signatures calling for a moratorium pending a full, public environmental impact study of the effects of harvesting on rockweed and the species that depend on it, but the moratorium was not supported by the DMR. And an environmental impact study has not yet been conducted.

However, the DMR did add language to its seaweed harvesting licenses stating that the license does not grant the right to harvest in certain places. "We don't believe the language is legal or necessary," says Hood of the Maine Seaweed Council. However, the Maine Attorney General's office has recommended that the statement remain on the licenses, according to Thayer.

Thayer notes that a landowner's request that harvesting not occur on his property does not necessarily apply to seaweed, since rockweed may be considered a public resource. Hood says seaweed council members will honor any closed areas, although even if a deed states that the landowner owns to the low tide mark, the deed does not give a right to the seaweed. The seaweed council hired a public trust attorney who analyzed numerous court cases pertaining to property rights of seaweed in Maine and concluded that harvesters of any seaweed that is attached to rocks must comply with state laws "but need not seek permission of any riparian proprietor." According to Hood, "Seaweed is a trust right of the state for the people."

Acadian representatives at the meeting with the Cobscook Bay Fishermen's Association indicated that the company would tell harvesters not to cut in areas where the riparian owner has objected to a harvest, according to Will Hopkins. But they also indicated that the company would be seeking to have legislation introduced to have rockweed harvesting declared a fishery, so that landowner permission would not be needed.

Thayer suspects the issue will not be resolved until it is taken to court, although Hood believes that is not necessary.