Scallop fishermen’s reactions are mixed to Cobscook closure

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. Cobscook Bay area fishermen offer a mixed reaction to the shutdown of the fishery in this area, noting that the bay has been depleted of scallops but that fishermen still have to make a living. They also express their frustration with the process by which the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) closed portions of the fishery.

The DMR scheduled the Augusta hearing on the closures after receiving five hearing requests. The agency accepted comments on whether to continue or repeal the closures, which became effective on February 4 for the remainder of the scallop season, which runs from February 25 through March 31. The following day, February 13, the Scallop Advisory Council (SAC) will consider alternative boundary lines for the closed areas.

Togue Brawn, a resource management coordinator with the DMR, says there may be some tweaking of the lines based on input at the hearing, but she doubts that the DMR will consider lifting the closures. "We feel it is absolutely necessary to prevent the depletion of the scallop resource."

Earlier, the DMR had modified its initial decision to close the entire coast and instead established six conservation closures to protect the resource. The areas are the same ones that the DMR proposed in October with the addition of the waters east of Western Head, Cutler, including Cobscook Bay.

Eastport fisherman Scott Emery, who is acting chair of the Cobscook Bay Fishermen's Association, says some fishermen have been upset about the closures, but he points out that the bay has been depleted of scallops. He notes that during the first half of the season boats were getting only five to seven gallons after fishing all day, while the daily catch limit in Cobscook Bay is 15 gallons. "Who's to say if it's good or bad," he says of closing the bay. "It's six of one, half dozen of the other." He adds that the closures will place additional fishing pressure on the areas along the coast that will be open.

Fisherman Tom Pottle of Perry says he doesn't object to closing the fishery, but he believes that all of the coast should be closed. "This area should be open if the other areas are open," he says. "They should have stuck with what they said at first" and continued with the second half of the season, since fishermen set up their business plans around what the DMR said the season would be.

He believes the catch has been down this season both because the fishing effort is not as great and because scallops smaller than the legal size were taken last year.

Concerning how fishermen will make a living this winter, he observes, "Some guys are urchining, some are cutting wood and some guys are doing whatever it takes." Pottle's been cutting wood, but he notes that the markets for pulpwood and hardwood are not strong. "It's just the firewood market now."

Reasons for closures

Deputy Commissioner David Etnier says the DMR made its decision to close the fishery after gathering as much data as it could, from port sampling, the Marine Patrol, fishermen and drag surveys along the coast. According to Brawn, port sampling only occurred in Cobscook Bay and one day in the Damariscotta River area. Mandatory reporting data from harvesters was not used, since the DMR did not have all of the reports.

During other seasons, fishermen in Cobscook Bay could get their 15-gallon daily catch limit for the first three weeks; this season "it lasted a week if that" and then catches fell off precipitously, says Etnier. With a large number of sublegal-size scallops there, the DMR felt it would cause more harm than good for boats to be allowed to continue to tow on that resource. He agrees that the required increase to a 4" drag ring size this season can have an effect on catches, but the DMR's limited research indicated the ring-size increase would lead to about a 3% reduction in legal scallop catches.

Initially, the agency decided to close the entire coast to scalloping during the second half of the season, using the commissioner's emergency rule-making authority if there is a risk of imminent depletion of the fishery. The DMR informed the Scallop Advisory Council of its decision at the council's January 22 meeting. Concerning why the council was not asked to provide its input before a decision was made, Etnier says the DMR had a limited amount of time before the second half of the season would be opened, "and we felt strongly that the resource was so bad that we didn't need" meetings the length of the coast. "The buck stops here for these sort of decisions," says the DMR deputy commissioner, noting that the department did modify its decision three days later by closing only the six conservation areas.

Etnier says, when the decision was first made, the DMR felt the commissioner, under his emergency rule-making authority, had to close the entire state, but after checking with the Attorney General's office they learned that area closures could be instituted.

However, in 1984 the DMR commissioner did use his rule-making authority to close only Cobscook Bay and the St. Croix River to scalloping. The area was closed for 10 days because of the threat of imminent depletion of the stock, as the DMR had counted 37 boats scalloping in the bay on the opening day. When over 170 boats showed up to drag for scallops in the bay in 1995, though, the DMR commissioner did not issue any emergency closure.

In its January 25 decision, the DMR implemented the area closures proposed last fall, which had been turned down in November by the DMR Advisory Council in an evenly divided vote, and added Cobscook Bay. At its November meeting the council had also approved reducing the length of the season from 136 days to a split 70-day season.

Fishermen meet with governor

On January 30, about a half a dozen fishermen met with Governor John Baldacci to discuss the closures, in a meeting arranged by Senator Kevin Raye of Perry. Raye says the DMR's decision to close the rest of the season "was a shock to all of us." He notes that some fishermen had invested thousands of dollars in new gear, with the new requirement for 4" rings, and then the "state pulled the rug out from under them at a time of economic hardship."

The fishermen discussed whether the closed areas made sense in protecting the resource, and it was noted that, while it may be wise to close Cobscook Bay, closing the Bold Coast area from Lubec to Cutler would not allow fishermen from the Eastport-Lubec area to fish without steaming a long distance. Rocky Alley of Jonesport, who was at the meeting, said the fishermen indicated that the closure to Cutler was "too drastic," and that the area from Lubec to Cutler should be reopened. Fishermen also felt that some other closed areas were too large. "A lot of fishermen only have this one industry to make a living," says Alley. "It was hard to swallow that there would be no more scalloping for the rest of the year." He adds, "I don't believe the state had all the reports to determine it was that bad."

Following the fishermen's meeting with Baldacci, DMR Commissioner George Lapointe asked the Scallop Advisory Council to consider alternative boundaries for the closed areas for the second half of the scallop season. To ensure the closures will be effective, legislation has been submitted to create a penalty for harvesting scallops in a closed area, with a $1,000 fine and seizure of scallops for the first offense. For subsequent offenses, a mandatory one-year license suspension would be added.

Area management moves forward

Along with discussing the boundaries for the conservation closures this season, the DMR is beginning to look at setting up area management of the scallop fishery. Fishermen in the Jonesport, Damariscotta and Casco Bay areas already have met to begin discussions on boundaries for area management. In Jonesport, 52 fishermen met on January 29 to discuss the scallop industry's future and to consider possible zones for area management. Areas to be closed for reseeding of scallops also were proposed, Alley says.

At its February 13 meeting in Orland, the Scallop Advisory Council will consider recommendations for management areas, and community meetings will be held by the DMR and the SAC during March and April. Over the summer, management and closure areas will be defined so that they can be enacted before the season begins next December. The length of the season also will be determined over the summer.

The DMR is considering having smaller areas closed within the zones for at least three-year periods. Brawn says the closed areas would not be reopened unless a method is developed to prevent over-harvesting once the area is opened. There also could be different types of scallop management in the different areas.

"We want fishermen's proposals for area management," says Brawn. "We want to see what makes sense, then have Scallop Advisory Council meetings in those areas."