ASMFC adds new Maine member

First published in the MLA Newsletter, February, 2012

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) welcomed a new member from Maine in January. Steve Train, 45, a Long Island fisherman and long-time member of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, was confirmed on January 17 as Governor LePage’s appointee to the commission, replacing Pat White who stepped down last year after serving seventeen years.

Train has many years of involvement in fisheries management issues. He served on the Department of Marine Resources’ Lobster Advisory Council as a member and ultimately chairman, as well as on the agency’s advisory board. He was a two-term selectman and chair of the Long Island board of selectmen and also a member of the state’s Scallop Advisory Board. “I know, it sounds like I have a hard time saying ‘no,’” Train said with a laugh. “Really, it’s just that I don’t think you can badmouth the process sitting in the stands. It’s more constructive if you are part of the process than just commenting from the sidelines.”

As a member of the ASMFC, Train knows he will find himself in the midst of controversy. The ASMFC manages not only American lobster but also several other species critical to the well-being of Maine’s lobstermen, including menhaden, northern shrimp and river herring, all of which are in the news this winter. Train thinks that his fishing background will add depth to the commission’s deliberations. He has fished in the Gulf of Maine for just about everything that has value:  scallops, shrimp, groundfish, urchins, lobsters. “The only full-time job I’ve ever had in my life has been fishing. I don’t know how many people on the commission are harvesters,” Train said.

Giving up his time to be part of the management process has its costs, of course. “I’m a fisherman first,” Train emphasized. “Sitting on any committee costs me money. I don’t have a paycheck coming in from anywhere else.” He recently sold his boat of twelve years, the Hattie Rose, and purchased a 46-foot Jarvis Newman which he is refurbishing this winter. And Train still has some lobster traps out which he hauls “when the weather’s good.”

The first item this new AMFC member tackled in January was a review of the Northern shrimp quota. That was quickly followed in February by the week-long winter meeting of the commission in Virginia, during which everything from tautog management to the state of the southern New England lobster stocks was on the agenda. Still, for all the long hours and time away from his wife and two daughters, Train is committed to his new position. “I appreciate the governor recognizing the importance of commercial fishermen in putting me on the board,” he said.