Lobster future debated

First published in Landings, February, 2013.

During January, Commissioner Keliher and other officials from the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) traveled to sixteen sites along the coast to talk to lobstermen about planning for the future of the industry. The meetings attracted large standing room only crowds. Discussions focused on methods to make entry and exit into the lobster industry equitable, to remove latent fishing effort and to manage what may be another bumper crop of lobsters this year.

"2012 has been quite a year in the lobster fishery,” said DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher when announcing the meeting schedule. “Record high landings, low boat prices, Canadian processing constraints, and discussions about changing the state’s lobster marketing strategy have created both challenges and opportunities. Our goal at DMR is to engage industry in discussions about all of these issues as well as the topic of the limited entry system for entry and exit into the fishery.”

DMR structured the meetings to address short-term and long-term issues confronting Maine’s lobster industry. In the short-term, the value lobstermen are receiving for their catch is dropping as the landings volume is going up. In the long-term, the current licensing system is not flexible to react appropriately if lobster landings take a dramatic dip downward. And the industry is not effectively investing in marketing.

At the meetings, Keliher explained that DMR had received many phone calls from dealers last June when they were having difficulty moving the product. These were followed by a barrage of calls from harvesters when the bottom fell out on the boat price. Keliher stated that the DMR has “no authority to impact markets and frankly, the department should not have the authority to impact markets.” However, he explained, the state has a public trust responsibility which includes “maximizing the value of the resource.” He warned that as the industry considers options it should recognize that avoiding a glut does not mean that you will avoid a low boat price. “The goal would be to prevent further erosion of the boat price”.

The Lobster Advisory Council (LAC), a public body appointed to advise DMR on lobster management issues, conducted its own public meetings this summer to discuss possible measures to address the value of the catch and to develop a plan to build demand for Maine lobster. It pondered a wide range of management approaches suggested by lobstermen such as days out of the fishery, seasonal gauge changes, trap reductions and closures. The LAC ultimately voted to ask DMR to present a bill to the Legislature that would limit fishing to 3-days per week during periods when the lobster market is saturated. The Commissioner explained that in order for this approach to work, a trigger mechanism is needed so measures are put in place for a finite period of time. This idea did not meet with much approval across the 16 meetings but rather raised a long list of questions regarding what it would accomplish and how it might be implemented. The Commissioner stressed the need for continued dialogue on this issue.

The question of fairness regarding lobster licenses also was discussed vigorously at the meetings. A report by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, requested by the Maine Legislature and released last fall, identified several deficiencies in the current lobster industry structure and recommended a tiered licensing system to make licensing more flexible and remove latent effort in the fishery.

Key deficiencies identified in the GMRI report were latent effort, the inadequacy of the current system to respond to a resource downturn and extremely long-waiting lists. The report also identified several long-term structural issues which require attention. The lobster industry has missed a generation of fishermen, with very few license holders between the ages of 23 to 40. Of those on the waiting list, over 50% fall in this age bracket. And surprisingly, only 5% of student license holders go on to obtain commercial lobster license, though the conversation rate is higher on the islands and in Downeast Maine.

The DMR presented a concept for a tiered license system with the goal of creating a licensing system capable of responding efficiently to a change in the resource, that is simple and fair. The Commissioner stated, “the only thing lobstermen across all these meetings agree on is that at some point in time we will see a resource decline.” He stressed the need to be prepared for that and to learn from past mistakes such as the trap limit in the 90’s which took traps away from top fishermen only to have them put back in the water by others.

The DMR’s tiered license concept attempts to be inclusive of those already in the fishery. The DMR stressed that there is no resource problem, so the concept is not a trap reduction, and attempts to avoid impacting people’s ability to make a living from lobstering. “We know this is far from perfect and we want you to shoot holes in it. But, we want to put it out there to see if this sort of approach could work,” explained the Commissioner.

The concept for a three-tier system creates a 50-, 400- or 800- trap lobster license. The initial qualification would be based on lobster landings over the last five years – those with zero landings would get a 50-trap license. The 400- and 800- trap licenses would be allocated according to landings on a zone basis. Lobsterman’s landings will be ranked -- those who are in the top 75% landings receive an 800-trap license, and those whose landings fall in the bottom 25% receive a 400-trap license. The threshold would vary significantly by zone. For example to receive an 800-trap license in Zone C, a lobsterman must land more than 8,090 pounds, while in Zone G, a lobsterman must land more than 2,105 pounds. This concept would remove those latent tags not being fished from the system, reducing the potential fishing power of the fishery.

Lobstermen could move from one tier to another under specified provisions. Those who want to move from the 400- into the 800- tier must wait until someone in the 800-tier retires. Apprentices could enter the 400- tier after a pre-determined time on the waiting list, such as 5 years, giving new lobstermen a predictable route into the fishery. Other provisions would allow lobstermen to move up from the 50- to 400- tier. There was some cautious support for the concept throughout the meetings, though many questions were raised regarding the details. Lobstermen from Downeast Maine and the islands stressed the importance of allowing students full access to the fishery, lobstermen from western Maine cautioned that unrestricted access to the 400 tier could increase effort in the fishery, while others urged the DMR to consider capping all new entrants at 600 traps.

Some worried about changing the current system before it achieved its goals. Many lobstermen warned that latent effort isn’t hurting the industry and any attempt to change it will result in more traps in the water.

Keliher also discussed a proposal to establish a new Maine lobster marketing program, whose $3 million proposed budget would be funded by surcharges on lobstermen, dealers’ and processors’ licenses. A new entity would replace the Maine Lobster Promotion Council and provide more accountability to the industry. “If you’re landing 123 million pounds of lobster, you want 140 million pounds of demand,” stated the Commissioner. The surcharge amount would vary based on lobster license category and would increase each year for three years. That figure would range from $240 Category I licenses to more than $700 for Category III licenses. Dealer surcharges could be up to nearly $2,000 a year while processor surcharges could range up to $2,600. Lobstermen would contribute 76 percent of the program’s cost; processors and dealers would contribute 24 percent. After five years, an independent third party would review the marketing program to determine its effectiveness. The program would sunset unless the Legislature reauthorized it.

“The DMR has started an excellent conversation with industry to get a handle on what will and won’t work for lobstermen in different parts of the state. The Commissioner has kept his promise to hear the industry’s concerns before moving any proposals forward”, stated Patrice McCarron, director of the MLA. “Change does not come easy in the lobster industry, but the MLA looks forward to working with DMR to build a stronger, more stable lobster industry.”