What happens when you or your boat can't go haul?

By state law, only the captain of a Maine lobster boat is licensed to operate his or her boat to harvest lobsters. That owner-operator provision is one of the hallmarks of the Maine lobster fishery. But what happens if that licensed lobsterman becomes ill or if the boat itself breaks down?

Under Department of Marine Resource (DMR) regulations, if a lobsterman can’t haul due to medical reasons, he or she can go to the local Marine Patrol Officer to get permission for another licensed lobsterman to haul traps for a short period of time, about two weeks. “After that they must go to the Commissioner with documentation regarding the medical issue to get permission,” explained Colonel Jon Cornish, head of the Bureau of Marine Patrol. “That happens quite a bit.” Similarly, if the boat is inoperable, a lobsterman can get permission to fish from another licensed lobsterman’s boat, first from the local Marine Patrol Officer, then from the Commissioner for a longer period.

But that permission is only good in state waters. To haul traps located in federal waters, a lobsterman must have a federal permit. And federal permits adhere to the boat, not the person.

That was the issue earlier this year in Stonington when a lobsterman, having gained permission from a Marine Patrol Officer, used another’s boat to haul his traps in both state and federal waters. “He got bad information from our office,” Cornish said, “and then he was spoken to by the federal [NMFS] officer down there.”

Maine lobstermen operating in federal waters must comply with the Maine marine resource regulations, which may have led to this confusion. The rules of their specific zone apply wherever that lobsterman fishes, which in Maine typically is Area 1, out to approximately 40 miles offshore.

 “If someone has a federally permitted lobster boat and experiences a breakdown, the federal lobster management plan doesn’t allow that person to use another vessel to haul,” Cornish continued. “We will be discussing this with the feds in the coming weeks to see if there is some room to relax that. But for right now officers should tell lobstermen that permission is granted only for state waters, not federal.”