Zone Councils discuss licenses, habitat amendment

First published in Landings, March, 2015.

Despite snowstorms and severe cold, the seven lobster zone councils met during the month of February. Council representatives discussed a multitude of topics, including double tagging in zones A and B, the June 1 start date of the new whale rules designed to reduce the number of vertical lines in the water, bills related to lobstering proposed in this session of the Legislature, and of course, the proper shape of a V-notch.

Among the issues, large and small, discussed at the meetings, two stood out. The island of Frenchboro, in Zone B, is making application to the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) to institute an island limited entry program for lobster licenses. At the same time, Chebeague Island, in Casco Bay, is taking steps to dissolve its limited entry program, adopted in 2012.

And in western Maine the proposed Omnibus Essential Fisheries Habitat Amendment released by the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) in October, 2014, is causing concern among lobstermen in zone F and G. The amendment includes proposals for new, expanded or reconfigured fishing closures of sections of the Gulf of Maine.

Island Limited Entry

It’s not easy to get an island limited entry program going. DMR regulations require that a minimum of three lobster license holders living on an island form a committee to begin the process of establishing a limited entry program. At least 10 percent of the license holders on the island have to sign a petition that describes the program and the number of licenses proposed for that island. The petition then has to be presented to the lobster zone council for review and comment.

Next, the DMR sends a referendum question to all licensed lobstermen on the island asking if they approve or disapprove of the proposed limited entry program. Two-thirds of those license holders have to vote in favor of the program for it to move on to the DMR commissioner for approval.

A public hearing was held by DMR on February 11 to hear from proponents and opponents to Frenchboro’s plan. Lobstermen on the island want to allocate up to 14 commercial lobster licenses to be issued annually to island residents. Each year after the program is established, the DMR Commissioner will determine the number of additional new island resident licenses in a given year. Anyone receiving such a license must remain living on the island for eight years before he or she could leave the island and fish that license from somewhere else. Currently there is a long waiting list to gain a lobster license in Zone B, unless one is a student already lobstering. Frenchboro has just 61 residents, according to the 2010 federal census. According to Kim Smith, a town selectman, the island limited entry program would act as an incentive for lobstermen, anxious to get their own license, to move to the island. In 2012 the Cranberry Isles, also in zone B, began an island limited entry program to ensure that young people from the islands would be able to lobster and not move away.

Lobstermen on Chebeague Island, on the other hand, aren’t happy with their limited entry program. According to Sarah Cotnoir, zone liaison at DMR, their goal wasn’t to attract more people to the island to lobster, it was to allow those who already live there to get a license. “I’ve received an email indicating that they would like to terminate the program,” she said. The Casco Bay islands have a different set of issues than some of Maine’s more remote islands located up the coast. There is concern on Chebeague that someone could circumvent the waiting list for Zone F by establishing a residence on the island and fishing and spending much of their time elsewhere. While that person might technically meet the program requirements, the intent is to attract people committed to the island community.

Habitat Amendment

The NEFMC spent ten years drafting the Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment, which affects all fisheries management plans for commercially harvested species in New England and the mid-Atlantic states.

Lobstermen in the zones F and G are concerned about possible closures of waters around Jeffrey’s Ledge, Cashes Ledge and Bigelow Bight. Those closures would only apply to bottom mobile tending gear targeting species like groundfish. Some fear, however, that the rules could change in the future and potentially exclude lobster gear in some of these closures, which worries lobstermen. There is also concern about the proposal to reopen a portion of the western Gulf of Maine closure to shrimping as this area has become an important winter fishing ground for many lobstermen. Any reconfiguration of existing groundfish closures would lead to significant gear conflict.

Steve Taylor, a zone G council member, doesn’t want to see any portion of Jeffrey’s Ledge off-limits to lobstering. “Lobstermen are tending more and more to go there, offshore, because the lobsters are going out there,” he said. “It’s closed to draggers now so you don’t have much gear loss.” Approximately 30 lobstermen fish in the area around Jeffrey’s Ledge, so any closure would have a significant effect in the two zones. While the zone F and G councils did not take any official action to register their discomfort, the members clearly are anxious to “stay on top of it,” as Taylor put it.