WASHINGTON – In a little more than a year, Maine fishermen may have to control where they cast their lines and what they pull out from the ocean through a national quota system.

Even though the idea of quotas for individual fishermen won’t be taken off hold until October 2002, federal lawmakers already are starting to talk about how to structure a program for controlling the type and number of fish that are caught by fishermen all over the country.

Individual fishing quotas, which allow fishermen exclusive privileges to fish in a certain area of a fishery, have been unpopular in New England, where fishermen fear they will jeopardize their livelihood and communities.

A small panel of fisherman, including a lobsterman from Maine, told lawmakers at a Senate hearing Wednesday that they also are opposed to allowing fishing quotas to be transferred to other fishermen, particularly large corporate fishing companies.

And they are concerned about whether the companies that process fish will be able to own quotas. They stressed the need for a double referendum that allows both fishery managers and fishermen a chance to vote on quota systems being proposed in their communities.

“We have watched the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the premier commercial fishery of the world, and the other important fisheries of Atlantic Canada collapse under quota management and a system very close to individual fishing quotas,” said Patten D. White, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

The York resident began fishing in 1956 and works as a commercial lobsterman. He said he fears that a quota system will push out lifelong individual fishermen and make room for large corporate fishing vessels.

“Quota-based management systems have been known to result in fisheries characterized by large corporate businesses with highly sophisticated gear aimed at a particular species,” he said. “The corporate bottom line shapes the fishery rather than Mother Nature’s whim.”

Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and John McCain of Arizona introduced legislation earlier this year to establish guidelines for a fishing quota system. The Individual Fishing Quota Act of 2001, which aims to preserve the dwindling supply of fish, gives the country’s eight regional fishery councils the flexibility to design a program tailored to its area.

“As with other components of fisheries conservation and management, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to individual fishing quota programs,” Snowe said.

Quotas can be distributed by the fisheries or the councils that manage them to entry-level fishermen, small vessel owners or crew members who may not otherwise be eligible for individual quotas.

A fisherman can hold a quota only if he or she actively participates in the fishery. The bill says that a quota cannot be sold, transferred or leased unless the holder of the quota proves undue hardship.

And the act also requires a double referendum that would require both fishery councils and the fishing community to vote on whether to establish a quota system.

Snowe said the idea of a double referendum vote would help gain support for a quota system in the New England fishing community. White agreed that more fishermen would come on board.

“Consolidation is the principal issue here,” he said. “There’s a social aspect to communities that are based on fishing. Consolidation would be a downfall of the social structure.”