AUGUSTA – Members of the marine resources industry told lawmakers Monday they will support fee and license increases if it saves the jobs of biologists and scientists who monitor the health of the state’s clam flats and fish farms.

Speaking to a joint meeting of the Legislature’s Appropriations and Marine Resources committees, Chip Davison, president of Great Eastern Mussel Farms in Tenants Harbor, warned that proceeding with the initial budget recommendations from the state Department of Marine Resources would “put all of the shellfish companies out of business.”

Without enough biologists and scientists to monitor water quality, clam flats or fish farms could be shut down for potential health reasons more often and for longer periods of time.

“To cut the water quality positions would be the death of the industry, so my answer [to fee increases] is yes – how much, I don’t know,” Davison said.

Still, some clam diggers such as James MacLeod of Brunswick wince when they weigh the increased costs of doing business in Maine. Acknowledging that marine biologists and water quality experts are vital to his industry, MacLeod urged the lawmakers to find other ways to close an estimated $1.2 billion gap between the state’s projected expenses and anticipated revenues.

“It seems that when the ax falls at Marine Resources, it falls squarely on the neck of the clam,” MacLeod said. “You are destroying an entire industry in one fell swoop. When you cut to the bone, you hurt everybody. In the name of God, don’t do this.”

Shellfish harvesters and others offered their remarks after George LaPointe, commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources, informed legislators he would have to cut nearly $3 million from his operational costs in order to comply with Gov. John E. Baldacci’s flat-funded budget targets.

Because 75 percent of the department’s budget is consumed by personnel services, LaPointe said he would have to eliminate 12 positions from his agency to meet his budget goals. Although some of those jobs were vacant, two marine patrol officers are expected to be laid off along with two marine scientists, a microbiologist and a seafood technologist. While the marine patrol plans to cope with its losses by expanding responsibilities and coverage areas for some of its officers, LaPointe said the impact from the loss of scientists would be felt almost immediately.

“In the public health arena, the elimination of biotoxin and bacterial monitoring means that [clam flat] closures due to water quality and biotoxins will be larger in area and longer in time to maintain our goal of no sickness from shellfish consumption in Maine,” he said. “The longer, larger closures means that individuals who harvest these resources will have to earn income elsewhere or earn less, thereby impacting their family incomes in communities where these folks live and work.”

Some of the scientists also work closely with coastal communities with active municipal shellfish programs. The absence of those water quality experts could bring some clam bed reseeding programs to a standstill.

“This could lead to the dissolution of some town programs and place clam resources at risk,” LaPointe said. “The loss of area biologists will mean that towns that support shellfish programs no longer will be – resulting in less productive flats and less productive harvests.”

Members of the Marine Resources Committee are expected to meet again with lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee next month to identify alternatives to the department’s layoffs. In response to a question from Rep. Jeff Kaelin, R-Winterport, LaPointe said the scientific monitoring of the state’s annual $18 million soft-shell clam industry could be preserved through fee increases which would require legislative approval.

“When we started the budget discussions in December, we looked at the fees necessary to offset all of these changes and it was roughly a doubling of every fee that we have,” the commissioner said. “So I suspect the fee increases will be substantial.”