Urchin harvest cutbacks net fishermen’s ire

ELLSWORTH – The sea urchin fishery in Washington County may be better than it has been in years, but the county nonetheless is not exempt from a mandatory 30 percent cut in next year’s harvest, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Commissioner George LaPointe announced the reduction during last month’s Fisherman’s Forum in Rockland. Urchin fishermen in southern Maine – where stocks are more depleted – must reduce their harvest by 50 percent, the commissioner said.

Urchin eggs are highly sought after by the Japanese, and the spiny green mollusks were fished hard in the early 1990s. Maine’s harvest has dropped from a high of 41.6 million pounds in 1993 to an estimated 6 million pounds this year.

So far, the stock declines have not hit Washington County and, on Saturday, urchin fishermen from Milbridge to Lubec attending a DMR Sea Urchin Summit at Ellsworth Middle School expressed their frustration with the cutbacks.

“We’re being penalized for what is happening in the rest of the state, and there’s no other work down here,” one Washington County fisherman said.

The problem stems from the zones that were created to manage Maine’s second most valuable commercial fishery.

Washington County, where this year’s landings are expected to be 3 million pounds, is in Zone 2. So is Hancock County, which is expected to finish the season next week with a harvest of just over 1 million pounds.

“The difficulty facing us is trying to manage Zone 2 which, in part, seems to be doing very well and, in part, is really in trouble,” DMR resource scientist Margaret Hunter said.

The purpose of the summit was to recommend ways the 30 percent reduction can be achieved. But, by the end of the day, the only plan acceptable to the majority was one that used a variety of methods, including natural attrition and gear changes, to achieve a 17 percent reduction.

Plan B was to remove another 10 days from the urchin fishing season, but that was opposed by all but four of those who voted.

Zone 2 urchin fishermen were limited to 94 fishing days this year, and the idea of further cutbacks did not go down well.

John Wallace, a draggerman from Lubec, said that between the weather and a boat breakdown, he fished a total of 35 days. Wallace, who is 35, said this was the first winter he has seen Lubec’s Glove Cove freeze over.

“It’s hard when it’s 30 below,” said Daphne Savage, who fishes with Wallace. “Everyone’s bilge pumps kept freezing up.”

Fishing in bad weather is particularly dangerous, and reductions in days force people to go out when they shouldn’t, they said.

One idea that many returned to throughout the workshop was dividing Zone 2 so that reductions in the harvest apply only in those areas where the stock is depleted.

Hunter said DMR does not have the authority to manage the zone differently, and the department is “pretty well convinced” that what is happening in the western part of Zone 2, or in Hancock County, will occur in the eastern portion – Washington County – if harvests are not reduced.

Once urchins have been removed, an area converts to kelp beds, and it is difficult for urchins to regenerate, she said.

The recommendations from Saturday’s summit now go to the Sea Urchin Zone Council, a group of divers, draggers, buyers, processors, tenders and scientists who must make a final recommendation to DMR on how to achieve the cuts.