Lobstermen warned: Expect more controls

ROCKPORT – Lobstermen were told Friday to expect additional regulation by state and local governments despite healthy lobster populations off Maine’s coast and a record-setting harvest last year.

Government regulations and the challenge they pose to commercial fishermen were once again hot topics during the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum. Several of Friday’s forums concentrated on new restrictions expected on the state’s lobster industry, which pulled ashore a record $290 million worth of the crustaceans in 2005, according to reported landing figures.

Lobster stocks in Maine’s coastal waters appear to be healthy, based on population surveys and landing figures.

Carl Wilson, the head lobster biologist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, told lobstermen and industry representatives Friday that most of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank scored well on a stock assessment report by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

“Overall, the Gulf of Maine is in good condition … but there are areas within Maine and within the Gulf of Maine that are not seeing the same favorable conditions,” Wilson said.

Specifically, lobster stocks are in poor to neutral condition in much of Massachusetts Bay, Stellwagen Bank, and areas of southern New England.

Despite the Gulf of Maine’s apparent abundance of lobster, state officials are debating lowering the maximum number of traps that each fisherman is permitted to have from 800 to 600. Although talk is still preliminary, one possibility is adopting the lower figure for new lobstermen and phasing in the rest of the commercial fleet.

Lobstermen attending Friday’s session questioned the necessity of reducing landings given the signs that Maine’s lobster populations are doing so well. They also pointed out that lowering the number of traps does not mean landings will necessarily decrease because some lobstermen will just fish more aggressively.

DMR officials said lowering the “effort” would be a proactive approach to help minimize the risk to the lobster stocks if the population starts to decline.

This approach was fueled, at least in part, by a dramatic and sudden die-off of lobsters in Long Island Sound in 1999. Scientists are still unsure exactly what caused the die-off, although warmer water temperatures, chemical pollution and overfishing have all been cited as possible contributing factors.

Officials plan to continue discussing their proposals and could request changes from the Legislature in 2007.

Federal regulators also are drafting new rules on the types of ropes lobstermen can use with their traps to avoid entangling endangered North Atlantic right whales. Representatives from DMR, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and private groups updated fishermen and conservationists Friday on their latest research into different types of ropes.

One problem with any new regulations, lobstermen and panelists pointed out, is that fishing conditions differ widely from place to place. While one type of rope may work well in sandy-bottom waters, it may not work well in rocky bottoms common in New England.

Cutler lobsterman Jeremy Cates predicted he would have particular problems with so-called “sinking” ropes where he sets his traps. He urged regulators to be flexible.

“It’s more, will I even be able to retrieve it because when my rope goes down, it may wrap around something on the bottom,” Cates said.