EASTPORT – Lobstermen who battle high winds, fog and unpredictable weather now fear they will have to face off against LNG supertankers that could be plowing through lobster beds and destroying gear.

Members of the Cobscook Bay Fishermen’s Association met with officials from Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LNG last week to talk about their concerns.

Quoddy Bay LNG Project Manger Brian Smith and Eastport harbor pilot Gerald Morrison discussed the proposed route that would take vessels past Campobello Island in New Brunswick and through the Grand Manan Channel.

The channel is a primary fishing area for lobster fishermen who travel from Cutler north to fish the grounds.

“Right now, we have a proposed vessel route all the way in from open sea into our facility, but that vessel route is certainly subject to change,” Smith told the lobstermen. He said the route could change within a couple of miles of the proposed route.

Quoddy Bay LNG hopes to build a liquefied natural gas terminal at Split Rock on the Pleasant Point Reservation. An underground pipeline to a tank farm in nearby Perry would connect to the terminal.

Smith said his company hopes to have permits completed by December and begin construction next year. The company plans to begin operation as early as 2010.

Quoddy Bay’s competitor, the Washington D.C.-based Downeast LNG is looking to build a multimillion LNG pier and tank farm in Robbinston, north of Pleasant Point.

Right now the water where the ships will travel is a matter of dispute between the two developers and Canada. Canadian official’s view the water that flows through the Grand Manan Channel as internal Canadian water.

The developers, backed by the U.S. State Department, say the route is in international waters and thus subject to the right of innocent passage, which means anyone can use it.

Fishermen who spoke last Thursday said they would rather see the ships go on the other side of Grand Manan in an area known as Fundy Travel, but Smith said Canada would be even less agreeable to that area.

Smith said fishermen would know two days in advance that an LNG ship was in the area. That contrasts sharply with Boston Harbor where the only notice occurs when an LNG ship arrives in the area and that information is put out on the marine channel.

Boating enthusiasts also can tell because of the armed helicopters flying in advance of the ship.

When the LNG projects were first introduced, developers discounted the idea of huge exclusion zones around the tankers, but that apparently is no longer the case.

The lobstermen learned last Thursday night that the security zone around a tanker at the pier would be 500 yards.

The proposed safety zone – that area around the ship while it is moving – will be two miles ahead, one mile behind and 500 yards on either side.

“What they will do is try to restrict anyone in that area,” Smith added. Another terrorist attack in the country or a move to a high alert could make those zones even more restrictive.

Leo Murray of Lubec was skeptical about the Quoddy Bay LNG project. He pointed at a place on the map near Split Rock.

“That’s one of the best lobster areas in our whole fishing areas. That is really heavily fished,” Murray said. He estimated there were 4,000 traps in the area in the fall.

The Eastport pilot recommended that an imaginary travel line be drawn and ships would have to stay on course. “We could actually do that, get a line where the ship would stay all of the time on the line,” the pilot said.

“It certainly would be a lot better then having them come up there helter-skelter like they do now,” Murray said of ships that now travel to ports in Eastport and Bayside, New Brunswick.

Smith said the Coast Guard would decide the final route. “When it comes down to it, we are kind of at the mercy of the Coast Guard as to what they want us to take and at what time,” the project director said.

Perry lobsterman Harry Shain said he was worried about the future. “The last best fishery we have is lobstering,” he said. “It looks like a last stand. If they are going to misplace all these lobstermen, what’s left for us?”

Lobsterman John Drouin of Cutler said he too was concerned. “I am concerned about the fishermen you are going to displace 50 to 100 years from now,” he said. “You give it up, its gone.” He told the other fishermen.

The developer acknowledged it would be difficult to please everyone. “We know … its not going to make anybody happy that a ship is going through fishing grounds, but if we had some other choice of getting LNG to our facility, we would certainly consider that choice,” Smith said.

Murray said he was worried that displaced fishermen would crowd into smaller and closer areas.

Drouin recommended the ships go on the other side of Grand Manan and away from the lobster fishing grounds. “They already have a lane [there].” Druin said of Canadian ships. “Deal with Canada. … I realize its a lot larger than the fishermen, that’s why it’s easier [to take on the fishermen] instead of worrying about the Canadians, but that makes the most sense at least to me.”

Smith said Canada was unwilling to deal.

Murray said he was willing to take early retirement if Quoddy Bay wanted to buy him out. Angus McPhail of Perry said he’d also take a buyout. “If you want to pay a great big sum of money I’d stay home too, I don’t think that’s going to happen either,” McPhail said.

Smith said the company’s goal was to minimize impact. “That means both minimize our fishing route and maximize what we can do for the fishermen,” Smith said. “We’ve talked about many different forms of things we can do for the fishing community.” Among them, he said, was to contribute to organizations that could improve fishing as a whole.

Smith said his company wanted to hear from the fishermen. He said that once the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – the agency in charge of permitting – had issued its draft environmental statement, public hearings would be held.