Fishermen out of water
3/7/09 | 6 comments

Fishermen out of water


Forum focuses on industry’s attempt to adapt for a bleak-looking future
By Abigail Curtis
BDN Staff
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY JOHN CLARKE RUSS
Marc Lefort (kneeling) and Al Deveau (standing behind him), both of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, consult local lobstermen and other experts while looking over buoys, line and other gear that was part of NOAA Fisheries’ whale entanglement gear display at the Maine Fisherman’s Forum on Thursday. The annual forum, which focuses on issues affecting Maine’s commercial fishing industry, started Thursday and continued through Saturday. Buy Photo

With an overcast sky in the background Friday, hundreds of fishermen from both Maine and away talked fish, lobsters, scallops and — mostly — survival at the 34th annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum, held again at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

“It’s not our grandfather’s fishery anymore. We all wish to God it were. But it’s not,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

That bleak sentiment seemed to be a barometer of the times, as fishermen at the forum learned about proposed new regulations to try to breathe life back into the once-profitable scallop fishery and checked out the pricey gear some will need to comply with new federal whale entanglement regulations.

They even got to share their troubles with U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who dropped in to discuss the state’s fisheries. Both have noted the plight of the groundfish industry.

“Every year, Maine’s Fishermen’s Forum provides us with an invaluable opportunity to collectively take stock of our fishing industries and chart a course for our future,” Snowe said in a statement. “Undoubtedly, this has become an increasingly troubling task, as more and more fishermen find themselves at a crossroads — facing the very real prospect of leaving their profession due to forces beyond their control.”

McCarron moderated the association’s annual meeting Friday morning, and change was the underlying current of the morning session.

With sinking lobster prices on everyone’s mind, the crowd of lobstermen voted in an informal show of hands to open up their board of directors to nonfishermen.

“I think there are so many new challenges in the industry, this organization needs new ideas and new faces,” David Black, a Belfast lobsterman, said after the meeting. “The MLA has done a terrific job for 55 years, but things are changing, and we need to change with them.”

Black and fellow Belfast lobsterman Wayne Canning said that last fall’s low prices propelled the lobster industry into a crisis. Canning said he remembers when the dock price for lobster was $1.90 a pound, less money than he needed to break even.

“We put the taste of cheap lobster in people,” Black said. “It was cheaper per pound than anything else in the meat market. We dropped below the profitability bottom line.”

And in some ways, the lobster fishery is the good news.

Speakers and fishermen at a seminar on the proposed area management plan for scallop fishing had a lot of opinions — and some trepidation — about how to make a new system work. It has been suggested as a way to increase the numbers of scallops, which have been depleted in recent years.

“For me, this is about scallopers taking responsibility for the resource they’re dependent on,” said Will Hopkins of the Cobscook Bay Resource Center.

Hopkins said that the scallop fishermen are “cutting our own throats” with their current selling practices, which include lumping fresh-caught Maine scallops in with scallops that have spent days frozen out at sea.

“I think that trying to sell more locally, learning lessons from farmers and doing community-supported fisheries — these are all things we can do,” he said.

Many who spoke about the area management plan said that it should happen slowly and with a lot of input from fishermen.

Andy Mays of Southwest Harbor is a scallop diver who is always on the Scallop Advisory Council, formed by the Legislature several years ago. Mays said that now he can do a whole dive and get as few as eight scallops. He remembers much more productive past dives, and said that he is slightly more optimistic about the industry’s future.

“It used to be, if you set your bag down, little scallops would fly in every direction,” he said. “It was like shaking a snow globe. I haven’t seen that in a long time — but I saw a little bit of it this year.”

The Fishermen’s Forum began Thursday and is scheduled to run through Saturday, when sessions on ocean energy, the halibut fishery, herring management and working waterfront issues, among others, are scheduled.

acurtis@bangordailynews.net

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Comments
6 comments on this item
On 3/7/09 at 1:51 PM, mariahstorm wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

the Samoset, wow, that is costly. so that is where my high priced fish off the coast profits go to? ? ? have it at the lobster shack, and lower fishy pricing!!!

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On 3/7/09 at 8:57 PM, anyhopeforlobstering wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Okay, where to start? A few thoughts from the wife of a lobster/sea urchin/scallop/periwinkle fisherman:

First of all, why would you vote (even informally??) to have people on the board of directors who are not lobstermen? We need people making decisions for us who know the lobster industry, perhaps even lived the life (!) We don't need anymore people with just "book knowledge" - we need real people - What the hell??!!

Secondly, regarding the cheap price of lobsters this past summer - what were we thinking??? The fisherman or co-op who sold lobsters RETAIL for the same price as boat price really makes me wonder. I can understand trying to make a statement BUT everyone who paid $2.50 for a pound of lobster this year is going to expect it AGAIN THIS YEAR!!!! You guys work too hard to just give it away. The price of lobsters definately did drop below the profitability margin...

Oh, and Mariahstorm, the reason your fish is "pricey" is because the guys and women who bring it to your plate are working their butts off. After you have spent even a half a day wearing Grundens (you probably have no idea what Grundens are) then you can complain! Until then, belly up!!!

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On 3/8/09 at 6:37 PM, jasonmorse wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

For to many years fisherman haven't organized to protect their resourses how they see fit, beureaucrats far and wide have though, THe big money has to go, or the industry will soon be large process ships, no different than Mom and Pop's hardware trying to compete with a lowes on one side and home depot on the other, fresh seafood will be a thing of the past. seems that for every species that has been depleted lobsters have taken their place, Once the balance is disturbed their is no fix. Now is the time to burry the hatchet, and unite while their is hope for recovery, The Whole Industry has to cooperate or it fails, If regulations require retail and boat price to remain consistant , The middle man has made to mutch to long, when lobster was $1.90 boat price, retail sold lobster at record profits, There is a lost integradey within the whole scope of fresh fish today, The fisherman that risks their lives shouldnt be at the bottom of the totempole, the price and availabilty of fresh seafood should be passed on through the chain accordingly and not shouldered by the fisherman.

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On 3/8/09 at 9:55 PM, anyhopeforlobstering wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thank you - couldn't agree more.

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On 3/9/09 at 12:07 PM, Peanutgallery wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

How many industries have a price for their product that is controlled by the middle man? Someone is making money, and it's not the lobsterman. When we were selling lobster this summer for $2/pound boat priceand they were getting $8.99/pound (WOW what a price), where was $6.99/pound going? The fishery is sustainable, it's thehandling of the product after the boat sale that is the issue. IMHO

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On 3/16/09 at 8:53 PM, Desultorypolemic wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Diablo Avocati

No disagreement that fishing is one of the most dangerous and difficult professions. The problem is with self-regulation of the industry.

If too may are fished, the party eventually ends. List: Cod, Herring, Tuna, Urchins, etc, etc.

The slippery slope is everybody has to pay a mortgage for the house, the boat, etc. etc. So when does somebody get the distasteful job

of telling somebody else that they can't get on the bandwagon as well?

Everyone has the "right" to fish the commonwealth. However when uncontrolled, this behavior eventually leads to ruin.

See: Garrett Hardin Tragedy of the Commons -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

Next point, the middlemen. Landing fish/lobsters is only the first part of the problem. Where do you sell them? If the pound is only paying you $2.00/lb

it means that either demand is too low or supply is too high. The middlemen, or women as it were, get their profits taking the lobsters to market.

This is harder than it sounds. Have you ever tried to keep a ton of lobsters looking perky after a thousand or two-mile trip to anywhere? Then, you have to convince consumers to buy them for your fuel, handling and trouble. Two dollars becomes eight dollars very quickly.

Locals in Maine can only eat so many lobsters.

Next point, The Board. I'm no an expert, but I would imagine there are people out there who have new ideas on how to market lobsters

that perhaps, nobody has yet seriously considered. Why not give it a shot instead of being so provincial?

Yes, I am from away. I own a piece of coastal property in Maine, and I watch the fishermen come into my cove and fish the lobsters out

all summer. Then I pay my property taxes so their kids can go to public school. Don't tell me I am not invested in this place, or that I don't care.

What is happening is not personal, it is economic and environmental. The better everyone understands that, the better everyone will fare

in the end.

Peace.

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