ROCKPORT, Maine — To some people, it may have seemed there were almost as many politicians as fishermen at the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum on Friday, but the conference seminars still focused more on marine animals than political ones.
Shrimp, groundfish, lobster, monkfish and ocean acidification were the main topics of Friday’s events, aside from the 12 gubernatorial candidates who spoke at a morning session about their qualifications for the highest elected office in Maine. By 1 p.m., after each candidate had pulled out of the Samoset Resort parking lot, the thoughts of conference attendees turned back toward the usual issues of fishing biology, behavior and regulations.
One common theme that ran throughout the day, including the gubernatorial candidates forum, was the economy. Fishermen are concerned about how new regulations, marine activities and ecological conditions will affect their livelihood.
“The way you guys do business will change,” Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, told MLA members at their annual meeting Friday morning. McCarron was telling the fishermen that new marine energy development such as offshore wind is inevitable in Maine.
“You will be sharing the ocean with new uses,” she said.
During an afternoon session on the effects of ocean acidification, Brad Warren of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership said that outside the commercial fishing industry, it can be difficult to estimate how many people make their living off seafood.
The number is undoubtedly significant, he said. One recent study suggested that the seafood industry provides 70,000 jobs to restaurant workers in New York City alone.
“Fish economics is pretty fishy stuff,” Warren said. “No one really knows.”
The economic prospects of the shrimp fishery was an undercurrent at a session about establishing an experimental summer fishing season for shrimp, which unlike many other commercial fish species have been caught in abundance and sold for a decent price this year. According to industry officials, fishermen generally are sell-ing their shrimp for more than 50 cents a pound this winter, which is about a dime higher than last year’s average price.
Dana Morse of Maine Sea Grant led a discussion of the issue Friday afternoon with about 30 people. They agreed that despite the robust winter shrimp season, such an experimental summer season would not occur this year.
One big reason is the likelihood that the amount of shrimp caught will reach the limit set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Shrimp fishermen from Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire are limited to a maximum total of 4,900 metric tons this winter. If the limit is reached, which has not happened in re-cent years, regulators are not likely to allow more shrimp to be caught beyond the end of the regular season in May, according to Morse.
Regardless of how much shrimp is caught, there are too many details about how the experimental season would work to have it take place in 2010, he said. The number of boats from the three states likely would have to be small, likely between three and five, so as to minimize the effect of the summer landings on the annual quota. With so few boats, regulators would have to find a fair way to determine who gets to participate and who does not, he added.
“This [question] is a little bit more thorny,” Morse said of choosing the program participants.
The number of fishing trips for each boat also would be relatively small, between 20 and 30, and each boat would have to have a scientific observer on board to determine what effect the summer effort was having on the resource, Morse said. How to pay for these observers — another economic issue — also would have to be determined, he said.
“This isn’t going to happen this summer,” Morse said. “It seems like there is continued interest to work on this.”
Other seminars held Friday include small-business advice for lobstermen, new federal groundfish regulations that set catch limits for affiliated groups of fishermen instead of entire fishing fleets, and lobster trap density research off Tenants Harbor, among others.
Seminar topics scheduled for today include ocean energy development, herring management, scallop management, seafood marketing, fishing tourism, lobster industry sustainability, and more.
The trade show and seminars at the forum, which runs through this afternoon, are free and open to the public.
