September 2010 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 13.
DOWNEAST LOBSTERMEN'S ASSOCIATION NEWS Commercial Fishing News
I hope that everyone is having an enjoy- able and successful summer and fishing sea- son. It certainly has been a very nice and long summer. It seems that everything that was due to blossom did it about a month ahead of the normal time for it. Can’t complain! I was going over some of last summer’s paperwork to prepare myself for this report. I can honestly say that this year does look better than last year’s big picture. Yes, times have been tough, there are some disputes, but in my opinion, a lot of these things have gone on for generations. The only difference is that the press wasn’t right there, there were no cell phones, texting, I-pods and blackber- ries were meant to eat. I’m convinced that some of the articles that I’ve been reading had to come from bored reporters, trying to find something news worthy.
There have been reports of a fairly de- cent year for lobsters. The price is holding around the same along the coast. With the bonus being paid at the end or up front, or no bonus at all, they seem to be averaging $3.00 a pound for new shell and $5.00 a pound for hard shell. This seems to be holding it’s own for now.
At this point in time, some bait prices are up, but it has been going up and down the scale.
The bait has still been available. We’ve seen a lot of people using alternate bait, such as harder bait, cod racks, haddock racks from filleting stations. I’ve even had a lot of the guys in this area tell me that they are setting a little less gear in mind of not using quite as much bait. They want to keep their expenses down as much as possible. I have also seen frozen bait advertised in the latest marine newspapers. Bait is available, whatever form that you may want to choose. We just want to be wise about how much of it we want to use.
The Alewife Association has their work cut out for them right now. They had a hearing in Princeton last week concerning the opening of the dams in that area. It has been an on-going dispute with those that want to allow the alewife to do its natural thing, which allow them to travel up stream to spawn and the recreational small mouth bass sports fish- ermen. The sports fishermen are trying to say that the alewife is an aggressive species. Of course, a lot of people in that area have camps, Maine guide businesses and recre- ational priorities for their economy in that area. If you have an opinion about this matter, please write to our local senators and repre- sentatives to let them know how you feel about this. The alewife would be a big help with our bait stock in the near future. Jeff Pierce of Dresden has done an outstanding job as the executive director for the Maine Alewife Association and is always working
for the cause. They have come a long way in a short period of time to put themselves on the map and to make their association known. The Maine Lobster Boat Racing Asso- ciation has been very busy this year. I haven’t been to all of the races, but I have been to as many as I can. This always gives us an opportunity to meet a lot of our mem- bers. I had a chance to meet the entire Faulkingham family from Winter Harbor. This year, both father and son (Pat & Billy Bob) raced their lobster boats against one another. It was fun to watch! Not only did they have a good time, they placed in some of their races with wins. Try it, you might like it!
I also had the pleasure of seeing a father and daughter try racing this year with a boat that I helped to build in the early eighties. This boat (formerly F/V Scotsman) was sent to Cape Cod, MA when it was new. It ended up back here in Penobscot Bay with Lindsey Durkee as the owner and her Dad, Randy Durkee as her “instructor.” This boat is now called F/V Black Diamond. It has been won- derful to see all the families join in the fun, “win, lose or draw.”
There is a class for each category of boat that you may want to race. My brother, Glenn and his grandson Gavin are having a great time racing in the outboard category. Gavin took his mother with him in Searsport and has had some wins, too. It is a true “Family Tradition” for a lot of people in the marine sector.
Jon Johansen has been sending the new boat racing newsletter to me to put into the DELA newsletter. I hope you enjoy them. The Maine Lobster Promotion Council has also been sending me their newsletter for our publications. They have had a lot of good things going on and will be gearing up for the Fall Harvest Days. They have found that the fall promotion has been a big help with mar- keting when we have the largest amount of lobsters to move. I wish them well with their marketing efforts this year. With all of us working together, we should have a more promising future for our product. We have been watching the purchase of the Gouldsboro Stinson Canning Co. with Live Lobster Co. This has been quite an endeavor for the area and hope that the project works out well for everyone that is involved with the industry. We know that the jobs in the area would be welcomed again. You can get a clearer story in this issue of the newsletter with the article that the Bangor Daily News allowed us to print. I’d like to thank Bill Trotter with the Bangor Daily News for sharing his articles with D.E.L.A. DELA has been invited to various gath-
Continued on Page 15.
2010 Winner Class M: 51, Billy Bob Faulkingham, Winter Harbor; Osmond 40; BOOTHBAY: 1st Diesel Class M (31.6 mph). ROCKLAND: 1st Diesel Class M (31.6 mph). MOOSEBEC: 2nd Diesel Class M, SEARSPORT: 1st Diesel Class M, STONINGTON: 1st Diesel Class M.
120
"We encourage your support and membership!"
Working together, we can speak as one to maintain our fisheries, working families and working waterfronts.
PO Box 88 Belfast, ME 04915
207-338-1406 207-322-1924 207-322-1928
www.downeastlobstermen.org
D.E.L.A. is a qualified exempt organization under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32