Page 10. MAINE COASTAL NEWS January 2014
Commercial Fishing News From the Director –
Here’s wishing everyone a Happy and
Healthy New Year to start out 2014. This was defi nitely a Christmas season that we won’t forget! It wasn’t quite as severe as the Ice Storm of ’98, but it came close. Mike and I were re-connected by CMP fi ve times during Holidays and thank them for such prompt service to our area. Through it all, we were very fortunate and can’t help but notice what a “winter wonderland” it all looked like when the sun was shining through the crystal clear branches and trees. We travelled to Newcastle on Christmas morning to spend the day with Christy, Murray and the grandchildren and found the ride quiet and pretty.
This quiet will be ending soon and the busy time is just beginning. The year will start out with the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association’s Annual Weekend & Trade Show on January 23rd
thru 26th , 2014. This
event will be at the newly renovated Sea Crest Hotel in Falmouth, MA. If you would like further information, you may contact Beth Casoni at 781-545-6984 or www.
lobstermen.com. The admission is Free! The Maine Legislative session is about
to begin. The Ocean Acidifi cation bill, LD 1602, hosted by Rep. Mick Devin of the Damariscotta area is scheduled for January 13th
. If you have concerns or a statement that you would like to make, please make 25 copies to take with you to the hearing or contact Ms. Diane Steward at diane.
steward@legislative.maine.gov. If you prefer, you can contact D.E.L.A. at any time to let us know how you feel about the bill. We are open to “your voice” about these important subjects and will bring it to our Board of Directors for further discussion. We were also contacted by the Al Roker
D.E.L.A. - REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR
Entertainment people. (Yes, the Today Show Al Roker)…They are looking for a lobsterman that is “rugged, tough and not afraid to speak.” I have asked them what the show is supposed to be about – just with an “air of caution” about how Maine lobstermen are to be portrayed and haven’t gotten a response yet. If you are interested, you may contact Amy Baczkowski, 646- 723-9810 or
www.roker.com.
The deadline for the dredging project in Penobscot Bay is drawing closer all of the time.
The Friends of Penobscot Bay have been very involved with the safety of this project for the lobsters and marine life that will be affected by stirring up the silt at the bottom of the bay. Maintenance dredging is expected, but the talk is for dredging a channel that is much wider to allow larger tankers to dock at Mack Point. At the last Zone D meeting that we attended, they voted to write a letter of concern to the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Environmental Protection, among others. The Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources, Patrick Keliher, is planning to have a hearing also. They do not want this dredging project to be at the expense and sacrifi ce of our local fi shermen. We have made enough sacrifi ces over the past few years.
As everyone has heard by now, that the Maine shrimp season for 2014 is not going to happen this year. The decision was made by the scientifi c evidence that the tows had the least in them since 1978. This will be a hardship for the guys that depend on the shrimp season each year, but it is inevitable that the stock needs to come back strong and healthy once again. One statement that we have been hearing is that when you can’t go
REDMAN
MARINE FABRICATORS
for shrimp, they depend on the ground fi sh, but this is not an available alternative either. How much can we all depend on the lobster fi shery? This seems to be one of the only alternatives, which has been the alternative of the ground fi shery, the shrimp fi shery, urchin fi shery, and who else? There was a time when the lobster season was quiet, that a fi sherman would go fi shing for groundfi sh, herring, mussels, shrimp, crabs, etc. “Times are a changing.”
I have received videos from Robin Hadlock Seeley that show the infestation of the green crabs with a lobster trap. The video is like a bad horror movie….kind’ve like Arachnophobia or The Birds….by Alfred Hitchcock. We certainly have a few things to think about that we didn’t even worry about when our fathers were out there fi shing. They say that a lot of these crabs originally came from the bilges of the ships coming in from other countries. Now that the water is warmer, unless you’re in Antarctica, in a global warming ship stuck in the ice, these crabs are surviving and stronger than ever before. We have been contacted by a company in Spain that has a device that has a biosensor to analyze Histamine and sulfi te in the fi sh industry. It can measure the Histamine in raw fi sh and also canned fi sh.
I am keeping in touch with the information that is being sent to D.E.L.A. and sharing this same info to our membership and Maine Coastal News readers. We have been quite busy with new concerns, as well as our past concerns such as the 2014 Whale Rule. Stay tuned for more information on that subject, also. I’d also like to thank my daughter, Christy Perce for helping us with the D.E.L.A. website,
downeastlobstermen.org. This website has
, 28th
been a work in progress. We are working on extending information as we receive it such as meetings, membership news and contact information. “Thank you, Christy!” The Maine Fishermen’s Forum is
offi cially scheduled for the weekend of February 27th
and March 1st , 2014 at the
Samoset Resort in Rockport, ME. This event is also Free Admission! In my last report, I mentioned that we have a special guest coming to the Forum this year. Our guest this year is Capt. Keith Colburn of the show, “Deadliest Catch.” Capt. Keith will be with us during various seminars and spending time with us over the entire weekend. This is a great chance to come along and meet him and ask a few questions about the Alaskan crab fi shery.
Down the road, the Lobster Institute has the 2014 Annual Canadian/U.S. Lobstermen’s Town Meeting scheduled for Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22 at the Regency Hotel, 20 Milk Street, Portland, ME. D.E.L.A. is also on the planning committee for this meeting. If you have any suggestions for topics, please contact me at
dassatt711@yahoo.com or 207 338-1406. I’m happy to extend your suggestions to the planning board. This particular meeting is planned by the U.S. and the Canadian Fishery representatives. We have a D.E.L.A. meeting scheduled at Jasper’s
for Thursday, January 9th
Restaurant in Ellsworth. If you don’t catch us there, we will be at the Forum with a booth, so we look forward to seeing you there! Take care, Sheila
124
prexar.com Specializing in Tuna Towers, Hard Tops, T-Tops, and Arches
Marine Hardware Inc. 207-422-6532
14 Franklin Road, Hancock, ME
www.rethomasmarinehardware.com Durable, Quality Marine Hardware Manufactured in the U.S.A.
www.redmanmarinefabricators.com Winter Storage Available!
207-590-1108
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