April 2014 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 9. Commercial Fishing News D. E. L. A. From the Director
From the Director – Yes, it is spring, but Mother Nature is still stuck in
winter.This Wednesday the forecast is a rip roarin’ Nor Easter. I really try to do my best to be positive with my reports as I was asked to do right from the beginning. Does anyone have any suggestions? To start with, the Maine Fishermen’s Forum was a success this year. It was record numbers for the Samoset, I believe. We would like to “Thank” Capt. Keith Colburn of the Discovery TV Show, Deadliest Catch. He was our guest for the entire Forum. I had a chance to meet him and the fi rst thing that he said was “thank you for inviting me.” That was very gracious. The kids especially loved meeting him. We would like to thank everyone that helped us with the booth and our D.E.L.A. meeting that was held on Saturday afternoon. The crew from the ISR Insurance brought their entire family, so we had a chance to meet Marty and Alan’s new grandson, William. We have some great
Spring Smelt Fishery to be Closed
from Stonington to Kittery to Allow for Recovery
In order to allow Maine’s smelt fi shery to recover from a decline in abundance in the southern half of the coast, the Maine Depart- ment of Marine Resources has announced the closure, through emergency rulemak- ing, of the state’s spring smelt fi shery from Stonington to the New Hampshire border, beginning March 14.
“This closure will primarily impact those who dip smelts in our coastal tribu- taries for recreational purposes because the majority of fi shing in the spring is with dip nets,” said Marine Resources Commission- er Patrick Keliher. “However, there is also some spring fi shing on the Kennebec with hook-and-line which, under this rule, will also not be allowed. Smelt are particularly vulnerable at this time as they move into these areas to spawn. What few smelt camps that remain on the Kennebec and its tributar- ies will be exempt from this closure,” added Keliher.
The closure will last 90 days, which covers the spring spawning runs. “Based on our on-going surveys of the fi shery, we will decide on management actions for next year,” said Keliher.
Recent Department surveys have shown that smelt populations are declining in many portions of Maine. “Between 2005 and 2009, DMR and the Maine Marine Patrol documented a majority of the smelt spawning sites in Maine,” said DMR Re- source Specialist Claire Enterline. “Com- paring the strength of runs to data collected by DMR and the US Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice in the early 1970’s and 1980’s, we found that more than 50 percent of the runs which had previously supported spawning smelts no longer did, or had severely reduced or limited spawning.”
The surveys also revealed that the ma- jority of the decline in spawning activity is taking place in the southern half of the coast. Of the surveyed sites that historically sup- ported smelt runs, only 38 percent of the sites south of Penobscot Bay were documented to currently support spawning runs, while 61 percent of sites downeast still support runs. “This is why the decision was made to close only the southern portion of the coast,” said Keliher.
More recent data confi rms the earli-
er survey. “Data collected during annual spawning and creel surveys have also shown that the size of fi sh has declined when com- pared to historical records of upper Casco
pictures of Ben, Brittany and William (the baby with the beautiful eyes)!Thank you to JP Williamson, President Hilton Turner and his son Ethan. Mike did some entertaining with his mandolin. Thanks, Mike! Thank you to Jon Johansen for keeping us supplied with Maine Coastal News newspapers. Thank you to Hilton Turner, Nick Lemieux and Mike Dassatt for helping with the D.E.L.A. meeting. Our Board members were Bob Fortin, Terry Savage, Ethan Turner attending. The Chipman Family attended but had to leave early. Our special thanks to Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson for speaking at our meeting. She explained the Penobscot River Closing and answered any questions that attendees had. It was decided to have me write a letter from D.E.L.A. to the Army Corps of Engineers requesting an Environmental Impact Study prior to the Penobscot Bay maintenance and expansion dredging project. I composed the letters and sent a copy to each member of our board of directors. I sent the fi nished letter to
Bay and Kennebec River populations,” said Enterline.
“Because of these documented popula- tion declines and evidence of biologically stressed populations, I felt it was necessary to close this fi shery in the southern half of the coast to help sustain and restore this species,” said Keliher.
In 2004, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration listed the rain- bow smelt as a federal Species of Concern. The rainbow smelt is a small fi sh that lives in estuaries and offshore waters, and spawns in shallow freshwater streams each spring. Its numbers have dropped dramatically during the last fi fteen to twenty years for reasons that are not well understood. While the state supports a small commercial smelt fi shery, the majority of smelt are caught by recreational harvesters. Many animals including seals, striped bass, codfi sh, great blue herons, and others eat smelt. One of the major threats to smelt re-
covery identifi ed by DMR research is a loss of spawning habitat and access to spawning habitat. “Roads and stream crossings that prevent small fi sh like smelt from moving upstream make it impossible for them to reach their spawning grounds,” said Enter- line.
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Hilton for signing and mailing. There were nine copies in all which were sent out to the Governor, representatives and senators. There has been a lot being said about the Penobscot River closing, but the numbers at the informational meetings and the public hearing was minimal. Please, if you have further questions, don’t be afraid to give us a call. We will answer what we can. There is one thing that I feel must be
clarifi ed for our membership. My husband, Mike Dassatt did not join the Union. Steve Rapaport put this notation in the Ellsworth American following the Forum. We did give him a call and an e-mail asking him to put a correction in the next issue. To add a little humor, Steve said he could’ve sworn that he saw Mike wearing a red shirt….he was…. it said “Team Holland” on the back and the Red Baron emblem on the front. This is no refl ection on the newly established union. They can wear all of the red shirts that they want. That is entirely up to the group. In all seriousness, though, Mike and I
“Although small in size, this fi sh has played a big role in Maine’s coastal ecosys- tem and economy, which is why we’re taking this step to ensure its recovery” said Keliher.
Marine Patrol Offi cer Rustin Ames Receives MLA Award
Marine Patrol Offi cer Rustin Ames was
named Offi cer of the Year by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association at the 2014 Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March. Offi cer Ames is pictured above with (from left) MLA Board President David Cousens, Chief of the Maine Marine Patrol Colonel Joseph Fessenden, Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher, and MLA Executive Director Patrice Mc- Carron. Also with Offi cer Ames are his
made a commitment ten years ago to do our best to represent D.E.L.A. and the Maine Lobster Industry. We would rather stay with one group which has become like family (which a lot of our members are family) to us. We believe that it is better to focus on one thing and do it well than to chase more than one association as far as representation. With this said; everyone in our membership is very important and helps a lot whenever the need arises. This is how we feel a strong membership works….by helping one another. This also gives us a bigger voice. We may not be as large as some, but I have said from the beginning when people were just getting to know us: “We need trust or we have nothing.” Guess this comes under saying what we mean and meaning what we say. This goes the same for how D.E.L.A. handles concerns of our lobster industry. The Penobscot River is a good example of this. We felt that it is better to be careful and do
Continued on Page 21. Maine Department of Marine Resources News
daughters Stella (front, left) and Sophia. Ames also received the 2011 Northeast Conservation Law Enforcement Chief’s Association “Offi cer of the Year Award” for his exemplary work as a Maine Marine Patrol Offi cer. Offi cer Ames is a nine-year veteran of the Bureau of Marine Patrol and is currently assigned to DMR’s Castine/ Stockton Springs Patrol which covers the Penobscot River region. “Offi cer Ames established himself as an aggressive and dedicated offi cer early in his career while assigned to the very busy Ston- ington/Deer Isle Patrol,” said Lieutenant Jay Carroll. “Ames is extremely active within his area and focuses a great deal of effort toward lobster enforcement.”
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