Page 10. MAINE COASTAL NEWS October 2014
Commercial Fishing News Downeast Lobstermen's Association: From the Director
From the Director –
Here I am, sitting at my desk once again, pondering the best way to put our current news out to you without writing a complete book. There was so much happening last month that I asked Jon to put our Annual Meeting Notice in the paper and hoped that we could take everything up at the meeting. We had our election of offi cers which are currently the same as last year.
Hilton
Turner is President, Nick Lemieux is Vice President, Mike Dassatt is Sec/Treasurer and Sheila Dassatt is Executive Director. The meeting was held at the Fishermen’s Friend in Stonington, with great service and food. Attendance was good and we had some very good hat drawing donations from our directors and associate members. We’d like to thank everyone for their contribution! The Commissioner, Pat Keliher and DMR associate Sarah Cotnoir spoke at our meeting and answered a lot of concerns that we have at this present time. We spoke about the Whale Rule proposal and amendments that will be sent in at the end of September. There is concern about the pending law suit that has been brought forward by the Maine Lobstermen’s Union to bring back fl oat rope. The industry worked as a whole at the talking table to put together the best solutions to work with NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) and the Humane Society to come to a reasonable compromise. At this point in time, Maine is in a much better place than Massachusetts, who does have a closure area that has been put in place. We do not want to upset the entire fi shery system by having a posing threat in place. The pending law suit does not include the three major lobster associations. I can not speak for the DMR, nor will I, but I want everyone to know that the whale rules have
been worked on since I was introduced to the world of associations. DELA has had active participation with the teams through it all. This is a continuous concern for our fi shermen, safety, whale disentanglement teams, and co-existing to the best of our ability. We have been working on the fi nal proposal “as we speak.” The great concern of this law suit is the potential of losing out on what we have in place already such as an exemption line or not being able to use fl oat rope at all. As an industry, do we have millions of dollars, as do the whale supporters, to win such a battle? Please feel free to contact us at any time, which we have had calls about this concern. “We want our fi shery to be here and in place for our next generations” is the biggest voice that I have been hearing. We were pleased to see fi shermen at our meeting that were there out of general concern for the industry. One other concern that was mentioned was the impact or impression on the lobster industry with the newly placed signs that have been seen along Route 1. They say “No Dredging….save our lobsters from mercury.” These signs were placed by people that are “trying to help” but it would be best if they knew more about the facts before the signs went up. If a traveler is passing through, they are getting the wrong impression about eating the lobster while they are here. Most tourists know nothing about local politics and are only getting their impression by what they are reading. For one thing, the dredging and the mercury can be listed as two different scenarios. I won’t go into the entire explanation, because if you have been following the industry, you know what this is all about. We are all working to protect the well-being of our consumers and our product. People have a right to put their
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signs up and advocate, but as an industry, we are all asking for an understanding of the facts and there isn’t enough room on a sign to explain it all. This year, it seems that supply and demand seems to be proving itself with our lobster prices. Everyone has been saying that this year seems like a “normal” run of lobsters.
If anything, there was less lobster available during the peak tourist season, which has kept the price up for the fi shermen. This has been good. I have seen comments on the Facebook sites that say that it has been a lot easier on their overhead to fi sh less and get paid more for their product. There have been a lot of positive feed back this year! The new shell has been up around $4.00 a pound and $6.00 or more for hard shell. This has made a big difference with the
fi shermen but we have heard that it is more diffi cult for the processors. The processors
are having to pay more for their product, so it is a give and take situation.
Thursday, November 13th
Our next meeting is scheduled for in Ellsworth.
The location for the meeting will be at Governor’s Restaurant, which is the previous Friendly’s Ice Cream building. I went there with a friend and found it to be a good and reasonable place to eat and have a meeting. We understand the concerns of our members from a distance away and want to accommodate as much as possible. We are even open to having a meeting in a place like Boothbay or Rockland if there is a popular demand. Please let us know and we will do our best to connect with everyone. There are many more meetings going on such as the Lobster Institute, Fishermen’s Forum Board meetings, and more. I touched on the topics that most people called with concern about.
See you around, Sheila Vendee Globe News Continued from Page 6.
the race for a long time. I closely followed Bernard Stamm on his fi rst attempt back in 2000-2001. I was alongside him for a year and a half during the construction of his boat, the delivery trips and initial trails and fi ne-tuning… It was a project set up without a huge amount of money, but was fascinating to experience. On the day of the start, I was on board his boat as he made his way out of the harbour entrance channel in les Sables-d’Olonne. Unfortunately I didn’t get to experience the excitement of the fi n- ish, as Bernard was forced to retire. I could see quite clearly what the race had to offer. The moments leading up to the start are very emotional, but the Vendée Globe is so much more than that.” How far have you got in your search
for sponsors? “Several secondary partners are already backing me. Things are moving in the right direction. They are helping me develop my network to fi nd the required headline partner or two joint partners.”
You run the Ocean Addict business, which arranges trips in racing multihulls. Is that a help when looking for and trying to win over partners? “Yes. There’s a huge difference between meeting up in an offi ce and spending a day out on the water. The atmosphere is much friendlier at sea. The people I talk to are more willing to listen. Even if they just go aboard for a day, they then understand what sailing and living at sea entail. It’s much harder to express that from behind a desk…” Which 60-foot IMOCA might we see you on in 2016? “Probably a second-hand boat launched between 2004 and 2008. Giv- en the economic situation, that would be the most realistic scenario. It’s clear that I won’t have the budget to get my hands on François Gabart’s Macif or Marc Guillemot’s Safran. I would however like to get a boat that shows good racing potential. But I wouldn’t say no if I got the funding together to buy an older boat. In any case, my goal will be to complete the race, gain some experience and maybe compete for a second time. For a skipper, taking part in the Vendée Globe is an opportunity you just can’t miss out on.” How do you feel about sailing an
IMOCA? “Fine, as long as I manage to get a boat before too long. Since working with Bernard Stamm, I haven’t sailed aboard a 60-foot monohull. But I’m not worried about that. With all my other experiences, I am used to getting to grips with different types of boat. To learn how to deal with a boat, you have to proceed methodically, not missing out anything and you need good people around you.”
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