June 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 11. Commercial Fishing News D.E.L.A. From the Director From the Director –


The D.E.L.A. Board of Directors is very pleased to announce that Zachary Chipman, grandson of John and Gerry Chipman and nephew of John Jr. and Theresa Chipman of Birch Harbor was unanimously voted in as our fi rst Junior member of the Board of Directors. This is an endeavor that we have been working on for a while and were able to establish at our meeting last Thursday evening. Welcome Aboard, Zachary! We have reached realization that in order to continue with Downeast Tradition, we need to keep our young people involved and teach them along the way. This is our responsibility as stewards for our industry and for our future generations to come. We have D.E.L.A. student membership, so if you are interested in becoming a member or have a son, daughter or family member that would like to join, we welcome you! Our membership form is on our website, which is: downeastlobstermen.org.


Our meeting went well, accomplishing a lot of agenda items that we have been


40th


Annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum Samoset Resort, Monhegan Room, 0900 March 7, 2015 Attendance: President; Hilton Turner,


working on. Thank you to Sarah Cotnoir of the Department of Marine Resources and Rep. Walter Kumeiga of Deer Isle and on the Marine Resource Committee for attending and helping with the Legislative update. They explained each item that was voted on recently and whether they passed or failed. It helps to have the items explained, as some were a little vague to the general public. The Lobster Advisory Council had met the night before, so they were also able to give us the update on that meeting as well.


The big focus bill at the Legislature was the LD 1233 – An Act to Improve Enforcement of Maine’s Marine Resources Laws by Sen. Burns. This status is Ought to Pass as Amended. Here is the explanation of this law: This bill Amends the laws governing the enforcement of the Marine resources laws affecting lobster in the following ways. 1) It specifi es that notices of penalties and hearings are deemed received 3 days after they are mailed.


2) It imposes a time limit of up to 60


Minutes: D.E.L.A. Director's Meeting to attend functions.


Vice President; Nick Lemieux, Sec/ Treasurer; Mike Dassatt, Executive Director; Sheila Dassatt, John Chipman, Jr., Theresa Chipman, John Chipman, Sr., Gerry Chipman, Ethan Turner


The meeting opened at 9:07 in the Monhegan Room of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum with President; Hilton Turner offi ciating.


An Executive Board decision was made to go over the Minutes of the last two meetings and move to vote on them. The minutes of the September 4th


, 2014 Annual


Meeting was moved to accept by Hilton, the motion was made by Nick Lemieux, seconded by John Chipman, Sr. The motion passed.


November 13th


The motion for the minutes of the , 2014 meeting was made


by Nick Lemieux and seconded by John Chipman, Sr. The motion passed. The Treasurer’s Report was for the , 2015 report. The motion


November 13th


was made to accept by Nick Lemieux and seconded by John Chipman, Sr. The motion passed.


Now, being able to move forward, we discussed having a Junior seat on the D.E.L.A.


Board to enable our younger generation to become involved with the lobster fi shery. The Junior members are welcome to attend the meetings and participate with our activities such as Stonington Fishermen’s Day, and all of the activities that we work with in the summer and when they are able


Nick made a motion to establish the Junior D.E.L.A. division with Hilton seconding. The motion passed. Sheila gave the Director’s Report which is also in the D.E.L.A. section of the Maine Coastal News. It has been a busy season with a lot of D.E.L.A. sponsorship of seminars at the Forum. The legislature has begun, so this is another point of responsibility that is important to attend. She also shared the Thank You letter and required grades that were sent in by Andrew Turner. Andrew was one of the recipients of the D.E.L.A. Scholarship for $1,000. Andrew is the son of Hilton and Rhonda Turner of Stonington and is attending the University of Maine, Orono. We discussed various ideas for D.E.L.A. funding. With grant projects in mind, Nick suggested the effects that whale rope has on the fi shermen. This may include help from members such as John McMillan of McMillan Offshore Survival Training. We have been involved with the E-molt project with Jim Manning of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. This may have continued involvement with other topics for help. This is a good start to working together on some very important projects.


It would be good to write a donation letter and mail it out to possible donors that we have also helped in the past to become established. This can be done for the D.E.L.A. Scholarship Fund and for donations to D.E.L.A. and the category of their choice, general fund, Legal or Scholarship Fund. A lot of organizations are


Continued on Page 22.


days for an administrative hearing on a license suspension to be held, in order to prevent an individual from continually delaying a license suspension.


3) It changes the penalty for scrubbing egged lobsters from a one-year license suspension to permanent license revocation. * This was the legislation that proposed to authorize the use of covert electronic surveillance within the existing “consent to inspection” language. The intent with this provision was to avoid the 24 hour notice requirement for civil violations. Upon additional discussion with the AG’s offi ce, they indicated that when the Department seeks a warrant for a civil violation, we could request a waiver to the notice requirement under probable cause be demonstrated to a District Court judge before the warrant is issued.


There has been a big need for the law to be able to do their jobs adequately. If you have further questions about this law, please feel free to contact the D.M.R. or your Representative on the Marine Resource Committee.


On the L.A.C. agenda, with the election


of new offi cers, Josh Miller is the new chair and Jeff Putnam is the vice chair. The D.M.R. is going back on the road this season to have area meetings to get your input of the licensing issue, offshore lobster zone, biodegradable escape panels, trawling, etc. There is now consideration of an offshore lobster zone in Maine. Our understanding of this is briefl y, there is a proposed choice which means that a fi sherman can choose whether they want to be in the Offshore Zone or in the Inshore Fishery. Once the choice is made, one must stay in the zone of their choice. Now if you have questions about this proposal, please attend the D.M.R. road meetings that are coming up. We will keep you posted on the schedule.


The L.A.C. will also be going over the Lobster Fishery Management Plan


Development. This plan has already been drafted, which was put in place after the “glut of 2012.” This plan is not a law it is a guideline for the D.M.R. in case that sort of event should happen again. How soon we tend to forget how tense that whole situation was! Do you remember 2012? We certainly hope that history does not repeat itself, but anything can happen. With the season just getting into “swing” we want to wish everyone a safe and productive season. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have concerns or questions. We ask that you speak with us if you want to know any facts about specifi c issues. The one thing about D.E.L.A. is that we are all in the “same boat together.” We would not ask you to participate in anything that we are not willing to do ourselves.


July 9th


Our next scheduled meeting is Thursday, at Fishermen’s Friend in Stonington


@ 6:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there!


See ya around, Sheila


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Saving the Gill-Netter PHYLLIS A.


The Phyllis A. Marine Association - A non-profi t organization dedicated to the preservation of the former gill-netter PHYLLIS A., built at Kennebunkport in 1925, and worked by the Arnold family out of Gloucester for 75 years. To help call (978) 391-3901 or visit their website: www.phyllis-a.org. All donations are tex deductible.


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