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The Portland
Exchange Exchange recognizes Maine’s lobster industry relies on strong
conservation measures to protect the health of the stock. That’s why our
proposal to allow landings of lobster in Maine by the non-trap sector,
commonly known as “incidental” catch, adheres to existing Maine law.
Maine has both a
minimum and maximum size restriction for lobster landings. The incidental
lobster harvests we propose would be subject to the same limits as those
from the trap fishery.
Incidental lobster
harvests would be restricted to areas at least 50 miles off the Maine
coastline. In other New England states, harvests are allowed to within
three miles of the coastline. Each vessel landing lobster would be
required to carry a satellite position tracking device which is monitored
by the federal government at all times.
For decades, vessels
in the course of normal fishing operations have harvested incidental
lobsters from this same offshore area, and landed them in Massachusetts.
As government regulations have reduced available fishing days and income,
more and more Maine vessels have decided they can no longer forego the
lobsters that the Massachusetts vessels fishing alongside them get to
keep.
Lobster abundance is
at an all-time high. Adherence to Maine’s maximum size rule, along with
restricting fishing to waters far offshore, will ensure incidental lobster
harvests pose no risk to the resource, while helping Maine’s groundfish
industry survive.
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