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We hope
our lobster industry doesn't view efforts to preserve Maine's
groundfishing communities as a "battle." We view it as a matter of
survival.
In 2004, a state
Groundfish Task Force released a report predicting the demise of Maine's
groundfishery. It recommended 30 actions state government could
take to preserve the industry. To date, just one of those
recommendations has been implemented and the number of fishing trips
being landed outside of Maine has doubled.
The most important
finding of the Task Force was that Maine fishermen be compensated for
the value of the lobsters they forego by returning to Maine. In an
interview on MPBN's Mainewatch, Craig Pendleton of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance stated
that lobster landed out of state added 20% to his fishing
revenues - simply by choosing a Massachusetts port over a Maine port.
No wonder our boats are leaving the state.
Our jobs are leaving
as well. From 1999-2004, over 900 jobs in Maine's seafood
processing sector were lost. In Massachusetts, the number of jobs
increased.
Our proposal is
conservation neutral and would have no impact on Maine's lobster
fishery. Harvesting would be limited to an area 50 miles offshore.
We estimate the amount of lobster landed would be about 1% of the
current total. The lobsters are being netted anyway - all we
propose is that they, along with hundreds of tons of groundfish and
hundreds of jobs - be brought to Maine, rather than other New England
states. This is an economic issue, not a conservation issue.
Readers interested
in learning more about this issue are encouraged to visit
www.betterlobsterlaw.com. We have no interest in fighting our
fellow Maine fishermen. All we ask is for an open mind, and a fair
discussion of this public policy issue.
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