By: Robert Tetrault, 2 Portland Fish Pier Portland, Maine

I had planned to be at the March 5th public hearing to present my commentary in person but the schedule change found me with in conflict with previously scheduled surgical pre-operative tests in Boston. My written testimony will lack the emotion and frustration you would have seen if I were standing before you, a life long Mainer being forced to move or sell out to my competitors to the West.

Allow me to introduce myself and explain my various business interests. Sometime in the 1930’s my Italian grandfather came to this country and settled in Vinalhaven. He was a fisherman who makes me third generation and my son Rob the fourth. My family has always owned and operated “draggers” with supplemental income from lobstering when necessary. I personally own five Federal Multispecies Permits and two nearly identical multipurpose fishing vessels of 85 ton each. Up until two months ago we had a third fleet vessel. I also own and manage with my partner the Marine Trade Center on the Portland Fish Pier, a service facility to the Maine fleet. I am a founding owner and continuing director of Vessel Services Inc., Portland harbor’s ice and fuel facility also on the PFP. I am a founding and twelve year director of the Portland Fish Exchange. Unfortunately I might be the single largest private investor on the Portland Fish Pier so its future is very much on my mind. My other life is spent as a Farm Credit Director where I chair the Farm Credit of Maine board and sit on several others around the USA. My duties at Farm Credit include assuring there is sufficient credit available to Maine’s natural resource based industries in good times and bad. I served our governor on the Groundfish Task Force and currently serve on the Lands for Maine’s Future WWAPP review committee. I’m proud of my contributions to a better Maine and pray you take the time to read and understand the present situation in my industry.

Hopefully my long introduction provided sufficient evidence to assure you I can provide knowledgeable, informative, and helpful comment while you consider this bill. My primary business is harvesting ground fish in the Gulf of Maine. We operate now as we have for decades out of Portland Harbor. After graduating from Maine Maritime Academy in 1973 I served in the US merchant marine fleet for a few years before returning to Maine and the trade I knew well, fishing. I owned, designed, built, skippered and eventually grew my operation to three identical state of the art vessels, two of which I still operate today. For about twenty consecutive years we employed 16 people with annual revenue from harvesting of around $1.5 million. We consistently worked from Maine ports alternating between shrimp and ground fish harvesting. These were good, safe jobs; I have one individual still here after 30 years. Regulatory restraints eventually forced me to acquire additional fishing rights to shore up our “opportunity days” at sea which required a significant capitol investment. We also bought five Federal Lobster permits to provide an additional source of harvesting revenue as we struggled to get by until better fishing.

Until 2005 we had always landed our fish in Maine, discarding our lobster by-catch and respecting Maine’s lobster laws. This was often difficult because my crews were fishing alongside others that received additional compensation from lobsters and we had to rely on better fish prices in Portland to offset the clear advantage to fishing from Gloucester. During 2005 our price advantage began to disappear as Portland’s auction was successfully emulated by others and many more boats left the port. This change in behavior accelerated rapidly with the introduction of more closures and a big jump in fuel costs. Rather than lose my remaining crew to other boats I enabled my three vessels by adding the lobster permits and allowing them to offload in Gloucester.

I was a member of the Ground Fish Task Force which pointed out this migration quite clearly and was very disappointed when the chair and others refused to recommend we seek a change in the law. Disappointed doesn’t accurately describe how someone who has invested heavily in Maine’s fishing infrastructure feels when he sends his own boats to fish out of another port. You will hear testimony from others on how these changes have affected my other shore side businesses.

Today I find myself owning several million dollars in assets that produce very little profit. Profitable only if operated outside Maine. The reward for the risk taken in this business doesn’t justify fishing from Maine any longer. I have no desire to live and operate out of Massachusetts, neither does my son. I have begun to sell off assets; one boat has already relocated to Rhode Island, bought by a RI fisherman as a replacement vessel. There is a ready market for fishing assets South and West of Maine where the economics are better. The value of our lobster landings often exceeds $10,000 and that’s for a five day trip. When we sail from Maine the required observer often makes more than the crew, not a good situation.

I pray you do the right thing here; it’s a lot easier to save an industry than to create a new one. I’m a responsible Maine business that would like an opportunity to stay. This prohibition on landing lobster is a selfish, unnecessary law that is producing unintended consequences on Maine’s economy. The lobsters are “landed” by dealers; we should have the same rights as Canadians at the very least. The proposal before you will actually reduce the catch of lobster from the Gulf of Maine and help ensure the revenue accrues to Maine. This law would restrict the take to outside fifty miles; lobster by-catch today is taken right up to the shore by vessels licensed to land in another state. My son wants to continue in my footsteps; please allow him the same opportunity I had.