Lobster Advisory Council Minutes 05/18/05

Lobster Advisory Council

Minutes

DRAFT DOCUMENT – NOT REVIEWED BY LOBSTER ADVISORY COUNCIL

Department of Marine Resources
Lobster Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
Department of Human Services Conference Room – Augusta, Maine
September 21, 2005 – 5:00 p.m.

A meeting of the Department of Marine Resources’ Lobster Advisory Council (Council) was held on this date at the Department of Human Services on Civic Center Drive in Augusta. Council members attending this meeting included: Chair Larry Knapp (Zone E), John Drouin (Zone A), Jon Carter (Zone B), Dan MacDonald (Zone C), Dan Miller (Zone D), Elliott Thomas (Zone F), Jim Alwin (Zone G), Ted Hoskins (General Public Member), Cappy Sargent (Non-Zone Lobsterman) and Bob Baines (Non-Zone Lobsterman). Council members not present included: Dana Rice (Eastern Dealer) and Dana McIntire (Non-Zone Lobsterman). Commissioner George Lapointe, Deputy Commissioner David Etnier, Deirdre Gilbert, Joe Fessenden, Terry Stockwell, Carl Wilson, David Libby, Heidi Bray, John Sowles, Keri Stepanik, Sally Sherman and Sarah Cotnoir of the Department of Marine Resources were also present. Others present were Senator Dennis Damon, Patrice McCarron, Clare Grindal, Kristen Millar, Kevin Plowman (USCG), Gerry Cushman, Tom Fletcher (NOAA) and Bill Hoffman (Division of Marine Fisheries-Massachusetts).

The meeting convened at 5:10 p.m.

1. Welcome and Review of Agenda

2. Approval of Minutes (May 18, 2005)

MOTION: (B. Baines and J. Carter) To accept the minutes of the May 18, 2005 meeting as written. Unanimous.

3. New Business

a. Maine Lobster Promotion Council Nominees

The Maine Lobster Promotion Council had three members’ terms expire in March and all three would like to be considered for reappointment:

Midcoast District Dealer – Emily Lane of Claw Island Foods
Western District Public Member – Wilfred Beriau, Gray, Maine
Eastern District Harvester – W. William Anderson, South Trescott, Maine

All three of them have served only one term and are eligible for reappointment. The terms for all three of these positions would run from 3/16/05 – 3/16/08.

The Lobster Advisory Council voted unanimously to accept the nominees as slated.

Seed Lobster Fund

Carl Wilson met with members of the Seed Lobster Fund Sub-Committee prior to today’s Lobster Advisory Council meeting. They discussed how to split the $84,000 earmarked for research between ongoing monitoring projects and the specific research proposals. The Sub-Committee wanted to continue to support the ongoing monitoring projects with Bigelow, The Lobster Conservancy’s intertidal work and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association’s ventless trap survey. Of the $84,000, the Sub-Committee voted to fund $40,000 for ongoing monitoring and the remaining $44,000 to be set aside for an RFP to look at aging and growth. While reviewing the draft RFP, one of the Sub-Committee members asked to narrow the focus even further – by looking at regional differences in growth that will feed directly into monitoring programs and support the idea of forecasting. The Sub-Committee supported this recommendation.

MOTION: (J. Carter and B. Baines) To support the Seed Lobster Fund Sub-Committee’s recommendations from the meeting held today [September 21, 2005] ? $40,000 to fund ongoing monitoring and the remaining $44,000 to be set aside for an RFP to look at aging and growth. Unanimous.

Lobster Research, Education and Development Board (Lobster RED Board)

This past spring DMR sent out an RFP for $110,000 and received 10 proposals totaling $318,000. The awards are as follows:

$70,000 for research
• MER – Water Quality project – proposal to look at temperature, oxygen levels and salinity to see if they correlate to lobster health
• Perkins/UMO – Heavy metals project – healthy lobsters v. shell diseased lobsters

$20,000 for education
• Deer Isle-Stonington High School – development of computer based activity for MS and HS students that will simulate biologic, ecologic and economic & social complexities involved in the lobster fishery
• Lobster Institute – web site enhancement
• Island Institute – Lobster fair – once developed, could be taken to other areas

$20,000 for development - no development proposals were funded at this time

The Lobster RED Board is scheduled to meet next Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. in Hallowell to discuss sending out another RFP. The fund currently has ~$350,000.

Frank Strout’s recent resignation from the LAC necessitates a replacement LAC representative on the RED Board. Jon Carter will replace Frank.

Election of LAC Chair

The LAC will need a slate of names for the annual election of officers (Chair and Vice-Chair) to vote on at the next meeting. Bob Baines and Jon Carter will arrive 15 minutes early at the next meeting for the nomination of officers.

b. DMR Trawl Survey Report (John Sowles)

John Sowles explained that DMR has done this survey now for five years. It has been apparent to DMR and others how valuable this data is. The value of this work is not only for groundfish but for lobster. DMR looks at different bottom locations than the NMFS’ tows.

John talked with ASMFC today and emphasized to the LAC why the information is so valuable, particularly the importance of accurate data. Any future regulation that comes down the pike should be made on the best available information.

DMR has noticed an erosion of cooperation within some areas. There was an enclosure in the LAC packages asking for ideas to make this a smoother process. The current DMR methods of communicating with the fishermen include:

• DMR sending out two levels of mailings to the Lobster Zone Councils and the Lobster Advisory Council;
• The DMR website;
• John Sowles is available by phone 24 hours a day;
• NOAA weather radio;
• Sally’s and Keri’s phones on the boat.

J. Sowles asked if DMR needed to be doing more “on-the-water” communications. Members’ suggestions included:

• Have local MPO tell community fishermen – be around the docks and tell everybody they see that the trawl survey is going to be in their area soon.
• Guys are hesitant – to get more compliance, tell them the value. The government has regulated them out of fisheries for years without the info.
• The trawler comes in and goes out. Let the fishermen know when you’re done. Provide some follow-up of the survey. Get some feedback to the zone councils through mailings, webpage, etc.
• Get in on local radio frequencies and say, “We’re coming tomorrow.” DMR can get the frequencies from Marine Patrol, dealers, zone council reps, etc.
• Invite fishermen on the survey
• 100% of the fishermen aren’t going to welcome this survey with open arms no matter what DMR does. Many are compliant and see the value of the data.
• 90% of the people use lat/lon – continue to provide both TDs and lat/lons.

John distributed a recent summary of the Inshore Trawl Survey inviting people to call him with any questions.

c. Massachusetts Cod Survey (Bill Hoffman) See presentation copy attached to minutes.

Bill Hoffman, the project leader of the Industry-Based Survey for Gulf of Maine Cod Pilot Survey, gave a PowerPoint presentation to the LAC. This is the second year going into the third year. He stressed that it is important to get in as many tows as possible as this data is made available to the ASMFC Lobster Technical Committee.

Questions/suggestions from group to Bill Hoffman:

Q: Last fall’s mailing that was sent out was not helpful. It only showed that the tows were in Maine.
A: Hoffman did get feedback that the black and white mailers were unclear. A second mailing was sent out with colored maps.

J. Sowles asked the group if there was any confusion between the Massachusetts and Maine surveys. B. Hoffman explained that their survey crew has had great cooperation from the fishermen. Terry Alexander has contacted fishermen to work locally.

Q: What percentage of the lobsters do you catch go back overboard?
A: The data (weight, length, sex, etc.) is collected and the lobsters are put right back overboard.

Q: You were on all the survey boats. Did you see any gear coming up?
A: Three guys’ gear was lost. We have a protocol for gear. Our track lines are measured to the foot and we can map out where the gear was located. Bill Hoffman said to call him anytime 978-282-0308 x 106.

Another suggestion for him was to get the license number and call the fisherman directly.

Q: When is the notification going to be mailed out?
A: November 14th is the first day of the survey; however, the boats will not be in Maine until December 1st.

It was suggested to work with John Sowles and Sally Sherman and mail the Maine license holders with two weeks notice, instead of a month and a half.

d. Landings and Reporting Discussion (Heidi Bray) See presentation copy attached to minutes.

Heidi presented a summary of the proposed landings and reporting program and emphasized that this is not a harvester logbook program, but a dealer reporting program. Maine should be providing regulators with trip level data. One of the first things any manager will want to know is “How many people will be affected by this?” Those who fish often are the core participants of the fishery and will be most affected by any changes. Aggregate landings are influenced by things such as market demand, weather conditions and regulations.

Industry feedback has been gathered from industry meetings; zone council meetings, the Reporting Advisory Committee and DMR’s Landings Agent visits to dealers. The Reporting Advisory Committee pared down a big list of ideas to something more realistic. The landings data is protected and is not released in any manner. DMR has multiple layers of security.

Many dealers already keep this information. DMR is working with at least four options dealers can choose for reporting:

• File upload from accounting programs
• Online reporting
• PC software
• Paper reports

A member asked that when the regulators consider why someone has fished more days, are they going to document things like tides running the buoys under, sea fleas or those types of things.

One member stated that he used to be able to fish for anything by using logbooks and now he has the maximum number of traps for lobsters and that’s it. All other permits have been lost.

Fishermen reporting requirements are unaffected at this time. Dealers are already filling out more data on the federal reports than DMR wants to collect. David Libby stated that he is not sure how NMFS is going to merge dealers and harvester info.

J. Carter reported that he’s on the Reporting Advisory Committee and originally had the same cynical position. Lobstermen don’t have to do as much as clam diggers. The information DMR would be getting is quite basic. Because of things that have happened in the past, it is understandable why people might be leery.

L. Knapp asked how this data was not going to be used against the fishermen since this is the last fishery for many. The Commissioner explained that’s why we don’t use one source of data. The impact of other fisheries has been hammered by the lack of data. The Council was reminded that for those in the Groundfish fishery that didn’t have good records didn’t get the DAS, but instead got fleet days. The stock assessment is accurate and managers will use that info also. People are more impacted by the absence of data than with it.

Ted Hoskins asked Jon Carter and Bob Baines what they learned to change their minds about this program since many people are still very guarded about this. J. Carter explained that DMR asked many questions and they listened to us as lobstermen. The more information managers have to make decisions, the better off we’re going to be.

The Commissioner gave a specific example of working on Addendums for Amendment 3 and how the data helped Maine. V-notching was a huge boon for the Maine lobster industry. Maine got credit for the work we had already done in the past. We were at an F3 and with v-notching, it put us much closer to the targeted F10. That data could have been further strengthened by logbooks.

Zone E lobsterman Andrew Morley stated that he believes the information that DMR has is not confidential. The Town of Boothbay decided to tax our lobster trap tags. The only way they would have known who to tax what amount is to get the information from DMR. Another example he gave was that his bank accounts are confidential, but the IRS can subpoena for those records.

Heidi explained that DMR has heard quite clearly that harvester info will not work in this program.

Bob Baines stated that Maine has been hammered because of the lack of data. What DMR is asking for is minor. It’s actually less information than is currently given to the federal government. It is a public resource. Along with that is some responsibility of us for managers to manage it. It’s not a big deal to report.

Heidi reported that in North Carolina, trip level data showed that their shark fishery could be reopened, finfish sizes could be decreased and that the fishery could withstand a little more pressure.

Ted Hoskins stated that there has to be more of an effective understanding of where DMR and the Reporting Advisory Committee are with this program and where the fishermen are. Those that have participated in this developing program from the beginning have a more receptive opinion of this than those that have not. This proposal doesn’t seem to show a significant benefit to some of the lobstermen here.

David Libby explained DMR is not targeting people, but rather looking at the data as fishermen are units. Dealers have aggregate monthly data and not trip level data. The ASMFC has talked about trip level reporting for years. It is coming. Maine is one of the last ones not doing it.

The Commissioner stated that DMR doesn’t know how many licenses are actually being used. Two people can each hold a lobster license. One fishes 600 traps and the other person doesn’t fish any and yet, the license looks the same in the records. This Council has talked about a “use it or lose it” provision for years. We could look at our 6,800 licenses and see how many people are fishing 1 day, 1 month, 6 months or more and we could use that data.

Andrew Morley explained that DMR will retrieve the information under one premise and two years down the road, the Department will use it for something else three years later. What if someone has three bad years and the rest are good but looking at the data determines the license holder can only have 110 days?

Cappy stated the flip side of that is that the Feds could say fill them out or don’t fish. The states are letting the dealers do it for us. If you fill out the logbooks, you can use that in your defense. You’ve got logbooks besides the three years to prove yourself. If you went groundfishing and you filled them out that you did not fish, those words would stand up in court. I have a daily log every time I go aboard that boat whether it’s for gillnetting, scalloping, lobstering, etc.

A member of the audience asked how it works with two license holders on the boat. One is the boat owner and the other license holder is sterning. How does that work as far as logging/reporting? It would be logged for the boat owner.

Members were told to contact Heidi or David Libby anytime with questions or concerns relating to this issue.

e. License surcharge ($5-$10) added for Marine Patrol needs (equipment, training, etc.) (Elliott Thomas)

It was tabled until the next meeting when Jim Henderson could be here to present.

f. Fishing Vessel Safety Council Update (Bob Baines)

Bob Baines gave an update of the most recent Fishing Vessel Safety Council meeting held in June. The three main items were Appointment and composition changes; Safety equipment parity for all Maine licensed commercial fishermen; and, Safety Course for Apprentice Program. Kevin Plowman, a Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Examiner from the USCG, was present at the June meeting. Colonel Fessenden has also been working with this Safety Council.

Council Composition – The Safety Council is considering allowing the appointment of the five harvester license holders on the Council to not necessarily be from all different fisheries, but to be more at the discretion of the Commissioner. Ninety percent of what the Council is working on affects lobstering. They would like to see additional lobstermen on the Safety Council.

Safety Equipment – At the last meeting, there was much discussion on whether the safety requirements were more restrictive on state registered boats versus federally documented vessels. If you’re a commercial license holder, there should be parity with safety equipment regardless of the vessel. What is needed inside 3 miles gets added to what is needed outside 3 miles, along with additional safety equipment. The same with beyond 12 – you would need everything that is required for inside 3, outside 3 and more safety equipment beyond 12. The equipment requirements increase as you go further offshore.

Instead of making recommendations for state registered boats, these requirements would be proposed for state license holders. In looking at safety requirements (life jackets, flares, EPIRB, etc.), the USCG considers vessel size and distance from shore predominantly.

One member asked if this was going to be law. These safety requirements will give the Commissioner the authority to implement safety regulations for fishermen. The Fishing Vessel Safety Council is going to solicit input at public meetings on current requirements.

B. Baines explained that the Fishing Vessel Safety Council agreed that if you have a documented boat, along side a state registered boat, they should be the same safety rules. Basically, the documented vessels now have more requirements. There are two sub-committees working on this and it’s very complicated.

Lots of things would need to happen for this to be in place. The Safety Council would make the final recommendations for enactment. Then it has to get to the Legislature; public hearings, and the Marine Resources Committee and it could go either way. Then it has to pass the full Legislature, regular or emergency. It would be a year from now before we can conceivably implement something.

The Commissioner explained that the issue of parity is important. Maine lost 14 people in one year. We need to keep our fleet and people safe. Fishermen seem interested in participating in this process. There has been much enthusiasm and lots of input. We’ll continue to keep this group informed.

Safety Course for Apprentice Program – The Fishing Vessel Safety Council is looking at a safety component for the apprentice program. Bob distributed a proposed course outline for the safety requirements for the apprentice program. The Department already has the option of developing an educational course and therefore no legislation would be required to move this forward. The Safety Council will be recommending a one-day safety course (not a survival course) for apprentices before they can get their license. It’s geared more for the younger people and how to work safely and maybe they’ll take it aboard the boats they’re fishing on.

Bob requested that LAC members around the table take this back to the zones for feedback. Bob also polled the Council to see if this is something that the Lobster Advisory Council think is important to pursue. All were in favor except Dan MacDonald from Zone C. He explained that Zone C is not opposed to the program, but would prefer to set up its own safety program at the local high school level. Zone C does not want to make it mandatory and they don’t want to see a generic statewide safety program.

The proposed outline is all classroom and no hands-on. D. Miller did not think that was enough. The apprentices should be shooting flares, rolling rafts, etc.

One member thought it should be mandatory for everyone that holds a license. More drill instructors could be promoted if necessary. Another member thought a provision should be in place that if someone took the fishing vessel safety program, then they wouldn’t need this program.

Colonel Fessenden encouraged members to keep talking and tweaking the rule. If enough fishermen want hands-on, DMR can make it a requirement since this is just a proposed draft. If we don’t get support from the LAC, it won’t go any further. The legislation is still there, but the Commissioner needs advice and consent from the LAC.

Contact information for Kevin Plowman, USCG – inspects boats for safety and equipment
1-800-410-9549; 207-780-3256
Email: kplowman@msoportme.uscg.mil

4. Old Business

a. Continued Lobster Effort Discussion (Commissioner George Lapointe)

Commissioner Lapointe stated that the Department is going to wait until after the November ASMFC meeting before continuing with lobster effort discussions. The stock assessment is currently being peer reviewed and will be released at the upcoming meeting.

The 10% replacement tag discussion is back on the table. The costs and benefits of eliminating replacement tags have prompted different enforcement and equity issues.

5. Reports and Updates

a. DMR Updates

Rulemaking – There is one proposed rule to synchronize ASMFC’s Most Restrictive Rule requirements of the FMP with Maine’s law and rules. If you have a state license and a federal lobster permit, you will have to fish the largest minimum size of all permits areas listed on your federal license. There was a Public Hearing last week and the deadline for written comments is Monday, September 26.

The Feds have finally published a proposed rule to synchronize the Federal rules with ASMFC’s rules.

Whale Update – The Feds are still in the rulemaking process, and the new rules are now scheduled to be published at the first of next year.

There is a Low Profile Groundline Workshop in Rockland tomorrow focusing on Northeast GOM inshore areas.

100 coils of experimental rope primarily made by Hiliner and Polysteel have been distributed to about 60 fishermen working with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. If you have any interest in experimenting with this rope, contact Steve Robbins.

The Take Reduction Team will be meeting in Portsmouth right after Thanksgiving.

Patrol Update

• Colonel Fessenden stated that a large numbers of herring boats have been reported fishing off Zone E. There were six ~90’ boats near Seguin Island. Purse seiners can come inside 3, but when they circle around, they get tangled in the gear. Mid-water trawlers cannot be inside 3 but have been. There is much potential for huge gear conflict. Georgetown has had some complaints of gear loss and Marine Patrol Officers are in that area observing.
• Student Licenses - In the past we’ve allowed parents or guardians to pick up students’ gear on small boats, rather than the big boats. Marine Patrol is starting to get complaints from fishermen who feel that the child should be on the boat. If we catch somebody fishing gear without the owner on board, that person can lose their license for a year.
• There has been some trap cutting; people are pushing out; fishing has been slow.
• Casco Bay – multiple reports of lobsters thefts from dealers
• Small theft in Cushing – Some dealer is buying them up – maybe you can help us.
• Jon Carter asked about the scenario of having a Zone A license, but only fishing gear in Zone B (no traps in Zone A). He thought there was some discussion about this being addressed. This person lives in Zone B, but does not have a Zone B license. He has avoided the waiting lists and went out and bought new boats to fish in Zone B. A handful of people have found a way around the 49/51%. J. Carter has never had a complaint of someone doing this on the border. The individuals he’s referring to are in the center of the zone. It is believed that there are huge numbers of people cheating on the trap tags. Convicting these people would show the other guys to do the right thing. Some are fishing untagged gear. Colonel Fessenden explained that fishing untagged gear is easier to prove than 49/51%. He’ll talk with Lt. Talbot and Lt. Cornish to brainstorm and come up with other ideas besides the 49/51% and bring to a future LAC mtg. Maybe there’s another alternative other than double tagging.
• Jim Alwin shared an interesting comment an apprentice told him – that the whole state is at 880 tags and Zone E is at 660 tags.

b. Zone/Industry Issues - Summaries

Zone A: J. Drouin reported that Zone A has been quiet.
Zone B: J. Carter reported that Zone B is also quiet.
Zone C: D. MacDonald stated that Zone C has attempted two meetings – one in March and one in June. There was not a quorum either time.
Zone D: D. Miller stated that Zone D will be meeting in a week or so.
Zone E: L. Knapp stated that Zone E had a meeting in September. Heidi talked about the Commercial Landings Program. Zone E wasn’t very receptive. Looking forward to the next Zone E meeting – Hopefully, Carl Wilson will be there.
Zone F: E. Thomas reported that Zone F will be meeting on October 5th to vote on the exit ratio survey results and talk about a questionnaire that would offer additional options to the apprentice program.
Zone G: J. Alwin stated that the last Zone G meeting was at the beginning of summer. A fall meeting hasn’t been scheduled at this point.

6. Set Next Meeting Date and Agenda

The date of the next Lobster Advisory Council meeting was set for October 19, 2005 at 5:00 p.m. at the Department of Human Services on Civic Center Drive in Augusta.

MOTION (J. Alwin and D. MacDonald) To adjourn. Unanimous.

The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.