Department of Marine Resources
Lobster Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
Natural Resources Service Center
6 Beech Street, Hallowell
May 28, 2009 3:00 pm
A meeting of the Department of Marine Resources’ Lobster Advisory Council was held on this date at the Natural Resources Service Center, 6 Beech Street, Hallowell, Maine. Council members attending this meeting included: Chair Bob Baines (Non-Zone Lobsterman), John Drouin (Zone A), Jon Carter (Zone B), Dan MacDonald (Zone C), Ted Hoskins (General Public Member), Gerry Cushman (Zone D), Dana Rice, (Eastern Dealer), Larry Knapp (Zone E), Jeff Putnam (Zone F), Jim Henderson (Zone G), Nick Lemieux (Non-Zone Lobsterman), Peter McAleney (Western Dealer Member) and Elliott Thomas (Non-Zone Lobsterman.) Commissioner George Lapointe, Deputy Commissioner David Etnier, Deirdre Gilbert, Sarah Cotnoir, Erin Summers, Colonel Joe Fessenden, Carl Wilson, Melissa Smith, Kathleen Reardon and Donna Hall of the Department of Marine Resources were also present. Others present were: David Cousens, Patrice McCarron, Stephen Brooks, Annie Tselikis, Darryl Grover, Gina LeDuc, John Coffin, Stephen Robbins III, Bill Doane, John Williamson, Paul Fischer, Senator Dennis Damon and Dane Somers from the Maine Lobster Promotion Council.
The meeting convened at 3:10 p.m.
1. Welcome and Review of Agenda
2. Approval of Minutes (March 25, 2009)
MOTION: (T. Hoskins and J. Carter) To accept the minutes of the March 25, 2009 meeting as written. Unanimous
3. New Business
a. Maine Lobster Promotion Council Nominations
Chairman Bob Baines told the members of the Lobster Advisory Council that in their packets they would see a nomination letter from the Maine Lobster Promotion Council in regards to the appointment of Cathy Billings and asked the council to look over the recommendation of the MLPC.
MOTION: (T. Hoskins and J. Carter) To accept the recommendation of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council’s nomination of Cathy Billings, Public Member Eastern District Representative. Unanimous
b. Landing’s Data – Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson presented the landings data collected from 2008 dealer reports; dealers are required to report all purchases from individual lobstermen. This trip level data shows who is landing and who is not. The dealers reported purchasing a total of 66,179,855 pounds. Currently, there are 6,492 commercial lobster license holders and of them 32% had no reported activity; 68% had at least one pound reported; and 42% landed less than 1,000 pounds. Carl’s figures show that 20% of license holders landed greater than 20,000 pounds of lobster. Carl said his impression is a large amount of lobster is being caught by a small percentage of people.
Carl said the harvester data is in and we will have it available for the next meeting. There was some mention from council members about the levels of latent licenses. John Drouin said your numbers are including students. Carl said that Heidi Bray did create a database for me with those numbers and I can look at that again. Bob Baines said I’ve been talking about latent effort for along time; with the next round of whale talks, we need to keep these things in mind as we move forward. Carl said if we had this information 14 yrs ago this conversation would have been different; I think your right it is good information for the future.
Commissioner Lapointe said it will be interesting to see with the vertical line issue; what kind of conservation we will have from year to year. Bob asked will it be possible to have to reduce further. Erin Summers said that National Marine Fisheries Service is building a model that assesses entanglement risk in different areas by overlaying whale distribution and gear density information. The current model only builds in a small amount of latent effort and therefore overestimates the amount of gear in the water at any given time (and would also overestimate how much should be taken out to achieve a risk reduction). DMR is working with them to include the new estimates of latent effort based on the dealer and harvester reporting data, which will give a more accurate picture of Maine’s fishing effort. Commissioner Lapointe said if we lower the baseline and shift the arguments the same will hold true for the arguments. John said their argument is that we have 3.2 million tags including the latent. Elliot Thomas said there are people with plenty of tags that are not landing many lobsters. George said that is why the survey of endline use is critical. Patrice McCarron said to John Drouin’s comment; that 3.2 million number is subsequent and the years of data will matter, now that we have the latent piece removed the data is more important; a much more informed process. Carl said I feel that having this landing data has changed any conversation that I will have about lobster. Bob asked is that because now you have the numbers? Carl said it changes the argument; it’s a powerful tool.
Larry Knapp asked when you get rid of these latent license people how much is a license going to cost. Carl said some people are landing a lot of lobsters and some people are not. Jeff Putnam asked the Commissioner if he sees this information resulting in policy changes. George said no new policy changes that I see; possibly with latent licenses .Gerry Cushman said I’m glad that we went to tags.
c. Update on Tiered License System Sub-Committee
The Lobster Advisory Council Chairman Bob Baines reported that the Sub-Committee on developing a Tiered License System met four weeks ago and spent the majority of time going over Carl Wilson’s data. We have nothing to report back at this time, we will be meeting again; it is a work in progress. Jeff Putnam asked do you think that this will be based on how much you make and will it be reviewed yearly. Bob said I don’t know we are not that far yet; this is very complex.
b. Lobster Task Force Update
Patrice McCarron, Executive Director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) and a member of the Lobster Task Force, gave an update of the task force's activities to the council. She reported that the Moseley Group the consultant selected to work with the Lobster Task Force was strongly suggesting increased marketing of Maine lobster as a distinct product from Canadian lobster. Patrice also pointed out the Moseley Group was suggesting the Maine lobster industry not pursue Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, not shift its harvesting season, and not implement a self-certification program.
Although some council members agreed with this strategy, others were concerned feeling Maine needs to continue its strong trade relationship with the Canadian lobster industry.
Commissioner Lapointe said among the initial recommendations from the Moseley Group to the task force is that the Maine lobster industry should anticipate investing $2.2 million into a campaign to effectively market its own product. Another recommendation was to coordinate a Maine Lobster Harvest Program in July, August and September; my idea would be to find 50 places along the coast and find volunteer’s and have local lobster days. Until the world market picks up we are not going to pick up; if you want to market your product you have to do it.
Pete McAleney said the task force did a good job; Mosley group did not do a good job for $135, 000. We need a quick fix, it’s a huge mistake to brand lobsters, we need Canada and they need us. Jon Carter said his friend from Canada called and said they set up a committee and a handful did not want to include the United States; one guy from the government wanted to market together and a bunch of dealers came on board, a few dealers did not want transparency; they’re looking in to working with us to bring a better price. Dana Rice said I don’t think your bottom feeders; don’t you think that all lobster folks are hurting; it’s not just the harvesters. If you followed the Lobster Task Force meetings, John Norton had a good idea; you have got to reach the consumer and until the State of Maine comes up with money things will not change. Jon said I agree with Dana, we had US/Canada meeting and we talked about coming up with .02 per pound to promote lobster; Maine Tourism does nothing.
George said there is money that goes toward promoting from the general fund, one of the easy conclusions; who is that happy with the status quo, it’s time for changes. If we want to get the best price in this economy for the lobster we have, we cannot be divided. John Drouin said when you read a story in the newspaper, or on-line and you see the comments people write, they think lobster is still too expensive; there are many things going on out there where other people are making more money then we are. Jon said any restaurant that you go to in Bar Harbor charges $30.00 for a lobster meal. Ted Hoskins said people like the ability to have local lobster; play it up. I wouldn’t lose sight of that, people will pay more if they know where it’s coming from. Dane Somers said Hannaford & Weathervane are big supporters of this industry, they do sales to promote lobster; even if they lose money they do support this industry. Pete said it is price driven; people are not going to pay more for lobster. I sell to Hannaford and I’ve sold some of those chicks to Hannaford; the economy will go up and the price will go with it.
John said the reason why I used those examples is when consumer a sees that, they see it as a premium price and people will shy away; it’s perception on the other end. Dane said put up your own website. Dana Rice said the last thing you want to do is bring down the price of lobsters, if you go back a couple of years you did not like the price you were getting then and you don’t like it now; the profit margin for dealers is small. When times are good people will buy a lobster, everybody is broke. Gerry said I agree with Dana; we need to throw money toward marketing, last year was bad but I had 10 good years before that; if we do nothing this is where we will be in 10 years. John said we used to move 90-100 million pounds of lobster and was doing fine for years; now all of a sudden because the price is poor we need to market it.
Commissioner Lapointe said - why do people market - because it works; you need to market in bad times as well as good times. Patrice said that branding Maine lobster is reality; Canada is giving 10 million to market their product, we were told the best way to market is to brand. Jon said their government thought it was good idea to use federal money. Elliott said Canada has put all kinds of money in and we need do something on this end.
Bob Baines said we had a sub-committee meeting with the Research & Marketing group and we talked about a nickel a pound at first point of sale; how do we fund it, dealers or fishermen. If it’s at our coop we would be billing our dealer. I’m not sure how that will play out, if we don’t do anything, we are in trouble; we need millions of dollars. There are case studies that show investments; we need to take something to the industry. Larry said we must head in that direction; up the price of that license. Bob said the last time we tried to increase the MLPC money, the guys came unglued. George said whatever the proposal is; rivalry is pulling this industry apart. If you’re not consistent with the Legislature nothing will work; to get the best you can we are going to have to have a consistent position.
Bob said the Commissioner says we should have a bill ready to go to the Legislature in January; it is up to this council to move forward. George said this was for Science and Promotion; everything we do for lobster.
Jon Carter said it will be a hard sell to the industry so we need to have support before we go to the Legislature.
David Etnier said if you bring this to the Legislature it will be 2011 before you see any money; George does have the ability to raise the tag fees though. Bob said we need to grasp the need for this kind of marketing; we need to support this first.
Elliott asked if we could get someone to come in and explain this type of marketing so we understand. Bob said he thought that was a good idea. Pete said we need to worry about this summer; lets give Dane Somers some money and see what happens. Some council members asked if there is any money available from the Research, Education & Development Fund. Commissioner Lapointe said we can ask them to have a meeting.
MOTION: (P. McAleney and J. Carter) To make a recommendation to the RED Board to fund $300,000 for Marketing. Unanimous
Jeff Putnam said he did not think the Mosley group did a good marketing job. Dana said with what is happening we have to commit some money and let the MLPC do their job; you’ve got to promote your product, people are tired of hearing how bad it is; we need to get people on board. Elliott said most of us here all agree its people out there in the industry that won’t agree. We need to market this to the other fishermen. Dana said if you could organize something you will get support. Annie Tselikis said based on what you have been talking about I am thinking maybe you should invite more people to the Lobster Advisory Council. Bob Baines said the Mosley group will have more information for presentation at next meeting.
Gerry Cushman reminded council members that at their March meeting, the council had discussed raising revenue by collecting a five-cent fee for every pound of lobster landed.
Some council members felt that lobstermen would be unhappy with the perceived burden an additional five-cent per pound would add and that, ultimately, would kill the proposal at the legislative level. Jim Henderson said maybe it would be good to take this back to the zone councils. George said this is not going to be popular. David Cousens said you should have a meeting on this and lay out your figures with the data you have; people understand the difference between a nickel and a quarter increase.
MOTION: (E. Thomas and J. Carter) To increase future funding for marketing. Unanimous
David Etnier said the Lobster Advisory Council should have a Sub-Committee to help move this forward. Bob Baines, Larry Knapp, Pete McAleney, Gerry Cushman and Elliott Thomas are on this Sub-Committee.
c. Stock Assessment- Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson presented the Lobster Advisory Council with the 2009 Stock Assessment Summary.
Stock Status
Gulf of Maine: The GOM stock appears to be stable; current abundance and exploitation have been similar to their medians for the 22-year time series. However, recruitment, effort, and landings have been high and low recruitment could rapidly cause the stock status to deteriorate. The GOM supports the largest fishery, constituting 76% of the U.S. landings between 1981 and 2007 and 87% of landings since 2002. Landings in the GOM were stable between 1981 and 1989, averaging 14,600 mt, then increased dramatically from 1990 (19,200 mt) to 2006 (37,300 mt). Landings averaged 33,000 mt from 2000-2007.
The GOM stock is in favorable condition based on the recommended reference points (Table 2). The stock is above the reference abundance target and slightly below the effective exploitation target. Therefore the GOM lobster stock is not depleted and overfishing is not occurring.
Georges Bank: The GBK stock has increased recently. Current abundance is above and exploitation is below their medians for the 22-year time series.
Southern New England: The SNE stock abundance is low compared to the 20-year time series, while exploitation is similar. The pattern of low population abundance is well established. The Panel recommends a reduction in exploitation and implementation of a fishery rebuilding plan for the SNE stock.
Highlighted Review Panel Issues, recommendations and concerns
• Be particularly vigilant of recruitment patterns in these stocks and stand ready to impose substantial restrictions should recruitments decline.
• Of particular concern to the Panel is the difference between the level of exploitation calculated for a reasonable biological reference point and the observed and apparently stable removal of approximately 50% of the available lobster annually. This discrepancy is the central conundrum facing managers.
• A conundrum with this species is the apparent resilience of lobster in the face of high exploitation rates (e.g. around 0.50 in the case of the GOM) and still the landings have tracked abundance for more than 25 years.
• How are the higher exploitation rates sustained, and how much risk is assumed by continuing exploitation at these levels?
• The disparity between calculated exploitation fractions and the calculated SPR-based reference points could be reconciled by understanding whether there is some feature of the lobster population that promotes resilience (spatial stock structure, V-notch program, minimum size limit, oceanographic feature).
• The investment in lobster fishery research is out of balance with the lobster fishery’s value (>$400 M). Thus, we strongly urge substantially increased investment in acquiring stock assessment and biological research to ensure sustainability of this valuable fishery.
• Changes to the [Maine] landings input would change the numbers of lobster landed and their length frequencies which, in turn, would change the abundance, exploitation, biomass, and recruitment estimates from both models. The Panel recommends serious effort be made to resolve this question before the next assessment.
• The Panel recommends that mandatory reporting should be consistently and universally applied across all regions.
• Understanding the source of larvae and recruits and why they are so consistent given the lack of an apparent stock-recruitment relationship would also be useful contributions to resolving the disparity.
• However, the Panel notes these targets are empirically derived and should not be taken to indicate a stock managed for the target levels is in any way at an optimal level, or that such levels can be maintained indefinitely.
• The Panel strongly recommends ventless trap surveys be continued to obtain good abundance indices of the inshore areas where the fishery primarily occurs. Additionally, the Panel believes it will be helpful to include information on the stock status of the adjoining Canadian stock in future analyses and presentations.
• While growth and mortality are key factors influencing population dynamics, recruitment often is the driver behind population resilience. The lobster stock assessment models define recruitment as entry into the fishery and thus bypass the early life stages. Nevertheless, we think research into larval mortality and distributions should be carried out. In particular, the biophysical coupled modeling approach (Xue et al. 2008) that simulates the patterns of egg production, temperature dependent larval growth, stage-explicit vertical distributions of larvae, and mortality in a realistically simulated physical environment should be extended to other areas to understand recruitment sources for the U.S. lobster stocks.
Research and Data Needs:
1. Initiate regional federal investment for long term funding of monitoring and research programs
2. Initiate regional biophysical modeling work
a. Similar to NOAA funded GOM work, Lew Incze PI
b. Determine larval source/sink
c. Determine stock connectivity
d. Ecological/environmental forcing
e. Connectivity and importance of US/CA border
3. Initiate US/CA border assessment
a. Data synthesis exercise (indicators)
b. Make recommendations on needs for quantitative assessment
4. Recommend continued funding on growth and ageing work
a. Sensitivity analysis within assessment model
b. Bio-chemical ageing work on brain chemistry
5. Investigate mechanism for exploitation stability
a. V-notch, oversize, spatial refuge, stock recruitment relationship
d. Take Reduction Team Update
Erin Summers gave the Lobster Advisory Council and update on the Large Whale Take Reduction Team meeting that was held in April:
o NMFS unveiled their timeline for the vertical line risk reduction measures. They plan to have a draft rule by spring of 2013 with the final rule in place by spring 2014.
o Industrial economics presented the model they are building for NMFS. It takes state and federal data on gear to overlay with whale data so we can concentrate on more area specific measures this time around. DMR supported that method and has provided data to the model.
o Data issues were discussed as well as how we might be able to fix them with little money. This included looking at current harvester and dealer reporting logbooks, VTR data, etc.
o Three proposals were brought forth. The two proposals that included large trap reductions were not supported. The team put more emphasis on line/rope reductions. The other proposal turned into an idea to open an area that is currently closed in the Great South Channel to test ropeless fishing technologies.
o NMFS will come back to the team with a monitoring plan.
o Breakaways from around Cape Cod were standardized to 600 lbs (they had different requirements during different times of the year before).
Erin said the Maine Marine Patrol was given kudos for their continued work and the pilot program they are beginning this summer to evaluate compliance rates and the TRT also discussed expanded gear marking which was largely supported and will be further investigated by NMFS. This was just a sub-group meeting; the whole team meeting will be next spring.
4. Reports and Updates
a. DMR Updates
o Legislative Update
Deputy Commissioner David Etnier told the Lobster Advisory Council that the State budget had passed and it does include a 15% license fee increase; this increase will go to the State’s general fund and not directly to the DMR. The budget also includes 10 shutdown days per year but no layoffs for the Department of Marine Resources.
David also reported that LD 1009, "An Act to Allow Lobster License Exemptions to Fishermen with Certain Medical Criteria," passed with language being added that the condition of MS during certain years and the bill has a sunset clause. LD 1128, "An Act to Allow Family Members of an Island Community to Share a Lobster and Crab Fishing License," did not pass. David thanked council members and fishermen who came to the Marine Resource Committee to testify during this session.
George said that the consolidation issue is not going to happen this year but it will be back; we have been asked to look at efficiencies and come up with 30 million in savings. Patrice stated the Department of Marine Resources does good work with the MRC and needs to be thanked for their efforts.
o Patrol Update
Col. Joe Fessenden reported that the Maine Marine Patrol was in the process of educating lobstermen about sink line compliance. Marine patrol officers are seeing compliance, but some lobstermen are concerned they put in the effort to switch over while other lobstermen have not. We will be turning boats around who are not in compliance.
Fessenden also reported that new trap tags must be on every trap by the June 1 deadline; our Licensing Division is caught up and the tag company is up to date and doing a much better job this year. He noted that the DMR had received several complaints concerning problems with tags not snapping; the Department will replace these faulty tags for free.
o MSC Update
Commissioner Lapointe said the Maine Stewardship Council will be issuing a preliminary report within the next couple of months.
o Rulemaking
David Etnier said in your packets you have some proposed rule-making on Chapter 55.90 Menhaden Pilot Program – this is a proposed pilot project that would limit the take and possession of Atlantic menhaden in three areas in Southern Maine. We are also working on proposed rule-making in regards to dragged crab as bycatch; effective in May commercial fishing license holders are allowed to take crab bycatch from otter trawls when fishing outside of the three-mile line and without holding a lobster and crab license.
Deirdre Gilbert told the Lobster Advisory Council that about a year ago she had given them the run down on how the Lobster Seed Fund works and they had voted to limit the amount of money spent to purchase seed lobster. She told the LAC they needed to vote to allocate there seed fund money so Cathy Fetterman could start the process with the pound owners.
MOTION: (G. Cushman and J. Carter) To spend $25,000 for seed lobster. Unanimous
David Etnier said in your packets you will find a copy of an email dated May 27th; the DMR received this e-mailed letter signed by 13 lobster dealers urging the department to require lobstermen to sell their catch only to licensed lobster dealers and I was asked to distribute this email at this meeting.
5. Set Next Meeting Date and Agenda
The date for the next Lobster Advisory Council meeting will be July 1st at 4:00 pm
