Maine Lobster Zone F Council Meeting Minutes, February 3, 2005

Lobster Zone F Council Meeting
Yarmouth Town Hall – Community Room
February 3, 2005 – 7:00 p.m.

Call to Order

Lyman Kennedy called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm.

Council Members Present: Lyman Kennedy, Gary Hawkes, David Johnson, Elliott Thomas, Don Ulrickson, Shawn O’Reilly, Frank Strout, Jason Hillman, James Doughty, Raymond Gilliam and Rep. Leila Percy.

Council Members Absent: Richard Yenco, William Allen and Gareth Anderson.

Others Members Present: Commissioner George Lapointe, Terry Stockwell, Sgt. Jon Cornish, MPO Scott Couture, Carl Wilson, Jim Nickerson, James Buxton, Jim Merryman, Ron Lapointe, Paul Hickey, John “Ted” Bear, Paul Fischer, Tim Harkins, George Stover, Jon Munsey, Wes Willink, Andrew Ulrickson, Adam Ulrickson, Harold Stewart, Frank Soule, Scott Legge, Rep. David Webster, Greg Turner, Timmy Pettis, Bill Doane, Willis Spear, Jr., Scott Kittredge, George Olsen, Mike Kimball and Josh Kimball.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the October meeting were approved as written.

Council Meeting Attendance

The fact that Bill Allen has been absent for 4 meeting in a row was discussed. The bylaws state that ”A council member who misses 3 consecutive meetings without notifying an officer, other Council Member, or DMR of the intended absence from a meeting may be removed from the Council by majority vote of the Council.” A motion was made and seconded for removal. The results were 4 votes for, 1 against, and 5 abstaining. Terry Stockwell will send a certified letter to Bill Allen requesting that he either attend the next meeting or resign.

Reports and Updates

Lobster Advisory Council Update:

The update was provided by Frank Strout.

Lobster Promotion Council - The Promotion Council has entered an agreement with Shipyard Brewing for a joint advertisement. Shipyard will be paying for it.

License Plate Fund - The license plate fund is now over $300,000. An RFP has been sent out for a water quality study.

Marine Safety Council - A safety course is being considered, and whether it will be mandatory or voluntary has not yet been determined. The Council would like to make it mandatory at some level, such as a requirement for the apprentice program.

Effort Reduction -The Council held a discussion on effort reduction.

DMR Budget - There is a $780,000 reduction in the DMR budget from the General Fund.

Bay Management - Bay Management meetings are scheduled along the coast. A meeting will be held in Portland on February 8, 2005.

The next LAC meeting is scheduled for February 16, 2005.

DMR Update:

Rulemaking - Swans Island fishermen will receive their 10% replacement tags up front.

Exit Ratios - Zone G is proposing to go from 3:1 to 5:1. Zone A is considering both a 1:1 and a 3:1 exit ratio.

Whale DEIS - Still waiting, but expected to be released before the Fishermen’s Forum. There is a session scheduled for Friday afternoon to present it.

DAM - A third DAM has been proposed for the Downeast area.

Buy-Back - Discussions are ongoing and funding is being sought for a float rope buy-back program.

New Entry - 42 did not renew and 13 new entrants have been notified.

Exit Ratio Discussion

A brief discussion was held concerning changing the Zone F exit ratio - do we want to go to 5:1? This discussion was tabled to the next meeting when the Council will develop questions for the questionnaire.

Wet Storage

The Marine Patrol will be putting wire ties on traps thought to be in wet storage. They will revisit the traps after 30 days, and will prosecute if the traps have not been hauled. They are responding to calls about wet storage. Gear that looks like it has been lost will not be prosecuted. If fishermen have a problem getting to their gear, they should call their local MPO.

It was suggested that if gear is taken by the Marine Patrol, the fisherman should be notified as to where the gear was located.

New Business

Legislative Update:

The list of upcoming bills was presented, and Representative Percy requested that the members contact their representatives and senators regarding the waterfront bond issues and amendments.

Dredging:

The Proprietors of Union Wharf want to put the dredge spoils from their dredging project in the Rockland disposal area as this would save them a considerable sum of money in testing costs. A Public Hearing was held on February 2, 2005 in Rockland, and the local fishermen were not in favor of this.

Zone Council Bylaws:

A brief discussion was held on the new bylaws and a motion was made by Frank Strout and seconded by David Johnson to accept the new bylaws. The motion passed unanimously.

Effort Reduction

Commissioner Lapointe introduced the topic and led a lengthy discussion. There was a discussion of the background information sheet presented to all those in attendance. Basically, there are too many traps in the water. The DMR estimates that 2/3 of the tags bought are actively fished. Suggestions were sought from those in attendance as to how the number of traps should be reduced. Those who had to reduce to 800 traps wanted to be assured that they would not be the only ones to take a hit. The Commissioner stated that any reduction would be across the board and would affect all lobster fishermen, if a reduction occurred. Some asked what would trigger an effort reduction, and we were told that a trigger point had not been determined.

Among the topics discussed were a two-tiered license system, a freeze on tags, a control date, having student licenses count in filling the exit ratio, having the student license holders get on the waiting list, and freezing licenses. Commissioner Lapointe asked for any input to be sent to the DMR and said that a session would be held at the Fishermen’s Forum to further discuss the topic and seek input. Additional discussions are to be held at the next LAC.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 p.m.

DEPT. OF MARINE RESOURCES

Maine Lobster Zone F Council Meeting Minutes, February 3, 2005