May 27, 2013 — Lawmakers are divided over a proposal to remove penalties for Maine-based groundfishing trawlers that catch lobsters in federally regulated waters.
The proposal, L.D. 1549, is designed to ensure that the state's dwindling groundfishing fleet can keep the lobsters that come up in trawl nets and sell them in states that allow such lobsters to be landed.
Critics of the bill fear that it will lead to further loosening of restrictions on sales of incidentally caught lobsters, a practice the lobster industry fiercely opposes because of concerns about its impact on the state's most valuable fishery.
The Legislature's Marine Resources Committee endorsed an amended version of the bill last week, 7-6. The bill would lift the penalty for three years before triggering a legislative review. It could reach the Legislature as soon as this week.
Maine now prohibits sales of lobster bycatch, as does Canada. The state also penalizes commercial vessels licensed in Maine for landing or storing lobsters in Area 3, a federally regulated zone that extends from Maine to the mid-Atlantic states and begins about 40 miles off the Maine coast. The penalty can be as much as $50,000.
Read the full story at the Kennebec Journal