AUGUSTA, Maine — April 18, 2013 –Though a similar proposal was roundly rejected in 2007, a bill that would allow lobsters caught in drag nets to be kept and sold in Maine is back before the Legislature.
Like the last time around, there is strong opposition from Maine lobster fishermen against the bill. Unlike 2007, however, the Maine Department of Marine Resources supports the proposal.
The bill, LD 1097, has been submitted by Sen. Anne Haskell of Portland with the aim of letting groundfishermen keep lobsters that they drag up in their nets as bycatch. State law now forbids the practice, which Maine groundfishermen say puts the state at an economic disadvantage compared with Massachusetts, where the practice is legal.
Many Maine groundfishermen take their catch to Gloucester, Mass., so they don’t have to throw lobsters that come up in their nets back into the sea.
Maine lobstermen have spoken out against the proposal, saying it will undermine decades of lobster conservation measures that have helped boost the Gulf of Maine lobster population. Unlike many other commercial fisheries, landings of lobster have increased steadily and dramatically since the early 1990s, with Maine lobstermen cumulatively catching 126 million pounds and earning $339 million (both record amounts) in 2012.
The Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee held a public hearing on Haskell’s latest proposal on April 8. A public work session on the bill, at which members of the committee will discuss the merits of the measure and solicit information from others in attendance, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, April 22.
Read the full story from the Bangor Daily News