August 24, 2013 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Scallop fishermen could end up facing the same restrictions for the upcoming scallop season that they did this past winter, according to a proposal released this month by state officials.
Like last year, the Maine Department of Marine Resources is proposing to limit scallop fishing along most of the coast to 70 days and in Cobscook Bay to 44 days. Fishermen still would be limited to catching 10 gallons a day in Cobscook Bay on days they are allowed to fish there and, as they were for most of last winter, to 15 gallons a day everywhere else.
DMR has scheduled three public hearings for the proposed rules for the upcoming season, which would start on Dec. 2 and end in March. The hearings will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at the Lincoln County 911 Communications Center in Wiscasset; on Wednesday, Sept. 4, in the Science Building Lecture Hall, at University of Maine at Machias, and on Thursday, Sept. 5, at the City Hall Auditorium in Ellsworth. All hearings will begin at 6 p.m.
The department will accept public comment on the proposed rules until Sept. 16.
Maine’s coastline is divided into three scallop fishing zones, with Cobscook Bay considered Zone 3. Zone 1 extends from the New Hampshire border to western Penobscot Bay, while Zone 2 covers everything from western Penobscot Bay to the bridge between Lubec and Campobello.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News