June 7, 2015 — Fishermen and dealers of Maine’s valuable sea urchins are approaching a state plan to track the fishery through swipe cards with the same caution they exercise around the spiny animals.
State regulators want to create a swipe card system to record transactions in which fishermen sell urchins to dealers. The cards would help more efficiently gather data about the fishery and could eventually help give fishermen more flexibility about when they fish, said Maggie Hunter, a biologist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
Fishermen typically dive to harvest Maine’s urchins by hand or take them with gear dragged by boats. They are harvested for their roe, which is especially popular in Japan and stateside Japanese restaurants, where it’s called uni and appears in sushi, sashimi and other dishes. Maine urchins, which dealers said have a flavor that is appealing to the Japanese market, is by far the most valuable urchin fishery in the U.S. by price per pound at the dock.
Joe Leask, a diver on the Maine coast who is also chairman of the Maine Sea Urchin Zone Council advisory board, said he’s not sure the swipe card system is necessary. Urchin fishermen already keep log books and are subject to a highly regulated fishing season as it is, Leask said.
“What is the goal of the swipe card? If it’s accountability, the system’s already in place,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s a tool that’s needed right now.”
Read the full story from The Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald