Five of the many lobster boats converted for tuna fishing at Cape St. Mary’s, Digby County, Nova Scotia 1971. To accommodate International Tuna Cup Match sports fishermen, lobstermen added fishing chairs made of pipe and plank to their boats. A few added makeshift flying bridges. Red Boutilier Collection; Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, Maine photo
Maine Scallop Fishery a Balancing Act
by Laurie Schreiber
ELLSWORTH—The status of the state’s scallop resource is still uncertain.
But if the resource is doing better than previous years, fishermen would like to have a chance to harvest them. So the state and the industry worked out a compromise.
Earlier this year, the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) recommended setting a 48-day season in Zones 1 and 2, and 32 days in Zone 3. These recommendations were reductions from the 2013-14 scallop season, which set 70 days for Zones 1 and 2, and 50 days for Zone 3.
In June, the Scallop Advisory Council (SAC) rejected the reduction, and proposed the 2014-15 season have the same number of fishing days as 2013-14.
SAC said the industry preferred that the DMR instead curtail the harvest mid-season, if need be.
