Lobster Zone C Council Meeting
Deer Isle Stonington High School
August 18, 2008 – 6:00 p.m.

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chair Hilton Turner.

Vote to accept minutes from the January 28, 2008 minutes were approved by the council.

LAC update:

Trap reduction discussed – no real decision – send out survey and go back to zone councils.

Carl Wilson presented results of Lobster Effort Questionnaire – Survey results seem to be in favor of reducing effort but no clear way of how to do it. Trap reduction is an option but older fishermen with less than 800 traps are the only ones for it. Many responded to the questionnaire to be geared toward a trap reduction but no one in the audience is for it. Sarah Cotnoir said the State has been hearing that there is support for effort reduction. The council agrees that trap reduction is not wanted but effort reduction is.

Gerry Cushman a Zone D council member says that Zone D voted to freeze the number of trap tags until they see what is going on with future issues. He said we should be very concerned with the whale issue; there is a lot of money behind it. They want to reduce endlines, which means traps dramatically and are much more worried about whales than lobstermen’s income in Maine.

Closing Zone C is brought up again because there is still interest, but due to lack of council members and previous notice it was not voted on. There still seems to be a split between island and mainland districts. The question came up; should there be a separate Island Zone? Discussing the issue of closing zone will be done at the next meeting.

DMR Updates:

Lobster certification MSC could be a big benefit for the industry if it goes well or could be a nightmare. Informational meetings set up in the future.

There was an idea of tiered licenses, 800 or 400 licenses to reduce effort and get a better idea of number of traps actually in the water.

There was discussion on the apprentice program to make it 5 years instead of 2 years; move to the next meeting.

Double tagging was discussed; other zones have double tagging when fishing bottom overlaps. Not a big concern for Zone C; motion to table this discussion.

There was discussion on freezing number of trap tags; moved to the next meeting.

Whales:

Sliver zone ideas were rejected, low profile rope is not okay in the sliver zone; only sink line. The new and biggest concern is reducing the number of endlines. The previous problems with floating rope were the tip of the iceberg.

Seed Fund:

Mike Sherman made a motion to put 100% of seed fund in to sea-sampling. Frank Gotwals seconded. Vote – unanimous in favor.

Next meeting set for September 18, 2008