Maine Lobster Zone F Council Meeting Minutes
Lobster Zone F Council Meeting
Yarmouth Town Hall – Community Room
October 8, 2008 – 7:00 p.m.
Present: Jeff Putnam, Tom Bennett, Gregg Whitton, Glenn Rogers,Jeff Adams, Gary Hawkes, Don Ulrickson, Eric Anderson, David Merryman Ted Bear, Herman Coombs, Bill Doane, John Jordan, Andrew Ulrickson, Jodie Jordan, Chuck Rommel, Dan Train, Brent Nappi, Lynda Doughty, Sarah Cotnoir, Sgt. Paul Joyce, Lt. Jon Cornish, Rep. John McDonough, And Rep. Leila Jane Percy
Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 7:10 pm.
Election of Officers
Jeff Putnam was elected as Chairman; Eric Anderson shall remain as Secretary. Vice Chair is still Jeff Adams.
Motion: (D. Merryman) To accept. (Unanimous in favor).
Reports and Updates
Jeff Putnam opened the meeting with a discussion on the price emergency. Sarah discussed what she had heard on the state level. A tie-up was discussed as an option. Ted Bear stated that if we call it a strike we can be implicated in price fixing. Some ideas suggested were certain days off. A member of the audience was concerned with consistency in price changes from dealers and suggested marketing out of state. Jim Merryman questioned if the promotional council was working on this. There was a good deal of discussion on markets and the demand issues. Brent Nappi suggested that harvesters work with dealers in a way that they supply what dealers could move, and dealers work harder on promotions. In the end there was no clear conclusion.
LAC update by Jeff Putnam:
• There will be no ability to preorder replacement tags. You will have to work with your Marine Patrol Officer.
• New stricter penalties were reviewed; generally all fines will be expanded by five times.
• Owner/Operator laws will also be revised.
• LAC voted down the suggested tag freeze and stated that they were still working on the issue.
DMR update by Sarah Cotnoir:
• The broad diameter area will be implemented until the 2009 sink rope rules go into effect.
• Gave the dates that herring could be landed for the remainder of the year.
• 5:1 exit ratios were in effect.
• Currently Zone C has a closed zone.
• An island exclusive zone is also in the works.
District Representatives
No updates were reported.
Marine Patrol Report
No updates were reported.
Business
By-Laws – Jeff Putnam and Jeff Adams signed the changes made on the by-laws.
M.S.C. Certification
Jeff Putnam updated the board on the M.S.C. Certification process. At this point it seems to be moving forward. The website is, www.mscforme.org, this is where the pre-assessment can be viewed. There was some discussion on this issue. Some on the council were for and some were opposed to the M.S.C. Certification. David Merryman was concerned about facing extra regulations as a result of the process.
F and G Buffer Zone
Sarah updated the board on proposed changes to the buffer zone. It is now proposed that the buffer zone be extended to include the western Gulf of Maine closed area. There was some discussion on this proposal.
Motion: (D. Merryman, second G. Hawkes)To ask Zone G to accept this suggestion. (11 in favor, 1 opposed).
New Business
Sarah said that there are proposed new federal lobster dealer reporting requirements.
The next meeting will be on December 4, 2008 at 7:00 pm.
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned.
