Despite high cost and low selling price the Canadian processors are not buying so much of lobster and new federal rules, aimed at protecting whales, that require a switch to sinking line, which snags on rocks and requires more frequent replacement of rope and traps. Above all the lobstermen who live on Maine’s offshore islands face another problem: how to maintain their numbers in the face of license restrictions that may require as many as five retirements for the issuance of a single new license.
Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, an islander herself, with a district that includes 10 islands, has introduced LD 1231, “An Act to Protect the Long-term Viability of Island Lobster Fishing Communities.” It would exempt islanders from the zone waiting list system if they opted to create their own island waiting lists.
It is said that if the bill passes, and if the Islesford lobstermen vote in favour of new system, they will be exempt from the five-out-one-in rule and can run their own waiting list. Young men and women replace old ones and will continue to enter lobstering as a career. And it assumes that newcomers will satisfy the five-year residence requirement in the bill.
Islesford fishermen don’t like to talk about the plentiful lobsters in the unmarked but well-understood waters where they fish or the best places to set traps. They resist intruders but welcome serious newcomers who want to settle on the island and become part of the close-knit community.
