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The clock is ticking and time is running out for the industry to come up
with recommendations for a new Lobster Management Plan. The deadline is July
1992, and the Lobster Industry Working Group on Consensus Recommendations for
Lobster Management is working hard to beat the clock. If they don't agree on an
alternative management plan by next summer, gauge increases in the minimum legal
size of lobsters will continue.
The Working Group was formed to analyze the complex interactions between the
biological attributes of the resource and the activities of the fishery, in order
to make recommendations that will satisfy both the concerns of the biologists and
the industry.
On one side are the biologists who focus on the physical yield in numbers and
sizes of lobsters that can be taken from the resource. On the other side is the
industry who is primarily concerned with the economic yield from the fishery,
including catch rates, costs, prices, profits, and competitive pressures. Because
they feel they are at a competitive disadvantage in the world lobster market with
an increased minumum size, most of the industry wants to delay the scheduled
increases in the gauge.
Fishing Mortality Rates vs. Age at Entry
An important question the working group is addressing is which of these (F or
age at entry) should be controlled, and what impact this would have on the
economic yield from the fishery. Does a larger average size composition in the
stock have the same biological impact (produces more eggs) as a larger age at
entry? Can this be achieved through controlling fishing mortality? Can biological
goals be attained through control over fishing mortality instead of age at
entry?
According to Dick Allen, Vice President of the Atlantic Offshore Fishermen's
Association and member of the New England Fishery Management Council, "The
traditional approach to increasing the yield per recruit, or weight of each
lobster landed, has been to increase the legal minimum size. This also provides
whatever reproductive benefits that might result. An alternative way to increase
the average size at which lobsters are landed is to reduce the fishing mortality
rate. In other words, take a few less lobsters out of the water each year, so
that those that are left behind can grow and reproduce, which will result in more
weight in future years, a broader range of market sizes in the catch (at both the
large and the small ends), and possibly more baby lobsters."
Fishing mortality can be controlled in a number of ways including closed
areas, seasons, and times; uniform or individual trap limits; catch or individual
transferable quotas (ITQs); limiting fishing effort; and protection of shorts,
eggers, V-notch, oversize, female culls, and softs. After the Working Group
discussed the various options, Allen stated, "It seemed clear that no one method
of controlling fishing effort would receive the support necessary to be
implemented throughout the fishery, at least in the near future."
Who Should Manage the Resource
Working Group members also agreed that: inshore fishermen have the primary
control over the inshore fishery, including the area beyond three miles in which
they fish; the inshore, day boat fishery is generally distinct from the
offshore, trip boat fishery, although there is some overlap; and the inshore, day
boat fishery (extending from the territorial sea out to some boundary that best
reflects the natural distinction between the inshore and offshore fishery) should
be managed on a multi-zone basis, with management measures determined by the
parties with an interest in that area.
Spiny Lobster Fishery Provides Model
The researchers held three series of workshops, each drawing 400 to 600
commercial and recreational fishermen, and other interested members of the
community. The first series of workshops discussed whether there was a problem in
the fishery and presented information about limited entry; in the second,
participants ranked the possible alternatives to solve the problem, and discussed
their effects; and the third summed up the effects of the options.
The outcome of the third series of workshops was a recommendation to go with
a transferable trap certificate system. This option allows new entrants to buy
into the fishery, and recognizes individual levels of effort and participation in
the fishery.
Maine Lobster Promotion Council Set to Go
A year and a half ago, the Lobster Institute helped the industry form a
steering committee of harvesters, pound owners, and dealers to develop a plan for
an effective lobster promotion effort. These efforts resulted in the state
Legislature establishing the Maine Lobster Promotion Council in June.
The main purpose of the Council is to increase the demand and sales for Maine
lobster. The promotion effort will involve expanding existing markets, developing
new domestic and foreign markets, advertising in food trade magazines, developing
and maintaining a high-quality trade show presence, educating consumers and
seafood buyers through the media, and developing new uses for Maine lobster.
The nine-member Promotion Council has one licensed lobster fisherman, one
licensed dealer or pound owner, and one public member from each of the three
districts along the coast. From the western region, Council members are
lobsterman Greg Griffin, Cape Elizabeth; dealer Mickey Varian, Sebasco Wharf,
Inc.; and public member Bill Neff, former executive with Hannaford Brothers Co.
and participant in the "Certified Fresh Maine Fish" program. In the midcoast
region, William Ropes of South Bristol is the lobsterman, Ed Black of Edward L.
Black Seafood is the dealer, and Susan White of the University of Maine is the
public member. Lobsterman Bill Anderson of Lubec, dealer Richard Carver, and
journalist Richard Dudman represent the eastern region.
The Council will be funded in the first two years by surcharges on harvester,
dealer, and transport licenses. One of the major tasks facing the Council will be
to present a proposed marketing plan and two-year budget to the Legislature by
Feb. 15.
Exotic Maine Lobsters at Home in Japan
Shinagawa, Japan, a borough of Tokyo, has been the sister city of Portland,
Maine for the last seven years. When the Shinagawans were designing their new
aquarium which opened in October, they wanted an exhibit to represent the people
of Portland and the state of Maine. Mark Green, Assistant City Manager of
Portland, contacted Jeff Sandler of the Mr. and Mrs. Fish Marine Education
Program at Southern Maine Technical College to see if he had any ideas.
Sandler states, "I thought lobsters would be good to represent the state, but
I knew the Japanese wouldn't think normal lobsters were very special. Then I
thought of Sam Chapman at the Darling Marine Center."
For the past five years, Chapman has been raising and breeding blue and other
rare-colored lobsters to be used in University research. Chapman chose six of his
most colorful lobsters - four bright blue, one two-tone blue, and a bright
orange - to send to the Japanese aquarium. He also sent instructions specifying the
kind of environment the lobsters needed, as well as food requirements and general
care.
When Sandler was in Japan this fall, he went to Shinagawa to visit the
aquarium and see the Maine lobster exhibit. In a large tank with pebbles covering
the bottom, there were two of Chapman's lobsters, the multi-colored blue and the
bright orange, with several normal lobsters added for comparison. The Japanese
explained that the other four blue lobsters were being used in experiments with
different environments.
With the Japanese anxiously awaiting his response, Sandler exclaimed
enthusiastically that the lobsters looked healthy and happy, and seemed to be
enjoying their new home.
UM Spearheads Lobster Market Study "from Soup to Nuts"
January 1992 marks the beginning of a two-year study which promises to be
the most comprehensive economic study of the American lobster industry ever
conducted. Researchers from the Universities of Maine (UM), New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, in conjunction with the lobster industry, will
analyze the industry from harvesting to final consumer. So far, $300,000 has been
appropriated to cover the first year of the study. While the U.S. is conducting
their study, universities and lobster industry members in the Canadian Atlantic
provinces and Quebec may be conducting a parallel study.
According to Jim Wilson, economist at UM and coordinator for the project,
"The real (inflation-corrected) price of lobster has been declining steadily,
highly volatile seasonal price and supply fluctuations have begun to occur,
previously secure white tablecloth restaurant markets have been eroded by the
sophisticated marketing of competing up-scale seafood products, and severe bad
debt problems have weakened the traditional distribution system." At the same
time, changes in resource management in the U.S. have altered the size
distribution of the U.S. lobster catch which has affected the market position of
the industry and upset the traditional trade and distribution system with
Canada.
The market study is an outgrowth of a series of meetings and conferences
organized by the Lobster Institute to address the question of how to place the
industry in a more competitive position in the seafood sector of the nation's
economy. Information obtained in the project could help develop more effective
marketing strategies for lobster and better techniques for preserving lobster
stocks.
Many of the issues facing the industry are concerned with the timing or
seasonality of both supply and demand. Until recently, the lobster industry in
Canada and the U.S. had developed a system of regulated seasonal landings,
pounding, cross-border trading, and product distribution systems that supplied
the final market on a relatively reliable basis year-round. However, the lobster
market has become increasingly unstable and unpredictable.
Researchers will analyze the three major sectors of the industry - fishery,
marketing/distribution, and consumer - to develop a large-scale, composite model
for the fishery. One of the major concerns the industry would like to see
answered in this study is how resource management decisions affect the final
market.
Many detailed regional models will also be developed which are designed to
stand alone and link with the larger composite model. These specialized models
include: the New England harvesting sector; the harvesting sector that supplies
the live product market in the Maritimes; the harvesting sector that supplies the
market for canned and frozen product in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; the process of
live inventorying (pounding) of product; financial payment mechanisms;
distribution, wholesaling, and transportation; and final product markets.
As Wilson states, "The final result of the research effort will be
information the industry can use to develop and implement a marketing and
promotion effort."
The two major factors determining the potential physical yield from the
fishery are fishing mortality rates (F) and age at entry (age of a lobster
entering the fishery). Fishing mortality rate is a number that describes the
proportion of the population that is harvested each year, and conversely, the
proportion of the population that is left in the water.
At the heart of the management plan is the issue of who should manage the
resource and whether management should be on a district-by-district basis (by
creating different management zones) or uniform throughout the range of the
species. The Working Group agreed that a multi-zone lobster management approach
is preferable to one that insists all management measures be uniform throughout
the range. However, several management measures (escape panels, vents, etc.)
could apply throughout the range.
In developing a lobster management plan for the New England region, the Working
Group is looking at models from other areas of the country. One is the Florida
spiny lobster fishery model developed by Michael Orbach and Jeffrey Johnson of
the Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology at East Carolina University in
Greenville, North Carolina. Orbach and Johnson worked with the industry to design
a "limited entry" management system for the spiny lobster fishery in the Florida
Keys. According to the article "Social Scientists Examine Fishermen's
Lives," written by Madeleine Hall-Arber in the November issue of Commercial
Fisheries News," social scientists listen to a whole range of opinions and ideas
about an issue, learning as much as they can through participation, observation,
surveys, and interviews." Hall-Arber, an anthropologist and marine advisor with
the Sea Grant Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, goes on to say
that Orbach and Johnson relied heavily on the participation and help of fishermen
and other industry representatives in their work.
With their tidal-circulating pound near completion, the Swans
Island Lobster Co-op asked for some advice on how to operate it. Richard Carver
and Herb Hodgkins of the Maine Lobster Pound Association (MLPA), University of
Maine researcher Bob Bayer, and David Dow of the Lobster Institute held a seminar
on the Island in mid-October to share their expertise.