Vol. 13, No. 8 - August 2008      News & Comment for and by the Fishermen of Maine      SUBSCRIBE NOW!!
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Survey Favors Trap Cut
by Laurie Schreiber

Results of the Department of Marine Resources lobster effort questionnaire reveal that lobster fishermen are concerned about the state of the industry and where it's going.

The survey was compiled at the request of the DMR's Lobster Advisory Council. It was sent to the state's 6,832 license holders. More than a third responded, for a return of 2,381 surveys.

"Fishermen thought that something should be done about effort. We've been talking about this for quite some time," said the DMR's Sarah Cotnoir. The results will be discussed by the LAC this week, and then will go to the zones for discussion. For Zone B, that meeting will be on Aug. 12, 6 p.m., at Mount Desert Elementary School in Northeast Harbor. Zone C holds their meeting on Aug. 14 at the Deer Isle/Stonington school. Zone A's meeting will be on Aug. 26, 6 p.m., at Washington Academy in Machias.

Overall, opinion was split on the status of the resource, with 43 percent saying the resource is decreasing and 49 percent who consider it stable. External to the gist of the survey, folks were polled about their ability in the future to fish the resource, given new rope regulations and further restrictions expected in the future, as well as the price and availability of bait. Seventy-eight percent said they were very

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The results of the DMR Lobster effort survey, which was done in March, were released July 15. The data from 35% of Maine lobstermen, shows a common concern for the condition of the resource, a willingness to reduce traps by about 25%, and that the whale issue is considered a serious threat. The data will be presented at zone council meetings in August. The results are likely to effect whatever changes are made. Chessie Johnson photo

Passamaquoddy Power Play
by Mike Crowe

The power so apparent in the waters of the Bay of Fundy is once again being eyed for transformation and transmission. The engineering for this project was unknown when the idea of getting electricity out of the tides was first conceived. Much of the approach that the Ocean Renewable Power Company is now taking in trying to make this happen was not given a thought by those involved in the most known earlier attempt.

The force of the tides in the Bay of Fundy, a part of what makes the Gulf of Maine the unique marine habitat it is, first lured engineers to capture it in the early days of big project electricity generation in the United States.

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Schematic of the original Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project, ca. 1927. Tide would flow in from upper right and be released through turbines into the bay at lower left. The large block above Moose Island was the proposed concrete generating station. The Lubec lock is at lower right. U.S. Government Printing Office