Swipe Cards for Urchin Fishery
in the Works

by Laurie Schreiber

ELLSWORTH, ME – Urchin harvesters said they were wary of an automated swipe card system the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) is proposing to aid resource management.

A handful of harvesters showed up for a May 19 hearing about the proposed system.

The proposal would require urchin harvesters and dealers to use a mandatory electronic reporting system, commonly called a swipe card system, to record transactions.

The DMR implemented a swipe card system for the elver fishery in time for the 2014 season.

Urchin harvesters said the system could help better manage the resource. But they urged postponement until they could be sure there would be no kinks in the system. They said they were concerned, for example, that either the card or the swipe system might glitch at the point of sale, leaving them unable to sell their product.

“My concern is not being able to sell the urchins,” said Joe Leask, a Bath harvester and chairman of the DMR’s Urchin Advisory Council. Leask said he favored the concept, but its implementation needed more planning. “It should be simpler and quicker for the DMR to get their information. It should be, over the long haul, more cost-effective. But in the short term, there will be some costs incurred. The DMR is short on staff and funds, and here’s another program to roll out. The logbooks are working right now….We should be in a position where, if it’s not going forward smoothly, it should be suspended until it can be put in smoothly and fairly for everybody.”

DMR Marine Resource Management Coordinator Trisha Cheney and Maine Marine Patrol Officer (MPO) Brent Chasse said the system didn’t experience any problems in the elver fishery. MPOs are empowered to override the system if a breakdown does occur, Cheney said.

“The system has worked well so far and it’s done a lot for the fishery,” MPO Brent Chasse said of the elver fishery. “I want to tell you guys, we’ve been using the swipe card in the elver fishery for a couple of years, and I haven’t received a single issue or complaint from a harvester. In fact I get more positives. As a harvester, it’s as simple as, ‘Here’s my swipe card.’ It’s the buyer who has to swipe it. It’s not like you’ve got to get online, do a lot of computer data entry. It’s simple. It’s smooth. From the DMR’s perspective, it’s real-time data that will hopefully help them manage the resource.”

The initial goal of using the system in the elver fishing was to wipe out illegal harvesting that was prevalent for a couple of years. Illegal harvesting is not an issue in the urchin fishery. The general goal for fisheries is to track harvests in real-time, in order to better manage fisheries, said Cheney.

The electronic system will take the place of the buyer/dealer data stream, said Cheney. Harvesters will continue to enter their data in logbooks. Both sets of information allow managers to cross-check data, she said.

Regarding the status of the resource, Leask said he’s seen an uptick during his time underwater.

“There’s a noticeable increase,” Leask said. “I see a lot more stuff in nickel- to quarter-size class. The litmus test will be how these urchins fare in the next couple of years. They’re there, the spawners are there, and they’re spawning longer….I think our management has done a good job over the years, and has made the best decisions for the majority while still tying to preserve the biomass.”