After a year of good harvests and prices, the lobster season is winding down to reductions in both. Over the last few years, for as many reasons as there were incidents, trap cutting is back in the news. Many inside observers attribute the source and significance to a range of complex issues lobster fishermen will be addressing within traditional and official means. Joel Woods photo
Zone B Trap War
Cease Fire Talks At Council
by Laurie Schreiber
BAR HARBOR—The double-tagging system has resulted in too many Zone C lobstermen fishing their traps in Zone B, the Zone B Lobster Council said at their Dec. 15 meeting.
The council endorsed state legislator Brian Hubbell’s efforts to address the situation through legislative action.
“We’ve talked about this for nine years,” said Zone B Council chairman David Horner.
The problem stems from Zone C’s unrestricted licensing, the council agreed. “It was predicted that would cause a lot of trouble,” Horner said.
When the double-tagging system was implemented after the zone management system was put in place, council members said, it made sense as a way to allow fishermen from each zone to continue to fish in traditional waters. But as Zone C continued to welcome new fishermen, double-tagging just meant that Zone B was getting increasing numbers of traps, they said.
Double tagging, said Horner, “should probably have been phased out over a period of years or should have had a sunset clause, or licenses issued after that point should not have been guaranteed
