>>Fishermen's Voice Monthly Newspaper, Gouldsboro Maine

Many who make their living from the Atlantic, look forward to the start of fishing season – not just for the opportunity to once again earn money for their families, but also to reconnect with co-workers, sail on familiar waters, and to roll-up their sleeves, get ‘knee-deep’ in effort, and get to work doing what they do best. For them that means doing what is in their blood … fishing. For fishing has been done for generations before them, often by their descendants. The end of the season brings many days off the water, fixing worn gear or building new, hot showers, and hot meals, and a chance to hunker down before it starts back up again – with a vengeance.

The Legislative Session is similar in many ways – it starts off with a slow, steady pace, and we get together as friends and colleagues, committed to doing what is best for the people of our districts and the people of Maine. We work days, weeks, and months, sometimes on one issue, and compromises are struck, deals made, and handshakes exchanged. Then as quickly as it started, it’s over. This year at 3:10 AM Saturday, June 18th, after working straight through Friday, the gavel dropped for the final time and the first session of the 122nd Maine Legislature adjourned ‘sine die’ (without day).

We have returned home and are attempting to catch up on the work that has been forgotten in the heat of session, to rest, to treat ourselves to a few hot showers and hot meals and to keep in touch with those who we represent. Our work is not done even though we are not daily in Augusta.

The work completed during the fishing season is critical to the family – it provides the income to keep them afloat during the off season months; it is their livelihood, their bread and butter. The work done during the legislative session is also critical to the people of Maine. Many of the laws enacted will have a direct impact on our residents, and the manner in which they make their living.

I have had the distinct privilege of serving as the Senate Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources for the past three years, and as the Legislative Session has drawn to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you work of the committee this past session, and the outcome of some of the over thirty bills assigned to the Committee.

On behalf of the Department of Marine Resources, I sponsored LD 373, An Act to Achieve Compliance with the Interstate Lobster Fishery Management Plan. This bill has been signed into law and went into effect on March 18, 2005. This bill was submitted as an emergency and it amended existing language that prevented Maine from enforcing a larger minimum size for lobster than 3 8/32 inches with the exception of the case of contingent action by the Federal Government and other New England states. In addition, it also adds new language that will require individuals who possess both a Maine lobster and crab fishing license and a federal limited access lobster permit to also comply with the largest minimum lobster size for all federal lobster management areas declared on their licenses wherever they are fishing.

With the enactment of LD 602, An Act to Provide for a Limited Sea Cucumber Fishery, we now have a means to license individuals who wish to drag for sea cucumbers. The enactment of this bill, which is now public law 27, requires the Commissioner of Marine Resources to establish by rule a fee of no more than twenty cents for every one hundred pounds to be paid monthly by wholesale seafood license holders who purchase sea cucumbers. The fees that are collected will be deposited in the Sea Cucumber Management Fund to be used to research and manage the sea cucumber fishery. The bill also establishes a limited entry system for sea cucumbers – a drag license may be issued by the Commissioner only if the person possessed a license in the previous year.

LD 576, An Act to Continue the Ban on Dragging in the Taunton River Area continues the ban on traditional dragging in Taunton River Bay but at the same time allows for and encourages fishermen to develop alternative harvesting methods for gathering the mussels there. The Committee recognized the delicate nature of the ecosystem in the bay and tried to balance that with the reality that there are considerable mussel resources there that should be accessed. The challenge will be for harvesters to come up with less intrusive and damaging harvesting methods so that the bay will not be damaged when the mussels are harvested. That challenge is meeting with some objection but I am confident that the age-old adage of, “where there’s a will, there’s a way” will prevail.

The following bills were also enacted and have been signed into law by the governor: LD 373 An Act To Achieve Compliance with the Interstate Lobster Fishery Management Plan; LD 434 An Act To Clarify Maine’s Authority To Enforce Its Marine Resources Laws; LD 527 An Act To Authorize the Commissioner of Marine Resources to Regulate the Use of Alternative Bait in Maine Fisheries; LD 691 An Act To Provide Public Health Protection Authority to the Department of Marine Resources; LD 793 An Act To Reauthorize Funding for the Lobster Promotion Council; LD 836 An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Aquaculture; LD 895 An Act To Expand the Authority of Maine’s Lobster Management Policy Councils; LD 1184 An Act To Adopt the Recommendations of the Soft-shell Clam Advisory Council; LD 1449 An Act To Amend Maine’s Shellfish Laws To Maintain Compliance with Federal Law and Protect Maine’s Shellfish Industry; LD 1510 An Act To Amend the Lobster Fishing Laws of Maine and finally LD 1619 Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of Chapter 2: Aquaculture Lease Regulations – Lighting Standards and Noise Standards, a Major Substantive Rule of the Department of marine Resources.

In closing, if I can ever be of any assistance to you or your family, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at home in Trenton at 667-9629, or in Augusta at 287-1515, or by e-mail at dsdamon@panax.com. I look forward to hearing from you.