Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Commissioner George Lapointe has asked for severe cutbacks in sea urchin landings for the 2003-2004 season. Urchin harvesters heard the grim news at the Urchin Session March 1 at the Fishermen’s Forum in Rockland.
Lapointe is looking for a 50 percent reduction in landings for Zone 1 (West Penobscot Bay to New Hampshire border) and a 30 percent reduction in Zone 2 (Penobscot Bay to Canada).
Urchin landings have fallen since 1993, and have dropped off particularly steeply in the last five years.
The Sea Urchin Zone Council (SUZC) will address the way to reach these numbers at two urchin “summits.” The SUZC then makes recommendations for a season to Commissioner Lapointe.
Because the two zones have such different conditions, the SUZC decided to hold two separate summits. The Zone 1 summit will be March 29 at DMR’s Boothbay Lab, while the Zone 2 Summit is tentatively scheduled for April 5 in Ellsworth.
SUCZ Chair Bill Sutter said that various management tools would be considered at the summits. He urged harvesters to attend.
DMR scientist Margaret Hunter said that the questionnaires sent out to harvesters at the end of 2002 produced several new suggestions for management.
One suggestion was to open Zone 2 to dragging on Dec. 1, the same day as scalloping season opens. There would be five open days a week for urchin draggers into March.
In previous seasons, Zone 2 dragging opened Oct. 1, and urchins were pounded for 2 months before harvesters switched over to scalloping. A season opening Dec. 1 would require that harvesters choose one species or the other.
Another issue is that the stocks in eastern end of Zone 2 are still proving to be strong while the stocks in the western end of the Zone 2 are declining rapidly.
Some Zone 2 harvesters like the idea of creating two sub-zones as long as access within the whole zone is not limited.
Contact Bill Sutter 882-7230 at Margaret Hunter at 633-9541 for summit times and details.