Matinicus lobstermen say they want to protect their local fishing rights with a restricted zone, but a legislative proposal to put that concept into law has run aground.
The Legislative Council on October 15 rejected a bill submitted by Rep. Chuck Kruger, a Thomaston Democrat whose district includes Matinicus. The council met to decide which bills the State Legislature would consider in the session that starts in January.
Kruger’s bill would have created a “subzone” under state law. It would have defined who is a bona fide islander and eligible to set traps, and set policy whereby currently-licensed Matinicus fishermen would vote on who gets to fish within the subzone.
For generations Maine lobstermen have determined their own “turf,” the waters where they can and can’t set traps. “The system in place is not really based in law,” Kruger acknowledged.
The rejected bill follows the July 20 near-fatal shooting on Matinicus that involved a mainland lobsterman’s right to fish Matinicus waters after he married into an island family and reportedly moved to Matinicus.
Kruger said he had warned Matinicus fishermen that the bill’s chances weren’t good, given that “it only benefits one community.” He said that even if the Legislative Council had allowed the bill into the current session, Legislature, the bill was unlikely to make it past the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources, on which Kruger serves. Kruger acknowledged that he is filing the Matinicus bill “on request,” a term that among legislators indicates that the action is a favor to a constituent.
The next step, he said, may be for Matinicus to participate in a Zone C Lobster Council meeting. The current island representative to that council is Vance Bunker, who recently pleaded innocent to charges he shot and wounded Chris Young on July 20 in the dispute over island fishing rights.
Kruger pointed out that a new law took effect in September: “An Act To Protect the Long-term Viability of Island Lobster Fishing Communities,” sponsored by House Speaker Hannah Pingree, a North Haven Democrat. A rule has not yet been created from this law. But it was designed to help island lobstering. If two-thirds of the island lobstermen vote to join the island limited-entry zone program, a separate island waiting list can be created for new entrants into the fishery. In some lobster zones along the coast, as many as five lobstermen have to retire before a new license can be issued. The island waiting lists would be smaller, which would make it easier to obtain a license, and thus help preserve island lobstering. The law has nothing to do with fishing territory. Island lobstermen have to vote to opt into this system, which would be run by the Department of Marine Resources. Kruger suggested that the bill may help Matinicus, but it’s too early to know.
Meanwhile, Matinicus lobstermen seem to be at odds with the Department of Marine Resources about how to improve policy for Matinicus.
DMR Commissioner George LaPointe made it clear he opposes local control through a subzone: “I do not believe that further legal dissection of Maine’s lobster fishery (I used the term balkanization) is the right thing to do for Maine,” he wrote in a September 18 e-mail sent to Clayton Philbrook, a spokesman for Matinicus lobstermen, and over 25 island residents, legislators and state officials.
At least three other island communities are seeking their own subzones, Lapointe wrote, and there are two existing subzones, Monhegan and Swan’s Island. Subzones come with significant costs to the community and the state, he said.
Lapointe warned that any restrictions on lobstering around Matinicus would have to meet a standard of serving the public interest, not just the interest of islanders.
In order to create a Matinicus subzone that excludes lobstermen other than those on Matinicus, “there would need to be a strongly articulated justification, based on a significant public interest,” Lapointe wrote in the September 18 e-mail.
Lapointe added that the Matinicus proposal codifies the current island system, which has not served island residents, or the state, well. He wrote, “…the idea that internal members of a group would be able to vote on who can, or cannot, get into the group raises significant legal and constitutional issues. It seems to me like institutionalized nepotism or cronyism.”
Philbrook likened the fishermen’s proposal for a subzone to an opening bid, and he would like to see Lapointe negotiate with the group. “We’re trying to come up with a solution. This is what a bunch of us sitting around came up with. Let’s see what will work. We want something good to come out of this,” said Philbrook, a lobsterman and elected assessor for Matinicus plantation, which is not officially incorporated as a town.
Philbrook said the status quo is no longer acceptable. He said he fears more trouble if nothing changes. “As bad as it is, we want something good to come out of this. We want something for our grandchildren to put in their pockets. We want to keep the school open. We want to have a community,” he said.
Philbrook, in an e-mail that Lapointe excerpted in his September18 response, outlined what Matinicus fishermen claim would be a fair system:
“¢Fish traditional grounds around the island, as defined;
“¢Agree on list of current, active fishermen;
“¢Ban those not on active list from setting traps in the zone for one year;
“¢Ban mobile gear except purse seines;
“¢Set minimum residency requirement that fishermen live at least six months on Matinicus.
In addition to six months residency, lobstermen would have to meet at least three of the following seven criteria: receive mail on island; pay vehicle tax on island; pay boat tax on island; pay local property taxes; pay local electrical bill; register to vote on Matinicus; or have a local address on driver’s license.
Active fishermen would use the temporary ban on additional lobstering by others to determine an “acceptable” number, and fishermen would vote on whether to allow others to fish, a two-thirds majority being required for approval. All student/apprentice fishing would have to take place on Matinicus.
Lapointe wrote, “When I came to Matinicus in late July, we discussed what options might exist to make the lobstering situation on the island better. At that meeting, I said that whatever was done, the culture on the island needed to change from the current way of doing business so the island and its residents do not end up in the same situation a few years down the road.”
On July 20, island lobsterman Vance Bunker allegedly pointed a .22 caliber gun at a man he had known for years, 41-year-old Chris Young, and shot him in the neck, reportedly in response to the cutting of traps belonging to Bunker’s son in law, Alan Miller.
On September 17, a Knox County grand jury indicted Bunker on two counts of “elevated aggravated assault” in connection with the alleged shooting, and indicted Young on a charge of “criminal trespass” because he allegedly refused to leave Bunker’s boat. Janan Miller, Bunker’s daughter, has been charged with reckless conduct with a firearm in connection with the confrontation.
Steve Cartwright is a freelance writer living in Waldoboro.