Photo courtesy of Abe Philbrook
The fact that the quota for Atlantic herring took a sharp and painful drop this year has set Maine lobstermen on edge. Herring is still the preferred bait for many and the absence of 77 million pounds of the fish will affect lobstermen up and down the coast. Yet many of Maine’s fishing cooperatives and companies are looking at the situation pragmatically.
“We invested in getting quite a lot of frozen herring in now,” explained
Kenny Lemoine, president of the Swan’s Island Fishermen’s Co-op. “We
bought it in trailer loads and keep it in freezers in New Brunswick.”
Lemoine said that over time the Co-op’s 34 members have moved from using
mostly herring to less than 30% herring. Buying Canadian herring and
storing it in New Brunswick until needed works well because the Co-op
sells its lobsters to New Brunswick dealers. “They come down here after
the lobsters and they bring herring. So they are coming here already,”
Lemoine said. Including menhaden, known as pogies, in the bait supply
will be key to making sure all the Co-op’s lobstermen have sufficient
bait, Lemoine added. “Fresh pogies and the stockpile will get us
through,” he said.
Allen Daggett of Cape Porpoise Lobster is also
facing this season calmly. “Most of my guys switched from herring last
year. I sell a lot of hard bait,” he said. Lobstermen who buy bait from
him use flatfish racks, such as haddock and monkfish, as well as skates,
for their bait in addition to pogies. Most of those come from out of
state. “The flatfish and mixed fish racks originally come from Maine but
go to New York to be filleted and then come back as racks. I had 100
drums of flatfish in the cooler this morning and now they’re gone,”
Daggett said. He views the furor over the herring quota cut with a
certain degree of perspective. “I’ve been doing this for 45 years,”
Daggett said. “Forty years ago it was all redfish racks. Then everyone
was into herring. Now they are getting away from herring and the redfish
are coming back.”
Patrick Sault, Vinalhaven Fishermen’s Co-op
manager, isn’t too worried by the looming scarcity of herring. “It won’t
be much different than last year. We do a lot of frozen bait. Of
course, we are also looking for alternative baits,” he said. Co-op
members use frozen rockfish, red head, tuna heads, and pig hide as their
baits. “Right now the red heads are popular. We’ll also use locally
caught fresh pogies or frozen later on,” Sault said. “So yes, I am
concerned but I don’t think there will be much of a change here this
summer.”
The members of the Friendship Fishermen’s Heritage Co-op
see it differently, according to Co-op secretary Gerry Laine. “We use
about 75% fresh or frozen herring. It is going to cost us a lot of
money. Some of these guys spend more than $75,000 a year right now just
to bait up,” he said. Laine, who’s been lobstering for decades, worries
about how the younger Co-op members, those with $500,000 offshore boats
and big monthly payments, are going to get through the season. “I know
the price will double. I’ve got 40 boats here. We can go
through 300 to 400 bushels in a day in the summer,” he said. “Either you
get the bait or you stay home.”
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