Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne
Issue: Community concerns and opportunities
Program Topic: Scallops—Trying to Sustain the Fishery
Key Discussion Points:
a) Share a profile of scallops as much sought after public fisheries resource… their biology, habitat requirements, two methods of catching (dragging and diving), and anything else that distinguishes scallops when compared to other fish, and a sense of the overall market and the value of the scallop fishery in Maine
b) On the broadest scale, how do we “manage” marine fish, including scallops, trying to make sure that we have these public resources into the future?
c) What is different in how we manage lobster fishing, including those conservation measures that fishermen supported long ago and are part of current management?
d) Despite our best attempts to manage fisheries along these lines, what is our track record, including with ground fish, sea urchins, lobster and scallops?
e) How have we managed the scallop fishery in the past, bringing us forward to last year? Include role of Department of Marine Resources, and Scallop Advisory Council?
f) What triggered the desire by the Department of Marine Resources to try new methods of managing the scallop fishery, and how did you work with them to gain input from fishermen?
g) What is new and different about how Maine is managing scallops this coming season, beginning December 2nd? What are results are you hoping for?
h) Dana Morse describes briefly the pilot efforts to grow scallops in cages, as a kind of aquaculture? What are the challenges to be overcome, what would be some of the potential benefits to scallop aquaculture and who might benefit?
i) Hopes for managing the scallop fishery for the long haul
Guests:
A) Dr. Carla Guenther, Penobscot East Resource Center
B) Trisha DeGraff, Resource Management Coordinator, Department of Marine Resources
C) Andy Mays, Scallop Diver, Southwest Harbor,
D) Dr. Erin F. Owen, Husson University
E) Dana Morse, University of Maine Sea Grant