Lobsterman fear bait shortage with herring quota cut

At the height of the season, Brooklin lobsterman David Tarr spends $600 to $800 a day to bait his traps with herring, pogies or redfish. While some Maine lobstermen swear by herring, Tarr is willing to play the field based on price and availability. Unlike most of his peers, Tarr also has the luxury of a personal bait cooler, which allows him to buy bait when the price is right, salt it himself and store up to 200 barrels of it away — $40,000 of bait, enough for a half-season of fishing — for use during tough times. On Wednesday, one day after the New England Fisheries Management Council voted to recommend slashing the yearly herring quota by 80 percent, Tarr figures tough times are coming. “At a certain point, it is just not worth it,” Tarr said. “I won’t go fishing just to pay for my bait.”>click to read<14:03

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.