Tag Archives: Blue Hill Bay

Trawl limit in Blue Hill Bay not an end to cross-zone fishing issue

A possible compromise with Zone B lobstermen over the boundary lines of a new five-trap trawl limit occupied a Zone C lobster council meeting October 1, the day the rule went into effect. The trawl limit covers a Zone B that is also fished by Zone C license holders, about six miles off Frenchboro around Mt. Desert Rock. A Zone B-proposed boundary line change would move the trawl-limit area from the west side to the east side of the rock.  Zone B council initiated the trawl limit rule change because they “were getting boxed out by trawls,” Maine Department of Resources Lobster Council Liaison Sarah Cotnoir said,,, >click to read<14:42

Court dismissal ends lobster dealer’s potboiler

A saga involving allegations of skullduggery by a Mount Desert Island lobster dealer on the waters of Blue Hill Bay reached its final chapter last week in Ellsworth. A Superior Court judge dismissed a single charge against Donald Crabtree of failing to keep required records or not reporting all of his lobster purchases. The story began in the summer of 2015 with an investigation by Maine Marine Patrol officers who had heard complaints that Crabtree was buying lobsters on a barge moored outside Seal Cove in Blue Hill Bay but wasn’t filing the required landings reports with the Department of Marine Resources. >click to read< 11:39

Blue Hill Bay Urchin fishermen troubled by trackers

The start of the early season for divers, rakers and trappers to fish for sea urchins is less than a month away. Early this month, harvesters who work in Blue Hill Bay learned that the Department of Marine Resources will be right there with them on their boats, at least figuratively. Early this month, DMR announced that urchin fishing in most of Blue Hill Bay will be banned except for fishermen who agree to carry an electronic GPS tracking device on their boat and keep it turned on and “continuously recording data” as to the boat’s geographic location throughout the entire fishing season. The rule applies to boats that drag for urchins as well as to boats used by divers, trappers or rakers.,,, “It seems totalitarian,” one fisherman said. “The noose seems to be getting tighter every year.” click here to read the story 16:56

Another dead North Atlantic right whale found off Cape Cod

Another dead North Atlantic right whale has been spotted off Massachusetts, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in North America this summer to at least 13. The U.S. Coast Guard documented and reported the latest carcass on Monday, Jennifer Goebel, public affairs officer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Greater Atlantic region, confirmed on Wednesday. This is the third dead North Atlantic right whale discovered in U.S. waters, said Goebel. The news comes just one week after another whale was found floating off Martha’s Vineyard, the Massachusetts island south of Cape Cod. click here to read the story 09:04

Whale experts seek why of minke death – The whale had been found floating dead in Blue Hill Bay on Sunday. click here to read the story