Tag Archives: John Drouin
The check is (almost) in the mail
Active lobstermen are being advised to open mail from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in the coming months, because the envelopes that arrive just might contain a check for up to $3,500. Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher told members of the Lobster Advisory Council at their January 18 meeting that the checks—meant to partially offset the expense of gear modifications required by 2021 North Atlantic right whale protections—will be issued by ASMFC and should arrive this spring. “These are checks that will be distributed to a lot of harvesters,” Keliher said. “The Commission will be writing the checks, so make sure you don’t see the envelope and throw it away.” >click to read< 14:21
About 70 frustrated fishermen tell feds at a hearing in Machias that Canada, not Maine, is mostly to blame.
About 70 fishermen came to the first fisheries service public meeting in Maine on the latest round of lobster rule changes being considered to protect the endangered whales. They expressed safety fears and their mounting frustration. The state’s $485 million-a-year lobster industry is facing a federal mandate to lower the number of buoy lines in the Gulf of Maine by 50 percent to protect right whales.,,, >click to read< 12:09
Maine lobster fisherman says U.S. border patrol has been boarding American boats, not just Canadian
U.S. border officials have not been deliberately “harassing” Canadian fishing boats in disputed Atlantic waters — agents have boarded numerous American vessels, too, as part of an unprecedented recent operation, says a prominent Maine lobsterman. John Drouin said his and his two sons’ boats and those of other American fishermen have all been stopped in the past couple of months by U.S. Border Patrol vessels, something he’s rarely seen in 40 years plying the waters. “It baffles me just as much as anybody else,” said Drouin, a member of Maine’s lobster advisory council. “I have no clue why they’re here, spending taxpayers’ money and resources … (But) for whatever reason, they now have a presence.”>click to read<22:32
