Tag Archives: Walter Kumiega
Walter Kumiega reflects on eight years in the House
Deer Isle carpenter Walter Kumiega represented District 134—Deer Isle, Stonington, Isle au Haut and eight other communities—for eight years in the state legislature before becoming ineligible for re-election under state term limits for legislators.,, With commercial fishing communities “still the most important economic driver in my district,” Kumiega immediately joined the Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources, chairing it for his final three terms. Throughout his tenure, he worked to initiate changes in lobster licensing regulations and sponsored legislation creating the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, funding for which was recently renewed for a second three-year span. >click to read<15:07
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
With lobsters in mind, legislator proposes ban on methoprene and resmethrin
According to a press release from the House Democrats, the two pesticides were found in the tissue of dead lobsters that turned up in Long Island Sound in the 1990s. Read more@bdn 23:01
