The loss of berthing for boats at the Eastport breakwater and an expected influx of scallop draggers have prompted communities around Cobscook Bay to freeze the number of boat moorings, as the mooring fields were becoming overcrowded. This year, the scallop season in western Maine will begin two weeks later than the eastern Maine season, so town officials and fishermen are bracing for more draggers than usual to head Downeast.

Pembroke limits moorings
     Because of the overcrowding of boats last year at the Pembroke boat landing on Hersey Neck, town voters approved a mooring ordinance at their August town meeting. Currently the number of moorings is limited to 17, although the number may be increased next year. For every 10 resident moorings one non-resident mooring will be approved, so two non-residents will have moorings this year.
     Pembroke First Selectman Milan Jamieson says the town pursued the adoption of an ordinance because in previous years there have been 25 to 40 boats "in that little tiny space." He notes, "You can't put a half gallon in a quart. There was no room to get in and out."
     Fishermen sometimes had to wait an hour to get to their boat because others were on the boat ramp. "People living here couldn't get to their boat," he says. He adds, "We didn't know what people were putting in for mooring blocks -- engine blocks to cars." Now mooring blocks have to be inspected by the harbormaster, John Preston. Jamieson was told that boats were even tying up to the channel marker and two to a mooring.
     Much of the original draft ordinance had been changed after recommendations were made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the size of the mooring field and the mapping of the moorings. Tora Johnson, director of the GIS Service Center at the University of Maine at Machias, helped, too, and Judy East, executive director of the Washington County Council of Governments, did much of the work in assisting the town through the process.
     Despite the restrictions, Jamieson says, "If a boat gets in trouble, we won't turn them away. We will try to help them."

Moratorium in Lubec
     The Lubec Harbor Board enacted a 180-day moratorium on any new moorings, which became effective on October 13, to work on changes to its Harbor Ordinance. The board was anticipating overcrowding, after the Maine Department of Marine Resources proposed, and then approved, opening up Cobscook Bay to scalloping two weeks before the western Maine season begins this year. Also, when Pembroke limited the number of moorings it would allow, more fishermen began coming to Lubec to moor their boats.
     Julie Keene, the interim harbormaster, estimates that the town has permitted just over 70 moorings for residents and 46 for non-residents, but she adds that there are more moorings than that. Moorings are located off the public landing and in Globe Cove, along with a few at Bailey's Mistake and Carrying Place Cove.
     Keene notes that there may be room for more moorings, but that's not known at present. "I think the moratorium is just a way for us to catch our breath and slowly process through what to do to tighten our ordinance, find where the moorings are and map them and grid them," she says. "We need to make sure the moorings are all registered, that the moorings are safe and the boats are safe."
     "If we had a breakwater, we wouldn't have so much of a problem," she observes. "We have astronomical tides, extreme currents and no safe harbor to go to if there's a storm." Fishermen previously went to the Eastport breakwater or the Campobello wharves if there was a bad storm. Since 9/11 and the collapse of the Eastport breakwater, neither of those options now exists. Some fishermen have two moorings, so they can keep their boats in Globe Cove or off the town landing, depending on the wind direction. Despite the moratorium, Keene notes that town officials will "do anything to help a boat in a storm."
     Keene points out that regulating of mooring fields is a safety issue, since without any restrictions boat owners could place blocks that are not large enough to hold their boats in a storm. Also boats need enough room to swing 3600. "People want moorings, and we're figuring out how we can accommodate everyone. It's a very multi-faceted issue."
Freeze in Edmunds
      At their November 12 meeting, the Washington County commissioners approved a motion to move forward with enacting a 180-day moratorium on new moorings at the Edmunds boat landing. A public hearing and vote to enact the moratorium was held on November 23.
     Commission Chair Chris Gardner says the county was not ready to enact a harbor ordinance but will develop one over the 180-day period. Heron Weston, the supervisor of the unorganized territories, was tasked with being the interim harbormaster and cataloging the existing moorings. He reports that there are 28 moorings off the boat landing.      Weston will have the authority to tell any violators that they have to move or they will be charged with a criminal offense. "It was the only responsible thing we can do at this time," Gardner says.
     Gardner says that Lubec and Pembroke placed a freeze on new moorings because they "fear they cannot safely manage a large influx of boats with no place to go." He says the commissioners then had to act when they learned about the two other moratoriums. "We are being completely reactionary, but only because we must."
     Gardner, who is also the Eastport port director, comments, "The argument we made for how important the breakwater is showing itself." The loss of the space for tying up fishing boats has "flipped the apple cart" on the lobster, urchin and scallop fishermen, and Gardner adds, "We will be losing it through the next two years."
More moorings in Eastport
     In Eastport, there are 31 permitted moorings, but harbormaster Richard Clark estimates that number is about half of the moorings that are around the island. While the port authority, which permits the moorings, collects a fee for them, it is the responsibility of the boat owner to inform the harbormaster what is being used for the mooring block and to give the GPS coordinates of the mooring. There are currently no restrictions on where moorings are placed, since there was not any problem with moorings while the breakwater was being used for berthing.
     Clark estimates that about 10 new moorings have been put in this fall, and the harbor committee voted not to add any more restrictions until a significant problem develops. He points out that Eastport does not have the same type of issue as Lubec and Pembroke have, as it just needs to get through the next two years, when the breakwater will be back in use and have even more space for berthing.

Challenges of dealing with a mobile scallop fleet
     The mooring issue is coming to a head because of the mobile scallop fleet expected to head to Cobscook Bay on December 1, which may be greater than back in 2013, when 135 scallop and urchin draggers were moored in the Cobscook Bay towns of Lubec, Edmunds, Pembroke, Eastport, Pleasant Point and Perry.
     Scott Emery, president of the Cobscook Bay Fishermen's Association, would like to see the state adopt scallop conservation measures similar to the ones for which Cobscook Bay fishermen have advocated and are now in effect in Zone 3, which covers the bay. Those include a meat count and a lower daily catch limit of 10 gallons. He believes that there would then be "plenty of scallops" along the coast. "You need a meat count and a shorter season. Boats wouldn't then have to travel so far in the future."
     Will Hopkins, executive director of the Cobscook Bay Resource Center, comments, "While it's true that traditionally much of the scallop fleet is a mobile fleet, in recent years scallop fishermen have followed Cobscook's lead and invested in and sacrificed to protect their local resource." He adds, "It's frustrating for local fishermen, wherever they are, for boats from up and down the coast to clean out in a few weeks what might have lasted them for a much longer time."
     "Sooner or later, the scallop industry is going to have to develop a better balance between the needs of the mobile fleet and the guys taking care of the scallop resource in their own backyards. Maybe having the Cobscook towns beginning to pay attention to their mooring fields the way towns in midcoast and southern Maine have for decades might be a start for that."