The number of scallop draggers in Cobscook Bay on the opening day of the season, December 5, was again fewer than in past years, with only 69 boats fishing. Trisha Cheney, the resource management coordinator for scallops for the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), notes that is about half the size of the fleet that has been in the bay at the start of the season during many years. Almost all of the boats are local Cobscook Bay boats.
     Eastport fisherman Scott Emery, who is the president of the Cobscook Bay Fishermen's Association, comments, "There are not many western boats" joining the Cobscook Bay fleet this year, as it's "one of the better  years for more area being open" in Zone 2. "It gives them more stuff to work on." He adds, "It seems as though they can stay home." Emery says, "It's just the local fleet mostly."
     Cheney reports that 76 draggers are fishing in the Jonesport area this year. "About half of the fleet are in their own backyard," she notes. "At the first of the season they're not all in Cobscook. That's great. That's the goal, to spread people out." The second rotational area in Zone 2, which includes all of eastern Maine except the Cobscook Bay area, is open this year, and Cheney notes that those areas had two years of closure for the scallop population to rebuild.      Fishermen in the Jonesport area are getting their 15-gallon daily limit in an hour and a half, which is "really good," says Cheney. "The goal of the rotational management is to rebuild the product so that people fish in their own backyards."
Perry fisherman Tom Pottle also notes that he was talking with one fishermen who fishes out of Jonesport who said he would be lobstering until the end of December and then rig up for scallop dragging.
     Pottle says the abundance of scallops in Cobscook Bay is "fair" and that boats have been getting their 10-gallon daily catch limit in four or five tows, or a little over an hour. While some locations have quite a few scallops that are just "barely legal" size, in other places there's "nice shell stock and nice meats. It's site specific."
Cheney notes that the scallop meats are a good size, with 20 meats to a pound instead of the usual 30 meats. "It's one of the strongest year classes we've every seen" in the Cobscook Bay area, she says. "The size of meats is great." However, she notes that the next year class is not strong, and the DMR's goal is to leave some scallops on the bottom for the following year.
     Buyers have been paying between $12 and $12.50 a pound, which is about the same as the past two years.
With Cobscook Bay having a meat count and with Marine Patrol wardens being present, it "keeps people honest" and they don't shuck scallops that are smaller than the legal size, Pottle says. "They pay attention to what they're doing more," he notes. When the fishermen don't see any wardens around "they get a little lax," he adds.
     With the Eastport breakwater still under repair, all of the fishermen have been keeping their boats on moorings instead of berthing at the breakwater. Pottle notes that it's harder to rig up for scalloping, but he says there are some advantages to being on a mooring. "You're on your own, and that's not bad." However, fishermen need to pay more attention to their boat and make sure the bilge pumps are working and the batteries are charged and the bilges are kept pumped out. Last year a number of boats in Cobscook Bay sank at their moorings during the winter.
      As for how long the season will last, Emery guesses that it should last for as long as it did last year. Cheney expects that a targeted closure will be implemented by the DMR in the Chandler Bay area, since so many boats are fishing there. When it is closed, some boats may stop fishing for the season, while others will go to Cobscook Bay.
Last season the DMR had closed three areas in Zone 2 on December 13, after more than 30% of the scallop biomass had been harvested by draggers, then closed Whiting and Dennys bays on January 16 and Cobscook Bay on February 6. The St. Croix River, though, was left open for fishing one day a week.
      Pottle believes the DMR should "fine tune" its trigger mechanism in determining when areas are closed to prevent depletion of the resource. The DMR has a target of 30% removal of the biomass when it considers closures. "They talk to the wardens and do a few sample tows," says Pottle, who believes that developing a means of determining the biomass removal from how long boats have to tow to get their catch limit would provide a more accurate measurement. "They could figure it better so it doesn't get overfished," he says.