Although the abundance of scallops in Cobscook Bay is down some this year, there are fewer boats dragging during the opening days of the season, so a closure of the bay because of depletion of the resource may be delayed until the end of January.
     The number of boats dragging in the bay on the opening day, December 1, was down from last year, with 59 draggers compared to 75 in 2014 and 112 the year before, which later increased to 135. Trisha Cheney, the resource management coordinator for scallops for the Department of Marine Resources (DMR), says most of the draggers are local boats, with perhaps only five or more coming into the bay from the Bucks Harbor and Jonesport areas for the start of the season. There are also about eight dive boats. Some fishermen had feared an influx of draggers because the season in western Maine is opening two weeks later than the season for Zones 2 and 3 in eastern Maine.
     Draggers have been getting their 10-gallon quota "fairly early" in about an hour or an hour and a half, says Eastport fisherman Scott Emery, who is president of the Cobscook Bay Fishermen's Association. "It's about the same as last year." He adds, "There's a lot of small stuff. It looks good for another year."
     However, Perry fisherman Tom Pottle comments, "I don't think the volume is there or the size as there was the last few years." He believes that fishermen are good about not keeping scallops that are less than 4" in size, noting that the meat count in Cobscook Bay "keeps you honest or accountable for what you have in the bucket."
     Interim Lubec Harbormaster Julie Keene comments, "Things look pretty calm over here. People are just fishing, getting scallops and going home."
     Fishermen have been receiving a good price, at about $12.50 a pound, which is about the same as last year.
     Concerning why more draggers from other ports have not come to Cobscook this year, Cheney says, "I think a lot of the guys are fishing the rotational areas that just opened." The DMR has been phasing in rotational closures of certain areas, with this year only a third of those areas being open.
     Between 15 and 25 draggers have been in Gouldsboro Bay, 31 in the Machias Bay area and about 20 in the Jonesport Reach area, although a number of those boats have now scattered to other grounds. Cheney says the DMR's target of 30% removal of the biomass had already been exceeded by December 7 in Gouldsboro Bay, and the Machias and Jonesport areas have met the target. The DMR will be considering closures in all three areas next week.
     Cheney notes that the DMR had warned fishermen that it would be a lean year and that emergency closures to prevent the depletion of the resource would be likely, as the rotational closure areas that opened this year had only one year for the resource to rebuild. Last year, the open rotational areas had two years for rebuilding and greater biomass.
Tom Pottle speculates that the boat mooring limits that have been enacted by towns around Cobscook Bay may also be keeping some boats from coming to the bay.
     Concerning the Zone 3 area that covers Cobscook Bay, Cheney says that, with the current number of boats fishing, the DMR projects the target will not be met until January 30, which would provide for 27 days of fishing out of the 50-day season that was set to extend to March 23. However, if a number of boats come into Cobscook Bay in the next week or so, the season could be even shorter.
     Last year, the DMR closed Cobscook Bay on February 28 after the target was exceeded but kept the St. Croix River area open for one day a week, and Cheney says that option may be considered this year, too. At a DMR outreach meeting in Whiting on November 30, the group of about 25 fishermen overwhelmingly indicated that they would prefer fishing the current three days a week that are open fishing days, with the DMR closing the bay when the target is reached, rather than having one of the days cut earlier.
     The DMR's estimated scallop biomass of 340,000 pounds in Cobscook Bay this year is one of the higher years, but Cheney notes that last year it was much greater, at 595,000 pounds. While there had been a large amount of sublegal-size scallops that became legal size this year, Cheney observes that there's still "a huge amount of seed" in the bay this year. "We want to be mindful of that," so that draggers don't damage the resource for next year.
     The DMR will conduct an in-season survey of the biomass on December 18 and 19, which will be used to double-check on the estimated removal rate.

Issues raised at Whiting meeting
     Much of the discussion at the DMR outreach meeting in Whiting on November 30 focused on moorings -- the number allowed in certain areas and whether or not fishermen should be allowed to have a mooring in places other than their own town. With regard to the latter, some of the fishermen present said that they had been told if they were not from that town then they should not be there. Cheney pointed out that mooring ordinances are a municipal, rather than a state, issue.
     Cheney also mentioned that there is "no meat count other than in Cobscook Bay" and that the DMR is "doing a rewrite of regulations" for clarification purposes. She noted that laws are harder to change than regulations.
     A local resident commented about the Cobscook Bay area and the rest of eastern Maine opening first and allowing other draggers to come in for two weeks and noted that there is noticeably less wildlife in the water in recent years. Cheney said that "people can move back and forth" and that the department tries to "keep base data on what those in the zone want." As an example, she said, "Zone 1 is mostly lobster fishing now but may come here in January." She added that she had "not heard of travelling all the way to Cobscook" by fishermen from the western part of the state.
     "Certified buckets" are recognized as in compliance with prescribed weights and measures. Cheney said these are not "rounded buckets" but are "volume metric measure." It is expected that there will be "a lot of under‑measure scallops this year, with the average meat size down 15%. Size will be monitored every couple of weeks."
     In answer to a question about children being able to get licenses or getting back a license that has not been renewed, Cheney said the DMR "wants broad participation" in the fishery and noted the increase in the number of active licenses from 168 in 2009 to 438 in 2014. Possibilities to allow new entrants into the fishery include a lottery for licenses or apprenticeships. A bill submitted during the last legislative session was said not to have passed because it had no "future component." Cheney said this issue will not be discussed in the legislature this year but may be next year.
(Reporter Mary Alice Look contributed to this article.)