Posted by Rick Strand on March 14, 2004 at 13:53:08:
In Reply to: Re: Lobster controversy in Concord, NH. posted by DougD on January 29, 2002 at 10:03:07:
Let us begin with a line by line analysis of the rediculous and uninformed statements made by some of the attendees. With respect to the cost of lobster. Lobsters are presently more expensive at the consumer end than they have been in a long time even with it being mid winter. If the lobsterman are receiving low prices they should improve the negotiation skills that yield their prices or get more competitive with other lobsterman who are selling at lower prices. You guys are getting your butts kicked by not taking control of your distribution channels. The markets are cleaning your clock. I applaud Mr. Harrington's attempt to provide for equal access to our resources and not to discriminate against those without a boat. If representative Langley spent a bit more of her time observing diving activity along our coast, she would know that scuba divers use our 18 miles of coast regularly. The only invasion she fears is her loss of support from the special intrests here. We have plenty of respect for the Lobsterman but point out that it is a two way street. I purchased and fished my five recreational traps two years ago. I followed the rules to the letter with respect to that catch. I invested $350 in gear and paid the state fees to launch at their ramps. My experience is as follows. I tried to fish locations well away from the commercial guys. I lined and boxed my recreational traps where I would be out of the way of "you guys". After every set, you set stringers across my lines and through my boxes. I was constantly hauling up your stringer lines layed across my singles. Even after I would pick up and move, you would be back the following week. SOS. Later in the fall, four of my five traps mysteriously dissapeared from a box pattern in one week with no storms occuring. I dove on the GPS locations and all four missing traps had cut lines (nice and clean). So much for the two way street. By the way, I know your colors. Its a bit difficult to have respect for the unrespecting. New Hampshire Fish and Game also voiced objections to Harrington. No big surprise there. You are the ones who don't see to it that the rules are fairly enforced. The fact of the matter is that there are no rules. There is little to no enforcement and even less pressence. In the 20 or so times I fished my traps two seasons ago, I never once saw or was inspected by NHF&G, either in the water or on land. I never even saw and officer. I only saw the glare of the other lobsterman on the shore and in the water. For Mr. Nelson, the statistics cited by Mr. Harrington for MA are correct at 1% of the catch. Two years ago in my 20 trip season I took a grand total of 76 keepers. Hardly a killing. After diving on most of the highly fished locations, I can testify that there are a ton of lobsters down there and plently for everyone. The state needs to get off their boats and into the water to access the condition of the lobster stocks. Your interval draggings are a poor scientific tool to collect the data you seek. Perhaps some of us divers could take you down and show you? To the gentleman that commented on our magnifying masks, what planet do you reside on? Your emotion has casued you to forget to get some information before you commented. We know what a lobster gage is and how to use one. Who checks your eye and how often? The only way for lobstering to cause problems on the watwer or at the docks is for either the fisherman or the diver to break the law. It is not up to the lobsterman to enforce the law. I would not expect all lobsterman to break the law but I am sure some do. Just as I would expect to have a few divers break the law as well. If people get hurt, the guilty party should pay the consequences under the law. The fact is that our state appears not to have the teeth to provide for equality especially if it costs a buck. What is this? The wild West? The livelihood of Lobsterman is in their hands. The success of their bait, location, number of traps, economic and competitive influences, weather, nature and plain luck has about 99% more of an impact on your existance than the other 1% (diver). Lets remember who has the largest impact on creating shortages in our fisheries. I do point out that those fisheries are all of ours. It is the fisherman that overfish. The recreational fisherman did not turn our coast into a benine fish tank void of the cod, flounder, mackeral etc. etc. etc. that used to thrive there. The fisherman and the NHF&G did. Our lobster resources are not there yet and I applaud any attempt to manage them effectively. I cannot agree that the pressures suffered by an industry in decline, that resulted from that industry to begin with, should take away the right to access of a state resource because of special or self interest. This is especially true when the impact will be minimal. Perhaps the lobsterman should dive for their catch if they feel so threatened by a guy who wants to grab a couple of lobsters for Fri. night dinner. If we limited divers to only fish from shore, perhaps everyone would be satified. I don't see many trqaps along the shore and most divers will go from there anyway because they don't have a boat. Maybe the Lobsterman and the State could get out of their boxes a bit and find a fair solution for everyone. You know, a compromise. Why do we have to continually let our emotional head's and our irrationality get in the way of common sense and negotiated consensus. I guess we all still just love to fight?