PEI Opens $50,000 Fund to Help Lobster Industry Increase Live Holding Capacity
PEI’s provincial government has opened a fund that will provide eligible companies up to $50,000 of non-repayable support to help them increase their live lobster holding capacity. The program will cover up to 10 percent of the costs for operators interested in expansion. “One of the challenges for our lobster industry is the capacity of the marketplace to absorb the supply of lobsters during peak harvest seasons,” said Rural Development Minister Allen Roach. “Increased live holding capacity will help manage this supply and allow for more stable market prices.
Alaskan Representative Don Young’s proposed Magnuson Reauthorization Bill focuses on flexibility and increased reliance on scientific data. One change would give management councils more flexibility in establishing fishery rebuilding plans, removing the 10 year mandatory timeframe in favor a three-year period that would allow councils to address economic impacts from altered plans. Young’s MSA Bill also moves away from strictly relying on overfishing as the main term for depleted stocks.
In other news a Maine lawmaker has proposed a 90-pound per day, per person limit for the state’s scallop fishery. Rep. Robert Alley’s plan also would reduce the maximum width of scallop drags from 10 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 6 inches for most of the state. If approved, the plan would change the way scallops are regulated in Maine, where the State Marine Resources Commissioner typically draws parameters like catch limits before the start of the season.
Finally, Robert Heyano a founding Board Member of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association has resigned from his position as president of the Board of the Directors. "Words are inadequate to describe the impacts Robert’s vision and efforts have had on the Bristol Bay fishery over his many years of commitment to the resource and the way of life it supports," the Association said in a statement. The process of finding Heyano’s replacement is underway with the BBRSDA taking letters of interest now through April 24.
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