"National Marine Fisheries makes the regulations, and we are the conduit to them," Lt. Dean Belanger told the group. "But we're down on the docks every day. We know it's difficult, and we want to see if we can find a way for this to work for all of us."
Informal one-hour sessions, focusing on lobster management areas, were held in the morning at the Seafood Display Auction and in the afternoon at Bergie's Seafood and were attended primarily by groundfishermen who routinely bring lobster aboard while targeting other species. The problems the dragger fleet has with V-notched lobsters inspired the idea, according to Sgt. James Cullen, who has worked the city's waterfront for 13 years.
"To my knowledge, this is the first time our agency has done something like this for the industry," said Cullen, who offered the presentations. "It's a different approach but we recognize that the laws can be confusing. We don't want to do education by citation.
Between 2001 and 2006, more than a million female lobsters had a notch cut in one tail flipper to protect them from harvest while stocks were rebuilt. Fishermen now catch them in four distinct management areas, yet different rules apply in each and fishermen are held to the most restrictive possession standard.
"When in doubt, throw it out," was Cullen's advice.
Relations between law enforcement and the waterfront community have not always been cordial, so the initiative was welcomed by the fishermen and seafood dealers.
"A lot of the people who make the rules don't know our world or how it works down here," said Ray Canastra, co-owner of the seafood auction. "But these guys are down here every day and they understand where we're coming from."
Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.