July 3, 2015 — A Washington County legislator says he will try again next year to persuade the Legislature to limit the harvest of Maine scallops.
The fishing industry this year resisted a bill proposed by Rep. Robert Alley, D-Beals, and it later died in committee in April. He had proposed legislation to create a limit of 90 pounds a day per person on wild-caught Maine scallops so future generations, he said, would still be able to harvest them.
Maine scallops are favored in culinary circles, typically fetching several dollars more per pound than other Atlantic scallops. This past scalloping season, they frequently sold for more than $20 per pound. They are harvested by drag boats or divers, and the fishery has been recovering after a collapse in the mid-2000s; the state’s 2014 catch was the most since 2000.
Alley said he will try to sell scallop fishermen and the public on the idea again next year.
“Some of the young kids that are coming out of high school, they don’t have a job, period, and they don’t have anything to look forward to as far as having a job,” said Alley, a lobsterman. “I’m looking out for the kids who want to have a job and stay here.”
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald