Maine Seafood Alliance, representing and advocating for all aspects of the Maine seafood industry.

MSA Offers Testimony on LD1318

April 12, 2007

SOURCE: MSA Board Meeting

Maine State Legislature
Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources
Senator Dennis Damon, Chair
Representative Leila Percy, Chair

Re: LD 1318 – Resolve to Require the Department of Marine Resources and the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability To Conduct an Independent Review and Audit of the Public Health Division

On behalf of the membership of the Maine Seafood Alliance (MSA) the Board of Directors would like to enter the following statements into the discussion concerning LD1318:

The MSA was formed in part because of concerns in the shellfish industry about excessive closures of shellfish habitat, lack of communication and information from DMR, inconsistent application of Department rules and a general decline in the shellfish industry in Maine.

Since its inception the MSA has developed a working relationship with DMR management and local staff while developing a better appreciation of some of the challenges the department faces. MSA supported an increase in department funding to add capacity in the water testing division a year ago.

That being said, MSA members are still reporting frustration with repeated closures (some with apparent lack of justification), slow or insufficient information from DMR, a basic mistrust of the water quality program and a fear that with further loss of available product the total industry may collapse. These fears are partially substantiated by a recent report from DMR that shows a steady decline in landings over several years and a study being done by Kevin Athearn at UMM that shows the adverse economic effect of closures. He reports an economic loss to soft shell clam harvesters in Washington County from closures in 2005 at nearly $1 million and state wide at $3.6 million. (See attached)

MSA understands that fixing all of the problems affecting the health of the shellfish industry will be a long and costly process. We also understand that to keep the industry viable in the short term that it is imperative to get as much safe product as possible to market. It does not appear that current water quality monitoring and closure procedures are allowing this to happen. We understand that the Department is working on new protocols but have not heard that the industry is being consulted in the process. A complete review and audit of the program may be extreme but something needs to be done if Maine is going to retain a healthy and profitable shellfish industry that is traditionally a large part of the economy along the coast.