CCA Maine

Please join CCA Maine at the Port City Music Hall on Nov. 18th for the first annual Striper Sessions benefit concert featuring the Pete Kilpatrick Band and the Jason Spooner Band.  All proceeds from the concert will benefit CCA Maine.  This great event is brought to you by  The Bank of Maine; other organizations supporting this unique event are Taylor, McCormack & Frame; MacDonald Page; HM Payson; and The Boulos Company.

Maine Striper Sessions Flyer


We’ll be showing a slide show of fishing photos during the event, and we’re looking for your favorite fishing photos to add to our collection. If you have a photo that you’d like to see on the big screen, send it to us at photos@cca-maine.org

ASMFC votes to give public its say on menhaden

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Tangible management of menhaden in the Atlantic moved
another step closer to reality this week when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission (ASMFC) voted to send a series of management options for this critical
forage species out to public hearings.
Menhaden management has long been a sore point among conservationists as intense
commercial harvest of the species in the Chesapeake Bay has added to factors believed
to be negatively impacting striped bass and other gamefish all along the East Coast.
The primary industrial harvester of Atlantic menhaden, Omega Protein, has never had
its harvest effectively restricted and stands as one of the very few commercial fishing
operations in the country to successfully avoid management measures that might impact
its bottom line.
There is also a completely unregulated bait fishery that targets menhaden throughout
its East Coast range. Comprised of boats of all sizes, from large mid-water trawlers to
small skiffs, it supplies bait to both the commercial and recreational fishery. The quantity
of menhaden harvested by that industry has never been comprehensively assessed, but
it is undoubtedly significant. In addition, the fishery is believed to be expanding as
northeastern lobstermen seek a substitute for the more strictly regulated, Atlantic herring,
which is decreasing in abundance.
The most current menhaden stock assessment showed the stock was undergoing
overfishing and abundance estimates were at the lowest level ever recorded. Current
science indicates that the menhaden spawning stock biomass is at about 9 percent of a
stock that is not subjected to any fishing pressure. With the vote this week, the ASMFC
has put into play management options that could increase the spawning stock biomass
to15 percent or more.
“This is the grinding process of management,” said Richen Brame, CCA Atlantic
States Fisheries Director. “The science is finally catching up with the problems anglers
and conservationists have been talking about for a long time, and now the process can
move forward. The fact that these options are going out for public hearing is significant,
but it is a slow grind to get where we want to be with this stock. You can bet the
harvesters think this is a significant development.”
Whatever regulations are ultimately adopted will be interim measures that will likely
be in place for three to five years until ecological reference points, generated from a
Multi-Species Virtual Population Analysis can be produced, which will require stock
assessment updates on bluefish, striped bass, weakfish and menhaden stock. When that
analysis is conducted, it is very possible managers will have a much better idea of the
population of menhaden needed to fully serve as the critical forage base for those popular
sport fish.
“Almost everyone who has spent time fishing in the Chesapeake has seen how the
industrial boats, aided by spotter planes, can wipe out whole schools of menhaden,
removing them completely from the food chain,” said Frank Kearney, chairman of
CCA Virginia’s Government Affairs Committee. “For a long time, anglers have felt
powerless to impact the menhaden management process against a very well-connected
and financially powerful company. Now that these measures are going out for public

hearing, it feels like we have a chance to inject some sanity into this fishery and begin to
manage it for the greater good, not just for the good of one company.”

Dear Friend of CCA-Maine,

Here is some valuable information that helps to demystify Maine’s new saltwater registry.

As you may know, Maine finally has a saltwater angling registry in place. The new regulation mandates that all anglers 16 years of age and older fishing for any species of saltwater fish in coastal Maine waters be registered with the state and carry proof of registration. Enforcement by the Department of Marine Resources Marine Patrol will be “educational” for the remainder of 2011. Following is a brief summary of Maine’s new coastal angling requirements:

• If you have a resident 2011 Maine freshwater fishing license, you can legally fish in coastal waters. There is no need to register separately in the future as long as you renew your freshwater license and indicate whether or not you fished in saltwater during the previous calendar year. [Exception: Mainers who have lifetime freshwater fishing licenses must register annually with the Department of Marine Resources – see “How To Register” below -- to fish in coastal waters].
• Anglers over 16 years of age who do not have a freshwater license must register annually to fish in Maine’s coastal waters.
• Non-resident anglers must register annually to fish in Maine’s coastal waters unless they are saltwater licensed or registered in another coastal state or are on the federal registry, and carry proof of one or the other. [Note: Maine non-resident freshwater licenses do not have a saltwater check-off box].
• The registration requirement for any angler fishing Maine’s coastal waters with a properly licensed tidewater guide or charter boat captain is handled by the guide/captain.

How To Register
The easiest way to register and to review the new regulations in detail is online at www.maine.gov/saltwater There is no cost for the registration, but a $1 agent fee applies. You can also register for a $2 agent fee with town clerks and fishing tackle dealers who are authorized agents of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife.

Anglers with proof of Maine saltwater registration can fish in New Hampshire coastal waters. Maine residents who plan to fish coastal waters in any other state must pay a non-resident fee.

We hope you find this information helpful.

Sincerely,

Your CCA-Maine Board of Directors

For more than 50 years, Anderson’s conservation work has had a major impact on the health of Maine’s marine resources, making the outdoors a better place for all of us.

FREEPORT, Maine, December 8, 2009 — As a passionate outdoorsman and conservationist, Dick Anderson enjoys digging for surf clams, casting to shad and striped bass on a running tide, calling turkeys into shotgun range, or leading Audubon cruises to study bald eagles on the Kennebec River. But for more than 50 years, most of Anderson’s waking hours have been spent addressing Maine’s most pressing marine resource problems and doing so as a volunteer.

In recognition of his longtime and enthusiastic devotion to marine conservation, Anderson was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Coastal Conservation Association-Maine (CCA-Maine) during that organization’s annual meeting on Monday December 7th at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport. Pat Keliher, Director of the Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries & Habitat, Department of Marine Resources, presented the award to Anderson.

“Conserving Maine’s natural marine resources is what really motivates Dick Anderson,” Keliher said in his presentation remarks. “And when this exuberant man gets behind a cause, it is next to impossible to slow him down. He has worked on very complicated issues like fish passage, habitat protection and netting regulations, and he has been instrumental in or directly responsible for some of the most important marine resource decisions in Maine over the years.”

“Dick Anderson’s professional credentials are certainly impressive, but he also has a special innate ability to get those around him fired up about a cause,” Keliher continued. “One of CCA-Maine’s greatest accomplishments was the removal of the Smelt Hill Dam on the Presumpscot River. Although that battle dragged on for almost five years, Dick Anderson worked tirelessly to rally the troops and promote the project goal of restoring diadromous fish to a river that was nearly destroyed by 200 years of industrial use. It was Dick Anderson at his best – not giving up until the dam was finally breached.”

About Dick Anderson

A native of Brockton, MA., Dick Anderson graduated from the University of Maine in 1957 with a BS in Wildlife Conservation. During his long career in conservation, he was a fisheries biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Executive Director of the Maine Audubon Society, and Commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation. He is the founder of the International Appalachian Trail and currently serves as president of the Maine chapter.

Anderson was a co-founder of CCA-Maine in 1991 and became the organization’s first executive director. He played major roles in implementing Maine’s initial menhaden netting ban in the Presumpscot River and in securing passage for diadromous fish up the Presumpscot through removal of the Smelt Hill Dam. Anderson also led the charge to achieve game fish status for American Shad in Maine’s tidal rivers and successfully campaigned for bait netting regulations to help stop the indiscriminate killing of striped bass and diving birds on the Kennebec River. As a young fisheries biologist working for Maine IF&W, Anderson was the first person to expose the negative effects of DDT spraying on landlocked salmon in Sebago Lake.

During the Anderson Award ceremony, a check for $1000 was presented to the Maine Department of Marine Resources for striped bass tagging efforts on behalf of CCA-Maine and the Yarmouth Boatyard as a result of proceeds generated from this past summer’s Royal River Striped Bass Tournament.