Quoddy Regional Land Trust PO Box 49 Whiting ME 04691  (207) 733-5509  email  www.qrlt.org

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ROCKWEED HARVESTING

 IN COBSCOOK BAY

The Board of Trustees of the Quoddy Regional Land Trust (QRLT) views with grave concern recent proposals to commercially harvest rockweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) in and around Cobscook Bay, and the current lack of state regulations to appropriately manage such harvesting.

Because of the potential impacts of harvesting on the ecosystem of the Cobscook Bay area and its estuarine ad marine environments, the Quoddy Regional Land Trust supports an immediate moratorium on commercial rockweed harvesting in Cobscook Bay.  In addition, QRLT supports research and regulations to:

 ·         establish the ecological importance of rockweed in the bay ecosystem;

·         determine sustainable rockweed harvesting levels on a bed-by-bed basis ("sustainable" to include recovery of the animal community living in and on the rockweed as well as the rockweed itself);

·         limit harvesting to hand harvesting from boats, to reduce the likelihood of over-harvesting of beds or removal of plants below the point needed for optimum regeneration;

·         establish leaseholds (individually permitted harvesting areas) to facilitate the sustainable management of beds by permit holders and the monitoring of harvesting impacts;

·         establish a clearly bounded and easily monitored no-harvest (conservation) zone, including the waters west of a line running from Gove Point (Lubec) to Birch Point (Perry) in Cobscook Bay, to ensure adequate "refuges" for rockweed and species found in association with it.

In addition, the Board of Trustees:

·         strongly supports the right of landowners whose deeds include the intertidal zone to conserve rockweed resources by prohibiting harvesting on their property;

·         encourages the inclusion of such limits in conservation easements held by the Quoddy Regional Land Trust and other qualified easement holders; and

·         urges the Department of Marine Resources to inform rockweed harvesters that, barring a ruling to the contrary by the Maine Supreme Court, rockweed is a resource owned by the owners of the intertidal zone and that harvesters must obtain the permission of intertidal owners in order to harvest rockweed.

QRLT Board of Trustees Executive Committee: Rockweed Harvesting (8/5/00)

Affirmed by QRLT Board of Trustees May 14, 2007

    About QRLT    Contact Us      Join Us      Cobscook Trails      Conservation      Stewardship   

  QRLT Events       About Conservation Easements       Merchandise     Press Releases     Photo Gallery

Volunteer        Pike Lands        Mowry Beach       Cobscook Falls     Home

Quoddy Regional Land Trust

PO Box 49

Whiting, ME 04691

(207) 733-5509

QRLT@maineline.net