A Dept. of Marine Resources (DMR) official said the agency “made a mistake” in its initial determination that lobster trap storage on a commercial pier in South Bristol would damage nearby marine vegetation.
“I feel we were in error,” David Etnier, Deputy Commissioner of the Dept. of Marine Resources, said in a Dec. 22 interview. “We no longer feel there is a negative impact on the seaweed.”
David Rice, a South Bristol lobsterman, applied for a Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) permit for a commercial pier in Clark’s Cove about four years ago. Rice’s neighbors fought the permit. Eventually, Rice received the permit with a frustrating condition – he cannot store lobster traps on the pier.
According to the Aug. 31, 2009 memo from DMR Commissioner George LaPointe to DEP Project Manager Beth Callahan, “Storage of traps would contribute to shading of marine vegetation and the deposition of debris from trap maintenance onto the intertidal and surrounding waters.
“Upland storage of traps, where possible, is preferred. In this case that appears to be a viable option. DMR recommends that the current permit condition that prohibits storage of traps on the pier remain in effect.”
According to a July 27 letter from Etnier to Andrew Fisk, Director of the Bureau of Land and Water Quality at DEP, DMR “feels our Aug. 31, 2009 comments to [Callahan] are invalid.”
“At this time we are unaware of any criteria from our perspective that would justify the continued imposition of the ban on trap storage,” Etnier wrote.
“DMR was not fully aware and therefore did not properly evaluate the seasonal time frame that was being proposed for trap storage,” he wrote. “DMR does not believe [trap storage from December through March] will pose a consequential impact due to shading of nearby marine vegetation.”
“In addition, and in a larger context, this agency feels that the entire issue of shading caused by the short or long term storage of lobster traps on piers needs a thorough evaluation,” Etnier wrote.
According to Etnier’s letter, DMR also failed to “properly evaluate the true viability of the alternative sites for trap storage proposed by DEP.”
The DEP cited DMR findings in an order authored by Callahan and denying Rice’s appeal of the “no trap storage” condition. According to the order, “the proposed project would unnecessarily contribute to adverse effects on the coastal wetland and therefore represents an unreasonable impact on marine wetland aquatic habitat.”
According to the order, DEP found Rice could store his traps at one or a combination of three alternate sites – a 0.4-acre residential property upland of the pier, a float in The Gut and/or a pier Rice co-owns on Jones Point in South Bristol.
Etnier and Linda Mercer, director of the Bureau of Resource Management, in a Sept. 15 letter to Callahan wrote, “none of the three [alternatives] alone, or any combination of the three, constitutes practicable alternatives for the purposes of lobster trap storage.”
According to the letter, the small area upland of the pier “is unsuitable for storing lobster traps” for three “primary” reasons.
Heavy shade in the area would not allow the traps to “sufficiently dry,” “fresh water runoff” would cause traps to “deteriorate” and trap storage “would kill the lawn…”
The float in The Gut “is very small in size” and “inadequate for any trap storage beyond a handful (10-plus or minus) stored on a temporary basis to allow them to dry,” Etnier and Mercer wrote.
“Seasonal storage (winter/spring) would be out of the question given the exposure to wind and wave action,” they wrote.
The final remaining option, the Jones Point pier, “has deteriorated beyond any ability for its commercial or recreational use… and is unsafe for any purpose including walking,” they wrote.
In the Sept. 15 letter, Etnier and Mercer described their observations during a Sept. 2 visit to the pier site. “In addition to the shadow cast by the pier, there was considerable shading of rockweed on the northwest shore from shoreline vegetation including large oak trees,” they wrote.
Etnier and Mercer also disputed the allegations of the harmful effects of shading, citing a Canadian “rockweed scientist” and several published studies.
According to the scientist, Dr. Raul Ugarte, “rockweed growth is negligible or none” during the December-March storage period.
“In summary, there is no clear evidence to support shading impacts from piers on rockweed… or from the storage of traps on the piers, particularly during winter,” the DMR officials wrote.
“It is our sincere hope,” Etnier wrote in the July letter, “that [Rice] not be compelled to file an appeal to the Board of Environmental Protection or Maine’s Superior Court given the considerable expense such an appeal would involve and given that DEP’s July 2010 denial was partially based on insufficient technical review provided by DMR regarding the issued [sic] of trap storage.”
Etnier asked DEP to “reopen consideration” of Rice’s appeal of the storage condition.
Rice did, however, appeal to the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP), a nine-member citizen panel. A hearing is scheduled for Thurs., Jan. 6 at 9 a.m. at Maple Hill Farms in Hallowell.
Etnier was unaware of Rice’s situation until July 2010, he said. Etnier’s wife, Mary Ellen Sullivan, works in a small law firm in Freeport. A coworker of Sullivan’s, Michele Gryga, was writing an article for the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) newsletter about the storage condition.
Gryga told Sullivan about the article and Sullivan passed the information on to Etnier.
“I said, ‘What?'” Etnier said. “It was news to me at that point.” Etnier followed up and, on July 27, sent the letter to Fisk reversing the agency’s position.
Etnier will leave his post Friday, Jan. 7, as the new administration moves in. In remarks to The Lincoln County News, he expressed regret for Rice’s situation.
“It’s unfortunate that it ever got this far,” Etnier said. “It did show a shortcoming in our process here and hopefully we can turn it around in early January.”