Measures to Support Maine’s Clam Industry and Help Protect Against the Green Crab Epidemic Move Forward

AUGUSTA – Over the past few years, Maine has implemented significant measures to address the threatening issue of green crabs. Two bills that would take additional steps forward in protecting Maine’s shellfish industry have received support from the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee.

The bills, sponsored by Senator Stan Gerzofsky of Brunswick, would extend protections put into place last year and prohibit disturbing or molesting shellfish.

“When it comes to protecting Maine’s shellfish industry, there is so much on the line for many hard-working Maine people,” said Senator Gerzofsky. “We, as a state, have a responsibility to ensure sustainability for this key Maine industry by investing in and protecting it for future generations.”

LD 255 would increase the fine for a person who interferes with the ability of a person who holds a municipal shellfish permit to carry out the privileges granted under their permit. It also specifies that the area in which the interference is prohibited is the intertidal zone in the area that is included in the permit and clarifies that the prohibited action includes disturbing or molesting shellfish, not only the taking of shellfish.

LD 435 would place a two year delay on the repeal of the provision of law that prohibits the harvesting of marine organisms from within municipal predator control project areas, except for municipal removal of green crabs. The bill would also provide a two year extension on the municipal predator control pilot project within the Department of Marine Resources to allow the department to properly evaluate the effectiveness of predator control strategies in increasing the survival rate of soft shell clams and marine worms.

“Without passage of these bills, the good work we have done so far will be squandered,” said Senator Gerzofsky. “If nothing is done to adequately protect our intertidal areas from green crabs, it will not be long before there is nothing to harvest.”

Many coastal municipalities invest a significant amount of time, money and energy into creating a sustainable shellfish harvesting management plan every year. By doing so, juvenile shellfish are allowed to sit undisturbed until they reach a harvestable size or they are relayed to another growing area for grow out. It also helps protect against green crabs, which are invasive and feed on shellfish such as soft-shell clams and blue mussels.

In Brunswick, mud flats employ over 50 commercial license holders and provide for hundreds of recreational permits, creating nearly $2 million dollars in local revenue annually.

The measures will now go on to the full Legislature for consideration.

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