The Commission meeting in Virginia happened last week. Members of industry were present and spoke in favor of the delay in gauge increase being proposed by DMR. The motion passed and the gauge increase was delayed until July 2025. Issues with Maine and Canadian fishermen in the grey zone were discussed, dealers and market issues, and that bonded live products can pass through Maine when shipped to a different country. Addendum XXX of the Mitchell Provisions dealing with imported products were discussed. More time to look into these issues was allowed by the commission. Maine has had 250 lobstermen leave the fishery in the past year. We asked the Technical Committee (TC) to look at Maine licenses and mandatory reporting where we can track latency to identify the conservation already being implemented due to decreased fishing effort. Now we wait for the next meeting with Canada and Canadian fishermen to discuss next steps.
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