Maine Trawl survey comes to Penobscot Bay May 19th through the 23rd

Trawl Survey Time again!

Some of us hate 'em. Some revel in the data. Others  like the photos and videos  the surveyors take of the catches as they move from New Hampshire: a snapshot of life on Maine's coastal seafloors.

Sez DMR: "The Inshore Groundfish Trawl Survey is a fisheries independent assessment of living resources inside the coastal waters of Maine and New Hampshire. Its purpose is to fill a significant information gap that hampers efficient management of Maine’s fishing industry."

Links below are to large images of navigation chart that show the locations within Penobscot Bay and just outside it that the Maine trawl survey will visit with the planned dragging lines.
Day 11, tentatively May 19th – E of Monhegan to Tenants Hbr.
Day 12, tentatively May 20th – Upper Penobscot Bay
Day 13, tentatively May 21st – 1 Mile Ridge and Matinicus SSW
Day 14, tentatively May 22nd – SE of Matinicus Rock to Seal Is.
Day 15, tentatively May 23rd – East Penobscot Bay
Dates  approximate.  Possible stormy weather or stormy lobstermen. (see below)

"Gear consists of a modified shrimp net with a 2 inch mesh in wings and ½ inch mesh liner in the cod end. Foot rope and head ropes are 57' and 70' respectively, with 6 inch rubber cookies.  The F/V Robert Michael, a Northeast 54’ from Portland, ME is used as the platform vessel for this survey."  (End of excerpt.)

Lobstermen  escorting the  Maine trawl survey  boat out of the waters off Corea, Maine in 2001.

 In the past, lobstermen have been outraged by the number of shedder lobsters killed or declawed  by the rough treatment they receive, packed into a trawl's cod end bag. In this 2001 photo several dozen expressed their discontent by escorting the Maine trawl survey boat out of the waters off Corea where most lobsters were in that soft shelled shedder stage

"Noted one Corea fisherman, Arvin Young: "I told them they can't drag here, it's all soft shell lobsters. It's just so ridiculous what they were doing. We've been working for years on conservation, and they drag right through." 
[from: Fishermens Voice, November 2001]