More than 50 harvesters were on hand Friday afternoon when the Department of Marine Resources’ (DMR) Scallop Advisory Council (SAC) met at Ellsworth City Hall to consider possible revisions to the boundaries of six vast areas of state-controlled waters that will be off limits to scallopers when the fishing season resumes. After nearly two hours of sometimes heated discussion, the council voted to recommend that DMR Commissioner George Lapointe open areas Downeast, and in Frenchman, Penobscot and Casco bays. As compensation, upper Blue Hill Bay would be closed to scalloping and there would be adjustments to the closed areas in western Penobscot Bay and Casco Bay.

Lapointe had proposed the selective closures earlier this month as an alternative to shutting down the entire fishery during the state’s second 35-day scallop season, which begins Feb. 25. Although scallopers found the selective closures more appealing than having no fishing at all, many industry members expressed dissatisfaction over the boundaries of the proposed closures. Governor John Baldacci then ordered DMR to try to work out closures that were more acceptable to the fishermen while still affording protection to the state’s dwindling scallop resources.

On Feb. 12, DMR held a public hearing in Augusta to give fishermen the opportunity to comment on the closures and suggest revisions to the closure lines. On Friday, SAC members were supposed to consider those comments and suggestions, and then adopt recommendations for Lapointe with respect to any changes. SAC meetings are open to the public, but those in attendance may comment only on invitation.

Facing a room packed with scallopers deeply interested in what the council would do, SAC Chairman Dana Temple, a Cape Elizabeth scallop dealer, said the council would nevertheless listen to “specific alternatives to the proposed closures only.” Two of those were forthcoming, and ultimately accepted by the council, but the change with the greatest impact on Hancock County fishermen was suggested by a council member after many fishermen from the area had left the meeting.

Andrew May, a scallop diver from Southwest Harbor, proposed opening up the eastern part of Frenchman Bay so that harvesters from the upper bay and Mount Desert Island would have somewhere to fish without having to travel excessive distances. Under the DMR proposal, the entire bay and most of the waters south of MDI between Schoodic Point and Bass Harbor Head were closed. To compensate for the newly opened area, May suggested closing upper Blue Hill Bay. After some discussion, the bay was closed north of a line running from Lopaus Point, at the southwestern tip of MDI, to Naskeag Point, in Brooklin.

Downeast scallopers could get some relief from the proposed closure of Cobscook Bay under another recommendation adopted by the SAC. The council agreed to recommend that Lapointe open the waters along the coast between Kelly Point, Steel Harbor Island and Moose Peak Light, near Jonesport and Beals Island, on the west, and the International Bridge between Lubec and Campobello Island on the east.

Despite the ban on audience comment, several fishermen expressed their views on the Cobscook Bay closure. Cobscook Bay is acknowledged to be one of the few areas in the state with anything even approaching a healthy scallop stock, and the consensus was that Lapointe was being “politically correct” in deciding to close the bay to scallop harvesting.

The council drew some criticism for its Blue Hill Bay decision, but it was the process that came under fire more than the closure itself. Speaking after the meeting, Gunner Lymburner said he and several other scallopers who fish out of Stonington were angry because they believed they weren’t allowed to comment on a proposal that affected them directly.

On Saturday, Lymburner said he and the other Stonington fishermen left the meeting after Temple, the SAC chairman, announced that the council wouldn’t take any more public comments or suggestions. That was before May made his proposal to shut down fishing in Blue Hill Bay.

“That isn’t right,” Lymburner said.

The SAC adopted two other recommended changes to forward to Lapointe. One came from a fisherman, the other from a council member.

Mike Keating, a fisherman from Owls Head, suggested moving the eastern Penobscot Bay closure boundary a little more to the east in the upper bay, and opening up a more-or-less wedge-shaped portion of the lower bay, below the White Islands off the western shore of Vinalhaven. According to Keating, there had been little scalloping in that area during the first half of the scallop season, and opening it would benefit fishermen from the western side of the bay without harming the resource.

SAC member Terrence Kenney, of Harpswell, suggested opening a portion of outer Casco Bay for fishing. As with Kenney’s suggestion, the SAC voted to recommend that change to Lapointe.

While the Blue Hill Bay recommendation provoked some discussion among council members, the SAC reached its decisions with relatively little discussion. The consensus seemed to be that, whatever recommendations were made, the selective closures would be in effect for “only 35 days.” Before next scallop season, DMR and the council would be working with a clean slate in an effort to come up with a plan to establish some sort of local area management regime for the state’s scallop fishery.

The SAC’s recommendations were scheduled to be sent to Lapointe on Tuesday, Feb. 17, and he was expected to act on them promptly.

“George will make a decision on Tuesday and we’ll publish a new emergency rule,” DMR Deputy Commissioner David Etnier told the council.