AUGUSTA — State officials have closed an area of the Penobscot River to commercial fishing after mercury was found in lobster and crabs caught there. The Department of Marine Resources announced the closure on Feb. 18, to be effective Feb. 22. The closure will be in place for at least two years.
The mercury is believed to have come from the former HoltraChem plant in Orrington, just north of Bucksport. Lobster and other marine creatures were tested as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed against Mallinckrodt, the current owner of the now-shuttered plant. Mercury was found decades ago in the river bottom near the site of the plant. Environmental advocates say HoltraChem routinely dumped the metal in the river for years. The plant operated from 1967 to 1982.
The closed area begins at the mouth of the river along a line from Fort Point in Stockton Springs southeasterly to Wilson Point just north of the village of Castine.
In a press release issued with the closure announcement, Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher said the closure is a precautionary measure in response to information “about mercury contamination in muscle tissue from lobsters found in this area.” The information came to light in November.
DMR asked State Toxicologist Andrew Smith from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to analyze the data from the court-ordered study and decided to close a small are to “ensure that no lobsters from this area make it into the marketplace,” according to the DMR statement.
The closed area is about 7 square miles out of more than 14,000 square miles in the Gulf of Maine where lobsters are harvested.
The closure is “a precautionary approach that protects public health and ensures consumer confidence that eating Maine lobster is safe and healthy while we conduct our own monitoring effort that will build on these new data,” Keliher said.
The lawsuit that ultimately revealed the presence of mercury in lobster and crabs was brought by the national environmental group the Natural Resources Defense Council and the local Maine People’s Alliance (MPA), and their concerns with the site date back decades, said Mike Tipping, communications director for MPA.
On the land of the former chemical manufacturing plant, the state has ordered a clean-up, Tipping said, and the state Board of Environmental Protection earlier this month issued a ruling that will hasten final decisions in the matter.
The mercury found in the river has been the subject of a case in federal court. The U.S. District Court in Portland ruled in 2002 that Mallinckrodt, the corporation that now owns HoltraChem’s holdings, “contributed to the mercury-bearing releases from the site” and that its actions “may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health and the environment.”
The court also found that “the evidence clearly demonstrated that the Penobscot River is contaminated with mercury through the mouth of the river.” It found that mercury is “biomagnifying through the food web.”
As a result, “dangerously high levels of mercury may be present in Penobscot [River] fish and other seafood consumed by the public.”
In that 2002 ruling, the federal court ordered a study to determine the extent of the environmental harm and to consider remediation. That study prompted the closure.
“Mercury is the only metal that is a bio-accumulative toxin,” Tipping said, meaning that it remains in organisms and increases higher in the food chain.
Mallinckrodt has not cleaned the river, he said, “and we can’t let this multi-billion dollar corporation shirk their responsibility for another two or three decades.”
Efforts to contact a spokesperson for Mallinckrodt were unsuccessful.
Tipping said the fishing closure “was a smart and responsible move” by DMR.
David Cousens of South Thomaston, a long-time lobsterman who fishes in the lower part of Penobscot Bay and who also is president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said the closure was the right move.
“They handled it the right way. We back them 100 percent,” he said of DMR. By closing harvesting in the area, “It nips the problem in the bud.”
Cousens believes the news will have a negligible impact on sales.
“The timing is good,” he said, coming after the Chinese new year celebration in January and the December holidays in the U.S., both periods when sales spike. This summer, when tourists return to Maine, Cousens said he believes the product will retain its reputation for quality.
“We’ve tested outside the river,” he said. “They’re clean. It’s safe, pristine and safe to eat,” he said of lobster harvested elsewhere.
Maine Marine Patrol will work with harvesters to ensure all fishing gear is removed from the affected area as soon as possible, according to DMR. Most commercial harvesters in the area have either stopped for the season or moved their operations down the bay.
Seasonal monitoring of mercury levels in marine organisms will be conducted in and adjacent to the closed area.
“We will decide, after two years, whether or not to re-open the area or to continue the closure,” Keliher said.
About seven from Stockton Springs fish for lobster in the lower river area, said that town’s harbormaster Les Bryant. Mike Ormsby, deputy harbormaster in Bucksport, said he knew of just two local men, a father and son who both live on Verona Island, who fish from the town’s harbor. A few more men catch crabs in the river, he added.
Lobster “don’t get up to the bridge until July,” Ormsby said, so there is little fishing effort in the closed area.
Ken Wyman, a lobsterman from Stockton Springs who sets traps in the now-closed area, said at least ten boats fish the lower river.
Wyman operated a retail seafood business from his home off Route 1 for more than 18 years, he said, closing it two summers ago. Wyman was aware of the ongoing litigation, he said, and has helped those completing the study take samples there.
“There are a fair amount of lobsters up there. It’s going to ruin me this spring,” he said, particularly in his crab-catching effort.
“It makes me sick to my stomach to think I’ve been poisoning people and my family,” Wyman said of the mercury findings.
If fishermen have to move their traps from one area to another, they likely will be seen as interlopers and encounter resistance from those who have fished an area for years.
Josh Conover of Islesboro estimates that 15-20 boats fish from Islesboro. The grounds around the island might be a logical place for displaced fishermen to set their traps.
“It’s not good,” he said of fishermen losing what they call “bottom.” Inevitably, he said, they would move into another area and the fishermen who have been catching lobster there will see a smaller catch.
“I wish they would compensate the fishermen,” Conover said.