BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 22, 2022
Maine fishermen may get the rest of 2022 to meet an eligibility threshold needed to continue fishing for menhaden — commonly known as pogies — after next year. Earlier this year, the state Department of Marine Resources submitted a bill to the Legislature that would, starting in 2023, only allow fishermen to obtain a commercial menhaden license if they’ve held it in one of the last six years and caught at least 25,000 pounds of pogies during one of those years. A key legislative committee Tuesday recommended the bill pass with an amendment that would allow fishermen one more year of catching the 25,000 pound threshold of the small, oily fish that has become an important baitfish to the lobster industry in recent years.