New Law Makes Easy Pickings of Maine’s Blueberry Rustlers

The rustlers are having a field day in Maine’s blueberry patches, where $1 million worth of berries may be purloined in a year. But a new state law gives police the power to catch the thieves blue-handed.

Teams of blueberry thieves who arrive in pickup trucks and disperse through the fields overnight can pick enough berries to fill dozens of 24-pound boxes, according to Bob Phillips, president of Jasper Wyman & Son of Milbridge, which harvests wild blueberries on 7,000 acres.

Fearing that continued thievery would hurt their harvests this summer, the berry industry turned to the Legislature earlier this year, and the resulting berry bill was signed into law by Gov. John R. McKernan. It is designed to give authorities the tools to track down the illegal pickers and end the black market--make that blue market--in berries.

Picking Permits

The law requires pickers to get written permission from landowners, and anyone who transports 25 pounds or more of berries must get a numbered permit from the Maine Blueberry Commission. Packers and shippers also must keep records of the blueberries they receive in lots of 25 pounds or more.

Finally, the law authorizes police, sheriffs, forest rangers and game wardens to make inspections and arrests, and to investigate blueberry thefts.

Blueberries are a $70-million-a-year industry in Maine, one of the leading blueberry-producing states, Ed McLaughlin of the blueberry commission said.

McLaughlin said the theft problem is worst when the price is highest. He estimated losses during the 1988 season at $1 million.

Suspects confronted by Wyman employees typically claim that they took the berries from someone else’s field, Phillips said. Others spotted in the act can easily get away on the dirt roads that wind through the hilly barrens.

Commercial Motive

“These people are doing it for money,” Phillips said. He added that organized thieves tend to go where the berries grow best. “It’s a big business.”

While people in the blueberry business say the law was a long time coming, some casual roadside pickers believe the state has gone too far.

“For heaven’s sake! The most I would ever take is three or four quarts,” said one woman who requested anonymity.

“They’ve roped off all of the good blueberry patches. I’m miffed. I’ll just have to sneak in after dark.”