‘Beginning of the end for small fishermen’
Captains issue S.O.S., claiming new rules meant to save the fish are killing their way of life
By Jessica Fargen | Sunday, July 3, 2011 |
http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Photo by Patrick Whittemore
With the height of the New England fishing season getting under way this week, small family fishermen say controversial new rules are destroying their livelihood — forcing them to sell their boats and instead search for work as laborers on larger vessels.
“It’s a death knell. It’s the beginning of the end for small fishermen,” said Rhode Island fisherman Joel Hovanesian, 54, who recently sold his boat.
Plymouth fisherman Stephen Welch, 50, a father of two, said: “We’re in a crisis right now.”
The new rules — put into place one year ago — place hard catch limits that restrict how much groundfish, such as cod and haddock, a fisherman can catch. Fishermen are given allotments of fish and can buy and sell those.
Under the old system, fishermen were allowed a certain number of days at sea.
Figures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show larger operations appear to have benefited. Annual revenue for boats larger than 75 feet increased approximately 33 percent in 2010 — up to $800,000, from $600,000 in 2009.
New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, who, along with the city of Gloucester, sued NOAA over the new rules and recently lost, said he plans to ask the Commerce Department’s Inspector General to investigate.
“New Bedford and Gloucester are letting everyone know we will challenge anything that threatens the culture, history and traditions of our seacoast communities,” he said. “The average fisherman, the family fishermen, are being driven out.”
The fight over fishing rules has stretched all the way to the White House and crossed party lines.
Congressional members of both parties, including Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democrat U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, are skeptical about the environmental ties of President Obama’s pick for Department of Commerce secretary, who oversees the nation’s fisheries. Environmental groups have backed the new rules.
“The industry is hurting deeply,” Brown told the Herald this week. “It’s putting people out of business,” he said of the new rules.
NOAA, which regulates fishermen, says the changes are necessary to protect the region’s fish stock. They say it’s too early to tell the impact of the new rules on small-boat fishermen and seacoast communities, but they are studying the issue.
NOAA spokeswoman. Maggie Mooney-Seus said overfishing would have killed the industry had the new rules not been in place.
“We are going to prevent the stocks from deteriorating,” Mooney-Seus said. “Every measure put in place over the last several years is helping to rebuild the stock. If you talk to fishermen they are saying, ‘I’m seeing more fish out there than I’ve ever seen before.’ ”
But locals say they’re struggling to survive.
“It’s very hard,” said Jim Keding, 42, as he stood on a dock in Plymouth Harbor on Friday.
Keding, a dad of two, recently sold his boat, the Zachary Nicholas, because his allotment of 15,000 pounds of groundfish wasn’t enough. In 2009, he brought in 73,000 pounds. “It’s putting us out of business,” said Keding.
Lifelong fisherman Rich Burgess, 57, is selling two of his four boats.
“They just can’t afford to go fishing,” said Burgess, as he cleaned up his boat, the Heidi & Heather, docked in Gloucester Harbor last week. Under the new rules last year, he caught 50 percent less groundfish — cutting his income in half.
Larry Ciulla, owner of the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction, where crews unload the day’s catch, has seen a downturn in the last year.
“There are a lot of boats that just don’t go fishing and that’s sad,” he said. “Each small boat is a business.”
Supporters of the new rules say they have brought stability and reduced wasteful discards of fish.
“What this all amounts to is more flexibility and predictability for fishermen, and the necessary ingredients for recovering groundfish stocks,” Johanna Thomas, director of Pacific and New England regions at the Environmental Defense Fund oceans program, said in an e-mail.
However, according to Tina Jackson, president of the American Alliance for Fishermen and their Communities: “This has been so devastating to communities up and down the East Coast. . . . It’s a bad program. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t save fish stock.”
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