northshorewaterman

For some bizarre reason, I have been trying to get a little more involved with fisheries management as of  late.  Nothing crazy, just making some noise regarding topics I know very little about.  Par for the course.

Last night I took part in a conference call to brainstorm about how we should combat consolidation issues created by sector management.  Naturally, folks on the council looking to consume allocation think that the issue of consolidation is a myth.  They claim that the industry is over-capitalized and therefore not making any money.  I’m still waiting for an accurate account of revenues in the day boat fishery to be released; a before and after snapshot of profits.  One that would account for all of the smaller operations that aren’t fishing at all anymore.  Having seen one very well-respected young fisherman sell out recently; and hearing through the grape-vine that several other key players in the Gloucester day boat fleet are planning on  doing the same I’ve got a feeling that the program has benefited exactly who NOAA wanted it to benefit.  Don’t get me wrong: this is not a pity party for those choosing to sell out.  They will be paid huge for their allocations and will be just fine.  No shame in that…they’ve earned it.

The problem comes with who will be doing the paying.  It will not be another owner/operator who wants to keep his own operation afloat…those days are gone.  And its laughable to think that it will be a new entrant into the fishery.  Those days, also gone.  It will most likely be a permit bank who will then dole out allocation as they see fit.  And as time rolls on Gloucester’s small boat fishery will consist of sharecroppers.

These issues really hit home listening to one of the fishermen on the call last night.  Probably the only young fisherman to start a multi-species operation in Gloucester in the last ten years, this guy is a good fisherman and a hard-working s.o.b.  He completely rebuilt his boat making it fish as efficiently as possible.  He invested in his business by stock-piling the necessary equipment.  He diversified by taking advantage of every possible fishery at his disposal.  And under the days-at-sea system he prospered.

He recently had to let his stern-man go.  A young kid who loved fishing and would have made a great captain in his own right.  There just wasn’t enough work.  There will be no new gear investment this year.  He is planning on going gill-netting alone, a dicey proposition at best.  His options are now limited by either high overhead with the risk of low returns or potential by-catch that NOAA’s scientist will remove from his allocation despite live release.  Luck-or-the-draw left his permits with a fraction of the fish that he was landing under the DAS system.  The tone of his voice reflected the possibility that his dream of being a fisherman that seemed to have come true may be cut short.

I think that it is time for some of the high-rollers delaying an amendment to cap allocation to ask themselves what their legacy in this industry is going to be?  It’s clear that NOAA’s science is just far enough behind to do more harm than good, so it will be up to the fishermen in operation to prevent this from becoming wall street.

This entry was posted on July 29, 2011 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.