Fishermen to Feds: More Resources Needed

by Laurie Schreiber



Senator Olympia Snowe hosted a session of top fishery representatives at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum.

The session was closed to the general public.

Snowe expressed her regret regarding the impending closure of the Stinson seafood plan in Prospect Harbor and said she continues to work to keep it open.

Snowe was joined by Vice Admiral Robert Papp, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area, and Eric Schwaab, the new head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

Schwaab came from a career at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Schwaab acknowledged the host of challenges he faces to boost the health of nation’s marine resources with little money to do the job. Schwaab said he was encouraged by the cutting-edge sector management initiative in the Northeast’s groundfishery – a regional example, he said, of fishermen taking on stewardship that also reflects the latest push at the federal level to promote catch share management.

Schwaab also promised to improve the effectiveness and equity of his law enforcement program in the face of a new report from the Commerce Department’s Inspector General. The report, commissioned in response to reports by members of Congress and state officials regarding reports of heavy-handed and unfair enforcement, says that the enforcement of fishery laws by the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Office for Law Enforce- ment and NOAA’s Office of General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation is unfair, heavy-handed, and lacks in transparency, particularly in NOAA’s Northeast Region.

“We take the Inspector General’s report very seriously,” Schwaab said. “We’re working diligently to improve the effectiveness and equity of our programs.”

Department of Marine Resources Commissioner George Lapointe invited Schwaab to study the Maine example, where the Maine Marine Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and fishing industry generally have a good relationship.

“If you want to know how to do things better, come here,” Lapointe said. “My advice is to keep the lines of communication open.”

Maine’s fishery representatives spoke to several top concerns. They asked for more funding to improve data collection and research in general. The recent cut in herring catch for 2010, considered unnecessary by many but based on uncertainty about the state of the resource, is a prime example of where the science needs to be improved, they said.

More funding, on top of the additional $10 million recently made available by Congress, will be needed for the region to transition to groundfish sectors, and greater flexibility is needed in the decision-making process, they said. Again, the herring cut was brought up as an example where the process forced regional managers to base their decision on the advice of their science advisors.

Schwaab said that, despite troubled economic times, he is eager to find ways to balance competing interests.

“One of the opportunities for us is to recognize the current economic realities we’re challenged by – to get back to collaboration, to provide additional tools, to provide additional investments,” Schwaab said.

Maine Lobstermen’s Association executive director Patrice McCarron said that, while the fishery she represents is regulated by the state, it is affected by decisions at the federal level, most immediately the cut in herring catch and regulations surrounding the protection of large whales. She echoed the general message, asking Schwaab to be proactive in finding the funds to conduct good science.

Most fishermen in Maine now depend on the lobster resource, agreed Robin Alden, executive director of the Penobscot East Resource Center in Stonington. This make the issues surrounding the herring fishery key to the survival of the lobster industry as well, McCarron and Alden said.

“Herring affects not just fishermen, but whole communities,” said Alden. “So it’s really important to do the work.”

Snowe wanted to know how she could help in the immediate aftermath of the herring decision. Lapointe said that funding is needed immediately in order to do the kind of sea sampling necessary this summer to assess the inshore herring resource, in time for the next herring stock assessment in 2011. “I don’t like the uncertainty that’s cleaning our clock,” he said.

Folks who attended the forum on Friday, when attendance was down from previous years, heard the latest updates on sector management in the groundfishery, lobster research, developments in the summer shrimp fishery, and more, and also had a chance to speak further with Schwaab at a separate session on the draft national policy to promote catch share management.