Martha’s Vineyard and Maine Fishermen Hold Historic Sector Meeting
Sector member Martha’s Vineyard fisherman Todd Mayhew making a point at the Northeast Coastal Communities Sector breakfast meeting at The Samoset in Rockland. Listening closely are Michele Mayhew and Greg Mayhew also of Martha’s Vineyard. The Mayhew’s are 12th generation Martha's Vineyard fishermen.
The Maine Fisher-men’s Forum at The Samoset in Rockland March 2nd provided the perfect opportunity for the inaugural meeting of members of the North- east Coastal Communities Sector (NCCS). Fisher- men from Martha’s Vineyard, Bar Harbor, Jonesport, and Swan’s Island gathered over a 6am breakfast to elect their governing board and plan for the opening of this year’s groundfishing season. This historic event heralds the possibility of landing sizeable amounts of groundfish in eastern Maine for the first time in almost twenty years.
Formed last fall and managed by Penobscot East Resource Center, NCCS is one of seventeen new groundfish co-management sectors working with the National Marine Fisheries Service. Sectors are a new federal management tool that allows fishermen to fish when they choose, in exchange for abiding by strict catch limits. The twenty Northeast Coastal Communities Sector members must also agree to protect the habitat by fishing with only hooks or traps and to take responsibility for each other’s behavior.
The group includes twelve fishermen from eastern Maine, five from Martha’s Vineyard, two from Sandwich on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and one from Mastic, Long Island, New York, Said NCCS manager Aaron Dority:
“Sectors are not defined by geography. Martha’s Vineyard fishermen have much in common with our eastern Maine fishermen – they too have been marginalized by fishing regulations and the big commercial fishing fleets. And they share our conservation values and the vision of a sustainable fishery.”
Sector members are allocated fishing quota for the fishing year according to their catch history of all stock between 1996 and 2006. Not all the members will fish this season. Though localized depletion and strict regulations, prevented most members from fishing during that decade, the NCCS Sector currently has an allocation of more than 360,000 lbs of fish that members will be licensed to catch, thanks to the quota attached to Penobscot East’s permit bank. Legal size fish can be sold and Penobscot East expects that fishermen out of Stonington, Deer Isle and Jonesport will market their fresh catch directly to local consumers through the new groundfish community supported fishery (CSF) beginning this May. Swan’s Island sector member Jason Joyce observed:
“When I was young, there were over a dozen fishermen on Swan’s actively catching groundfish and today no one fishes commercially for groundfish anymore. This Sector is our only opportunity to rebuild that fishery for my community.”
For more information about the Northeast Coastal Communities Sector (NCCS), the Penobscot East Resource Center’ Sentinel Fishery or the Groundfish CSF, please contact Downeast Groundfish Initiative Director, Aaron Dority. aaron@penobscoteast.org or on (207) 367-2708.