FROM THE CROWE’S NEST

Hard Decisions

An appointed Maine seat on the New England Fisheries Management Council was filled last month. The first choice of ground fishermen, lobstermen, scientists, some council members, DMR commissioner Lapointe, Governor Baldacci, and the broadest based coalition seen in years, was Port Clyde, Maine ground fisherman Gary Libby. But the Department of Commerce instead appointed a paid lobbyist for the herring trawler industry, third of four choices.

Supporters had hoped Libby could represent the small boat fleet, reduce herring trawling in ground fish closed areas, and address trawler bycatch, – all fundamental to saving the imperiled ground fish resource. The appointment of what amounts to an opponent of Libby’s goals caused an explosion of speculation on how he could have been passed over.

Speculation, born of exclusion from the full process, pointed to the deep pockets of the industrial trawler fleet and influence in Washington, DC. One pro-Libby council member said, "I don’t know, I’m in the dark on this like everyone else.”

Well, that, is the problem. The final decision was made in the dark, out of sight and reach of the majority. The appointment process, is not democratic. The result is no balanced representation of stakeholder interests. The public resource is managed as though it were the private preserve of fewer and fewer corporate owners. Owners whose D.C. political power easily trumps the majority’s choices made at the state level.

All participants have a right to work to seat their candidate. The commissioner’s responsibility is to choose candidates who will address the immediate pressing issues. His office was no doubt lobbied vigorously by the trawlerfleet. But by including a candidate known to have the most Washington political clout, the Maine DMR was effectively making the final decision.

Maine fishermen don’t have paid lobbyists. Their strength is in numbers, unity, and coalitions. The commissioner’s power is at state level. Maine fishermen need, and back, strength on the hard decisions here.
The herring trawler fleet concerns are at most modest compared to the desperate situation that New England ground fishermen, and the resource face. Until and unless the hard decisions that must be made are made on ground fish, the resource is doomed.