Quotas, Consolidation Pounds N.E. Fleet
by Brett Tolley, Aaron Dority, and Phil Karlin
Dave Chew cleaning fish aboard the Jamie and Ashley out of Gloucester on Jordan Basin. Low quota is forcing out many small fishing businesses. Fishermen know the biology and economics of fishing are widely misunderstood by the public. The fishermen know huge ships depleted stocks decades ago. When the 2014 deadline for rebuilding is reached, fishermen say only the handful of heavily capitalized ships will be there to reap what small boat fishermen sacrificed so much to rebuild. ©Photo by Sam Murfitt
“I have witnessed first hand the “excessive consolidation” of various fisheries and can say that it most definitely is one of those disastrous changes that allows big money operations to eat up and buy out the independently-owned small family business at the expense of our local communities as well as the conservation of our oceans…”
– New York fisherman June 23 Council testimony
On June 23, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) met in Portland, Maine. Fishermen’s testimony from New York, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island raised concern over the socio-economic shortcomings of Groundfish Amendment 16 (the new sector management plan adopted by NEFMC), and how those shortcomings could undermine the ecological objectives of the Amendment.
