F R O M   T H E   C R O W E ’ S   N E S T

A Long Time Coming



 The plight of New England ground fishermen has had plenty of publicity lately. If there were as much being done about the problem as there is recognition of it a solution may be nearer at hand.

The contraction that we’ve seen for the last ten years and NMFS ‘s 2004 goal to reduce capacity are not derived from Magnuson Stevens Act mandates to cut the small boat fleet out of the resource equation. Nor is dumping the economic losses from this “capacity reduction” on the backs of fishing communities anywhere mandated in the MSA.

The implication of NMFS’s capacity reduction actions is that getting small boats off the water is the only means to end over fishing. So long as NMFS is allowed to continue this agenda and the NEFMC continues to allow political foot dragging to get in the way of honest progress all the way to the 2014 deadline, then the MSA mandate that is involved, that being the protection of fishing communities, will be used as a doormat for the big industry players.

Working to develop solutions that ultimately will only benefit corporate absentee owners? Who the hell among real New England fishermen wants to participate in that?

Capacity reduction could just as easily be interpreted to mean the individual capacity of a fishing vessel. Capacity tied to resource capacity, not to hold capacity, is an equation that can include the small boat fleet and their communities. How many boats can make a living fishing off a resource is a measure of capacity.

All the politician’s talk about job losses and job creation is a shell game. The jobs that they helped send away are never coming back, and if they don’t do something serious to keep small boats in the water those jobs will never come back. Boat building, gear, dealers, shore side services, the entire infrastructure of small businesses are job creators right now.

The coming scoping sessions in New England are an opportunity for fishermen to have an impact on the front end of the move to address accumulation limits and maintaining fleet diversity. Fishermen and supporters will have an opportunity to help determine who will fish in the future. The opportunity has been a long time coming, and it very likely will not come again.