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25 Years in a Nutshell



Twenty-five years ago the National Marine Fisheries Service was ramping up groundfish regulations. After establishing permits, cutting fishing quota became the means to consolidate the fleet. Lobster landings were up and some groundfishermen went lobster fishing.

At about the same time lawyers brought Max Strahan’s lawsuit against NMFS over lobster trap lines and the right whale to the Supreme Court in 1997.

During the 1990s NOAA’s Office of Aquaculture was experimenting with various fish and plants. The choice in the international balance of trade category being finfish, salmon in particular.

Fast forward twenty-five years and NMFS, after amassing mountains of scientific data and accusing fishermen of effectively stealing fish, decided that selling the rights to fish was the best way to solve the groundfish reproduction problem. Which they have effectively done.

The goal from the beginning was to consolidate the fleet. Permits, individual tradable quota and catch shares became the means. Now that a handful of corporations own most of the New England groundfish quota, the fish are back. How? Maybe some Department of Commerce grease.

Now NMFS is feeling the heat from new lawsuits seeking to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The environmentalists’ lawyers are threatening that heads will roll. Despite the lack of anything but what only a kangaroo court would call concrete evidence, NMFS has declared that Maine lobster trap endlines are what right whales are getting entangled in.

Aquaculture may be about to boom. A range of smaller scale operations is developing, including shellfish and seaweed. The finfish operations are the largest in investment dollars.

In the last couple of years Maine’s aquaculture lease laws were changed significantly. Leases now run to 100 acres and are transferable. This was done by aquaculture lobbyists to encourage investment, but apparently without a lot of consideration of what it might mean in overall costs to the lives and livelihoods of other marine stakeholders.