The City of Gloucester lost a lawsuit last month that accused the council of failing to address four of the ten national standards in the 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA), including Number 8, which requires the council to reduce the social and economic impacts of its regulations. Another lawsuit of a similar nature is pending.
"I think the CLF [Conservation Law Foundation] is suing us [the NEFMC] because we failed to address the national standards in our framework adjustments to Amendment 7," said Howard.
He explained that over the last few years, framework adjustments have been made to meet the goals of Amendment 7, which went into effect before enactment of the SFA. So far the council has only looked at the SFA requirement to rebuild stocks. "We're now developing measures for rebuilding and addressing the new standards."
According to the NEFMC's, Laurie LeFevre, Amendment 13 Ð the next revision of the region's groundfish management plan Ð will give the council its first opportunity to address SFA requirements as spelled out in the national standards. The social impact hearings represent the council's effort to meet Standard Number 8.
LeFevre will write a report based on the meetings and submit that to the council prior to discussions of Amendment 13. In her report, and the required Environmental Impact Statement for the new plan, she hopes to "identify social cultural issues of importance... and impacts of Amendments 5 and 7, and framework adjustments." She offered her working definition of a fishing community, and encouraged those attending the hearing to "think about the social impacts."
Most needed no encouragement, for several years they have thought about little else.
"I take severe offense," said Steve Robbins III, executive director of the Downeast Lobstermen's Association, "at you telling us what a fishing community is, and what social impacts are. It goes to demonstrate that the council is too far disaffected from these types of communities."
Many fishermen and family members spoke of feeling left out of the management process. Avila, a former NEFMC member said that even within the council, fishermen are left out of the loop.
"The council is driven by NMFS [the National Marine Fisheries Service] and the state reps. The regular fishermen on the council don't have a chance. You go into a room to discuss something and you feel that all the state representatives have already discussed it, you wonder what kind of process you're participating in. There are a lot of agendas fishermen aren't privy to."
But Howard pledged to get the fishermen's views before the council. He pointed out that the council received no funding to gather information, but was holding the hearings to meet its requirements.
Angela Sanfilippo, of the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association, thought the council's interest in social impacts seemed "funny."
She pointed out that people in her community have been telling the council about the social impacts of regulations in countless meetings. "They have me on tape for 23 years," she said. "They always said they could do nothing."
In spite of their frustration, fishing families told their stories. Sanfilippo pointed out the alarming fact that there are only three fishermen in Gloucester under the age of 30.
"We are losing an industry and culture that has been good for the Northeast," she said. "And we're losing it not for the lack of fish, but for the lack of people."
At the Ellsworth meeting, Ted Hoskins of Isle Au Haut, spoke for many when he talked about fishermen having their cultural identity "managed away from them" and the resulting "sense of frustration and self depreciation." Hoskins articulated many people's concerns about losing the next generation of fishermen: "When you tell your kid, Ôlisten, I know you love going out with me but don't do it, because it's nowhere to go.'"
Former commissioner of Maine's Department of Marine Resources, Robin Alden, blamed quota management in the late seventies for starting the trend that she claims led fishermen to forsake their sense of connection and commitment to the resources. "Fishermen said, this is crazy. I'm being asked to throw over dead fish in order to conserve them?"
According to Alden, quota management that led to discarding undermined "the credibility of management andÉ the whole nature of the fishery." Regulatory discarding has continued as a result of trip limits and according to Laurie LeFevre, the issue has been one of general concern at every one of the ten meetings.
Several fishermen at the Ellsworth meeting said that they quit groundfishing because of trip limits.
"I gave it up two years ago when [the trip limit for] cod went to thirty pounds," said Rick Bubar who used to go gillnetting out of Stonington. "I couldn't drag my ass out of bed to go out there and throw perfectly good codfish over the side of the boat."
Now Bubar and many fishermen who shifted their effort away from groundfish may lose there ability to return to the fishery, if the council takes measures to reduce the "latent effort" that these fishermen represent. "I think you can expect to see some form of control on latent effort," said the NEFMC's Paul Howard. "Either buybacks, consolidation of permits, or freezing days at sea."
Bubar expressed dismay that the fishermen who continued to fish have had to throw away thousands of pounds of cod. "And those big boats are still out there," he said. "Now they want my permit and my days so they can keep destroying the industry. And I've taken two years off as a conservation effort, and I'm gettingÉ shafted."
Like many other communities, most Stonington boats now rely on lobstering, and a downturn in that industry could lead to severe consequences. Several people at that meeting pointed out the domino effects of shifting effort from one fishery to another and not allowing that effort to shift back. "It stresses all the other industries," said Stonington town clerk, Kathleen Billings. "I see a lot of guys coming in for clam licenses who used to crew in boats." Billings wondered how much effort the clams could stand. She expressed concern about the weakening of the industry's infrastructure, as well as the community's. Billings noted that schools, the banking and real estate business would all suffer if lobstering goes down and fishermen lose their option to go groundfishing. "This place could turn into a ghost town," she said.
According to Maine state senator, Jill Goldthwait, while the council is now talking about how to maintain fishing communities, management appears to be pushing those communities over the brink. "Effort on the management side is pushing toward the corporate structure, with fewer people involved and consolidation," said Goldthwait.
Angela Sanfilippo echoed Bubar's and Goldthwait's feeling that bigger boats are being handed the resource. "The regulations all lead to corporate takeover," she said.
In Ellsworth fishermen offered their ideas on how to keep the groundfish industry alive in small communities.
Ted Ames, a former Stonington gillnetter, pointed out that modern trawlers are designed to harvest 12 million pounds of fish a year, while a 45-foot boat is lucky to catch 250,000 pounds in the same time frame. He pointed out that small fishing communities depend on easy access to a variety of fisheries. As a way to allow small boats to keep their permits, Ames suggested restricting latent permits from being shifted to bigger boats. "That way the big boats won't have to worry about this mosquito fleet taking all their fish," he said.
Bill Look, of Jonesport, insisted that when the groundfish come back, people need access to the fishery. "There are only six of us who have permits. How's that going to help the community?" he asked. "The resource is fine, but if we can't divide it among the people so they can go to work, you haven't done a thing," said Look. Howard suggested some sort of area management where local fishermen call their own shots.
"I think that would be a wonderful thing," said Look, "Because we'll survive together, but if you split us apart, you'll destroy us." In the upper echelons of management policy however, fishermen's views and ideas may still not be heard. Goldthwait, pointed out that when she sought to recommend the names of fishermen to President Clinton's newly formed Oceans Council, "there was a very long pause on the other end of the line. The thought of involving fishermen in that commission apparently had never crossed their minds."
The failure of regulators to seek fishermen's input has caused many longtime participants in the industry to question their own worth. "I used to be proud to tell people my father was a fisherman," said Rick Bubar's wife, Jen. "I'm not proud today to tell people my husband is a fisherman. Nowadays if you tell people you're a fisherman, you're looked down upon." The image of the industry has not been helped by environmental groups targeting the fishermen, according to Sanfilippo. "I think many of them are phony," she said. "If they don't care about people, then they don't really care about the resources either."
Nor did Sanfilippo appreciate the movie, The Perfect Storm. "My daughter came home from that movie crying, Ômama what a bad image for the industry, that's not what fishing is like.' I lived through that experience," she said of the famous storm. "Now we're being exploited."
Sanfilippo recently returned from France, where she saw a different situation. "There, the fishermen are respected," she said. "They don't live in constant fear that the fishery will be taken away any day."
In Ellsworth, Ted Hoskins asked Howard what could realistically be done to turn things around. Howard responded that using the information gleaned at the social impact hearings, management techniques, such as days at sea, closures, and trip limits could now be evaluated in terms of their economic impact on communities; and, he hoped, the council would be able to make more informed decisions.
There will be plenty of opportunities for people to bolster the report with their own testimony, noted Howard. "We'll be discussing Amendment 13 in March, and in July there will be public hearings on the alternatives the council comes up with."
At the Gloucester meeting, when Howard gave a similar explanation of what would be done with the social impact information, Sanfilippo felt frustrated. "The people wanted to hear more," she said. "They wanted them to say, Ônow that we see how much damage these regulations have done, we're going to change.' Now I don't think things will improve. Our anguish doesn't matter."
In spite of her feelings however, Sanfilippo and other members of New England's fishing communities, met with Howard and LeFevre to tell their stories in the hopes that finally someone might listen. The NEFMC representatives assured them that getting the social impact report in front of the council before it makes a decision on new regulations will make a difference.
"I'm not making any promises," said LeFevre. "But I think it will help."