FROM THE CROWE’S NEST

The Only And The Best

The fact that an emergency plan like Framework 42 has to be implemented in the Gulf of Maine is a bad sign for both management and fishermen. Management can’t fix the problem and they haven’t been able to let fishermen try.

It takes a lot of will, experience, money and courage to groundfish. The financial dangers of operating in an industry in the condition this one is in are another threat. These facts say something about the fisherman’s connections to work and community. They have a lot more to lose than money.

Three and a half decades of management plans, enough scientific documents to fill several Wal-Mart buildings to the ceiling, remote judges making blind demands on the industry, and all of it leaving things in a worse state, has got to mean something. No fisherman will need help to figure out what that something is.

The framers of the Sustainable Fisheries Act didn’t consider what they were likely unaware of. Which is, that more than hooks may be depleting fish stocks. Global ocean warming, smoke stack effluent, trillions of gallons of waste run off, recreational fishing booms and the misguided government policy are now commonly figured into probable cause equations.

At the same time sword fish stocks are now considered 100% restored, proving restoration possible. The effort required considerable sacrifice by the U.S. long line fishery. The U.S led the way in gear changes to reduce by catch and to protect juvenile fish.

Some fishermen are looking warily on management’s recent call for help from fishermen in crafting a new approach to groundfish management. Other fishermen have al-ready made new management plans, believing the stocks, the boats and the communities can be restored. The input into the system is what fishermen sought, but were refused decades ago. Now their practical knowledge needed to construct a plan.

Management, from the legislative top down, needs to look at ways to not only preserve fish, but to preserve fishermen. Fishermen are not the only factors impacting fish stocks. Misguided government policy, inadequate management plans and environmental changes are not being considered as causes in the decline of fish stocks.

There are not a lot of options on the table for fishermen. Participation may be the only and the best option.