FISHERY ADVOCATES SEE DISASTER
IN GROUNDFISH CUTS
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The requested funding will be used to provide both immediate economic relief to the region’s struggling groundfish industry, and to make targeted investments that will allow the fleet to survive and become more sustainable in the years ahead. “There are a lot of human families who get affected by this. It’s hard to determine how much fish are in the ocean. A lot of this problem is not to do with science. It’s the management that comes out of science advice, that affects fishermen.” – Rodney Avila, commercial fisherman. © Photo by Sam Murfitt.
On Aug. 2, the NEFMC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a document indicating reductions ranging from 45 percent to 73 percent in the ACLs for fishing year 2013 for a number of stocks in the Northeast multispecies fishery.
The SSC has responsibility under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to make recommendations for acceptable biological catch, which in turn limit ACLs developed by the NEFMC. Rodney Avila of New Bedford asked the SSC to consider the potential impact of the cuts on fishermen and fishing communities.
Avila is a fourth-generation commercial fisherman whose son, son-in-law and two grandsons also fish.
“Many times, you people are so involved in the models you’re running and you don’t see what’s happening outside this room,” said Avila, who has been a member of the New England Fishery Management Council. “Outside this room, all the advice you give to the council affects human lives. They affect people who have been in this industry from day one. We’ve seen many ports go out of business. Once somebody leaves the industry, very rarely do they come back.”
Avila said the difficult regulatory environment has caused his son to leave the fishing business. He said his two grandsons, now in their early 20s, are also thinking about leaving the business.
“I just wanted you to know what happens on the other end,” Avila said. “There are a lot of human families who get affected by this. It’s hard to determine how much fish are in the ocean. When we make decisions, we always seem to go on the side of the fish. Well, the fish will always be there. Fishermen will never catch the last fish, because it [would be] unprofitable. A lot of this problem is not to do with science. It’s the management that comes out of science advice, that affects fishermen.”
The letter says the proposed cuts “would induce devastating economic and social impacts on the cities of New Bedford and Gloucester, Mass., on insufficient grounds. The multispecies fishery plays a critical role in the port economies of both New Bedford and Gloucester. Annual groundfish revenues in New Bedford and Gloucester are approximately $20 million and $27 million, respectively.” The cuts would also impact shoreside businesses, such as shipyards, ice, fuel, gear, welding, transport, and business functions, the letter says.
“Taken on its own, then, the groundfish industry is worth a combined total of $141 million to New Bedford and Gloucester alone.”
One species in the multispecies fishery, yellowtail flounder, is essential bycatch in the scallop fishery.
“In New Bedford,” the letter says, “scallops generate approximately $400 million in annual revenue and $1.2 billion in annual economic activity.
If implemented, the forecasted cuts would deal a crippling blow to the groundfish and scallop industries and eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs. The reduced ACLs would also likely accelerate the consolidation process unleashed in 2010 by the imposition of the sector management system in the multispecies fishery.”
The forecasted cuts are not based on ironclad science, the letter says.
“Hardly a month goes by without news of a new stock assessment crisis, in which the government announces, seemingly without adequate scientific explanation, that a once healthy stock is in jeopardy,” the letter says. “The most recent crisis concerns the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder stock assessment, which appears to be based on a flawed model.
Months earlier, the 2011 Gulf of Maine cod assessment, which showed a dramatic negative change from the 2008 assessment, was called into question. And when the 2011 Groundfish Stock Assessment Updates were conducted, significant unexplained discrepancies (19 percent to 67 percent deviations) in the estimate of stock biomass were noted for seven stocks (Cape Cod-Gulf of Maine yellowtail, Georges Bank cod, Georges Bank haddock, plaice, witch flounder, redfish, and Gulf of Maine haddock). Given the uncertainty in the stock assessments- but the certain economic, social, and cultural destruction in New Bedford and Gloucester if the forecasted cuts were to be implemented- we ask you to recommend to the NEFMC that the status quo in ACLs be maintained while the uncertainties in the science are examined.”
Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney with the Fairhaven-Mass.-based Fisheries Survival Fund, said the model used by the SSC to assess the fishery has “fundamental problems.”
Addressing the SSC, Mitchell said that, “In preserving species over local economies, the government is making a value judgment….When there comes a time, as it has now, to implement regulations that would have dramatic impact on ports such as New Bedford and Gloucester, we have to hold up a second. ‘Should we really do this, at this point? What happens if we wait?’ There are real consequences to this….It’s fair to assume that many people will lose their jobs, and ports in the northeast will lose a tremendous amount of revenue.”
Government officials in Massachusetts and Rhode Island have contacted the U.S. Department of Commerce, seeking a federal disaster declaration for the New England groundfishery. Such a declaration would prompt the Commerce Department to work with Congress to provide financial relief and support to the fishery. Maine and New Hampshire have been waiting for more than half a year for a response from the Commerce Department to separate filings for fishery disaster declarations.
Governor Paul LePage sent his initial request in November 2011. More recently, on Sept. 12, LePage signed a letter with other New England governors to Congressional Leaders, seeking disaster assistance for New England fishermen and fishing communities. The request is for $100 million in financial relief and support to the fishery.
“Unfortunately, despite the peril of our fishermen, we continue to wait for the Department of Commerce to respond to our request,” LePage said in a press release. “Now, the need for disaster relief is more critical than ever as fishermen and related businesses in our coastal communities are bracing for additional, potentially devastating cuts to the New England groundfishery in 2013.”
The requested funding will be used to provide both immediate economic relief to the region’s struggling groundfish industry, and to make targeted investments that will allow the fleet to survive and become more sustainable in the years ahead, the release said.
There are approximately 45 Maine-based vessels actively fishing with federal groundfish permits. Last year, more than 5 million pounds of groundfish, with a dockside value approaching $5.8 million, were landed in Maine.
His request came on the heels of a report documenting the loss of jobs and revenue to Maine resulting from management changes in the groundfishery.
“This report only confirmed what Maine fishermen and their families already knew far too well – over time, Maine has suffered severe cumulative impacts that have decimated our groundfishing fleet,” LePage said in a press release at the time. “Federal fisheries disaster relief is needed to assist this industry during these difficult times and ensure that when this fishery recovers, Maine can retain its rightful access to this resource.”
Between 2009 and 2010, Maine suffered a reduction in the number of its groundfishing vessels from 63 to 42, a 33 percent reduction that was the greatest loss, in percentage terms, in the Northeast region. Groundfish landings in Maine decreased from an overall high of nearly 28 million pounds in 1992 to slightly more than 3 million pounds in 2010.
A statement issued by the South Berwick-based Associated Fisheries of Maine, on Aug. 31, said, “the reductions in catch limits pending for the 2013 and 2014 fishing years are unprecedented in their severity. From New Bedford groundfish and scallop fishermen dependent on yellowtail, to Cape Cod and Gloucester fishermen dependent on cod, to Maine fishermen dependent on plaice and witch flounder - no segment of the industry will go unscathed.”
In a recent statement, the Northeast Seafood Coalition said it is “committed to evaluating and pursuing every possible option to mitigate impacts of the dire forecast for 2013 fishing opportunities on our membership and the groundfish fishing industry.”
NSC is the largest membership organization in the northeast groundfish fishery, and represents a majority of the active fishermen in the region.
“Year after year, industry has complied with everything the science and management have asked for; but ultimately, the status of several core stocks continues to decline,” NSC said. “There are much larger forces at work in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank than just controlling fishing mortality or preventing overfishing on an instantaneous basis. It’s time for NOAA, managers and Congress to openly acknowledge that low productivity of fish stocks is outside the control of the law or fisheries management and we can no longer continue to destroy fishing communities in an effort to control the uncontrollable. It is not only unfair to hold fishermen fully and exclusively accountable to the natural cycles of complex natural ecosystems, but it is irresponsible to continue in this manner. It is now time to review and understand the larger picture of this ecosystem and develop management strategies that are more reflective of this stark actuality. An overhaul is required, or else there will be no groundfish fishery.”