So, here's my report on the first week's rat race under catch shares.
Made six trips, had two boardings, two onboard observers, and five dockside monitors.
Fishing only 20 nets of 7-inch gear (we are allowed 60 and 6.5-inch gear as minimum mesh size) we landed roughly 31 percent of our full annual allocation of codfish, and that was trying to stay away from the fish!
Even more lethal than that is the status of one of my own personal "choke species" — Gulf of Maine winter flounder. Out of the whopping allocation of 250 pounds, we landed 177 — which represents 71 percent.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.