PLYMOUTH — Scores of fishermen have stopped going to sea in the past year as controversial new rules take hold that could fundamentally alter the storied fishing economy, culture, and communities of New England.
There are some signs the new rules, which assign groups of fishermen a quota on their catch of cod and other bottom-hugging fish, could accelerate a trend of consolidating those boats into far fewer, more efficient vessels. Some small-boat fishermen are selling or leasing their allotment to others under the new rules because they cannot turn a profit.
“This may not be the end of fishing, but it is the end of fishing as we know it,’’ said Steve Welch, as he tinkered on one of his two boats, the Holly & Abby, in Plymouth. Nearby, his dog Hudson ate mussels that seagulls dropped on an icy dock. Welch leased the fishing privileges on both his boats and laid off three workers this year. “We are talking jobs, tradition, culture,’’ he said. “All that will be left are large boats owned by corporations with deep pockets.’’
The fears over consolidation are raising questions among fishermen, environmentalists, and federal officials over what New England’s beleaguered fishing industry should look like when depleted fish stocks rebound.
Regulators are meeting today to decide what additional measures, if any, the fleet needs to maintain diversity of ownership, ports, and the size of boats under the new rules. What they do will have ramifications not only for New England fishermen but across the country as similar management schemes are proposed.
Under the new scheme, most fishermen are divided into groups called sectors, which are given a share of the annual quota of cod, flounder, and other bottom-dwelling fish. That quota is then divided among fishermen. The rules were approved by the New England Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service in part to help fishermen deal with a brutal truth: Despite years of cutting fish catches to combat overfishing, the fish were still not coming back fast enough to comply with a 1996 law. That meant dramatically lower fish catches for most fishermen this year.
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