Each week on WBSM in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bob Vanasse of Saving Seafood joins host Phil Paleologos to discuss issues related to the fisheries with news-making guests.
Food & Water Watch, a non-profit consumer organization that promotes safe and sustainable seafood, just issued a groundbreaking report on the human cost of NOAA's catch shares program. Moments after the study's release, Zach Corrigan and Christina Lizzi shared their thoughts on the report's implications with Phil and Bob. In the words of the press statement announcing the group's findings:
Fishing is being privatized and catch shares are consolidating the industry. Need proof? Look no further than, “Fish, Inc. — The Privatization of U.S. Fisheries Through Catch Share Programs,” a special report released today by Food & Water Watch. The report offers frightening insight on just how much the catch shares program has affected the loss of fishing jobs throughout the country, especially in New Bedford and Gloucester.
For example, in 2010, just five months after one particular catch shares program was first introduced in a New England port, 55 of 500 boats in the local fishery ended up with 61 percent of the revenue. This is how catch shares really work.
NOAA’s catch shares programs have already grown 150 percent in the past decade. Now, they are looking to amp up the program and expand it by 33 percent over the next five years. It’s time to stop the hemorrhaging of fishing jobs. We are asking Congress to defund NOAA’s catch shares programs. Let’s not spend money on a program that puts fishermen out of work.
[listen to this latest episode at Saving Seafood Radio]