Vincenzo Russo, a fisherman here for 35 years, used to fish as many days as he wanted, but federal regulations now require him to secure expensive permits — up to $500,000 — if he wants to fish more than 73 days a year.
To protect declining stocks, the government has been increasing efforts to restrict the number of groundfish — species like cod, haddock and flounder found at the bottom of the sea — that can be caught per day and narrowing the number of days New England fishermen can be out.
“The 1970s were the good old days when I could spend 220 days fishing,” Mr. Russo grumbled. “Now I have to pay over half a million dollars just to be allowed to fish like I used to.”