NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — August 7, 2012 — The news that federal regulators are planning to slash allowable catch for the 2013 fishing year has left groundfishermen on the New Bedford waterfront worried about their future.
"It's not looking good. This is going to put everybody out of business," said Alex Smith, captain and owner of the dragger Buzzards Bay, as his crew worked on gear at Steamship Pier on Monday afternoon.
A Westport resident who has been fishing for 20 years, Smith fishes primarily on Georges Bank and his family owns three boats, he said. But with estimated cuts of 70 percent predicted for Georges Bank cod and 51 percent for yellowtail flounder when the new fishing year begins on May 1, the future looks cloudy. "If we're lucky, we'll get to run one boat and maybe make a paycheck," he said.
Smith said he is already buying quota from other fishermen to keep his boats fishing because the current allocations are so low. "They keep giving us less and less. But the fish come and go. It's just nature," he said.
Cuts to the yellowtail allocation pose a real threat, Smith said. "We need the yellowtail to catch flounders," he said, because the two stocks mingle. The current catch limits should be maintained for at least another year, he said.
Farther down the wharf, Todd Bragdon, owner and captain of the Resilient, was shaking his head at the news. Bragdon said he has permits to go groundfishing or scalloping so he will not be badly affected. "But the groundfishermen aren't going to be able to make it," he said.
The cuts are depressing since fishermen have adhered to rebuilding programs for at least 15 years, he said. Like many in the industry, Bragdon also questioned the fish surveys and stock assessments carried out by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said he believes stocks are not as depleted as regulators are indicating.
"Who do you want to build your house, an architect or a carpenter?" he said. "Scientists are not fishermen. So who do you have catch your fish, a scientist or a fisherman?"
Retired fisherman Bill Turner was bringing iced coffee to the crew of the scalloper Sharon K. Turner, who used to own the dragger Cheyenne, said he is glad he sold out. He blamed government bureaucracy for the industry's current woes.
"They don't want to lose their jobs so they keep having meetings, making up rules and redoing the forms you have to fill out," he said.
Louie Pacheco, Sharon K's captain, agreed. "The government has messed this up," he said.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times.