December 21, 2012 — In an often emotional day-long meeting Thursday, the New England Fishery Management Council put off action on drastic cuts in catch limits for groundfishermen until next month.
The council voted 15-2 to delay a vote until its next meeting, Jan. 29-31. Proposed allocations for the year starting May 1 have been cut drastically, 75 percent for some species.
A Groundfish Committee proposal that would have replaced those cuts with an across-the-board cut of 10 percent of the 2012 landings was declared out of order by council Chairman C. M. "Rip" Cunningham. He said it wouldn't satisfy the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act that governs fishing and could never be accepted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The proposal had already been sideswiped by Peter Shelley, senior counsel for the Conservation Law Foundation, for the same reason. He threatened a lawsuit, drawing boos from the packed hall where about 150 New England fishermen faced down the council. About 20 people from Greater New Bedford were among those in attendance.
Several fishermen predicted they and most of their colleagues would be out of business next May 1 because they aren't making money now and could not absorb heavy cuts in their catch allowances.
Former New Bedford Mayor John K. Bullard, who heads the NOAA fisheries in the Northeast region, said "making the right decision is going to be very, very hard."
The decision pits the fishing community against the conservationists, which has happened before. But this time the entire industry in the Northeast is at major risk.
Fisherman Mark Carroll, of Gloucester, his voice rising with anger, stood up at the microphone and told the council: "You might as well shut down everything right now. Right now."
There were predictions that every small boat up to 50 feet would likely be forced out of business because of the cost of fuel, the cost of buying adequate quota, the low landing prices for fish, and the cost of running sector management. Many fishing trips now end with no one making any money at all, fishermen said.
Several fishermen, including Carroll, expressed disgust that they will be sitting home collecting unemployment rather than doing the work they love. Some, like those in New Hampshire, won't get any unemployment benefits.
The council, stymied about what to do, decided to put off a decision until its Jan. 29-31 meeting, by which time they will get some guidance from NOAA.
Much of Thursday's meeting dealt with the flawed science used to make quota decisions, especially the data collected by the research vessel Bigelow. Seafood consultant Jim Kendall, of New Bedford, along with council member John Quinn, of Dartmouth, ridiculed NOAA for making decisions with nothing but poor science, speculation and guesswork.
Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times