May 2, 2013 — Vito Giacalone from the Northeast Seafood Coalition and Tom Dempsey from the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fisherman's Association sat down to discuss the recent groundfish allocation cuts.
Vito Giacalone explains how stricter regulations have made it difficult for fishermen to get re-permitted to abundant stocks.
"What's happened over 20 years is people have become specialized in the permitting process," said Giacalone. "We used to be very diversified…Now through specialized permitting, most of the fishermen are stuck with what they've got." Giacalone concludes that fishermen "can't just switch."
Giacalone also empasized how current management measures have created a smaller fishery that is more difficult to access.