May 18, 2012 – NEW BEDFORD — A drastic cut in the allowable catch of yellowtail flounder has left the groundfish industry in New Bedford bracing for economic disaster. In response, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service and the New England Fishery Management Council assembled a working group to look for ways to help fishermen affected by the decision.
Yellowtail landings account for roughly 20 percent of groundfish revenue in New Bedford, but more importantly, fishermen need the allocation to enable them to land other lucrative stocks, such as winter flounder and haddock which mingle with yellowtail.
The working group is coming to the city for a public meeting next Wednesday to discuss the recent stock assessment and to look for ways to mitigate the effects of the cuts, fishery managers say. "This is a problem for us, for the industry, for everybody," said Pat Fiorelli, the public affairs officer for the NEFMC.
Fishery regulators shocked the industry last month when they announced that the catch for the 2012 fishing year, which began May 1, would be just 218 metric tons. The groundfish fleet working on Georges Bank landed around 1,140 metric tons of yellowtail last year.
Following a dire assessment of cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine that threatens to put the Gloucester fleet out of business, an 80 percent reduction in the yellowtail catch poses a similar danger to New Bedford draggers.
Read the full article at the New Bedford Standard Times.