Capt. Frank Mirarchi, of the F/V Barbara L. Peters, in Scituate, Mass. wrote to Seafood News, http://www.seafoodnews.com
It is truly sad and ironic that, at a time when New England standsready to embark on a catch shares management program that has thepotential to unleash the productive potential which once made ourfisheries legends, blind adherence to arbitrary targets and deadlinesthreatens this opportunity with economic catastrophe. Reading your 11/24 news analysis column (NE Council takes firsttentative step to rescue catch share program) provides a glimmer ofhope that reason and long term vision may still exist in theinterstices of our otherwise bureaucratized and myopic managementsystem. It is truly sad and ironic that, at a time when New Englandstands ready to embark on a catch shares management program that hasthe potential to unleash the productive potential which once made ourfisheries legends, blind adherence to arbitrary targets and deadlinesthreatens this opportunity with economic catastrophe.
In 48 years of fishing in the Gulf of Maine, I have personallywitnessed bounteous catches dwindle to a pittance in the early 1990’s;then dramatically rebound as the cumulative effects of days at seareductions, area closures and a myriad of additional input controlsreduced fishing effort to a fraction of recent levels. Concomitantly,regulatory discards surged from nearly insignificant levels to anestimated 50% of our catch even as profits withered under a siege ofefficiency stifling rules.
Fishermen in our communities are astounded by the paradox of abundantcatches while they struggle to maintain their businesses. Untilrecently we looked forward to the advent of fishing sectors as arational way to balance the need for conservation with the opportunityfor more autonomy in business decisions. Then the intractableinflexibility of which you write in the context of scallop managementarrived at our doorstep.
First the NMFS data base of landings history, which serves as the basisfor initial sector allocations, proved to be deeply flawed, riddledwith errors and missing substantial components of individual’shistories. Then, when afforded the opportunity to correct theseomissions, fishermen were told that they would not receive allocationsfrom the corrected histories until 2011, leaving them to subsist for afull year on the results of somebody else’s mistake!
Then, as the Council developed the Annual Catch Limits newly requiredby the 2006 Magnuson Stevens Re authorization Act, the harm done to thestock assessment process by largely unmonitored regulatory discardingbecame manifest. Increasingly assessment models have begun to exhibitretrospective patterns, often indicative of unquantified mortality. Insuch instances, the precautionary principle, a secular analog to the 10Commandments, requires reductions in ABC. Moreover, the new requirementto eliminate overfishing and the inflexible timeline to rebuild stocksprecipitated further reductions in the calculation of TAC, theprecursor to ACL’s. The result, finalized by the November NEFMC meetingwere ACL’s which represented 30% to 60% cuts in 2010 catches versus2008 landings.
The combination of flawed histories and precautionary reductions in ACLhave sapped the optimism which pervaded the initial discussions onsectors/ catch shares. Absent intervention by those of broader vision,these conditions threaten the economic sustainability of large segmentsof the groundfish fishery.
Your comments relative to the GBK yellowtail stock are, in fact, a callto arms for all fisheries. It is ironic and unconscionable that, at thedawn of an era of opportunity provided by catch share management, thedevelopment potential of New England’s fisheries, as well as the livesand businesses of hard working fishermen, are in peril due to a slavishand myopic adherence to arbitrary deadlines. Our CongressionalDelegation should take notice and clarify their intent in draftingMSRA. If they want to restore the economic vitality and foodproductivity of New England’s fishery resources, they must speak out.
Sincerely,
Frank Mirarchi,
F/V Barbara L. Peters,
Scituate, Mass.
PS. I greatly appreciated and benefited from meeting the Alaskanfishermen at the Seafood.com meeting in Gloucester recently. Thank youfor the opportunity.