SEABROOK, N.H. — The federal government's new catch share regulatory system has been almost literally killing off New Hampshire's commercial fishing industry, fishermen and state experts told a panel of federal officials earlier this week.
The controversial method of allocating who can catch fish has cost this state's only fishing cooperative, or "sector," based in Seabrook Harbor, $750,000 in business, fishermen told the visiting panel from the Department of Commerce.
It has cut the number of fishermen landing catches by two-thirds, they said. And it has killed off fishing jobs and exacted a high price on the lives of the men and women of the state's fishing fleet — resulting in a number of attempted suicides and divorces.
The hearing, hosted by a panel from the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration marked a continuation of a tour of New England fishing ports that began two weeks ago in New Bedford and Gloucester.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.