December 30, 2015 — HAMPTON, N.H. — New Hampshire fishermen locked horns with a federal agency this year over fishing regulations and mandatory costs they said would put them out of business for good.
The fight ultimately led to a federal lawsuit filed in December against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the nation’s fisheries. The suit challenged the legality of NOAA’s intent to make fishermen pay for observers to monitor their compliance with federal regulations. Fishermen said it was unfair they would be forced to pay for their own policing.
Fishermen were already struggling with regulations in the start of 2015. In August 2014, NOAA’s scientific arm reported that Gulf of Maine cod was down 97 percent from historic sustainable levels. That led NOAA to cut fishing allocations for commercial fishermen in 2015 by roughly 70 percent from last year. NOAA also prohibited recreational fishermen from catching any cod and limited haddock this year.
Half of the commercial groundfishing fleet went inactive this year as a result, leaving only nine. Many recreational fishermen have picked up land jobs for supplemental income and anticipate leaving the fishing business eventually for good.
Read the full story at the Portsmouth Herald