November 25, 2013 — Jonathan Elias of WBZ-TV, CBS-4 Boston, reports that the industry that built New England is at risk of disappearing. Fishing has always been a mainstay, but things have drastically changed. Environmentalists say global warming has depleted fish stocks. Fishermen argue there are fish, and regulations that defy common sense.
One fisherman told WBZ-TV that everybody has their boat up for sale. Another said, “A lot of the regulation I see serves no purpose other than to put me and my fellow fishermen out of business.”
Ten years ago feds told fishermen to catch less cod. They did.
They were told to buy permits that were hundreds of thousands of dollars. They did.
Feds installed black boxes to track every boat. Fishermen even had to ask permission to go fishing. They did that too.
All because they were told by 2014 the fish would be back and all would be well. Not true. Because federal scientists now say the cod is gone.
“You base all the management on best available science, now does that mean perfect science, of course not there is no such thing as perfect science,” says John Bullard of NOAA.
“There’s no cod out there,” says Bullard. “It’s not about science being right or wrong.”
As a result they have cut the catch limit for fisherman by 78 percent.
Massachusetts senior Senator Elizabeth Warren recently held a hearing to listen to fishermen and scientists plead their cases. “I’m not comfortable at all with the science,” Senator Warren said. “We are in a crisis here, and we should have had disaster relief nearly year ago.”
Declared a disaster last year, yet fishermen say they’ve seen not one penny of aid. Instead a new regulation that they say only hurts them more. NOAA wants observers to go on board all fishing boats, and want the fisherman to pay $600 to $800. Joe Orlando says on a good day he only makes $300.
Bullard says, “There’s documented science that says if you don’t have observers the information you get isn’t the correct information.”
Watch the video and read the full story at CBS Boston