October 6, 2020 — Over his more than five decades fishing commercially, Frank Mirarchi has watched the business evolve from thriving and straightforward to complicated and diminished, with skyrocketing costs, foreign competition and changing regulations choking an industry synonymous with the South Shore.
In the late 1960s, when he purchased his first of three successive boats, fish was abundant enough to make a solid living off of.
“You worked hard, you caught a lot of fish, the fish were actually enough to compensate you for their cost,” he said.
In the 70s, he had two other men work on his boat with them, and their catch was enough to support all three families.
But the technologically-advanced equipment and permits have gotten prohibitively expensive for many, while regulations aimed at replenishing overfished populations have not been successful, Mirachi said.
Up until the 1970s, fishing was largely unregulated. In 1976, the US government extended its jurisdiction from 12 miles off coast to 200, eliminating foreign competition and leading to a rush of new US fishermen, creating a fish scarcity from overfishing.
“By 1985 or so, fishing was pretty bad,” Mirachi said. With profits dropping, he switched from having two other crew members to one.