December 12, 2013 — It’s hard to image an Ocean State without a commercial fishing industry, but one local business owner warns it could happen.
Increasingly restrictive federal regulations have cut the commercial fishing fleet in half over the last four years and are imperiling its future, according to Richard Fuka, the president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance.
“We’re at a dangerous low level,” Fuka said. If the fleet is diminished any further, Rhode Islanders could see a local heritage industry “slip away” and become “a museum piece,” Fuka says. Further tightening federal regulations he says could be just thing that pushes the industry over the edge, according to Fuka. (See below slides for data on the decline.)
Fuka said things took a decided turn for the worse after President Obama took office and his new appointee for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agenda has pursued a more aggressive regulatory agenda. But he says the industry was already chafing under regulations passed in the later years of the Bush administration.
Fishing contributes more than half a billion to RI economy
Data from an October 2011 study conducted by Cornell University confirm that the commercial fishing industry in Rhode Island was in decline, even before the full effect of the new regulations was felt. The number of state-licensed boats dropped from 1,488 to 1,298 between 2005 and 2011. Likewise, the demand for many state licenses has dried up. In 2011 the state issued 1,017 multi-purpose licenses. In 2011, it issued 867.
The decline in the Rhode Island fishing fleet is taking an economic toll as well: between 2006 and 2010, sales of locally caught fish dropped from $98.5 million to $60.4 million, according to the study. It was apparently the worst year since 1982, when sales were $56.7 million, in an absolute dollars-to-dollars comparison. But when those 1982 figures are adjusted for inflation, sales that year were actually $126 million, researchers found.
The fishing industry is a vital economic sector for Rhode Island. In 2010, commercial fishing generated a total of $763.3 million in sales and $239.9 million in income, when its indirect impact on distributors, restaurants, and grocers is taken into account, according to the study. The number of jobs related to the industry stood at 8,995.
The local restaurant industry is particularly reliant on commercial fishing, which generated $52.3 million in sales and $86.2 million in income for restaurants, along with 4,207 jobs, the data shows.
Read the full story at Go Local Providence