June 4, 2013 — How can you and I support Maine's proud groundfish heritage and future? We can buy local. Fresh, healthy Maine fish, just off the boat, is available through your local grocer, restaurant or through direct-to-consumer programs, like community supported fisheries.
I had the privilege of visiting several Maine seafood businesses in March at the Boston Seafood show, where I was proud to announce that Maine's lobster fishery had received the prestigious Marine Stewardship Council's Sustainable Seafood Certification. Last year, the harvest generated $338 million for lobstermen, thanks to record-breaking landings of our state's favorite crustacean.
While lobsters are abundant, the state's groundfish fleet is headed toward stormy seas. On May 1, the groundfish season started here in the Northeast, but for those who ply our waters in search of sought-after species like Atlantic cod, the year ahead looks grim.
As recently as 1990, an estimated 350 Maine-based vessels worked the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank for groundfish. Those boats landed more than 15 million pounds of Atlantic cod that year and millions more pounds of other groundfish species. That fleet created and supported thousands of jobs.
I am hopeful that someday we will once again reap the economic benefits of a robust groundfish industry, and I have worked toward that goal by supporting the elimination of sales tax on fuel for Maine's commercial fishing vessels. I also support legislation to bring the groundfish fleet back to Maine.
But the challenges of keeping these businesses afloat here in Maine are daunting.
Federal regulations designed to rebuild groundfish stocks have created tremendous economic hardship for Maine's fleet. There are now fewer than 50 groundfish vessels in Maine. Last year, they landed just 492,000 pounds of cod. The 5.2 million total pounds of groundfish landed in Maine was valued at about $6.7 million, compared with a lobster catch valued at $338 million.
Maine's groundfish fleet has stayed well within its catch limits for years. But the fleet now faces a 77 percent reduction in the allowable catch for Gulf of Maine cod this season because the stocks are not recovering as fast as federal law requires. The far-reaching impacts of that reduction will be felt by vessel owners and their crews, as well as the shoreside infrastructure that supports the fishing industry.
Read the full opinion piece at the Working Waterfront