The imposition of catch shares has brought fierce resistance, and helped make New England a test case for the controversial management regimen favored by the Obama administration through its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Over the first 21 percent of the fishing season — May 1 through July 17 — the part of the fleet organized into sectors had landed only 6.5 percent of what it was allocated to catch for the year in the mixed groundfish stock complex.
"They have created a totally dysfunctional fishery," said Richard Burgess, who heads a Gloucester-based gillnetting sector organized under the umbrella of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, and owns a four-boat groundfishing business.
The landing reports confirm predictions from across the industry and anecdotal reports from Gloucester, New Bedford and Point Judith, R.I., that groundfishermen were either avoiding fishing altogether, or pursuing prey outside the groundfish complex, the primary source of fishing revenues for the fleet since pre-colonial times.
Larry Ciulla, president of the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction — the No. 1 sales platform for fish taken in the Gulf of Maine — said "dayboat landings are down between one-half and two-thirds so far this year.
Thirty percent of the boats aren't fishing due to the quotas established by NMFS, he said in an interview Thursday.
Prices for groundfish have been higher than last year, because supply has dropped, Ciulla added.
"The behavior right now of fishermen isn't to go fishing," said Nina Jarvis, the auction office manager. "They're trying not to go fishing."
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Daily Times.