How towns are affected by reduced fishing fleets

Over the years I have seen our fleet in Gloucester Mass decline.
As a former fisherman in the sixties we had about two hundred draggers, and times were good .
Then the foreigners came with bigger boats using small mesh nets catching everything, and it was not until 1974 that we enacted the 200 mile limit .
This was over due.
Now comes the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good news was, we were rid of the foreigners!
The bad news was NOAA took over.
The ugly news is our fleet has dwindled to around fifty fishing vessels, thanks to the bad news part. NOAA, the unreliable science people, determines our livelihoods.
What a lot of people do not realize is the impact it has on shore side business ,the ice companies, the fuel docks, the marine ship yards, the truckers, the seafood buyers, food
suppliers and bookkeeping services.
As a matter of fact my wife has All Accounts and at one time had twenty five vessels doing their settlement’s in her office.
Today, she has ten, and has had to diversify to stay in business.
My real concern is what is going to become of our waterfront properties?
Until now, our City Fathers and state have not let developers come in and take over.
We have said our fishing industry comes first, and that was fine ten years ago, but lets face it, a lot has changed.
Just look at what happen to Newport R. I.
Once a great small fishing town, now all you see on there waterfront is condos. Look at Portland, Maine and Rockland, Maine. Same story. Condos everywhere.
Until now, it was easy for our City Fathers to deny those developer’s because they would say we need the waterfront for our fishing fleet.
It is hard to say that now, and if the fleet should rebound they would have the same argument, but what if the fleet does not rebound?
Will that open the door to developers?
I for one, do not want to see that happen even though I would personally benefit. I own thirty-three hundred square feet on Gloucester waterfront that I bought almost thirty years ago.
I love Gloucester and the fishing industry should never be given up for Condos, or other unrelated uses.
Thank You Sam Parisi, Gloucester, Massachusetts.