Open invitation issued for Parade of Boats to welcome the Charles W. Morgan
NEW BEDFORD — Almost anything that floats, that is at least 15 feet long and is fast enough is welcome in the Charles W. Morgan Homecoming Parade of Boats set for Sunday, June 29. Captains are being encouraged to “dress ship” with signal flags or other decorations. Russell said that a scalloper and a dragger will be near the front of the parade, “to honor the fact that the Morgan was a commercial fishing boat.” Read more here 08:08
Very Nice, but the current commercial fishing fleet and the future survival of the commercial fishing industry is NOT being honored.
For example, using one third of the “New England groundfish disaster relief money” (which is insultingly inadequate to begin with) for a vessel “buyout” program is not honoring the existing commercial fishing boats. In fact, the proposed vessel-only buyout, where catch share allocations stay in the system and further enrich the major “shareholders”, is nothing but another move toward realizing NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco’s bogus catch share privatization goal of “consolidation to reduce fleet over capacity and return fishermen to profitability”.
Let’s “honor” the rebirth of this wonderful old ship Charles W. Morgan, not only with pennants and whistles, but by paying attention to the systematic dismantling of our current living commercial fishing industry.
Commercial fishing is under siege by corporate privatization forces and their minions at NOAA and the “environmental non-profits” who are buying, suing, and regulating their way right through the industry. The commercial fishing industry, essential to clean food security, which is ostensibly being “honored” by fishing vessels respectfully meeting this old whale ship in New Bedford Harbor, is badly in need of the same kind of respect.