Our View: The state let down fluke fishermen

January 19, 2016 New England

As frequently as the federal government is criticized for regulations that make it harder to keep groundfish vessels operating in the black, it is disappointing that it was state regulations that failed fishermen last week. One of the local boat owners that saw hoped-for profits disappear — a result of the necessary and justifiable decision to flee foul weather and seek safe harbor — offered to trade off fluke quota at the end of the season for the opportunity to land what he had aboard last week. The state wouldn’t allow it, based on different fluke seasons for ports in different states. Read the op-ed here 07:38

Dr. David Pierce, fisherman safety, Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute, regulations prevented landing fluke

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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

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