Tag Archives: Government Regulations
Opinion: Policymakers in search of sound science need to listen to fishery by Jerry Leeman
Fishermen are gravely concerned that regulators are stealing our futures with baseless cuts to landing quotas. Rep. Jared Golden is taking positive steps to fix this problem. It often happens that government regulators, who lack deep knowledge of what it takes to catch fish in the Gulf of Maine, reach conclusions about the state of our fish stocks that do not match what fishermen are seeing and what we know from being on the water every day. The obvious objection whenever we raise this concern is that “anecdote is not the plural of data.” The doubters ask: Why would an individual fisherman know more than a government agency with a dataset? That’s a fair question. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:02
Fishermen sue to end industry funded monitoring program
A group of fishing companies in New England is bringing its bid to try to end industry-funded monitoring programs to federal appeals court. The companies are part of the industry that harvests Atlantic herring, which are heavily fished off the East Coast. The federal government requires herring fishing boats to participate in, and pay for, at-sea monitoring programs. >click to read< 13:30
Would you quit your job for $110,000? This California swordfisherman said no
Fisherman Gary Burke eyed all that’s left of a fleet that once helped satisfy America’s insatiable appetite for swordfish: four old vessels with splotches of rust showing through peeling paint. Decades ago, there were more than 100 such ships in Santa Barbara alone, towing mile-long drift gill nets in choppy seas far beyond the breakwater. Today, there are perhaps a dozen in the entire United States, and they will probably soon be removed from service. “We’ve been whittled down by regulations and old age,” Burke grumbled as he climbed aboard the 50-foot vessel Tytan, which has been his private domain for 35 years. >click to read< 08:39
On a dangerous trip, New Jersey fishermen struggle to hold on
It was 10 degrees outside, a blizzard was on its way, and Roy Deal was in no mood to fish. Deal sat in the blue captain’s chair in the wheelhouse of the Donna Lynn, his 60-foot fishing boat, and felt cold air penetrating cracks in the glass. He passed the seawall at 3:55 a.m. Three hours to sunrise. Deal gave the wheel a hard half-spin. The Donna Lynn pitched to starboard, away from the lights of Manhattan. Deal held the turn till his bow pointed north and east, into the black Atlantic. This trip would be dangerous. The pay would be low. And Deal was feeling grumpy. >click here to read< 08:37
PFD’s: Fishing is a deadly business, but many fishermen won’t wear life preservers
One rogue wave or false step, an ankle caught in a line, is all it takes to cast a fisherman overboard. But those risks have never been enough to convince Rick Beal that it’s worth wearing a life preserver. Even though he has never learned how to swim. Commercial fishing ranks among the most dangerous professions, but fishermen — fiercely independent and resistant to regulations — have long shunned life preservers, often dismissing the flotation devices as inconvenient and constraining. click here to read the story 14:46 
Defining our future Down East
William Chadwick’s speech captured first place at the NCTSA conference in Greensboro April 5, 2017. His speech is about government regulations and conservation groups putting local fishermen out of business in Down East Carteret County. Government regulations our killing our communities, schools and churches, this is not just a Down East issue, this is happening all along the east coast. 11:22
From Fisherman to scrap dealer – A Fisherman For Life, This Man Misses The Glouscester Fishing Industry
Sam Sanfilippo was once part of a booming cod fishing industry in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Today, government regulations put in place to maintain cod populations have forced many fishermen out of business. Watch the video, click here 07:59
Government Regulations Drowning New England Fisheries
One well-seasoned commercial fisherman says Federal regulations are drowning New England fisheries. He says catch shares, where fishermen are limited to a certain quota of fish per season, are to blame. “90% of the seafood consumed in the United States comes from overseas. So we do all these rules and regulations here, we tie down all our fisherman from going fishing. And the rest of the world don’t [have] the same rules that we do, and they taking our market share,” says Carlos Rafael of Carlos Seafood in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Read [email protected] 17:14
