Tag Archives: groundfishing industry
Portland Fish Exchange’s future murky as sales plummet
The future course of the Portland Fish Exchange is deeply uncertain but will likely be set this fall. The exchange, which was opened by the city in 1986, has provided nearly daily auctions of fish on the Portland Fish Pier. It was seen as a solid market-based alternative to the long-standing system that saw many fishermen turn their catch over to pier owners, who then trucked the fish out of state and tried to get a good price for them in markets elsewhere in New England or in New York. Last year, it hit rock bottom, with only 1.4 million pounds of fish auctioned. Some daily auctions were canceled because there simply wasn’t enough cod, haddock, flounder and halibut to attract commercial buyers. >click to read< 09:15
Investigation reveals private equity firms dominate the New Bedford fishing industry
A debate is raging in the local scallop industry about whether fishermen should be allowed to lease their permits. Supporters say the proposal could help fishermen with a small catch share, or those who can’t get out to sea, stay in the business, because they could lease their permit to another captain. Opponents worry it would allow big companies to consolidate the industry and push small fishermen out, similar to what has happened in the groundfishing industry. CAI’s Kathryn Eident talked with Will Sennott, a reporter with the New Bedford Light, about his investigation into permit leasing in the groundfishing industry, and how he found that some of the biggest winners are multinational private equity firms, not small fishermen. >click to read< 16:21
Five years after ‘catch shares’ and ‘sectors,’ groundfish industry is on the rocks
Five years have now gone by since the reshaping of the Northeast fishery, five years that the the Northeast groundfishing industry does the best it can under a new set of rules. Five years ago, few knew the definition of the word “sector” as Fisheries was suddenly using it. Basically they are what most people would call co-operatives. “Catch shares” were a bit easier; it’s another word for quotas. And it’s the catch shares, not so much the sectors, that many believe are at the root of the problem. Read the rest here 09:00
