SavingSeaFood - Fishing report shows boat, job losses

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Fishing report shows boat, job losses

Gloucester's groundfishing fishing fleet lost 21 vessels last year and now numbers just 75 working boats, while regionally, the industry continued to consolidate, according to a government report Wednesday.

From Maine to Montauk, N.Y., the number of working groundfishing boats dropped 20 percent, from 566 to 450 active vessels.

The total number of New England crew positions also dropped, but only by 6.8 percent, from 2,442 to 2,277 because some groundfishing boats shifted to target other forms of seafood.

Crew positions by port were not available. But, in all forms of fishing, Gloucester had a fleet of 110 boats, a loss of three from 2009 and 14 from 2007, while regionally, the number of active commercial fishing boats dropped from 973 to 900.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

Read the NOAA report.

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