His other alternative, fishing under regulations that would have limited his days at sea to 35, was unattractive.

"It started out at a hundred and twenty days but every year it was getting reduced by a certain percentage," he said.

Sectors, in which boats are grouped by category to decide for themselves how to manage their licensed allocations, took effect on May 1 and Pereira hasn't caught one fish since. Although he enrolled in a sector, he instead opted to lease his catch allotment, leaving his boat tied up at Leonard's Wharf. He spent last Thursday removing valuable electronics from the wheelhouse.

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