The Environmental Defense Fund, the lead advocate for the catch share system and the organization where National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Jane Lubchenco honed her catch-share stand as board vice president, has advocated using market incentives to strengthen and modernize fisheries.
In that approach, Giacalone and others noted, the federal buyback fund could be used to fuel consolidation of allocation in an ever-smaller number of hands.
Giacalone noted that the buyback approach could be made to work to reinvigorate the industry if structured differently. He explained that many fishermen in recent years purchased additional days at sea permits when effort control was the business model used by the government to control effort.
When the New England Fishery Management Council last year adopted the catch share approach, it chose 10-year catch histories to determine the allocation or share that went to each fisherman. That made days-at-sea permits next to worthless.
Giacalone argued that compensating fishermen for the devaluation of their investment was justified as government compensation for the destruction of the value of the investment.
By offering to buy up the days-at-sea permits, the government would be recapitalizing the industry.
"Keep fishermen in the game, buy days-at-sea permits," Giacalone urged.
Lubchenco has conceded that her catch share plan will see a "significant fraction" of the fleet removed.
Industry analysts counter that, with the total allowable catch now set by regulators, the government has no legitimate interest in culling down the size of the fleet, and that at some point there could be so few boats the support businesses could collapse.
Consolidation into the hub ports of Gloucester and New Bedford from smaller ports is already underway. Landings statistics published this week indicate that the bigger ports are handling a larger percentage of the total catch.
Odell told the City Hall gathering Friday that the West Coast groundfishery, also in the midst of a catch share consolidation, is already showing the signs of hyper consolidation that worries fishermen and industry leaders in New England and the Middle Atlantic states.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Daily Times.