Dave Marciano sold his federal groundfishing permit earlier this year — putting him on the outside of a way of life that had given him the chance to work for himself, something that looked pretty darn good to "a guy with a high school diploma."
Marciano, 45, said the extremely low allocations of fish, imposed to achieve full recovery of overfished stocks by a 10-year deadline, left him the option of buying another permit or selling the one he had. But permits he found to buy were going for $250,000.
"If your home is not paid for, and the boat's not paid for and the kids' education is not paid for …," he said, his voice trailing off. "That's out of my league. If I bought, I'd be servicing debt for the rest of my life."
Instead, Marciano said he would sit and watch how the fishing season plays out under the new catch share system.
"I'm going to sink some money into the boat, then put a 'For Sale' sign on it, and dabble with tuna and lobstering this summer and see what happens," he said.
Read the complete story at the Gloucester Daily Times.