MARSHFIELD, Mass. — October 18, 2012 — Paul Krzyzewski of Marshfield makes all of his income from fishing, and next year, he doesn’t know how he is going to survive. For the fishing year that begins May 1, federal catch limits for major species such as cod and flounder are projected to be significantly reduced — Georges Bank cod by 70 percent.
So even as South Shore fishermen welcomed the prospect of aid from a preemptive federal disaster declaration announced in September, they criticized fishery management practices.
Not only are the potential cuts daunting, they said, but unprecedented competition from large boats in near-shore waters has hurt the mostly smaller boats that populate harbors in Marshfield, Plymouth, and Scituate, particularly over the past year.
Northeast commercial fishermen — small and large boats alike — could receive a total of up to $100 million in aid as a result of the disaster declaration. The decision allows, but does not require, Congress to appropriate money. The congressional delegations of affected states are seeking the funds.
Aid or not, the lower catch limits will hurt, Krzyzewski said. “That’s going to kill everybody.”
He owns the 27-foot vessel Desperado, docked in Green Harbor in Marshfield, and fishes for striped bass, bluefish, tuna, cod, and lobster, but only in good weather, because his boat is small.
Other South Shore fishermen said large boats are fishing closer to shore, sweeping through Stellwagen Bank, north of Provincetown, and quickly catching fish that smaller operators might have spent a whole season catching.
Marshfield charter fisherman Steven James, president of the Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Association, said that last winter, large boats, which normally fish Georges Bank, farther from shore, “hammered” Stellwagen Bank for the first time.
“They crushed Stellwagen,” he said. “What’s happening is they’re fishing where the fishing is best.”
Regulators point out that several key fish stocks are not rebuilding their numbers as expected, and without healthy populations of fish, there will be nothing left to catch. Fishermen, too, support healthy stocks, but some doubt the accuracy of stock assessments.
Meanwhile, in the case of cod, environmental factors — not overfishing — have been the problem recently, according to Johanna Thomas, New England director for the Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program. A complex array of factors, some of them climate related, have contributed to the decline, including warmer waters and movement of prey away from the area, she said.
“It’s akin to the drought that’s affecting farmers,” she said.
The disaster declaration applies to groundfish species, which live near the ocean floor. It does not include shellfish.
People who make their living from groundfish charter fishing — taking recreational passengers out to fish — could see disaster aid even though the declaration targets mainly commercial fishermen, according to Monica Allen, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
If Congress appropriates money, individual states will work to craft disbursement plans, and those plans could include charters, she said. Charters represent a significant part of the fishing business on the South Shore, according to James.
Pembroke resident Jeremy Figueiredo, who runs about six charters a year from Marshfield as a sideline to his work in medical device sales, said business is down. “It’s one of the slower years, for sure, between the regulations, the economy, and the price of fuel,” he said.
He fishes with the 35-foot vessel Go Figueire, primarily on Stellwagen Bank, for cod, haddock, pollock, tuna, and shark, depending on the time of year. This year, he expects to make fewer trips.
In Scituate, charter fisherman Tom King said rules limit customers to nine cod each. If that number goes down, they will not want to charter if they can’t get their money’s worth, he said.
Read the full story in the Boston Globe