PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — January 31, 2013 — Minutes after New England fishery managers took a vote that cast doubt on the historic industry's future, the prospects most clear to Gloucester fishermen Paul Vitale were his own.
"I'm bankrupt. That's it," said the 40-year-old father of three. "I'm all done. The boat's going up for sale."
The New England Fishery Management Council on Wednesday approved a year-to-year cut of 77 percent on the Gulf of Maine cod limit and 61 percent for Georges Bank cod.
The cuts come on top of a slew of other reductions, ranging from 10 to 71 percent, on the catch of other bottom-dwelling groundfish species, such as haddock and flounder.
Fishermen say now they're staring at industry collapse because they've been left with far too few fish for most boats to make a living.
"We are headed down the wrong course here, of exterminating the inshore fleet, for no good reason," said David Goethel, a New Hampshire fisherman and council member.
The cuts, in effect May 1, are expected to be backed by federal managers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA's top federal fisheries regulator, John Bullard, acknowledged the reductions will be devastating. But he said the fish stocks are struggling and the industry's steady, excruciating decline must be reversed.
"The first thing we have to do is put denial behind us," he said.
The cuts hit an industry that was crucial to the nation's early economy and remains imbued with the risk and romance of man versus nature — depicted in the famous "Man at the Wheel" statue in Gloucester of a fisherman facing the sea.
The new low limits reduce the cod catch to just a fraction of what it once was and prevent fishermen from landing enough of the plentiful species, such as haddock and pollock. That's because fishermen can't pull up the healthier groundfish without catching too much of the cod that swim among them.
An economic analysis by the council projected that the cuts would reduce overall groundfish revenues by 33 percent, from about $90 million in 2011 to about $60 million in 2013. But fishermen said the projection is far too optimistic.
"It's fantasy. … I mean, I'd rather go to Disney World. I've got a better chance of meeting Peter Pan," said Goethel, who predicted the entire New Hamsphire fleet would be eliminated.
Read the full story from Jay Lindsay of the Associated Press at WTOP