A National Marine Fisheries Service decision this week to reduce the trip limit for skate wings to 500 pounds for the remainder of the 2010 fishing year has riled Bay State fishermen who say the move is unnecessary and will cost lots of jobs.
"We employ probably 30 people for the skates and we're going to have to let them go now," said Louis Juillard who manages the fish division of Marder Trawling Inc., a fish house in the South End of New Bedford. "Normally the skate fishery never closes and we take between 30 to 40 million pounds of wings every year."
But the 2010 allocation provided for a total catch of just over 20 million pounds of skate wings this year, with the stipulation that landings would be reduced when 80 percent of that total was reached. The fishing year began on May 1 and, according to the letter that skate permit holders received, the National Marine Fisheries Service is "projecting" that this figure has already been reached.
But fishery regulators are making a big mistake, Julliard said. "They don't realize that they are hurting people. If need be, we're going to sue the government because that's the only way we can be heard."
The skate limit started out in May at 20,000 pounds per trip and that was reduced to 5,000 pounds in mid-July, according to Richie Canastra of the Whaling City Display Auction. "Now, with just 500 pounds, it means that boats are going to be discarding 30 to 50 thousand pounds per trip, he said. "It's a return to wasteful fishing, and we're looking at roughly 300 jobs being lost because of flawed science," he said.
Canastra was scheduled to take the industry's position before a national television audience with a live appearance, along with New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang, on the Fox Business News channel Wednesday evening. "Ninety-five percent of skate and dogfish — which just got closed down, too — is exported. With a trade deficit, I don't understand why this administration is doing this now," Canastra said.
Fishermen, accustomed to seeing large numbers of skate coming aboard, greeted the news with incredulity. Captain Tom Vinagre of the dragger Destiny, back in port ahead of Hurricane Earl, said he could easily fill his net with skate in certain areas after a 20-minute tow.
"Now we can't target them?"
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