After decades of depleting groundfish species such as cod, pollock, and flounder, fishermen in New England are considering a new management system for the 2010 season that has the potential to make the industry more sustainable and less dangerous and costly. But as the New England Fishery Management Council votes on the new system this week in Portland, it must lay down rules that will help the new approach achieve its goals.
Until now, the council has tried, with little success, to reduce overfishing by limiting a fisherman’s days at sea and the size of any day’s catch. One consequence of the day limits is the lamentable necessity of dumping excess catch overboard. Under the new system, fishermen would join in about 20 community-based sectors that will each have a fixed annual quota, which will be a fraction of a scientifically-determined sustainable catch for the region.
With all sectors adhering to their quotas, the industry can expect stocks to rebuild over time, and the quotas eventually to increase. Unlike other management systems, sectors give fishermen an incentive to husband their resource. Sectors also eliminate the need for wasteful day limits and take the pressure off fishermen to go out in hazardous weather.