Some fishermen and advocates for the industry voiced concern at a regional summit Monday about upcoming federal regulations they warn could put them out of business, while others suggested the changes were a necessary way to curb overfishing.
Fishermen and elected leaders gathered at the New Bedford Whaling Museum ahead of a scheduled May 1 switch to a “sector” system of fishing, in which Northeast fishermen would be broken into groups and forced to combine their catch allotments.
Though the system is intended to give fishermen more autonomy by allowing them to manage their allotments among themselves, some are concerned their individual shares would be taken by large companies and that the given shares would not be enough to allow them to survive.
“Fifty percent of you will be out of business by August. That’s not what you want to hear, but that’s what you’re going to get,“ warned Carlos Rafael, a fishing boat owner in the Port of New Bedford who participated in a panel discussion about the new system. Rafael said the new management system was “being stuffed down our throats.“
See the video at NBC 10 Providence.