Erik Anderson does more lobstering than ground fishing these days given the flood of new federal regulations limiting commercial fishermen’s days at sea.
And New Hampshire fishermen, unlike their counterparts in Maine and Massachusetts, haven’t received any funds from Congress to help them adjust to new, often-changing regulations or transition to other lines of work, Anderson said.
He’s paid out of his pocket to buy new trap lines to comply with rules designed to protect whales. It could cost New Hampshire lobstermen $1.3 million to replace their trap lines, which is one reason they need aid, he said.
The rules on lines are just one of many in a growing sea of red tape affecting the industry. The New England Fishery Management Council in 2006 issued a body of new regulations, named Framework 42, that cut commercial fishermen’s days at sea from more than 80 to just 39. The change was designed to help several fish stocks recover in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.