Repeated appeals to the federal government for disaster relief for Massachusetts' commercial fishermen may finally be getting attention from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In a statement released Tuesday, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said she will review the latest fishery and economic data and expressed a willingness to examine the extent of the losses.
The findings confirmed what many local fishermen have known for some time: There are fewer boats fishing.
In New Bedford, for example, the report found that just 33 vessels earned revenue from at least one groundfish trip, compared to 53 in 2010. The number of boats earning revenue from any species also declined from 87 in 2009 to 71 last year.
Many boats remained tied up because their allocation of quota under the catch share system made it unprofitable to fish. Boat owners then leased out their share to other fishermen, resulting in fleet consolidation. In 2009, the top 20 percent of vessels accounted for 68 percent of groundfish revenue. By 2010, the same number of boats took 80 percent of the revenue.
"The real economic loss is that we're leaving a hundred-thousand tons of fish in the ocean," said Richie Canastra, co-owner of the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction, noting that the report found that only 38 percent of the total allowable catch was landed in the last fishing year because of low catch limits that fishermen say do not reflect what they see on the fishing grounds.
New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang was unimpressed by Lubchenco's announcement. "I think she is looking at it in a simplistic way," he said.
"Dollars and cents are such a small part of the story. That doesn't look at the impact on the families and the community."
Increasing the catch limits would mean more jobs and also provide a safe and healthy product to American families, he said.
"Much of our seafood is imported and it's questionable as to the species and whether it's even safe to consume," Lang said.
While the NOAA report revealed that fewer boats were fishing, some positive trends also emerged from the study. Overall groundfish revenues were up when including catches of other species. Fishermen received better value from the fish landed, because of higher prices at the dock and it came with less fishing effort expended, NOAA said.
Lubchenco also promised "a series of reforms" that NOAA will present at the next meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council in November.