September 3, 2015 — A typical small-boat fisherman from Cape Cod — or anywhere in the state for that matter — has more than navigating around the tides and the wind to contend with in today’s complicated regulatory world and in the face of a changing ocean. There’s crew to pay to sustain viable communities, gear and fuel to buy to support a coastal economy, and safety equipment to update to make sure they are prepared in any emergency.
Starting in October, these family fishermen will have to undertake a new added expense: paying for at-sea monitors who count the fish they harvest and those they have to throw back.
Until now, the federal government has paid for the services as part of a new management program it initiated to help bring back declining species of fish, such as our peninsula’s namesake cod. Now, it is turning it into an unfunded mandate, and Massachusetts’ fishermen could go out of business over it.
Profit margins in fishing are not high, and the federal government’s own report found that 59 percent of the state’s groundfishermen would go into the red if they had to pay for onboard monitors.