I wanted to write and applaud Working Waterfront for the article done on recent bycatch of haddock by herring midwater trawlers (“Haddock bycatch upsets groundfishermen,” November issue).
I can speak for the just about every groundfish fisherman from the entire coast in saying that what those boats are doing is unacceptable and that something must be done now to stop what they are doing.
For years, myself and other groundfish fisherman have seen increasing regulations, year after year, and we have bent over backwards to help rebuild groundfish stocks. We have closed areas, the largest mesh on the planet, and strict rules on how much haddock and other species we can land on our ever-shrinking amount of days at sea.
Despite all of our hardships, large herring midwater trawlers-the largest boats in this part of the ocean-have been towing much larger nets, with smaller mesh, through areas that we are not even allowed to fish in. It has been well known for years that these boats have a problem with haddock bycatch and yet their lobbyists have worked very hard to keep the problem hidden and have fought very hard to stop any changes from being made to how their boats are managed.
It is very encouraging to see your publication doing what is right and letting the public know what about the haddock bycatch last month. It would be much easier to do what the midwater lobby wants you and others to do-that is, ignore the problem. But doing so would not only jeopardize the rebuilding of our important groundfish stocks, but would also jeapordize the livelihoods of groundfish fishermen like myself and countless others that rely on those stocks.
We have all suffered under the rebuilding regime for groundfish and it would be a travesty to allow these midwater boats to come in and ruin all the work we have done. Thanks again for doing the right thing and writing about the haddock bycatch last month. It is great to see that you are looking out for the interests of all of the fishermen from this region and not sweeping stories like this under the rug.
Rich Burgess
Gloucester, Mass.