“Never in a million years did I imagine I would leave the fishery at 46 years.”
Craig Pendleton of Saco, who began lobstering when he was nine, groundfishing at 17. He sold his groundfshing permit in October 2008.
If an interim rule is passed by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the 70 fishermen who land groundfish in Maine face the possibility of further reductions in the number of days they can spend at sea (counted from the time they leave the dock) and numerous other restrictions. The rule includes a provision that would increase the two for one area, where each day a fisherman uses will be counted as two. For most Maine fishermen this would mean ending up with 20 allowable fishing days.
The proposed interim rule, scheduled to go into effect May 1, provoked protests by fishermen, state officials and Maine’s Congressional delegation. The rule was drafted by NMFS to fill the gap until the New England Fishery Management Council completes Amendment 16, which will modify the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Due to the outcry from the fishing industry, and an avalanche of comments in response to this proposal, changes to the rule could be made before the 2009 groundfishing year.
The council is working on a new management system for rebuilding fish stocks that would limit catch to sustainable levels. The new plan would leave behind the days at sea system now being used and move to a quota-based system that establishes community-based co-ops, or sectors, which receive a share of the catch limit.
Currently, says Glen Libby, chairman of the Midcoast Fishermen’s Association based in Port Clyde, legislation is pending in Washington that would force NMFS to accept a different interim plan proposed by the New England Council. It would still contain a cut in days at sea. Meanwhile, the amendment looms, as the remaining 70 fishermen struggle to find ways to stay on the water.
In early March, Mark Bichrest of Cundy’s Harbor was leaving for New Jersey to trawl for herring and mackerel. One of his two large boats was docked there at the fish company that buys his catch; the other is here in Maine. “I didn’t go shrimping this year,” he says. “That’s so messed up, it’s why I’m going to New Jersey for a month or so.” During the summer, Bichrest has been fishing off the Maine coast for herring and groundfish with his two larger boats, and he catches pogies with a 45-foot seiner. To obtain additional fishing days, he invested all he had into two extra groundfishing permits. However, he says the way things are looking now with further cuts in days, particularly the two for one rule, “I could end up having gained two days at sea for the $500,000 I spent for the extra permits. That’s not exact, but it’s something ridiculous like that.”
To add to his difficulties, other expenses are up ($40,000 for insurance on just one boat) and prices are way off for groundfish. “Last week I landed 38,000 pounds of fish and averaged $1 a pound,” he says. “That’s unheard of for this time of year. Traditionally, it’s the time to make money. Last year, it would have been $1.70 a pound.
“There’s so much confusion about sectors (the council’s alternative plan for managing stocks), how permits will be structured, what the requirements will be, how many days I’ll end up with,” he says. “I just want to stay fishing. I’ve been fishing all my life. All my family, my father, my four brothers, are fishermen. It’s all I’ve ever done.”
Like Bichrest, Terry Alexander of Cundy’s Harbor comes from a fishing family. He also owns two groundfish boats, and also has invested a lot of money buying additional permits to increase his days at sea. “What regulators are doing now is ludicrous,” he says. “There’s absolutely no reason for it. If they make further reductions, it’s hard to say what will happen. The 18 percent cut is bad enough (planned by the New England Council). We’re doomed to that.”
Like other fishermen, Alexander waiting to see what the interim ruling will specify before he sends in the permit application for his gillnet boat. “If the two for one rule is in, I have to be in the trip category,” he says, “where I would normally be in day category. You can’t change once you get the permit. Permits expire May 30, and it takes a month or so to get the permit back. They need to tell us what’s happening.”
Proctor Wells has fished for more than 30 years out of Phippsburg, from an area that now has two active groundfishermen, down from 50 in earlier years. Wells learned to fish from his grandfather, and thought he could continue fishing for the rest of his life. He says he’s been thinking about selling out. His permit allows him 37 days at sea, but this past summer, because many were counted as two for one, he ended up with only 20 days total. “It’s getting to the point you can’t make a living going groundfshing,” he says. “I have a family, kids going to college. You begin to ask, ‘Wait a minute, is it worth it to hang on to this permit?'”
Wells has been groundfishing, shrimping and lobster fishing in the summer. If he sells his groundfish permit, he would continue to lobster, perhaps in a smaller boat if he could sell his 9-year-old vessel, Tenacious. I’d probably do something else in winter,” he says-“not that anything else is out there in this economy”
Nine years ago, Wells and other fishermen, including Mark Bichrest, supplemented fishing with contracts for Collaborative Research with marine scientists. Wells built Tenacious with scientists in mind, including features like computer friendly electronics, extra room and a work table for scientists in the wheelhouse, plenty of deck room, and the ability to slow the boat way down for trolling.
But, he says, Collaborative Research money was shut off due to the cost of the war in Iraq, and he lost a three-year contract with Northeast Consortium. “If they had money for Collaborative Research for some good marine science in the stimulus package, that would be a huge boost, ” he says. “Research might be enough to help us get through lean times, if a chunk of money was committed to it, and to giving financial aid to fishermen for medical coverage and maintaining our infrastructure.”
He is skeptical. “I hate to be negative,” he says, “but I don’t see anything coming along to save us.”
Like many fishermen, Wells is hopping mad at the state of Maine, Governor Baldacci and state Department of Marine Resources Commissioner George Lapointe, saying they have done nothing to protect the groundfish industry, despite repeated warnings that it was collapsing. “They had opportunities 10 years ago to take steps, and didn’t,” he says. “For one, we tried and tried to have a law passed recognizing commercial fishing as one of the mainstays of Maine business, but it was never a priority. It’s always lobstering.
“What really makes my blood boil is that the governor appointed a Blue Ribbon Task Force to save Maine’s groundfishery, and there was a written report, recommendations made, but nothing ever done. I have a copy of it, issued in 2004.” This comprehensive Ground Fish Task Force report covers issues ranging from number of days at sea to health insurance, restrictions on landing lobsters, need to acquire inactive permits and maintaining shoreside infrastructure.
“They never did a damn thing,” says Wells “and because the state didn’t follow the recommendations, we lost the fishery. (The State Legislature did eventually pass a sales tax exemption on diesel fuel for commercial groundfishing boats.)
Wells and other fishermen are livid when they see the help Massachusetts fishermen receive from their state: federal funds to help pay crew members put out of work and help with health insurance payments, plus, in Gloucester, mitigation money from two approved LNG terminals that caused loss of fishing grounds. That money has been put into the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, which has bought federal groundfish fishing permits. Fishermen can buy additional days at sea from the fund at a greatly reduced price.
Glen Libby of Port Clyde says there is ongoing work by several organizations and the state to create a Maine groundfish permit bank that would buy up permits. This, he points out, would keep the permits from going to large corporations and preserve them for individual fishermen. It could be especially helpful to younger men who are trying to start up.
The Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative have created an innovative and successful Community Supported Fishery program and general marketing plan for “Port Clyde Fresh Catch.” Recently, they started an additional valued-added venture, a processing plant that is located on Marshall Point Road in Port Clyde in space they are leasing from Phyllis Wyeth. There, members will pick and cook shrimp, filet fish and package Port Clyde Fresh Catch products for delivery to local businesses and beyond. “It’s a way we can put our guys to work for additional money if they want,” Libby says. “We plan to filet most of our fish.” He adds that the Cooperative will offer picked shrimp and filleted fish to their CSF members and to the many local restaurants that buy their catch.
The co-op members hope this new venture will help them get through the hard times.
Just how difficult those times will be remains to be seen.