COMMERCE
Subscriber Services
Classified Ads
Subscribe
Advertise
NEWS
This Month
Editorial
Letters
F/V Safety
Past Issues
ABOUT US
Contact Us
Latest Issue
Subscribe
History
MORE CONTENT
CFN Archives
Links
Each month exclusively in the PRINT edition of CFN
Along the Coast
Ask the Lobster Doc
Bearin’s
Classifieds
Coming Events
Editorial
Enforcement Report
FISH SAFE
Fleet Additions
Letters
Lobster Market Report
New Boats
News Catch
Quahog Market Report
|
Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 2
October 2005
Fleet Visioning Project holding area workshops
SACO, ME – The Fleet Visioning Project has hit the halfway mark in its drive to forge a collective vision of a “fair and sustainable groundfish fleet.”
Operating under the assumption that the fleet will need to downsize in the near future to better match capacity with sustainability of fish stocks, the project so far has held four workshops – one each in Bourne, and Manomet, MA, Narragansett, RI, and Rockland, ME.
Still to come are workshops in:
• Winter Harbor, ME on Oct. 11 – survey deadline Oct. 4;
• Portsmouth, NH on Oct. 12 – survey deadline Oct. 5;
• Gloucester, MA on Oct. 14 – survey deadline Oct. 7;
• Riverhead, NY on Nov. 11 – survey deadline Nov. 4; and
• Portland, ME on Nov. 14 – survey deadline Nov. 7.
According to project coordinator Jen Levin, invitations to attend each workshop are handed out only to people who first fill out fleet visioning surveys, which are fundamental to the project’s success.
The survey asks respondents for basic background information about their stake in the fishery, which is kept confidential, and then poses three questions:
• “What is your vision for the future of the groundfish fleet?”
• “Why is the future of the groundfishing fleet important to you?” And
• “How can your vision … be most effectively implemented and what might you do to help?”
Capacity reduction
Fleet Visioning Project coordinators, who expect to hand a final “vision” over to fishery managers in December, understand that time is of the essence.
The New England Fishery Management Council’s ad hoc capacity committee, which met Aug. 25, began developing recommendations for how to reduce excess capacity in both the groundfish and scallop industries.
The capacity committee began discussing vessel buy-back programs as one alternative for reducing capacity, but it’s expected to seriously consider other options and the final outcome of the Fleet Visioning Project’s work as well.
New England council Executive Director Paul Howard sits on the Fleet Visioning Project steering committee to help keep the lines of communications open between both groups.
All respondents welcome
Everyone who completes a fleet visioning survey will be invited to a regional workshop – typically the one closest to their home – and those who attend use the collective survey responses as a starting point to develop a regional position for what they want the groundfish fleet to look like in the future.
“So far, the groups have developed between three and five vision statements that reflect various desires from conservation and stewardship to economic efficiency,” said Levin. “Everyone in the room has to agree on each vision statement before it goes forward.”
As of mid-September, 221 individuals had responded to the survey. Some did so online, others by mail.
Roughly 40 people have so far participated in the first four workshops to carry the vision-developing process one step further.
Why they do it
Project leaders are reluctant to divulge the outcome of individual sessions out of concern that news about each group’s final “goal statements” could influence future workshops.
“Each workshop is unique and has to reflect the desires of the participants there. We don’t want them to be influenced by previous work,” said Levin.
Nonetheless, early information coming out of the project is showing that participants to date have included fishermen, members of fishing families, scientists, and environmentalists, who have taken part in the effort for a host of reasons.
Several said fishermen should be able to “maintain a decent lifestyle,” “do better” for themselves, and find ways to preserve their communities. Lifestyle preservation and community well-being have been repeated themes at most of the workshops.
“Fishing is something that should be passed along with the culture of hard work that is getting lost in our society,” said vessel owner Luke Wheeler of Bristol, RI, who attended the Narragansett workshop.
Reaching a balance between the needs of fishing communities and the health of the resource has been another steady theme, and fishermen also expressed a strong desire to regain control of their lives in a world of constantly changing rules and regulations.
“Flexibility is the ability to alter the situation to your individual needs,” said recreational fisherman David Borden of Little Compton, RI, who also attended the Narragansett workshop.
Final vision
While these were some of the reasons people took time to participate in the workshops, in the end, the project will host one summit meeting in early December to which participants from all of the regional meetings will be invited.
This session – the crux of it all – is where the final vision for the groundfish fleet will be negotiated and then passed on to federal fishery managers.
According to Levin, the final vision needs to be tangible.
“We don’t want to get to an end result that everyone can agree on but doesn’t say much and isn’t actionable,” she said.
Levin encouraged everyone with a stake in the industry to fill out a fleet visioning survey by the deadlines listed above and then participate in the remaining workshops.
Survey forms are available on the web at <www.fleetvision.org> or by calling (207) 284-5374.
Back to story list
|
|
Tell us what you think.
