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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 37 Number 4
December 2009
Gloucester protest rally draws hundreds
GLOUCESTER, MA – Hundreds of fishermen and vessel owners, joined by family, industry business people, and supportive members of the public, rallied on Oct. 30 at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Northeast regional headquarters to protest NMFS policies and imminent sector and common pool management measures for groundfish.
The wording on the posters, banners, and floats, as well as the dozen or so keynote speeches, spelled out how the protestors felt about fisheries management and the people behind it, including environmentalists.
“I am sick to see what NMFS has done to our industry. We have come together to tell them Amendment 16 is unacceptable. We have had enough,” said Tina Jackson, a Point Judith fisherman and president of a new group called American Alliance of Fishermen and their Communities (AAFC).
The AAFC has retained the Boston law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge to file suit against NMFS challenging sector management.
“If we win this case, it will set precedent for every fisherman forced out by sectors,” she said.
Referring to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), which governs all federal fishery management activities, Cyrus Hamlin of Scarborough, ME had this to say to the crowd.
“The problem is the Magnuson Act, the way it was formulated and the way it has been executed. As fishing has gotten better, the rules have gotten worse. It has been a complete failure,” Hamlin said.
Stephen Ouellette of the law firm Ouellette & Smith in Gloucester added that, because of the strict requirements of the MSA, “550 million dollars worth of fish was not caught in the Northeast region last year and the year before.”
New Jersey fisherman Jim Lovgren told the protestors there were major problems with NMFS’s underlying fisheries management philosophy.
“NMFS doesn’t want 3,000 boats out there. They want 100, and they want corporate trawlers,” Lovgren said. “We have a problem, and it starts with the politicians in Washington.”
Pew targeted
Dave Lincoln, a geologist and long-time friend of the fishing industry, focused his criticism on the influence of the Pew Environment Group, the conservation arm of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which is lobbying hard for the retention of strict timeframes to end overfishing and rebuild fish stocks.
“I’m here to talk about Pew and the ‘Pew-trification’ of fisheries management,” Lincoln said. “I am not a fisherman, but I will fight along your side, and I will not be bought. Pew has given over $1.3 billion to mold society in their favor.”
Lincoln engaged the crowd in a call and response demonstration. The crowd shouted, “Where do they (Pew) get their money?” and Lincoln answered, “From Sun Oil stocks.” Members of the Pew family founded Sun Oil in 1901.
Lincoln then asked the protestors, “How many politicians can they buy with that money?”
They responded, “A lot of politicians and also a lot of science.”
One protestor’s poster read, “Pew: Go drill oil and leave us alone.”
Politicians scarce
Massachusetts state Sen. Bruce Tarr, who represents the Gloucester area, was the only politician who spoke at the rally.
“We have met brick wall after brick wall,” he said. “The critical point now is that we stand together.”
Other politicians either e-mailed statements or had representatives read their statements.
“I will continue to work hand-in-glove with regulators and New England groundfish fishermen to ensure not just the survival, but the revival of our nation’s first fishery,” said US Sen. Olympia Snow (R-ME) in an e-mail to rally organizers.
Support Rothschild
Several speakers urged protestors to call their congressmen and demand change.
“Keep going after your politicians. This is the only way we will win this,” advised former scallop boat captain and former New England Fishery Management Council member Jim Kendall of New Bedford.
Fisherman Joel Hovanesian of Point Judith, RI said fishermen should voice their support for making Brian Rothschild the next director of NMFS. Rothschild has an extensive scientific, administrative, and academic background and, as the former head of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology, forged close working relationships with fishermen, particularly in New Bedford and Gloucester.
“One of our biggest issues is to get Brian Rothschild in. That man needs to be there,” Hovanesian said.
He added that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Jane Lubchenco, a past member of the Pew Oceans Commission and a Pew fellowship award winner, “is stacking the decks in her favor” with the political appointments she has made to date.
“The balance of the administration is being swayed by green groups,” said Hovanesian.
Educate the public
Other speakers focused on the need to win the hearts and minds of consumers.
“I believe an informed public is a powerful tool,” Carolyn Eastman, co-owner of a New Hampshire fish market with her fisherman husband, Ed. She spoke to the crowd with their daughter, Ellie, by her side. “We have to go about educating the public that still believes we are a rogue group of people who don’t follow rules.”
Added New Hampshire fisherman and former New England council member Erik Anderson, “Unfortunately, this needs a political fix. It needs a fix from Washington. The more they hear from us, the less they can ignore us.”
NMFS Northeast Regional Administrator Pat Kurkul met briefly with several boat owners after the rally. According to those involved, she said the agency’s hands were basically tied since it doesn’t make national laws, only carries them out.
Praise, cynicism
The rally’s chief organizer was Amanda Odlin, a fisherman’s wife and vessel co-owner from Scarborough, who spent weeks corresponding with fishermen all over the region to get ideas, focus the message of the rally, and make the necessary arrangements to pull off the event.
Hovanesian made a point to thank Odlin for her efforts.
“This solidarity is long overdue,” he said. “Let’s give a big hand of applause to Amanda.”
Most of those gathered for the rally shared the fervent belief that the new rules coming under Amendment 16 are not necessary because the existing days-at-sea management program is working to end overfishing and rebuild fish stocks.
However, at least one person in the rally crowd, a boat owner who asked to remain anonymous, was cynical about the outcome of the event.
“This rally won’t do a thing,” the boat owner predicted. “The politicians, fishery powers-that-be, and green groups are laughing at us. They are going to put 50% of us out of business. The government should at least have a boat buy-back. That way, many fishermen won’t lose their homes, too.”
Peter K. Prybot
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