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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 7
March 2008
RI fishermen faltering under harsh regs
POINT JUDITH, RI – Severe federal and state fishing regulations are causing hardships that can’t be missed on the Point Judith waterfront. Five fishing boats at one dock have “For Sale” signs posted in plain view by owners who have given up.
“What fishing business?” one of them said. “There is no fishing business. It’s history.”
Frank Gray is selling one of the five boats.
“I can’t do it any more,” he said. “None of us can afford to keep losing money. I’m selling my boat. I’ll have to make a living doing something else, I guess.”
Heidi Smith, a fisherman’s wife, was born into a fishing family that has made a living from Rhode Island waters for three generations. She recently wrote a letter to a documentary film producer in hopes he would take interest in the plight of the state’s fishermen and record the results of harsh regulations in a film.
Smith said she hoped the public awareness could pressure government agencies that regulate the industry to reconsider the rules they have imposed on fishermen that are driving them out of business.
“In the last three months I have seen my husband only three to four days a month,” she wrote. “He can no longer make the living he used to in the small window that he is now allowed to fish within.”
According to Smith and the fishermen who were willing to talk about it, federal groundfish regulations are forcing them to waste fuel, time, and endure the dangers of sometimes perilous seas, and then wind up losing money because of the escalating costs of making the trip.
Federal groundfish days-at-sea is just one of the regulatory schemes commercial fishermen find discouraging. Licensing restrictions, gear restrictions, and frequently changing trips limits all add to the frustrations they confront on a daily basis.
Harsh penalties
Fisherman Greg Duckworth resents being used as an example of what can happen if rules are not followed to the letter of the law.
“In 2006 I was fined $280,000 for being late filing my log book. What other industry imposes a fine like that for a paperwork infraction?” he asked rhetorically. “I have a family with four kids who some day hope to go to college. That hope gets dimmer every day.”
Duckworth is a strong voice in the Rhode Island fishing community. He attends all meetings and public hearings to keep abreast of regulatory developments that affect the fisheries.
“I understand the need for regulations and the need for enforcement,” he said. “But there is also a need for reasonableness. I thought the government’s job was to help us by making regulations that keep the fishery healthy and manageable. Instead, they’re making it impossible for us to make a living.”
Unfair blame
Charlie Brayton started fishing professionally at the age of 15 and has been fishing the bay area for nearly 50 years.
“I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve seen the industry go through many changes,” he said. “I don’t think it is fair that the fishermen should take all the blame for the depletion of stocks. It isn’t overfishing that has caused the reduction in all stock levels.”
Dennis Nixon, an attorney and professor at the University of Rhode Island who specializes in marine science research, agreed with Brayton.
“It isn’t always overfishing,” he said. “Pollution from industry and changes in the environment are major influences on the stock levels.”
Nixon went on to say that when the biomass of any species is not where it should be, it is necessary to reduce effort to bring the species back to a sustainable level.
However, many fishermen don’t feel they should be the only ones penalized for pollution and rising water temperature changes, both of which affect stock levels.
“What is industry doing to reduce pollution?” Brayton asked. “Are they being fined and penalized like the fishermen?”
He also pointed out that environmentalists are quick to unfairly blame fishermen.
“It doesn’t make sense for us to be irresponsible about stock levels,” Brayton said. “Our future depends on the health of the fishery.”
Many questions
Brayton and other fishermen also questioned the effectiveness of some of the regulations, especially those that result in regulatory discards.
“If I am allowed to catch, let’s say, 250 pounds of yellowtail in one day and I bring up 500 pounds in one haul, I have to throw the over-catch back,” he said. “Most of the time, those fish are dead. How does that help to replenish the stock? I can’t sell the fish and make a profit and 250 pounds of perfectly good fish are left floating belly-up in the bay. That is unconscionable. Regulations like that should be re-thought.”
A few fishermen, who chose to remain anonymous, also questioned stock assessments, saying that for some stocks they are seeing more fish than ever but are not allowed to land it.
Fisherman Brian Loftes recently sent a letter to local newspapers expressing the outrage and confusion that many Rhode Island fishermen are feeling these days.
“Current surveys show a record biomass of fluke in the ocean, and a variety of fish stocks rising to near historic levels,” he wrote. “Despite the bounty of seafood available, all commercial fishermen are forced to throw back tens of thousands of legal-size fish in the so-called name of conservation.”
Rich Fuka, president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance, emphasized that fishermen in his state aren’t asking for no regulations or enforcement.
“We just want to make a living and have regulations that make sense,” he said.
Sam Bari
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