New federal and state administrations with new policies, and a global economic crisis of staggering proportions, are likely to make 2009 an eventful year with lots of changes for the industry. Sean McKeon, president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a trade organization for the industry, said that fishermen are having to work harder and smarter just to stay afloat, but they still believe that eventually more rational policies will prevail.
Economic recession has worried commercial fishermen as they loss credit and consumers’ demand. Market demand for some types of higher priced U.S. seafood, such as lobster and some salmon, has fallen off. Whether lackluster demand will extend to the lower-priced, higher-volume fisheries that make up the bulk of the North Carolina harvest is unknown.
Now all depends on the question of how federal and state fisheries policy might change under new administrations looms large all along the Carolina coast. Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist from Oregon State University and new chief of NOAA, said that NOAA will implement management directives approved by Congress in 2006 when the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act was reauthorized.
Louis Daniel, director of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, opined that they are going to see more quotas on everything, and my bet is that in some instances, that will create hardships for the commercial fishing industry. Mac Currin, chairman of the state Marine Fisheries Commission and South Atlantic Fishery Council member, immured that the interpretation of those guidelines by the [federal fishery management] councils could lead to more conservative management approaches to address scientific uncertainty and to meet deadlines.
