The authorities have put strict restrictions to build sustainable populations of cod, flounder and other overfished species in New England. As a result the fishermen have to watch their groundfishing season shrink, their trip limits drop and their profits plummet. But now the regulators and conservationists are supporting a shift to a new management system they believe will be more effective at rebuilding fish stocks and making fishing profitable.
For the past five years the fishermen are facing this situation and they fear to be slowly forced out of the industry and for no good reason — most fish stocks had failed to recover. Last September, a federal survey showed that several flounder stocks were in worse shape than managers realized. In May, new regulations further cut fishing days and barred fishermen from catching depleted fish.
It is told that the New England Fishery Management Council will meet this week in Portland, Maine, to vote on the new system, known as “sectors.” According to this system, fishermen with groundfish permits voluntarily form a group, called a sector, and largely make their own rules for catching fish.
Jane Lubchenco, chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has promoted catch shares as the best way to achieve “healthy, profitable and sustainable” fisheries. Under the plan, groundfish permit holders would be given a share of fish, which they could either catch or sell to another fisherman.
