According to the information the new proposed regulations can changed the way of life of the entire Rhode Island lobster fleet. Christopher Lutyens is a Rhode Island lobsterman, said that if they take away anything more than a token, then they are signing the death warrant of the fishery because economics are dictating as they are in a lot of business.
He told that operating expenses and overhead have skyrocketed, but prices for our product have plummeted due to the poor economy and lack of demand. The dispute over the proposed regulations pits Southern New England lobstermen against a morass of government bodies that includes the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
The lobstermen’s response is that the government’s science is flawed and that such a reduction would be tantamount to putting an end to the fishery. They estimate that more than 200 lobstermen would be driven out of business. Lobster fishing is a $10 million a year industry in Rhode Island, a substantial percentage of the state’s $65 million fishing industry.
Steve Seymour is a lobsterman who lives in North Kingstown and keeps his boat at East Ferry. He has been lobstering for 16 years. He said that they have done enough, far above everybody else as far as management is concerned. They keep trying to nibble more and more every year, or every other year. There’s not really a need for it. According to Seymour the Jamestown lobster fleet has shrunk from seven boats to just two in the last nine years. Meanwhile, the Lobster Conservation Management Team, an advisory group of local fishermen, has voted to ask the Atlantic States Marine Fishery to refrain from adding any new regulations regarding the lobster fishery.
