According to the report a new regulatory program has stirred-up controversy in the local commercial fishing industry. But one thing that people on both sides of the Individual Trawl Quota Program agree on, is that it’s far from perfect. The report says the program is part of an international effort to regulate the commercial fishing industry through a kind of catch share program.
Fishermen seem to agree on all the aspects of the program but they don’t agree on the catch allotted to each fleet. Rex Leach, concerned citizen and local fisherman says, “typically, we could get 110,000 pounds of Dover every two months. Add it up at the end of the year, that’s 660,000 pounds of Dover. This year, my allocation to myself personally is 280,000 pounds of Dover, so again we’ve been promised the world and cut back to where, to me, its not profitable.”
The Coos Bay Trawlers Association has advocated for the change in plans but Executive Director Steve Bodnar, who was on the board creating the program, admits it turned out much different than what they envisioned. Bodnar said that there’s so many people that brought their own, private expectations of the program to it. Although it was complex in development, Bodnar says the program has a successful track record in other countries and fishermen will adapt.
