There is no doubt that a rising tide has lifted the Viking village with record tuna cctah for the fishermen there. Fishing ports up and down the Atlantic Seaboard are struggling to survive, but at the pristine Viking Village docks in Barnegat Light, Capt. Mike Johnson is feeling good. Johnson manage to catch a 393-pound tuna on the scale, his first child on the way, a new fuel-efficient boat and a town that thinks what he does is more important than waterfront condominium conversion.
According to Johnson it is a big step up from the years when environmentalists accused fishermen of being akin to baby seal killers. He said that after such good catch we feel that we have a future. At this port fortunes faded in the late 1990s as tight regulations, higher costs and lower market prices buffeted the long-line fishing industry. He added that after the introduction of long-lining the business were already a shambles. He told that far fewer boats were reeling in far fewer tuna and swordfish.
Due to this fishermen dropped out of the business or switched to other catches. There were 60 long-liners at Barnegat Light in 1990, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Ernie Panachek, manager of the Viking Village dock and president of the Blue Water Fishermen’s Association, the national long-liner association, informed that long-liner became more environmentally responsible and more cost-efficient.
It is said that national and international fish management plans shut down some key fishing grounds and heavily regulated the rest. The fishermen were also concerned about vital dockage which is only two blocks from the ocean.
