Conserve now and fish indefinitely

Hundreds of fisherman are meeting this week in Rockport for the 26th Annual Maine Fisherman’s Forum and Trade Show. On the whole, they have much to be thankful for: yellowtail flounder, haddock and cod are all gradually rebounding after historic lows in 1993-4, with flounder making the most dramatic comeback. Whether these numbers are a real trend or a blip on the screen, however, will depend on what Congress does in the coming months when it renews the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996.

It is no accident that New England’s fisheries are slowly returning from the brink of disaster. It’s due to better management. The groundwork was laid in the early 1990s when it became apparent that New England’s stocks were rapidly declining. The federal Magnuson Act and the National Marine Fisheries Service had set limits for some commercial stocks, imposed brief moratoriums on others, and called for improvements to nets and dragging gear to reduce by-catch and habitat destruction. These measures, however, were hopelessly inadequate to the magnitude of the problem.

The declining situation led to litigation by the Conservation Law Foundation in 1991 to force federal managers to keep fishing pressure within manageable limits. The repeated boom-and-bust cycle of heavy demand on an expendable resource also prompted formation of the Marine Fish Conservation Network in 1992, a coalition of commercial fishing and environmental groups that pressed for better fisheries management and a comprehensive overhaul of the Magnuson Act when it was renewed by Congress in 1996.

The network succeeded in introducing three new measures.

First and foremost, short-term economic interests could no longer be used to justify overfishing that systematically undermined the long-term biological and economic interests of the nation.

Second, serious efforts would have to be made to minimize “by-catch” of non-target fish species that were inadvertently caught and typically discarded as waste.

Third, the new federal provisions required protection of essential fish habitat (EFH), vital to reproduction and other critical stages of a fish’s life cycle, from destruction by both fishing and nonfishing activities.

Seeing that change was imminent, fisheries planners and managers began to adopt more sustainable practices even before the new regulations became law. As early as 1997, there were signs of biological recovery: cod and haddock were up 25 percent over previous years and yellowtail flounder populations nearly doubled. Today, stronger fishing regulations are beginning to pay off. At the beginning of this year, the legendary yellowtail flounder stock on Georges Bank is almost fully rebuilt.

One reason for this increase was the closing of vast areas of Georges Bank to scallopers and groundfish draggers whose harvesting methods destroy the small outcroppings that juvenile groundfish depend on for food and safety from predators.

But history has taught us that to reap long-term rewards from recoveries of fish stocks, we must move slowly and deliberately rather than re-opening fishing grounds at the first signs of biological health. The decision to let scallopers back in certain areas of Georges Bank last year, for example, was premature in my mind, because it was based on incomplete data. The scallop fleet enjoyed a good harvest, but little forethought was given to the potential impact of this on the recovery of other species or their habitats.

The National Marine Fisheries Service argues that the information it used in deciding to re-open scalloping was the most complete to date. This obviously begs the question, “Compared to what?” We can’t risk long-term habitat and species recovery on inadequate, impressionistic information.

Once again, Congress is about to undertake a periodic review of the federal fisheries law, and Sen. Olympia Snowe, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries, will undoubtedly play an important role in this process. Members of the Marine Fish Conservation Network, consequently, call on her to act on behalf of the long-range interests of New England’s fishing community and to resist the temptation to weaken conservation measures simply to appease a vocal minority of constituents.

Conservation-oriented management is starting to show results ecologically and economically. If Congress relaxes the new standards it adopted just a few years ago, simply to allow industry to cash in on the modest improvements in fish stocks over the past four years, the cycle of boom and bust will be repeated.

The mood at the Fisherman’s Forum and Trade Show is upbeat, and many are optimistic about groundfish stocks this season. Yet the real question is: Will these fishermen still be upbeat two or three years hence, more secure in the predictability of their chosen ways of life? Congress’ actions in the coming months hold the answer.

Peter Shelley, a resident of Rockland, is an environmental attorney and vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation.