Maine, N.H., R.I. pan proposed rules on groundfishing

Maine went to bat for its fishermen Friday, calling for far less draconian measures than those proposed by federal regulators to protect New England’s groundfish stocks.

The state joined New Hampshire and Rhode Island in filing comments in federal court panning proposed federal regulations that would cut in half the number of days fishermen could spend at sea during prime fishing season.

“The combination of management measures proposed under the federal plan will have a devastating, and quite possibly fatal, economic impact on the groundfish industries in the affected states,” state officials wrote in their filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

“Furthermore, the proposed measures will result in changes in fishing methods that will increase risks to the safety of lives at sea,” the document continues.

The comments echo those made by fishermen who said the proposed rules would force them to fish in the winter when it is the least safe. In 2000, 11 Maine fishermen lost their lives at sea.

One fisherman called the federal proposal “cyanide,” explaining it would kill the industry because he and others no longer could support their families if allowed to fish only a few days a month.

The states’ filing is part of a continuing court battle in which a judge has ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service has violated federal law by not doing enough to stop the overfishing of species such as cod and haddock. The suit was filed last year by five environmental groups.

Earlier this month, the NMFS filed proposed solutions to the overfishing problem. It proposed to cut to 22 the number of days fishermen could go to sea between May and October. The agency also proposed to extend a year-round closure of the western Gulf of Maine to groundfishing that was set to expire May 1. Additional areas of the gulf also would be put off-limits to groundfishing under the NMFS plan.

In addition, the size of mesh on nets used for trawling would have to be increased by half an inch to allow young fish to escape more easily.

The NMFS proposal was panned immediately by Maine groundfishermen who said the stringent regulations would put them out of business.

The conservation groups that filed suit, however, want even tougher regulations and are calling on the federal government to institute quotas on the amount of fish that can be caught.

As part of Friday’s court filing, the commissioner of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources said the measures proposed by the NMFS would have a dramatic negative impact on an industry that plays an important role in the state’s economy.

According to George LaPointe, Maine has the second-highest number of vessels engaged in groundfishing of all the Atlantic coast states. The estimated value of groundfish landings in Maine last year was $50 million. The economic impact of groundfishing in the state, including income from shore-side services and seafood processing, is estimated at $150 million a year. This represents 20 percent of the total economic impact of the fishing industry as a whole on the state, which is estimated at $750 million annually.

Since 1994, Maine has experienced a 51 percent decline in the total number of groundfishing vessels that call the state home, according to LaPointe. Most of the remaining vessels now operate out of Portland. Part of the blame for this decline lies with past federal management measures, he said in the court filing.

Further reducing the number of days fishermen can spend at sea will only add to the woes of fishermen, LaPointe said. The restrictions will reduce income to the point that some fishermen will not be able to maintain their businesses and households, the DMR commissioner said. This means crew members and shore-side workers will have to find alternative employment because Maine does not allow fishermen to collect unemployment benefits as some other states do.

Instead of the proposed federal regulations, Maine and the other states propose that the days at sea allowed to fishermen be frozen at current levels and that the use of federal monitors on fishing vessels be increased.

The states agree with the NMFS that the western Gulf of Maine should remain closed to groundfishing and that mesh sizes should be increased on vessels that fish in certain areas.

In some areas, the states concur with the environmental groups that limits should be placed on the amount of cod that can be caught during each fishing trip.

Roger Fleming, an attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation in Rockland, one of the groups that filed suit, said some of the states’ suggestions, such as increasing the number of federal monitors and supporting area closures, are good.

“We definitely support area-specific measures that recognize the status of individual stocks in different areas of the Gulf of Maine,” he said.

However, his group worries that neither the federal nor state recommendations go far enough to protect the fishery.

Fleming said it is difficult to tell how close either proposal comes because federal officials have not given the environmental organizations or the states the specific scientific information the NMFS used to come up with its proposed regulations.

The judge hearing the case now will consider the proposed remedies and the subsequent reactions to them. She has said she wants a solution put in place by the start of the spring fishing season on May 1.