Governor upset by federal fish rules Industry’s future at risk, King says

AUGUSTA – The federal government is trying to regulate the groundfishing industry with a sledgehammer, a tool that would deal “a crushing blow” to the remaining fishermen in Maine, Gov. Angus King said Wednesday.

This is also a point the state’s marine resources commissioner will likely make during five days of mediation that have been scheduled to begin next week. The talks are aimed at resolving a lawsuit brought by environmental groups charging the National Marine Fisheries Service with not doing enough to stop overfishing of species such as cod and haddock in New England, a contention that was upheld by a federal judge hearing the case.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, the same judge who ordered the Energy Department to turn over documents about the development of the Bush administration’s energy policy, wants a resolution to the suit by May 1, the start of prime fishing season.

As part of the federal lawsuit, NMFS earlier this month proposed strict new regulations on groundfishing, including cutting in half the number of days fishermen could spend at sea during the prime season. Fishermen called the federal proposal “cyanide” because it would put them out of business.

In their own proposal to the federal court in Washington, D.C, filed earlier this month, Maine officials instead suggested that fishing gear be modified so young fish would be better able to escape and that some areas of the Atlantic remain off-limits to fishing. Maine joined New Hampshire and Rhode Island in the court filing.

King sought to bolster the state’s case Wednesday by talking to reporters about why he believes the proposed federal regulations are too heavy-handed. He made a similar case in a letter sent to President Bush last week.

“At present, Maine’s groundfish industry, a cornerstone of our coastal economy, is facing a serious threat to its very future,” King wrote in the letter to Bush. “Ironically, this new threat comes at the very time when fish stocks in this region are showing a dramatic recovery. … Given this success, the drastic new restrictions about to be imposed will devastate an entire industry for no apparent reason.”

On Wednesday, the governor pointed to a chart from NMFS that shows that the stocks of a majority of 12 groundfish species have increased since 1994. Cod is one of the species that has not increased in number.

Because most of the lines are going upward, most people would judge this as a success story, King said. Still, the federal government wants to punish fishermen throughout New England, which is flat wrong, he said.

“It is shortsighted and punitive to shut down an industry so the line [on the chart] can go up a little steeper,” King said during the State House press conference.

The strict regulations proposed by NMFS may help groundfish stocks rebound a little faster, but at the expense of jobs in Maine and other states, which is not an acceptable trade-off, King said.

The regulations put forth by NMFS would cost 2,000 jobs and $150 million in lost annual revenue in Maine, the governor said. In addition, allowing fishermen to go to sea for only 22 days between May and October would force them to fish more in the winter when it is less safe.

“Let’s not take a sledgehammer approach to the problem,” King said.

Instead, a targeted approach, such as closing specific areas to fishing for cod, one of the stocks that has yet to recover, makes more sense, he said.

Roger Fleming, an attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, one of the five environmental groups that filed the lawsuit, said he agreed with much of what the governor said.

Some of the proposed regulations from NMFS, especially the reduction in the number of days at sea fishermen would be allowed, are too harsh and would have a disproportionate impact on only some parts of the industry.

However, the charts used by King show only part of the picture, Fleming said. It is true that some fish stocks are showing some improvement. However, others are still “in trouble and need help.”

The conservation groups have long called for quotas on the number of fish that could be caught during each trip as a means of stopping overfishing. Fleming said Wednesday that quotas could still be part of a package of regulations but that his group and the others would keep an open mind when they sit down with government officials and fishermen’s groups next week for the mediation session.