Fishermen say federal relief not enough

PORTLAND – Many groundfishermen in Maine are unenthusiastic about a $2 million federal relief package passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Fishermen and state officials said the money is welcome but not nearly enough to begin covering losses from tough new groundfishing regulations.

“We all kind of feel that that’s a very small amount of money given the scope of the issues,” said Sue Inches of the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Roger Libby, a fisherman in Port Clyde, was almost derisive: “Hah!” he said. “That’s like throwing the dog a bone.”

Libby, who is 69 and has been fishing for 30 years, said, “We’re not going to survive this as it is right now, even with the $2 million.”

A federal judge put the new rules in place in May to rebuild groundfish stocks. Fishermen are only allowed to operate at 80 percent of their best previous year and must increase the mesh of their nets by a half-inch to allow younger fish to escape.

The state Marine Resources Department will determine how to disperse the federal money, and Inches said she will conduct a telephone survey before making any decision.

“It’s one of those tricky things,” she said. “We’re certainly grateful for whatever we can get, and I know our congressional delegation certainly worked hard on this.”

But she added: “The amount of money is not going to completely solve it.”

Dave Lackey, a spokesman for Sen. Olympia Snowe, the ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere and Fisheries, said that misses the point.

“It’s not all that we would have liked. Frankly, we think that the region could sustain some more,” Lackey said.

But he said the money, part of a $28.9 billion supplemental spending bill, was all lawmakers could secure.

He explained that the White House threatened to veto the bill if legislators didn’t cut it by $4 billion. Because of that, he said, the total package of $16 million in emergency funding for fishermen is pretty good.

“This was never designed to be a bailout for fishermen, but instead to provide some degree of relief,” Lackey said.

Under the new rules, Inches believes fishermen will harvest about 25 percent less fish this year.

“That’s $8.5 million that the harvesters will not get paid this year,” she said.