Governor hears fishermen’s SOS As rules kick in, Baldacci may declare state of emergency, seek federal funds

ROCKLAND – Barely one week after strict new federal rules governing groundfishing for such species as haddock and flounder went into effect, Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner George LaPointe said Wednesday that the 300-year-old industry is poised on the brink of disaster.

Surrounded by fishing boats at the commercial pier in Rockland Wednesday afternoon, LaPointe joined Gov. John Baldacci and fisherman Vincent Balzano of Saco to explain the state’s response to the May 1 beginning of “the brave new world of Amendment 13.”

Terming the groundfishing industry “worth fighting for,” the governor outlined his plan for responding to Amendment 13, beginning with a look at declaring a state of emergency and pursuing federal funds to offset the losses to Maine fishermen.

No formal request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been made, LaPointe said, but there is precedent among Alaska fishermen for such funding. The emergency is not just Amendment 13, but the whole groundfish decline and resultant string of regulations that have strained Maine’s industry in recent decades – more comparable to a long-term drought than a sudden storm, he said.

In 1994, 202 people had permits for groundfishing. This year the number is down to 140, and only 10 of those permits are located Down East or in the midcoast, according to DMR data.

Balzano, who fishes out of Portland, said he had already seen a 25 to 30 percent decline in his income before the new rules even kicked in.

Amendment 13 is the result of a long decline in populations of the 12 species of fish managed jointly as groundfish. Arguing that decision makers in the National Marine Fisheries Service weren’t doing enough to prevent overfishing of these struggling species, the Conservation Law Foundation sued the federal government in 2000. The foundation won, and the judge charged federal regulators with drafting new rules to rebuild groundfish stocks and protect habitat – Amendment 13.

LaPointe and Baldacci, citing DMR research data, said Wednesday that groundfish stocks are rebuilding, though at varying rates. The state predicts a threefold increase in fish populations to a potential catch as high as 60 million to 80 million pounds annually over the next three decades.

“I don’t understand why we should have to have such great hardship to get there two or three years earlier,” Balzano said.

Roger Fleming, a Maine-based CLF lawyer, said in a Wednesday interview that strict rules are necessary to protect the future fishery. Despite average gains in groundfish populations, five species remain at risk of crashing, and federal regulations previously had allowed fishing at levels as much as 50 percent higher than scientists say is sustainable, he said.

“There’s plenty of reason to be concerned from a scientific and biological perspective,” Fleming said

Regardless of the ecological debate, the short-term economics are clear. Maine fishermen will struggle to follow the new rules.

The state’s primary fear is that a few years of hardship will be enough to finish off the industry as fishermen find more lucrative jobs or move from Maine to southern New England closer to the offshore fisheries. Once fishermen leave, the infrastructure – piers, icehouses, even the Portland Fish Market – could close. Bringing those facilities – in fact the entire Maine fishing industry – back to life once the fish stocks have rebounded may not be possible, LaPointe said.

“People have a tendency to say, ‘Oh, they’re going to survive just like they’ve survived in the past.’ Well, some people can’t,” he said.

Balzano had 88 fishing days in 2001. This summer he will be limited to 48. But the third-generation fisherman who made his first fishing trip when he was just 6 years old isn’t considering leaving.

“It’s my home. It’s my culture,” Balzano said. Last year under the threat of Amendment 13, Baldacci convened a task force to propose ways of helping fishermen through hard times. There are no easy answers, but helping fishing families with insurance costs and making state taxation more fair for fishermen are both on the table, Baldacci said, citing the tree growth and open space tax incentives designed to help keep farming and forestry businesses alive.

Maine has joined several other states in suing the federal government over the new rules and is working with the congressional delegation to change federal fisheries law so that social and economic impacts of fisheries management rules receive greater consideration.

“We want to put some balance back into it,” LaPointe said.

Just five days into the new regime it’s too soon to say how fishermen are responding, but DMR is monitoring the situation closely.

“People have more survival strategies today than they did six months ago,” LaPointe said. “It’s a big change. Gradually people just need to grow their way into it.”