Fishermen adjust to cutbacks Days at sea now at lowest levels make industry more of a gamble

BOSTON – Back when the oceans were open to fishermen 365 days a year, a bad trip could be met with a shrug and the confidence there was plenty of time and fish to make up for it.

With fishing days now cut to their lowest levels ever, that margin for error has all but disappeared.

Fishermen must make every trip count, and getting a good price is as important as a good catch.

But the market is swayed by everything from foreign competition to the behavior of fishermen in far-flung New England ports. Even experienced fishermen say all they can do is take their best gamble and go.

“It’s like playing Russian roulette with yourself,” said Jim Kendall, an industry consultant.

Such guessing games aren’t new to fisherman, but the pressure is now greater than ever because there are no fishing days to spare, said Gloucester fishing boat owner Vito Giacalone.

“It makes it even more of an anxious decision when you’re potentially lose-lose,” he said

Overfishing forced regulators to step in. The number of days fishermen are allowed at sea has been steadily shrinking for years.

In the last three years alone, the maximum number of days most groundfishermen are permitted at sea has dropped from 88 to 70, to the current level of about 53.

Fishermen obviously want a good haul. But if they use their fishing days during times and in places where they can be confident of a good catch, they risk prices that are too low to be profitable.

That’s because other fishermen are likely to be fishing in the same place at the same time.

“Fishermen are pretty good at catching fish,” said Rodney Avila, a New Bedford fishing boat owner. “The problem we’re having now is getting paid for catching the fish.”

An example of a market glut came early last month, when fishermen taking advantage of special access to restricted yellowtail flounder grounds flooded the New Bedford market with the fish. The price dropped from more than $1.50 per pound to less than half that in one day, and then continued to fall.

Portland, Maine, boat owner Jim Odlin said he tries to beat the market by fishing during the winter, when most other boats are dormant. He’ll also rush to shore if he hits a strong catch early in his trip during the strong midsummer season.

Odlin said years of fishing have also taught him to head out before certain Chinese or Jewish holidays when the demand for certain fish, such as flounder, is greater.

Avila said knowing the peak seasons for smaller fisheries, such as whiting or fluke, can give clues to when there are fewer people fishing bigger stocks.

Even if fishermen bet correctly on when their competitors will go to sea, the market could be thrown off by the unpredictable influx of foreign fish, particularly from nearby Canada.

Giacalone added that captains are sometimes forced to fish even if they don’t think the time is right in order to keep crew members anxious for a paycheck from bolting.

Fishermen say fewer days at sea also feeds a vicious cycle: processors and other shoreside businesses reduce workers and capacity because they can’t rely on a certain supply of fish. That means they can’t handle as many fish and the market gluts more quickly.

With so many variables, Odlin said, “You literally leave the dock not knowing whether you’re going to make a dime.”

A new program that allows fishermen to lease fishing days from each other could relieve some pressure by giving boat owners more time at sea.

In the past, fishermen have worked together to make sure the market remained profitable. Avila remembered that in the 1960s, about 170 New Bedford boats agreed to restrict their catch to 5,000 pounds of fish per crew member to avoid flooding the market.

That arrangement wouldn’t work today, Odlin said. The fishery is too divided by things like distance between ports and fishing styles.

But Giacalone said fishermen must figure out a way to make their reduced days at sea less of a roll of the dice.

“The government’s going to give us our fish,” he said. “It’s up to us to get the most out of it.”