NEW FISHERIES APPROACH

Regional fisheries managers put off for the future consideration of more localized rules as a way to increase fish populations. More than just being included in consideration of alternatives to current fishing rules, area management – as the more localized approach is called – needs to be tried. Funding for a pilot project along the Maine coast would be a good start.

Meeting in Portland this week, the New England Fisheries Management Council agreed to continue to look at alternatives but to stick with its current system of restricting how much time fishermen can spend fishing as it develops new regulations.

Restricting days at sea, which for cod in the Gulf of Maine are already down to just 27 days per year, has so far failed to stop overfishing and allow depleted stocks to regrow. Further reductions will drive more fishermen, mainly those with smaller boats, out of the business, harming fishing communities and industries.

Area management, which empowers local groups to set rules for a small area of the coast, has worked well for Maine’s lobster industry. It is time to see if it can also work for the region’s troubled groundfishing fleet.

The Maine Legislature unanimously passed a resolution supporting this approach. Funding from Congress for a pilot project could get this work under way.

The Area Management Coalition, a group of fishermen, scientists and conservationists, is ready to test this approach on Maine’s inshore fishery, a project that is estimated to cost about $200,000. This area, along the coastal shelf, was once very productive, but fish populations have declined dramatically, largely because of overfishing.

The area should produce between 15 million and 30 million pounds of fish a year. Today, it yields only 1 million to 3 million pounds. As a result of the fishery’s decline, the number of groundfishermen in Maine has plummeted. In the 1960s, every coastal town had a fishing fleet. Today, only one fisherman in the area from Vinalhaven to the Canadian border makes his living from groundfish.

As a result of the groundfish decline, many Maine fishermen have switched to catching lobster. That species now accounts for about three-quarters of the state’s commercial harvest. A decline in the lobster population would further erode the economic viability of many coastal communities.

To remedy this situation, the Area Management Coalition has proposed that Maine’s inshore fishery be managed by a local council that would set restrictions for those who want to fish in the area. By managing on a smaller scale, the hope is that fishermen will be rewarded for restricting their catches to allow populations to grow, for example, by larger catches in the future. Under the current system, if local fishermen don’t quickly catch a population that is growing and has potential to be very productive in a couple years, other fishermen, often in much larger boats from far away, will.

As other approaches fail, this one is certainly worth a try.