Posted on 11/09/2002 4:51:41 AM PST by NewHampshireDuo
GLOUCESTER, Mass. - Hundreds of fishermen who say they have no faith in research that supports further limits on their catches rallied in a show of solidarity Thursday as New England fisheries officials moved toward enacting court-mandated restrictions.
The New England Fisheries Management Council voted 13-3 to present eight options that could meet court demands to reduce commercial catches. The options include a combination of tighter regulations - including cuts in fishing days of up to 65 percent - closed fishing grounds, quotas and gear changes.
The options will enter a public comment period, unless a federal judge grants a request by the federal government for a nine-month delay of the implementation of the new rules. The tighter rules, known as Amendment 13, were scheduled to be enacted next August after environmentalists won a federal suit last year claiming government regulators weren't doing enough to stop overfishing.
About 400 fishermen carrying signs saying "We Stand United," marched from the council's meeting at Gloucester High School to a landmark statue to fishermen on the waterfront.
Angelo Ciocca, president of Nova Seafoods in Portland, Maine, and a board member of New England Seafood Producers Association, was among those attending the rally.
"What's going on now is like a witch hunt," he said of regulators. "They've lost complete control of common sense. It's gone overboard."
But he said proposals to delay implementation of the rules by at least nine months are a relief to those who marched to the Gloucester waterfront.
"I think there's a lot of hope right now, because the folly and the incompetence of the National Marine Fisheries Service is being seen by a lot of of people," Ciocca said.
Following the rally, fishermen appeared before the council, with speaker after speaker assailing the science behind the rules.
Rockport fisherman Paul Theriault said questions about what he calls "bogus science" need to be answered before regulations based on it are enacted.
Fishermen would defy what they think are unjust regulations, he said.
"If something's not done about the science we're going to go fishing . . . and we're going to bring in whatever comes with us," he said as fishermen applauded.
Fishermen argue that despite progress rebuilding stocks they are being hit with tougher restrictions.
"I'm hoping that somebody finally wakes up - Congress, the Senate, maybe even President Bush, to say there's an injustice going on," said Dennis Robillard, a fisherman from Portsmouth, N.H.
"We're not going down without a fight," he said.
Environmentalists disagree with fishermen on the science.
"It's clear a lot of people don't understand the science. That doesn't mean the science is wrong," said Anthony Chatwin of the Conservation Law Foundation.
"I'm looking forward to having the science go through a peer review," he said. "Once that's done I hope the industry will step up to the plate and accept the findings."
The New England council, made up of scientists, fishermen and environmentalists, is one of several regional councils that make recommendations to the National Marine Fisheries Service, which writes the regulations.
Last year, the council declined to make recommendations deemed by some to be too onerous for fishermen. It has little choice this year, given the court mandate.
Fishermen say more cuts aren't needed. They bitterly dispute scientific estimates of fish populations, which they say don't reflect the true health of groundfish stocks, including cod, flounder and haddock.
Marshall Alexander, a Biddeford, Maine, fisherman who stayed home Thursday to work on his boat, said the New England groundfish industry is united in a struggle to survive.
"If they go ahead with Amendment 13, it'll kill the industry," he said. "I've got over 37 years in the industry. I see the stocks coming back. The fish stocks are on the rebound."
The gulf between fishermen and scientists widened in September when scientists disclosed they used a faulty net to collect fish samples used in fish counts.
Fishermen say the mistake would result in skewed numbers that would undercount stocks. But scientists say that, according to testing so far, the mistake doesn't appear to have had any effect. The National Marine Fisheries Service is still looking into the problem.
The government and environmentalists asked a federal judge for a nine-month delay in implementing Amendment 13, to give researchers time to make sure of their science.
And on Thursday, the council agreed to send a letter to the judge asking for a one-year delay that would be followed by a top-to-bottom reassessment of fisheries science and changes to regulations if problems are found.
I'm sure that Mr. Chatwin is competent to review the science (snicker). The scientists have already admitted that their equipment was faulty resulting in a finding of reduced fish population (the net was set improperly). But facts are, of course, of little use when you have to save critters, the chillen, and the environment.
"What's going on now is like a witch hunt," he said of regulators. "They've lost complete control of common sense. It's gone overboard."Ideas have consequences.
What we see here is the end product of government enforced political correctness - the tragic result of generation after generation being brainwashed in the government (public) school systems of the land. These fishermen's frustration is just the tip of the iceberg of underlying frustration and bottled up emotions felt across America, especially on April 15 of each year. America must return to the principles of her founding fathers - or she is doomed.
Is there still hope?
The results at the polls this past Tuesday indicates there may be.
What industry could survive with an arbitrary imposition of a 65% curtailment in working days?
How do you pay for your capital equipment?
And on a more basic note, from what employment pool do you gleen your workers? (Sure guys, come work for me, I promise you you will have a minimum of 237 days off each year. We only fish for 128 days each year. Of course that makes it a part time job. You don't get benefits and stuff. And you will only receive about 40% of the pay you might otherwise get in any other job.)
Whenever I look at these detached, marble headed, overly simplistic "solutions" which are offered by enviros, I am reminded of an old joke about how you turn an elephant inside out.
It's real simple. You just grab him by the trunk, and snap him inside out!
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