Cundy’s Harbor Fisherman Appointed to Federal Advisory Committee
| 03 February 2010
Cundy's Harbor resident Terry Alexander sums up the rise and fall of groundfishing in Harpswell, and Maine, when he describes his family's participation in the industry.
"My grandfather was one of the first to go dragging. He had fifteen kids. He had a lot of boys that had a lot of boys that fished. I'm the only one left. I'm the only grandson left that actually goes dragging," Alexander says. "Our town was founded on fishing. There's a lot of history that goes away as people move away from the industry."
Not that Alexander hasn't done his share to try to prevent that decline. He is president of Associated Fisheries of Maine, a trade association of fishing and fishing dependent businesses, and in November, he was appointed by the Commerce Secretary to the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC), as one of three commercial fishermen on this federal board.
"We advise the National Marine Fisheries Service on ocean policy, mostly to do with safety and fishing regulations," says Alexander, "because bureaucrats in Washington tend to make crazy rules when they don't have to go out on a boat and realize that that's an impossible thing to follow."
According to the press release announcing the appointment, "MAFAC members draw on their expertise and other appropriate sources, such as NOAA's Fisheries Service, to evaluate and recommend priorities and needed changes in national programs, including the periodic reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act."
The last phrase in that paragraph made Alexander worry that local lobstermen would be calling him to complain about expensive new restrictions on gear, designed to reduce the possibility of Right whale entanglement. He wants to assure his neighbors that his influence in that sphere is minimal.
"That's very far from what we do," Alexander says.
His concern and the reason he was appointed was to provide a voice for the struggling groundfishing industry. According to Alexander, the groundfishing fleet in the northeast was made up of 1600 boats in 1980s and early 1990s. When overfishing during that period threatened the industry, Federal regulators introduced stringent measures to protect the stock. Referred to as "days at sea", each fisherman was allotted a certain number of days during which he could fish. Now the fleet is down to 400 active boats. Alexander says the pendulum has swung too far toward conservation.
"We need to preserve the stocks because we plan on being here for a while," says Alexander. "The fishermen are the biggest conservationists you've seen. We're all for conservation--within reason. Our whole thing is National Marine Fisheries Service is not allowing us to catch enough of the fish to keep the business going."
If fishermen aren't allowed to catch more fish, Alexander argues, the markets can't depend on a consistent supply, forcing dealers to purchase from foreign fisheries, where conservation laws may be lax or even nonexistent.
"Eighty-five to eighty-seven percent of our seafood is imported--¬and we're surrounded by water," Alexander notes. "There's something wrong with that, I think."
Many conservationists claim that the stocks of fish like haddock and pollock are still too weak to allow the catch to increase or, even, stay level with previous years. Alexander and other fishermen are certain that stocks have recovered sufficiently and it is only imperfect monitoring of fish stocks that keeps fishermen from being able to harvest more. This is where Alexander hopes his appointment to MAFAC will allow him to have some influence to help groundfishermen. MAFAC advises the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (who monitor fish stocks) how best to spend their budget. He wants the fishing industry to get better fish survey data so that policy can be set according to sound scientific data.
"We all want good data on the stocks," Alexander says. "We all want to know that when NMFS comes in with an assessment that there are tons and tons of haddock out there, we want to know that we can fish those without ruining next year for us."
Alexander predicts that the groundfishing industry is likely to contract even further. Many factors are combining to set up a vicious cycle where it becomes ever more expensive to break into groundfishing. Only the biggest enterprises can afford to continue--and they can only continue by buying up licenses from smaller outfits. And this year, for the first time, license holders will be able to lease their licenses to other fishermen.
"Most guys who own boats now are so laden with debt because of buying these licenses, they need to continue to buy to keep going. I can see next year under these new rules, they'll be consolidated even more. There's going to be fewer and fewer of us all the time," Alexander says.
The only hope, as Alexander sees it, is to convince regulators to do better assessments of stock. If fishermen were allowed to catch more fish, it might drive down the cost of licenses to the point where new fishermen are able to break into the business.
"If we had decent science, everyone would have a lot more fish, and we wouldn't need to consolidate like we are," Alexander says. "That is the whole key to everything, and that's why I'm on the MAFAC committee, because I hope I can push them towards funding all these new surveys that need to be funded."