Catch Share System to Blame for Cod Quota Decline
03 February 2012US - New England fisheries can blame catch shares for revenue consolidation and underfunded stock surveys, said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Watch.
“Today (1 February), the New England Fishery Management Council takes up a nearly impossible task. Faced with a new, abysmal stock assessment for cod, the Council will be weighing their obligation to preserve fish populations for the future against their responsibilities of managing a healthy fishing industry. Unfortunately, the Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have spent the last few years painting themselves into a corner. By initiating a catch shares system in New England, the Council and NMFS have restricted their flexibility to mitigate disasters like the dramatic decline of the cod population," sais Ms Hauter.
“Early estimates suggest that the allotment of cod for commercial fishermen in 2012 could be 90 per cent lower than the catch allowed in 2010. This is likely to result in a 25 per cent decline in income for groundfishermen, with fishermen in New Hampshire and Maine hit even harder (91 per cent and 54 per cent, respectively). The ill-conceived catch share program has already created economic havoc by consolidating the industry. In 2010, 7.6 per cent of the fleet accounted for 50 per cent of all groundfish revenues. 165 crew jobs were lost in the first year of catch share implementation and 73 boats left the fishery.
“Hardest hit will be fishermen in the small, 30-50 foot vessel size class. This category of vessels, the largest in the fishery, has already experienced a 17 per cent decline in the number of vessels between 2007 and 2010. Severely reducing the available cod catch will drive even more of these smaller-scale fishermen out of the industry.
“NMFS and the Council face an impossible situation. Even though some objections have been raised to findings of the current stock assessment, they really have no choice but to drastically reduce the cod catch in an industry still reeling from the dramatic effects of catch shares. They are holding meetings and turning out studies to see how to minimize the damage, but it’s possible the cod assessment may be the knockout punch for small-scale fishermen in the Northeast.
Were they not hamstrung by the catch shares system, NMFS and the Council would have a more robust and flexible fishery that could survive this disaster. But their own actions and priorities lead directly to this situation. In 2012, NMFS requested an increase of funding for the National Catch Share Program that was twice the request for the Annual Stock Assessment program. NMFS needs to change its priorities.
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