Cape group gets windfall from quota backed by judge

In reorganizing the Northeast groundfishery into a system of 17 sectors or business cooperatives assigned tradeable allocations, no part of the government's plan was more controversial than the decision to give the Cape Cod sector the right to catch more than an equal share of cod from home waters.

That the chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council which set the allocations was CEO of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association fueled suspicion of untoward beneficial treatment, and a request by plaintiffs in a legal challenge for discovery, which was not allowed by U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel.

But in rejecting a challenge last week by more than three dozen plaintiffs led by the port cities of Gloucester and New Bedford — which argued improper and illegal preferential treatment for the Cape Cod group — Judge Zobel wrote that the especially beneficial consideration for the cooperative, an outgrowth of the Hook Fishermen's Association, was "rational."

Zobel said the treatment was also warranted to ensure the stability of the Chatham company, which had innovated the sector concept while allying with nonprofit groups, notably Environmental Defense Fund, the Pew Environment Group and Conservation Law Foundation, in the push for the catch share regulatory system for New England's groundfishery.

The judge explained that the allocation was set at the level the Cape Cod Fixed Gear Sector was used to getting, and any less would subject the group to destabilizing competitive pressures from the newly formed sectors.

But a government report on catch share leasing for the full first year of Amendment 16, which ended April 30, shows that the fixed-gear Cape Cod sector hardly needed the extra allocation to remain stable.

Although the allocation by the New England Fishery Management Council gave the Cape Cod sector 2.1 percent more Georges Bank cod than it would have in equalized distribution, the group caught only 42 percent of it allocation.

The rest — 58 percent of its Georges Bank cod allocation — was leased to other sectors, yielding a profit of between $1 million and $2 million, based on the various prices offered for last year's cod shares. According to industry analysts, those prices averaged about $1.50 per pound.

Figures in the summary trading table published by the National Marine Fisheries Service indicate, that while the Cape Cod sector was allocated 2,118,090 pounds of Georges Bank cod, the fishermen in the sector caught only 889,289 pounds and leased out 1,228,802.

In the geographic area closest to Cape Cod, where the fixed gear sector's members primarily worked, the percentage of the allocation that was caught was even smaller — 33.6 percent — compared to 66.4 percent leased.

Eric Brazer, the Cape Cod sector manager, said there was a dramatic drop off in the availability of inshore cod due to an "incredible abundance" of dogfish, skates and seals during the 2010 fishing cycle that ended April 30. And where the cod was available — farther from shore on the Eastern side of Georges — was beyond the reach of most of the smaller day boats of Cape Cod.

"For these reasons," Brazer said in an email to the Times, "some fishermen in the Fixed Gear Sector leased western Georges Bank cod to fishermen in other sectors who needed the quota and could catch it. Fixed Gear Sector fishermen also traded Western Georges Bank cod for other stocks that we could target.

"The Fixed Gear Sector is a diverse fleet of active fishermen that landed over 10 million pounds of groundfish, dogfish, skates, monkfish, scallop, lobsters last year," he wrote. "If cod were available inshore, we'd catch them. Since they weren't available in 2010, some fishermen traded or leased that quota to the fleets that could target them.

"We hope 2011 will be different, but until we can increase the harvest of dogfish and skates inshore, these predator populations will continue to stand in the way of inshore groundfish fishery," he added.

Since it was founded in 1991, the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association has fished — first primarily with hooks, and more recently using the same gillnetting technology typical of the bigger commercial ports that it once decried — the hookers have also benefitted from grants given by groups advocating for sustainable fishing methods.

And they have partnered with the nonprofits to influence fisheries policies.

The links to the big nonprofits — EDF, Pew and CLF — have put the "Hookers," as they call themselves, at odds with fishing interests of the big old ports, notably Gloucester and New Bedford.

But their clout can't be missed. With their CEO John Pappalardo ending his third and final term on the council, where he remains chairman, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke recently named Tom Dempsey, policy director of the hook group, to replace him effective Aug. 11.

In the commercial ports, there is suspicion that the hook fishermen have enjoyed undue special treatment, using their connections to provide their nonprofit partners with improper access to policy making, while benefiting from the patronage of the government in ways that are denied to the commercial regulars.

A chief spokesman for this school of thought is New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, who has said repeatedly that "pulling back the curtain" to show the world how decisions are made will expose a system corrupted by the influence of EDF and its like.

When Zobel refused to allow the plaintiffs discovery — the right to take depositions from the decision-making hierarchy responsible for Amendment 16 and EDF and other non profit operatives imbedded in the New England fishery governance system — Lang said he felt the suit was doomed.

Lang has also publicly said he hopes the Commerce Department Inspector General to open an investigation into rule-making, where he would expect to uncover the same level of corruption he found in fisheries law enforcement — a scandal that brought reparations and a cabinet level apology to the commercial fishing industry last May.

Fixed Gear Sector Manager Brazer did not respond to a request for precise revenues from leasing 1.2 million pounds of cod last year from the total allocation of 2.1 million pounds.

In Zobel's order rejecting the challenges to Amendment 16, she wrote that the Cape Cod association was essentially due special protection.

She wrote that the agency chose this approach reasonably "to promote stability in the fishery and foster an environment where sectors can create efficient and effective business plans."

There, the judge was quoting from a letter from the New England Fishery Management Council to Commerce Secretary Locke.

It was signed by Pappalardo, the council chairman; Zobel did not note that he is also CEO of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association.

Richard Gaines can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3464, or at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Site Map

Contact Us