Gloucester: Fishing activists note industry's role in harbor's future

The fishing industry — which rapidly developed Gloucester Harbor in the 18th century and, without interruption, has used it ever since as a base for harvesting the rich stocks of the North Atlantic — has given notice it expects to keep fishing into the foreseeable future.

So obvious and ancient is the association of the large, natural, photogenic harbor with the romanticized but sometimes cruel and capricious commercial fishing trade that the connection goes almost without saying — and nearly did this week.

It was not until the fifth and final "listening post" community meeting Tuesday night in Magnolia that Jackie Odell and Ann-Margaret Ferrante, two of the most visible advocates for the fishermen and their livelihood, came forward with a single vision for the future of the harbor.

"There will be lots of fish to be harvested in the future," said Odell.

"We are a hub port," said Ferrante. "A hub port facilitates an industry."

Two other experts' views expressed to the Times in interviews corroborated their optimism.

Paul Cohan, a longtime commercial fisherman who also smokes fish for sale, and Paul Rego, a scientist with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center at Woods Hole, expressed confidence the North Atlantic fishery is coming back and can be counted on for a sustainable supply of fish.

"I'm optimistic," said Rego. "I see very good prospects for the future."

His comments seem to conflict with a research summary he delivered last week to the New England Fishery Management Council. In it, he explained that across the species, but especially among flatfish, interim stock studies suggest that the recovery of the fishery was progressing more slowing than hoped.

The council seemed surprised and decided to defer decisions on even tighter fishing restrictions until a full assessment of the fishery is delivered in August.

But short-term disappointment is not incompatible with long-term confidence, and Rego said the scientific community is still progressing up a long learning curve about the ocean and its inhabitants.

He cited the successful management of scallops and striped bass, and said he was all but certain the North Atlantic will continue producing.

"But it will be a different industry; it won't look the same," said Rego.

Much the same assessment was made to the Times by Cohan and Phil Ruhle, a Rhode Island fisherman who responded to Rego's interim assessment last week with the suggestion that the entire fishery be shut down temporarily.

That the fishing industry has first claim to the harbor is statutory as well as historic. Regulation and zoning reserve the harbor for commercial fishing.

At Tuesday night's Magnolia listening post — the last of five sessions organized by Mayor Carolyn Kirk and presented before a grass-roots hearing panel — Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, apologized for her belated appearance.

She told the crowd in the library — the fifth straight jammed venue — that she has been distracted monitoring and commenting on the unpredictable efforts of federal regulators to bring back stocks that had been slammed down to dangerous levels after five centuries of fishing by Western European and later world fleets, as well as ours. The seafood coalition is the region's largest trade group of fishermen and shoreside businesses from Maine to New York.

Ferrante, an attorney with a fishing and marine real estate practice closely associated with the coalition, echoed Odell's message.

By Ferrante's estimate, even now with fishing at the historical extreme in restriction — of catch limits and days at sea — the harbor-based fleet is landing a $17 million annual catch. Assuming a multiplier of 3.3, she calculated the industry's value to the city is about $56 million.

She further noted that the current regulatory model is keyed to the least healthy species, so, she said, the fleet is barred from reaching half the quota that is legally available.

Ferrante and Odell both noted that huge changes will continue to alter the nature of the fishing industry based in Gloucester. In proposing a shutdown of the fishery, Ruhle also reasoned that a radical retrofitting of the infrastruture will be required to find a future industry model that is likely to need fewer boats with better catching technology and different shoreside services.

Tim Greiner, the Cape's point person in the global network of climiate change and "green" adaptations to it, urged the city to prepare for a fishing future that is likely to be lucrative, with demand expected to exceed supply as a constant.

He noted that Whole Foods — the upscale supermarket chain — and even Wal-Mart, have come to insist on buying "only the freshest fresh fish." Carmine Gorga, speaking at the first meeting in City Hall last week, had also noted the same certainty of demand exceeding supply of protein.

In "Common Wealth," a new book on overpopulation, author Jeffrey D. Sachs writes that by 2050, the world population will likely rise to 9.2 billion, a 39 percent increase from today's 6.6 billion. This new mass of people, largely born into Third World cultures, will require water, grain and protein in quantities the world seems incapable of providing.

Meaningful expansion of the production of hoofed protein is unlikely, given the new understanding of the capital, land and environmental requirements of livestock. What is left is the bounty of the seas, to be worked by the next iteration of the nation's oldest fishery.

Some consensus emerged from the five meetings, which drew more than 600 people and about 100 commentators — namely that the great appeal of the harbor is its authenticity and unadorned working waterfront.

Kirk said that view "made a lot of sense" to her, too.

She said the challenge is to figure out how best to retrofit the harbor and prepare the fleet for 21st century commercial fishing; there is no certainty, she added, what the ideal industry of the future will look like.

She said she would use a recently received $400,000 state economic development planning grant to study what the city can do to prepare for the next generation of commercial fishing.

"There will be a crying need for sustainable resources," said Greiner.

"We want to work with the city to transition to the new regime," said Odell.

Ferrante said "industry consolidation" was certain.

Richard Gaines can be reached at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com

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