To the editor:
Our government made a promise to the fishermen. Give the fish stocks a chance to recover and you shall reap the benefits.
So we sacrificed. Over the years, the draconian rules were constantly changing and many times confusing. The enforcement could be excessive and first-time offenses could put you out of business, the justice system skewed so badly even the innocent found it hopeless to challenge.
Many of the rigors our predecessors faced still apply: Dangerous weather and work, long hours, physically demanding and few holidays spent with family.
A fishermen's only retirement is the sale of the boat and permit. The crew has no "nest egg." When a hurricane is imminent, we ride it out instead of evacuating.
With all these challenges, I'm sure NOAA/NMFS is amazed there are any of us left. Their agenda has been to eradicate our numbers.
It has worked, so why force the few diehards left into a 50 percent reduction with catch shares?
When will consolidation be enough? The "gifting" of future shares of fish is unnecessary to conservation. A TAC (total allowable catch) accomplishes the same thing.
There are more fish than we've seen in 30 years. In my scallop fishery, scallops are not overfished, nor have they been recently. In fact, they're at the second highest level since they've been recorded.
Why has my family been limited to 4 days a year? Some 598 "day" scallop boats in '05 were whittled down to 329. With catch shares, many of these boats are not viable. Why can't all the boats that qualified work?
This costly management plan, catch shares, is a money trap for many fishermen who have to pay before they fish. The Wall Street investors and bankers love this scam. We become sharecroppers and seafood prices will soar due to costs associated with leasing and observers.
We are being regulated to extinction. I wonder what the ratio is NOAA/NMFS vs. fishermen? They continue to close their eyes to science and ears to fishermen. They never consider the big picture like social and economic impacts.
NOAA/NMFS's rules don't consider the "day" boat fleet's importance of providing fresher seafood, giving character to our ports and generating revenue for our towns.
There are solutions — but nothing is working, because NOAA is Now Obama's Agenda-driven Agency.
We need to "clean house" from the top down. Jane Lubchenco's "mask" has been pulled off in the Gulf disaster. We need a true scientist to head NOAA, not a PR spin-master for Big Oil, Wall Street and the Environmental Defense Fund and Pew.
Recently, the Passamaquoddy tribe in Maine made their presence known to NMFS. More power to our Native American brothers!
They know too well about government promises. The only true thing the government said to them, "We will take your land."
I think they deserve a seat at the table as the "pie" is divided. Science will be missing from the recipe; as well as fairness and equity.
What about the public's interest? I suppose big government knows best — Not!
Just ask the Native Americans.
MARY BETH DE POUTILOFF
Provincetown
