Opinion

Letter to the editor: Time to put aside fishing sectors 'conspiracy theories'


Published: July 4, 2009

To the editor:

As our fish populations rebuild and economic opportunities grow, the people of New England — particularly its fishing families and communities — should be the beneficiaries.

That is one reason the New England Fishery Management Council overwhelmingly endorsed a move to the new management approach of catch shares and sectors. Sectors are part of the solution to reversing the slow, painful and predictable shipwreck that New England's groundfisheries have been for the past two decades.

The Gloucester Daily Times has properly recognized the promise of the new approach in past editorials. So, the Times' recent news stories with critics attacking sectors are curious, to say the least.

Sectors, operating under a hard quota and with good monitoring data, can increase flexibility, increase revenues for members of the sector, while increasing compliance and keeping the total catch within the scientific recommendations. But sectors are not magic and do not automatically create any incentives for better stewardship. They can be manipulated by people for private gain, both inside and outside the fishery, just as the old management program has been.

No one should kid themselves: consolidation of the fishing fleet resulting in individual enrichment happened on a grand scale in the old system. For example, total fishing revenues in constant dollars for landings in Gloucester increased by more than 10 percent from 2001 to 2008, even though the number of boats landing in Gloucester declined by 18 percent in the last four years alone.

New Bedford's numbers are even more striking: a 59 percent increase in total revenues with a 10 percent decline in the number of boats landing. Those transfers of wealth from the many to the few had nothing to do with the Daily Times' perceived bogeymen of outside foundation money or venture capitalists.

We can all benefit from, and should work toward, a diverse and economically healthy fishery that reflects New England values. To be sure, a market-driven allocation scheme cannot ensure that future. It has to be created in a transparent and public manner by people of good intention agreeing to work together to that end.

Isn't it time to put the conspiracy theories away?

Peter Shelley

Vice President, Conservation Law Foundation

Rockland, Maine