Scientist decries catch shares decision

Brian Rothschild, the chief marine science advisor to the New England commercial fishing industry, Thursday described the impending start of the groundfish catch share system as an "experiment" conceived in blithe ignorance that is on track to wreak unnecessary cultural, social and economic havoc.

But the May 1 launch of the regime will not be delayed, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco announced. Lubchenco made her decision public in a letter to New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, who had — along with other elected officials — been urging the postponement.

The new system scheduled to debut May 1 has ratcheted down allocations to remove pressure of any kind on rebuilding stocks. "Risk aversive" was Rothschild's characterization of the approach taken by the federal fisheries management bureaucracy.

Corroborating Rothschild's findings before a House subcommittee that has been at the vanguard of inquiries into the fisheries policy of the Obama administration, New Hampshire commercial fisherman David Goethel bluntly concluded the re-engineering of the industry was a "straight resource grab" and an "economic tool to force radical consolidation."

Rothschild and Goethel predicted massive business failures that will leave the industry in the hands of a small number of wealthy owners. Both said at least one half of the groundfish boats will be gone within a year or two.

For a clear picture of what awaits the region, Goethel referred the lawmakers to a paper published last August by Julia Olson, of the New England Fishery Science Center at Wood Hole.

"The primary social impacts," she wrote, "range from employment loss, decreased income, decreased quality of life, changing relations of production, structural disadvantages to smaller vessel and firms, dependency and debt patronage, concentration of capital and market power, inequitable gains, regulatory stickiness, reduced stewardship, decreased community stability, loss of cultural values and so on."

From two other witnesses — Wayne Moody, a commercial fisherman from Moro Bay, Calif., and Julian Magras, chairman of the board of the St. Thomas Fishermen's Association — came cautionary tales of bureaucratic arrogance and the need of stakeholders to insist on their rights.

And from others, James Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance and Jefferson Angers, president of the Center for Coastal Conservation, came worries that, to Lubchenco and her team, catch shares seem to be the "be all and end all."

"Many believe catch shares are a panacea and can even bring about world peace," said Angers, who is based in Louisiana.

Donofrio, who led the organization and planning for the February mass rally of recreational and commercial fishermen in Washington, said it was obvious that certain environmental non-government organizations or ENGOs have a "close involvement with high ranking officials at NOAA."

The New Englanders were among eight witnesses invited to comment on the administration's catch share policy that was written before the 2008 presidential election by the Environmental Defense Fund, the working group for the paper headed by EDF's vice chairwoman Jane Lubchenco, now the head of NOAA and the government's top catch share missionary.

The hearing was the third in the past two months by the House Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife.

The only witness Thursday to endorse catch shares was Bob Dooley, president of United Boat Catchers, a West Coast fishermen's association — and Dooley emphasized that the systems worked because he felt they were innovated from inside, voluntarily. The plan to impose catch shares on New England and elsewhere has drawn widespread opposition.

Chairwoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, began the session noting that there are only 15 catch share programs with "mixed results" working in more than 100 U.S. fisheries.

But with Lubchenco — who has developed the plan in close coordination with the Environmental Defense Fund — pushing for more catch share management everywhere, Bordallo noted the problem was that, "once in place, it is very difficult to go back and deal with the unintended consequences."

Rothschild, dean emeritus of the School of Marine Science and Technology at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Goethel, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council, also identified the mixed stock nature of the New England fishery and the government's insistence on regulating based on the status of the weakest stock as a flaw that will prove economically fatal to many of the small fishing boat businesses.

In the mixed stock fishery, "choke" stocks are those for which there is especially limited allocation, divided into shares in proportion to catch histories. When the overall allocation of the chock stock is caught, no more may be taken and no more allocation may be marketed.

A combination of developments, the scientist and the fishermen recounted, have set the New England groundfishery's catch share fishing cooperatives or sectors up for rapid shutdown.

"I have (an allocation) of 190 pounds of white hake," Goethel said, and "when I catch it, I'm done for the year."

In his written testimony, Rothschild said he saw structural and conceptual problems with the catch share program for the groundfishery that make it "an experiment rather than an example of ... a well thought out policy."

Like Goethel, Rothschild said it was essential to relax catch limits and provide more allocation for the fishery to give the experiment a chance of success. He also said it was essential to get an "independent" review of the status of the stocks.

EDF and the Pew Environment Group have insisted that the fisheries are in a fragile state, requiring radical attention from catch shares, but government science indicates the fisheries are recovering rapidly.

"For over a decade, fishery management in New England has been wasteful and inefficient," said Rothschild.

"Overfishing and a failure to rebuild stocks have been widely cited," he added. "A less-publicized aspect of waste are the hundreds of millions of dollars of fish that could have been caught without overfishing, but are not caught because of inflexible regulations.

"In addition," Rothschild said, "tons of valuable bycatch are thrown back in the ocean because of management regulations."

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

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