Foley Fish, my business, has just completed our 100th year in the fish business. We feel strongly that fishery management is essential to the survival of our oceans. We also feel strongly that the science needs to be improved before the government acts with a heavy hand against the days at sea. The government lacks the tools to successfully analyze the current conditions. Discussions with fishermen have us convinced that there are a great deal of fish in the ocean but fishery management compromises jeopardize the stocks by encouraging throwing fish overboard through ridiculously low trip limits. Improving the science can only help us all understand the health of the fishing stocks such that we can all act in good conscience and with an eye to conservation.
I know little about the plight of fishermen, and this film was really an educational experience for me. When one of the people in the film likened the plight of the communities to small farmers, I think things were put more into context for me.
When choosing a side I lean more toward the fishermen and their families, however the film did show me a lot about shortfalls on each side of the agenda. There needs to be a fair and balanced approach, and who else would know more about responsible fishing, but the families which have done so in the featured waters for hundreds of years.
What I learned about the environmental view is scary. After spending 25 years, My entire lifetime), fighting the men and women who have worked these coasts for so long, the old refiners are coming back to town. With no consensus between the once strong allies, who really loses in all of this. The working families of this country, and in the end the rest of society as drilling begins again.
Having worked in Alaska's fishing industry from many perspectives -- fishing boat, cannery worker, and Fish & Game employee -- I place my blame for New England's crisis entirely with the regulatory agencies (NMFS and the states). Fish returns are healthy and fishing communities are strong in Alaska because our Department of Fish & Game does the incredibly complex and difficult job of ensuring fish stock health. Although they grumble about quotas, limited fishing days, and inspections, fishermen in general are thankful for the difficult choices. Strong fishermen's associations, which unite the family fishermen against factory fishing, and pro-fishing elected officials, also help. New England fishers do not give up hope! Fishing weirs nearly killed the salmon runs in B.C. and Alaska in the early 19th century, but nature is resilient and now the returns are the biggest ever. Keep up the faith. Keep fighting the factory boats and oil drilling. The fish will come back. "If you protect it, they will come." :-)
It seems easy to blame the local fishermen, because they're so visible. But if I was paying attention to the film, it doesn't sound like the ever-smaller number of fishing days has much helped the groundfish like cod, haddock, other schrod, and flounder. I know in the last 10 years at the supermarket and fish market their availability has decreased and their price has gone up a lot. (Same for local bay scallops.) Are the scientists investigating possible other causes such as warming of the ocean, different currents or mixing of currents, sources of pollution, changes in local plant life and bottom sediments, as well as the changes in the local shellfish? And the monster ships that fish outside the 200 mile limit, what is their effect? Of course I side with our New England fishing families, they got us fish for hundreds of years in all kinds of weather, and they want the fish to continue. The same way you get the best milk from many smaller herds, like we have in this part of the country. Even if the government loans put too many boats out awhile back, why hasn't cutting the local guys' days helped any? I ask you. And if I go into Trader Joe's, they have all kinds of frozen cod and other U.S. fish and shellfish in the frozen case, at inexpensive prices. Where is it coming from? Local family boats that fish closer in? I don't know, I'm asking. It's so easy to blame the folks we can see right in front of us. What if they are not much of the cause?
I applaud the efforts of your local fisheries and the wonderful, hard working family's that support them! It is my experience here on Maryland's shore and bay, that local fisherman and crabbers are best at conservation. They understand and realize the relationship between species as well as the outcome of over fishing; the effects to the environment, long-term profits, and family heritage. I pray that the government and environmental agencies will realize that the problem does not and has not been created by the responsible and dedicated small fisheries and lies at the foot of "progress". The large fishing companies and government oil searches have done much more damage. We who love and responsibly harvest the sea all know that your plight will be our own if a fair and sustainable solution is not found between wildlife and human life! God Bless and keep you all!
I live in a fishing community, and I feel for the fishermen and their families, but we simply live in a different time - a do or die time. There's no longer an abundance of anything! Someone ignorantly suggested that the environmentalists are pushing propoganda. Come on, you've got to be smarter than that! If it weren't for them, who would be looking out for the greater good? Do you really think we ought to let the fishermen police themselves?
Many thanks and much love to the environmental groups for keeping watch!!!