Depleted groundfish stocks could put industry at risk

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are seeking disaster relief for fishermen in Massachusetts as thousands of jobs in the fishing industry are said to be in jeopardy. 

Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown are asking the president to declare a disaster in the state's commercial fishing industry, after regulators announced groundfish stock is depleting.

“It's nice to be able to catch as many fish as possible, because if you can't, if it's going to down even more, sometimes you think it's not even worth going,” said Sherry LaClaire of Leverett who spends $65 to go fishing for cod on a party boat.

LaClaire told 22News she often goes deep sea fishing off the coast of Newburyport, and although she’s not a commercial fisher, she does have to comply with a catch limit of 10 cods per trip. 

Commercial fishermen are also bound to comply with laws that limit how much groundfish they can legally take. But, that will soon change as regulators fear the industry is on the brink of a disaster.

The New England Fishery Management Council is one of the many groups that help manage plans for federally managed species, in federal waters anywhere from 3 to 200 miles off shore.  The council says an overfished stock or stock complex is one whose size is sufficiently small that a change in management rules is required in order to achieve an appropriate level and rate of rebuilding.   

Currently, 12 stocks of groundfish have been depleted. These stocks include species such as flounders (yellowtail, summer, winter, witch and windowpane), haddock, pollock, white hake, cod, haddock, American plaice, wolffish and redfish.

And rebuilding that stock will affect next year’s catch limits. During a meeting last week, officials told the Associated Press catch limits for cod on the Georges Bank fishing grounds could fall by 70 percent in the next year.  And when businesses like Webster's Fish Hook in Northampton go through nearly 200 pounds of cod a week; the owner says such ban would drive prices up.

“Prices will definitely be going up if this comes into effect. Unfortunately there's no way around that; if it costs me more to get it, I'm going to have to pass some of that on to the customer,” said Dan Webster who owns the Damon Road restaurant.  

Webster says much of his fish is coming from places like Canada and Iceland. 

The council told 22News catch limits for 2013 will not be finalized until a bilateral meeting takes place between U.S. and Canadian fishermen and managers who are charged with developing an recommending catch limits for shared fish stocks. 

An estimated 80,000 jobs rely on the fishing industry in the state of Massachusetts.