This post comes from Tad Miller, commercial fisherman based out of Tenants Harbor, Maine, who submitted the following public comments to the New England Fisheries Management Council.
To the New England Fisheries Management Council,
Loss of fleet diversity equates to loss of access for the common man that affects not only myself as a fisherman but also my family whom depend on me to make a living, that being just the tip of the ice berg as far as I am concerned.
My community, the State of Maine as well as the whole New England region, has been and will continue to be negatively and nearly irreversibly impacted by not taking actions now to protect fleet diversity as well as right of access. In Eastern Maine it became commercially unviable many years ago to ground fish and the rest of the State has been just barely hanging on. Because of this and other factors the right of historic access for has already been severely curtailed.
Much of our historic access was taken away through arbitrary qualifying periods and now I think without proper action we will lose even more. If or when we ever see a big reversal in the trends of the fish stocks and they are teaming in our local waters are local people going to gain access to stocks to not just employ people but also share in in this bounty of fresh local protein with their communities?
In my community as in many others especially in Midcoast and Eastern Maine fishing in all of its different forms is more than just a job, it's our livelihood. It's how and why we exist, fishing is the engine that drives this area probably more than any other. This is why we have to protect access for all would be participants.
I see consolidation as a problem because it will put the owner/operator ( especially small boats) at an even bigger disadvantage. I believe that we must find a balance that fits the needs of the many not just the few whom can take the time and the money to be well represented in these affairs.
I cannot personally attend these meetings because of fishing commitments but I hope you will consider my letter and testimonies I expect that you will hear from others as reason enough to proceed down a fair and just path. I also belong to two ground fish sectors (Northeast Coastal Communities and Maine Coast Community Sectors), which represent me when i'm unable to speak for myself. I believe that there is and should be a place for both large and small vessels alike to work and prosper. A18 deals with these urgent problems and must be dealt with as quickly as possible.
A range of actions can be implemented to address these problems. I recommend that the Council explore the following potential solutions in order to achieve the goals: Section 4.5 Inshore / Offshore Ares, Section 4.1 Limit the Holdings of PSC, Section 4.4 Data Confidentiality, I would consider these things as being a good starting point.
I think another round of fleet visioning could help to uncover some other potential avenues to better this industry. One thing I feel is that every vessel operator should have enough ownership in a vessel and permit to promote a better sense of stewardship for the resource within the industry, this has worked well in other fisheries. I know this would be controversial but i'm simply suggesting ways to strengthen the industry in the future, which would be to everyones benefit.
This post comes to us from Brett Tolley, NAMA's community organizer. The original content appeared in the September edition of Commercial Fisheries News.
Three years ago I sat amongst a group of fishermen
testifying that the new catch share program in New England was not working and
needed to be fixed. The fleet was consolidating, access was becoming
unaffordable to independent people, and too much pressure was hitting the
inshore fishing areas. Several members of the New England Fishery ManagementCouncil along with lobbyists, who support catch share ideology, denied these
problems.
Not surprisingly, these problems have yet to be fixed.
Advocates of the catch share approach promised higher prices
to fishermen, better stewardship over the ocean, and a general improvement in
fishermen’s livelihoods. Instead we’re seeing an unaffordable quota leasing
market where, for example, George’s Bank Cod (east) leased last year for an
average cost of $2.48/pound while the average ex-vessel price to the boat was
$1.08/pound.
We’re seeing non owner-operator companies control upwards of 23%
of access to a single fish species. Younger fishermen can't afford entry into the fishery. And we’re seeing the program incentivize a
heavy shift of fishing effort onto near shore waters leaving inshore-dependent
fishermen without fish to catch.
Fisherman Kevin McDonough testified to what
few opportunities there are for younger fishermen.
How did we get here?
These problems aren’t unique to New England. In fact, many
fishermen and researchers predicted these outcomes. Back in 1990 the first US
Catch Share program - then called Individual Transferable Quotas or ITQs -
began with the Surf Clam and Ocean Quahog fishery in the mid-Atlantic region.
In a few short years the fishery, which previously had supported many owner-operators, was transformed into one controlled by just three multi-national corporations. Last year
Lion Capital, a British private equity firm, paid $980 million to acquire
Bumble Bee Foods and Bumble Bee’s subsidiary Snow’s Inc, which included the
exclusive property rights to 23% of the United States’ clams.
The Center for Investigative Reporting created this video
which provides an overview of how catch share programs work.
Similar patterns have occurred in Iceland, New Zealand,
Namibia, and many other countries around the world. In the case of Iceland, the
Catch Share program had nothing to show in terms of rebuilding the fish stocks
and meanwhile was undermining fishing community infrastructure and jobs.
Fishermen took their grievances all the way to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and they won! In 2007 the UN ruled that privatization violated the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and soon afterwards the
Icelandic government began a process to dismantle the program.
Who is behind the push for Catch Shares?
The broad strategy of implementing Catch Shares is
ideologically driven and is backed by a unique alliance of conservative,
free-market advocates as well as foundation-funded environmental groups.
The Walton Family Foundation of Walmart, for example, spent
$20 million in 2012 for the sole purpose of promoting Catch Share programs with
an explicit goal of commoditizing seafood into a global market that values
high-volume, low-value ‘efficient’ fisheries. You know… the same ones that
charge a fisherman $2.48/lb for the rights to fish and pays them $1.08 for that
fish when they bring to shore. Its no wonder the fishermen keep saying we need
more fish. If you’re told the only way to make ends meet is with volume not
value what would you do?
As I've written elsewhere with professor Seth Macinko at the University of Rhode Island, the core assumption of Catch
Share ideology is that if we turn fisheries access into private property, than
we’ll take better care of the fish. The problem of course, is that the
fisheries already have an owner – the American public. The idea that private
owners will automatically act as stewards to preserve their assets was proven
dramatically naïve by the world financial crisis of 2008. Why should we assume
now that what is bad for banks will then be good for fish?
Others who defend Catch Share ideology include the likes of
the Koch brothers and the Charles Koch Foundation who have teamed up with
organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund to heavily fund campaigns
to promote Catch Shares.
With pressure and financial backing like that, its no wonder
fishermen and allies in New England face such extreme resistance when seeking
policy fixes to very clear problems that affect both the health of the ocean
and fishing livelihoods.
Reforming Catch Shares
There is an increasing number of brave fishermen, Council
members, and others who continue to shed light on the problems associated with catch shares and to offer solutions moving forward, including limits on quota
accumulation, safeguards for inshore fishing areas, and more transparency on
ownership trends. However, as more fishermen speak out, we’re hearing more and
more about backlash from supporters of Catch Shares, where vocal fishermen are
getting cut out of the leasing market, bullied out on the water, or socially
ostracized.
Fisherman, Ron Borjeson, testifies to the NE Council
about the impact of current policies and the need to ensure
the scale of fisheries matches the scale of the marine ecosystem.
Amendment 18, the main policy vehicle to fix things, will be
discussed October 1 at a NE Council meeting. Three years ago I recall the
National Marine Fisheries Service announcing the heart-wrenching news that cod
catch would be cut to disastrously low numbers. In typical fashion, some
Council members took advantage of the news in order to distract from dealing
with Amendment 18. I heard several Council members liken the situation to a
tsumani that would surely take the entire fleet under and therefore we didn’t
need any action at that time on Amendment 18. Today we’re receiving similar
news about the cod stocks and already Council members are making similar claims
to avoid or delay consideration of reform proposals.
Fisherman BG Brown shares how current policy is
reducing opportunity for independent, owner-operator
fishermen, and those with the lowest carbon footprint.
The real tsunami here is a global strategy to transform
fisheries from publicly managed access into privatized property, effectively
displacing independent family fishermen (those with the smallest ecological
footprint), placing enormous pressure on the marine environment (including the
cod stocks!), and ultimately turning fish into commodities for the global
market.
We
in New England can tip the scales away from policies that privatize the public
commons and consolidate the fishing industry.For the sake of current and future generations of fish and
fishermen, the council must proceed to a vote on Amendment 18 to identify the
best alternatives to a flawed system and protect the fisheries as a public
trust.
This post comes to us from fisherman Chris McCaffity from the Walking Fish CSF in North Carolina. I was
blessed with a chance to help represent Walking Fish at Farm Aid this year.
The Walking Fish demo area
The day
started with a press event featuring Farm Aid founders Willie Nelson and Neil Young.
Several small scale farmers explained how some corporations and politicians are
controlling them and our food supply. Their stories mirrored much of what commercial
fishermen experience. The best chance of survival for independent food
producers is simply for consumers to purchase our products. Voting with our money
can have more impact than voting for most politicians.
Pre-concert press conference
We were
scheduled first at the skills tent immediately following the press event. The
gates had just opened to the public so our audience was small to start with but
grew through the presentation as a steady stream of people joined us. A chef
from Hatteras demonstrated how to clean some seafood as I talked about how
consumers across the state could access local seafood through Walking Fish.
Part of Walking Fish's seafood demo
After
visiting educational booths with topics ranging from biodiesel to locally
sourced food for schools we got to enjoy some music in a sea of spectators.
The crowds enjoy the music at Farm Aid
My daughter
met Lilly May from the rock band White Stripes. Lilly told us about how one of
her friends fished commercially as she graciously posed for a picture.
Making friends!
It was
inspiring to see so many people supporting independent food producers. Our
collective purchasing power is the key to preserving our freedom to access
healthy food from family farmers and fishermen.
Please
contact Chris if you are interested in learning about how we can sustainably
manage our fisheries to limit waste and produce more seafood. Ask me about how
you can place special orders for the snapper/grouper and other offshore seafood
I harvest. freefish7@hotmail.com
