BY TED LEONARD
SCITUATE, Massachusetts - "We're going to come at you and
we're not going to stop until you listen," declared Bob
McKennon, president of the Mass Netters Association. He was
speaking February 1 to a rally of more than 100 fishermen,
their families, and supporters on the town pier here. He was
addressing the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and
its new regulations imposed on inshore fishermen along the
Massachusetts coast. Inshore fishermen have relatively small
boats that go out in the morning and come back at night.
"They are slowly putting us out of business," McKennon explained. In December the NMFS voted to shut down all fishing Feb. 1 through April 30, 1999, in an area that stretches 40 miles offshore from Gloucester to Provincetown. This closure encompasses the entire area that Massachusetts inshore fishermen traditionally fish. Some 60 percent of inshore fishermen's income comes during this period.
The NMFS ordered the "emergency shutdown" to save the cod fish stock. Fishermen are especially upset with the NMFS shutdown of all fishing, because in February they fish for flounder, not cod. McKennon pointed out that they can catch flounder without catching cod by using larger net sizes. He urged everyone to attend the next New England Fishery Management Council meeting February 11 to help the fisherman "make them listen."
Paul Cohan, president of the Gulf of Maine Fisherman Alliance and an inshore fisherman from Gloucester, was asked if he believed the cod were on the verge of being extinguished. He replied, "It is not [that], `I don't believe the scientists,' but rather the manner they gather data is not the most accurate way. We need the fishermen and scientific community to work together to determine fish levels." He pointed out, "Fishermen have more at stake than anyone in the fish stock."
Four days earlier the New England Fishery Management Council proposed another set of regulations to protect the cod fish. They proposed slashing the already-reduced maximum daily cod catch in half - from 400 to 200 pounds a day - and closing a stretch of sea from Maine to the Cape Cod Bay on a rotating basis. For inshore fishermen in Scituate, this will mean two additional months of no fishing in 1999 and two months in the year 2000.
Rita Rozen, whose husband and son are fishermen, explained how with almost no advanced warning of the shutdown fishermen were especially hard hit because they "are heavily mortgaged" and "rely only on the ocean for a livelihood."
Addressing government regulations that limit the number of days a year a fisherman can fish, she said, "They end up going out on days when they know they shouldn't be out. Its causing a lot of deaths. In New Bedford and New Jersey, those guys should've been home working on their nets." In the last couple months, there have been four accidents involving fishing vessels on the East Coast, including boats from New Jersey and New Bedford, Massachusetts. Eleven fishermen died.
As Richard Tower, 47, an inshore fisherman from Marshfield, Massachusetts, explained, "There will be a few people who will die this month because their bills are due and they're going to push their 40-foot boats to the edge of the envelope."
Rick Yeats, 51, is the owner of the Aurora, a Scituate commercial fishing boat, which he describes as "probably the smallest boat in the fleet, not capable of going 60 miles out." He thinks, "Pretty soon you'll just see outfits like Tyson off loading their trawlers here and the little guys will be gone."
Kathy Sullivan, who works at a local coffee shop, brought free coffee for everyone at the rally. She explained "people need to understand the important role fisherman play in the community."
Besides McKennon and a local politician speaking, there was a boat parade and a free fish give away as part of the rally. The fishermen explained as they gave away the fish this was the last flounder that would be coming out of the waters here this season if government regulations are allowed to stand.
Ted Leonard is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. Sarah Ullman contributed to this article.