The port of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and its sector-based commercial fishermen could be crushed under emergency measures NOAA Fisheries is considering for Gulf of Maine cod, potentially losing as much as one-quarter of all groundfish revenues, according to a NOAA economic report.
The ultimate revenue loss will be contingent on how far NOAA cuts the Gulf of Maine cod quota as part of the emergency measures to combat what the agency has described as the continued decimation of the area’s cod stock.
NOAA expects to announce those measures in the second week of November, according to several fishing advocates who have been party to the discussions with NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard.
On Tuesday, the New England Fishery Management Council’s scientific and statistical committee reset its “provisional” recommendation for allowable biological catch (ABC) of Gulf of Maine cod to 385 metric tons as part of the emergency measures.
That figure, which pales dramatically compared to the current Gulf of Maine cod ABC of 1,550 metric tons, would be for both commercial and recreational landings, with an estimated 60 percent being allocated to the commercial side.
At that level, the port and its sector-based fishermen would suffer a groundfish revenue decline of between 21 percent and 25 percent from the estimated fiscal year 2014 groundfish revenues of $8.07 million, according to the economic report compiled by NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
“And that doesn’t include the impact on fishermen in the commercial pool or recreational fishermen,” said Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition.
Even more alarming, according to Odell, these dramatic cuts to cod quota don’t take into account the additional management measures — such as area and spawning closures — that could be part of the emergency measures or later included in the overarching Framework 53 still being developed for the 2015 fishing season.
That uncertainty leaves fishermen and advocates with no clear idea whether the groundfish fleet will be allowed to fish other species under the emergency measures.
“It’s not just cod,” said longtime Gloucester fisherman Al Cottone, owner and captain of the F/V Sabrina Maria. “They have to understand this is a multi-species fishery and we need to be able to fish those other species that are plentiful.”
The report’s projections seem to affirm Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk’s opposition to the anticipated emergency measures — particularly since they stem from an unscheduled cod stock assessment — and her position that Gloucester will suffer disproportionately under measures she described as a “direct hit” on the city’s fishermen and economy.
Kirk sought to make the city’s case in person in a meeting with Bullard on Thursday.
The unscheduled assessment at the heart of the emergency measures “indicates the scientific assumptions used to establish the rebuilding plan were wrong,” Kirk said in an Oct 1 letter to the NEFMC that was read into the record at the council’s meeting in Hyannis.
“In terms of the City of Gloucester, putting the questionable process that just occurred per the assessment aside, the results should prompt a more thoughtful and thorough review rather than a knee-jerk reaction to reduce catch and restrict fishing so dramatically,” Kirk wrote in the letter.