Fishermen air grievances about fed rules

The sun-worn fishermen sat in a rough circle at the senior center of the Montauk Playhouse on Monday night, telling federal regulators with growing exasperation of the toll decades of Byzantine rules have had on their industry.

"I'm in the gill-net fishery, and I think they want to put me out of business," said one of the dozen Long Island commercial fishermen, all of whom were promised anonymity by the regulators in exchange for their candid views.

The session was the latest in an effort by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which manages the regional fishing grounds, to structure future rules in ways viewed as more fair and logical by the fishermen forced to live by them.

The sessions are being conducted along the Atlantic coast, and follow widespread criticism that enforcement by federal fisheries regulators was overzealous in pursuing and fining fishermen in the Northeast. The Department of Commerce, after a yearlong probe, identified the problems, reopened and resolved some cases, reorganized departments, and is seeking to repair its reputation.

One of the biggest complaints of the evening in Montauk involved rules that result in what is called by-catch, the staggering amounts of fish that rules require be thrown back into the water dead or maimed because they exceed local limits. Data and research used to set those limits, and the history of New York's unfair share of the quota, were also viewed as major problems.

"We're just wasting the resource because of the management system," one fisherman said. "We have to drop perfectly good fish back in the water."

Others complained that environmental groups have infiltrated fisheries management to the detriment of those who make their living fishing. "I think the entire process has been railroaded by the enviros," said one fisherman, to grumbles of agreement.

While fisheries rules appear to have worked, with fish populations like fluke and porgies considered fully rebuilt, the number of fishermen has dwindled, and those at the meeting took note: fewer boats, few younger fishermen, the growth of corporate entities owning fishing fleets. One fisherman called for a boat and permit buyback program in which regulators would purchase a fisherman's business.

Some of the input will take years to analyze and implement, said Richard Robins, chairman of the council. Other more urgent complaints are being relayed to managers now to see if accommodations can be made.

The most widely expressed frustration among Long Island fishermen was the state-by-state management system that limits them to just 8 percent of the entire coastal quota for vital species like fluke, for instance, while also requiring that fish they catch in far-flung waters be landed back in their home state.

"With fuel at $4 a gallon, how can I be more effective if I've got to go 200 miles to get 2,000 pounds of fish?" one said.

Robins said the revived populations give regulators more flexibility. "Now that the fluke stock is rebuilt, the fishing industry in New York will want to see that re-evaluated," he said of state-by-state management. "We're certainly hearing in New York and other states that the current state-by-state management system needs to be re-evaluated."