PROJO Editorial on the state of codfish
 

Interesting take on the recreational cod fish fishery in New England.

DZ


Tim Coleman: Our great fishery failure

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, June 26, 2010

By TIM COLEMAN
Del Barber is a retiree in Westerly who loves to fish from our beaches from Watch Hill to Charlestown. Del can tell many stories about his many years sport fishing in the Ocean State, including one grand night a week before Christmas, in 1972.

On that night, Del and a friend landed 17 codfish from a beach 200 yards west of Quonochontaug Breachway (Quonny, to the locals). Three were over 40 pounds, and one weighed an astounding 64 pounds — caught not with a net, but with a rod and reel.

Today, that fishery is a memory, victim of mismanagement. In the mid-1970s Del and others saw the fish disappear. Like the canary in the coal mine, their loss signaled the decline of what once was a proud symbol of New England’s greatness.

Alarmed by the loss the billions of pounds of fish harvested from our waters by factory ships from foreign countries, Congress passed the Magnuson Act in the late 1970s. It set up a series of regional councils around the country, planning agencies that submitted recommendations to their parent organization, the National Marine Fisheries Service. One goal was to reverse the decline in our cod populations, so that middle-class Rhode Islanders like Del could once again enjoy a healthy fishery not far from their homes.

In the past, Rhode Islanders not only caught cod from shore, they landed large and numerous cod for the table on the rocky bottom very close to shore from Sakonnet Point to Watch Hill in the late fall through early spring. From early spring through early summer, they caught cod in small boats off Block Island. During the summer, it was possible to run a boat of moderate size out to Cox’s Ledge, a famed cod spot roughly 25 miles from Point Judith, to catch cod weighing more than 30 pounds, some approaching 60 pounds. Rhode Islanders who did not have a boat could board one of several party boats operating out of Point Judith, some of them fishing for cod year round.

Today, that fishery is a skeleton of what once was. True, we have some hope of a winter fishery developing the last two years. Good as it may be, it doesn’t come close to restoring what Rhode Islanders once had. Professional captain and longtime cod angler Frank Blount said that, minus the winter fishery, Rhode Islanders have been left with about one-tenth the cod there once were.

Our regional council is headquartered in Saugus, Mass., and the National Marine Fisheries Center for our area is located on Blackburn Drive in Gloucester, Mass. These entities have now had over 30 years to repair the problem evident in the 1970s. But, despite years of taxpayer spending, they have failed. In the mid-1990s, I was told, taxpayers spent $16 million per year to run the council. Multiply that by 30-plus years of operation, and one comes up with a not-insignificant amount of money — even in these days of trillion-dollar federal deficits.

The cost to us all grows even more if one includes the loss of tourism, since people do not come to Rhode Island to go cod fishing as they once did. The fishing is so poor that not a single party boat fishes for cod out of Point Judith in the summer.

Imagine if Route 95 had been full of potholes in the late 1970s, and people had demanded action. Imagine if the same road were worse 30-plus years later, after millions of tax dollars had been thrown at the problem.

Shouldn’t we demand an accounting — certainly a change in business as usual, or perhaps some new faces way up the feeding chain?

One simple fact is clear: Even though our cod stocks were declining in the 1970s, we had more codfish in Rhode Island waters then than we do in 2010. Something stinks. Something needs immediate remedial action.

Recently we’ve seen President Obama on TV promising that the marshes of our Gulf states will be restored to their condition prior to the great oil spill. Wouldn’t it also be fair to Rhode Islanders to have their cod brought back to their former abundance?

Our BP is the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The time for the benefit of the doubt has long passed. It’s time for a public spotlight on a system that merely eats up tax dollars in return for a paper assurance that the system is working on the problem.

The 1976 book “Tell It Good-bye Kiddo” covered the decline in New England’s cod stocks. I fear that will be the inscription on the tombstone of our fishery if something isn’t done to change the way the government handles our common property.

The chances of catching a 64-pound cod from our beaches in the next 30 years look bleak indeed.

Tim Coleman is a writer based in Westerly.

Thanks for posting Dennis.

An excellent line. You could also include: The time for trusting NMFS and the Atlantic Marine Fisheries to suitably manage is long gone.

Without the CLF's legal action codfish would be extinct in MA and RI waters.
As long as the goal of fishery management is an economic one short term interests will prevail. Stiped Bass are no different.

MSY
 

Maximum Sustainable Yield- The mantra of US fisheries management. Meaning: Take as much out of the population as it can stand without irreversible collapse.

In other words- Do what's best for the US economy and US business, not what's best for the resource.

NMFS must be torn down and rebuilt to create an organization that is intent on long term resource, and economic, health, and not short term profits at the expense of the public who owns the resource.

Ditto the ASMFC whch is intent on deriving the maximum $ value possible from our striped bass stocks. Only dead bass have $ value - live fish are worth nothing in their eyes.

If you want to save your bass get involved in forcing the hand of YOUR elected officials, for if you don't, those with $$$$ on their minds will surely lobby to kill our bass.

As much as I respect Tim I think he's off base on this one. The Canadians have banned codfish for years and not seen a rebound in populations. There is more going on with cod that just over fishing. Things are looking up though, Gulf of Maine cod have been declared restored. Georges bank cod are making a rebound and those fish we have been catching during the winter are spillovers from the George's Bank stock. Yes it has taken a long time, but we are seeing some positive results.

I'd bet that one of the biggest fears for people (fears that fisheries regulators will likely help materialize) is that because there has been *some* stock recovery away from total collapse, that it will trigger a green light for more take.

WoodyCT made a very good point that mirrors my thoughts quite closely. Hopefully this very meager recovery won't bring regulators to the opinion that they should increase quotas to utilize MSY.

I meant to address that notion earlier. Do you know what MSY really means? It is the amount of biomass that will allow fishermen (both recreational and commercial) to catch a given number of a species in a year which will not decrease the total biomass. In other words, each years catch is replaces by that year's recruitment. The Object of every fishery management plan is to either reach or sustain a level of biomass that will allow Fmsy, where F is the total mortality on the species.

Mike,
Not to change the subject but I just received a RI Fish & Wildlife notice that RI has INCREASED the recreational bag limit on bluefish from 10 fish to 15 effective June 29. I didn't see that coming.

Any idea why?

DZ

Dennis, I just got the same message from RISAA. I think the DEM guys are smoking dope. Hell, the bluefish population is going DOWN, like the bass population. 3 or 4 years ago there were acres and acres of 5 to 7 and 7 to 9 pound bluefish all summer. Last year I saw a couple of schools once.

Stellwagon has blues that would make you tremble.

I know what Maximum Sustainable Yield is *suppose* to mean. However, the way fisheries are managed never appears to be inline with that definition.

Thanks Mike
 

I was typing with much passion in mind when the notion of MSY suddenly came to mind from my days studying at URI over a decade ago.

Before I run my mouth too much, at least for now, I'll read up on this to refresh my memory. I would suggest others do the same, for it gives great insight into how our fisheries are managed.

Understanding Fisheries Management: A Manual for understanding the Federal Fisheries Management Process, Including Analysis of the 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act

http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/masgc/masgch00001.pdf

Who is Tim Coleman????

The ASMFC adopted a 15 fish bag limit years ago, DEM was just slow to adopt it. Why they were so slow I really don't know. Bluefish populations are doing O.K., I think they did it to enable fluke fishermen to legally stockpile one of the best fluke baits.

Former editor of the New England edition of the Fisherman magazine.

just talked to a guy 1/2 hour ago
 

an old timer

at home depot about the state of the cod fishery
and asked his opinion...

he had a striped bass t-shirt on and was a customer just leaving...

i asked if he was ever on S-B and he replied he doesn't even own a computer...

his reply was that the cod fishery is excellent and he absolutely killed them last weekend out in the boat...

i replied well the article in question was speaking specifically about
catching them in the surf...

he said the water is too warm for that now-a-days

he said off of Province town he saw so many breaking fish he thought they were Blues... acres and acres he said...

turned out they were striped bass.....