Feds Could Wipe Out Local Tuna Fishingff

Source:  The Daily News of Newburyport

The very livelihood of bluefin tuna fishermen in Newburyport and across the country may be taken away from them in the next few months as the federal government is considering whether to name the massive fish an endangered species.

It would be added to an ever-growing and long list of species that world environmental officials believe could someday be wiped off the face of the earth if not protected. The bluefin would join such notable species as tigers, wild goats, sea otters and many others.

Such a classification would make it illegal to catch the prized fish for commercial or recreational purposes. For Newburyport, which is home port for several tuna fishermen, the ruling would come on the heels of one of the best fishing years locals say they have ever had.

The petition to add bluefin tuna as an endangered species came from the Center of Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group based in Tucson, Ariz., which filed the request under the Environmental Species Act in May. The request was made in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which serves as the primary spawning ground for the western bluefin tuna. It is the western bluefin that is common off Newburyport and the East Coast. The eastern bluefin tuna spawns in the Mediterranean and is more common in Europe. It is feared that millions of fish larvae and eggs were lost during the spill that took place in April during the prime spawning season of the year for western bluefin.

Well before the Deepwater disaster, governments across the world had been fighting to protect the bluefin from overfishing. In November, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas set the fishing quota for the western bluefin stock at 1,750 metric tons for the 2011 fishing year. This was a reduction from the 2010 quota of 1,800 metric tons.

Since the petition was submitted in May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce has been holding several meetings, called listening sessions, with fishermen across the country to gain more information before a final decision is made.

A round of five more listening sessions have been scheduled up and down the eastern seaboard over the next six days, including tomorrow's session in Boston.

Kim Damon-Randall, NOAA endangered species coordinator for Protected Resources for the Northeast, said the meetings give her agency an opportunity to sit down with fishermen and listen to their concerns.

Fishermen’s concerns

But fishermen believe the classification is unwarranted and that after a low in the local bluefish tuna population, the fish have returned to the area in abundance. Commercial fishermen, including many in the Newburyport area, prize the bluefin because of its extreme desirability for sushi. Canned tuna fish comes from a different source, albacore from the West Coast.

Newburyport harbormaster Paul Hogg, a keen observer of the local fishing scene, said 2010 was a bumper year for tuna fishermen, as bluefins both small and large returned to the region after years of less activity. Hogg said one of the reasons for the tuna's return was the amount of bait in the water and a reduction of dogfish in the area, which are known to consume bait before tunas get a chance.

"It was good to have it (tuna) back, because it was so deprived and depressed for so long," Hogg said.

Steven Weiner of Andover, owner of the local fishing vessel Elizabeth Ames, said he's seen more tuna last year that he has in his entire 38-year career as a fishermen.

"There's always peaks and valley; there's good years and bad years," Weiner said. "It's really no different now."

Hogg's anecdotal observation is backed by a 2010 stock assessment by ICCAT that determined that populations for both western and eastern bluefin tuna were looking better this year than in years past.

Weiner said he was very worried that the actions of an environmental group thousands of miles away from his fishing grounds will be responsible for essentially putting him out of business.

"We have an environmental community that's on a crusade (to put fishermen out of business)," Weiner said.

Weiner also lambasted NOAA for considering the petition and predicted the listening sessions would be pointless.

"It's pretty unanimous across the board; the commercial fishermen are under attack from NOAA," Weiner said. "That's ironic because this is an agency that doesn't listen. We still have to go to these meetings and do the best we can do."

Another longtime Newburyport fisherman, Joe Jancewicz, also expressed his doubts about the listening sessions.

"It's just a formality that the government has to go through," said Jancewicz, owner of the Sally & Alyson.

Damon-Randall rejected the notion that NOAA was attacking fishermen and added that her agency would be taking fishermen's concerns to heart before any final determination is made.

"There is a lot of listening that's going on (at these sessions), I'm going to be there listening," Damon-Randall said.

The meetings will be held in Boston tomorrow, then shift to Portland, Maine, on Friday and conclude in Pascagoula, Miss., and Beaufort, N.C., on Jan. 10 and 11, respectively.

Damon-Randall said federal guidelines don't require a listening session before a determination is made, but they are conducted as a way to ensure fishermen are part of the process.

Once the listening sessions are completed, all information collected will be turned over to a status review team that will report its findings to the National Fishing Services by February. An independent peer review of the report will take place through early March. The final report is expected to be completed by April, and a decision will be made by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke by May 24, the one-year deadline of the petition.

Should Locke approve the petition, the ramifications of his signature will be felt across Greater Newburyport, some have argued.

Hogg said the loss of bluefin tuna fishing would greatly affect not only commercial fishermen but those who sell bait or fuel around Newburyport. It would also reduce the number of tourists who frequent the docks, as there would be fewer boats returning with fish. Fewer tourists means less disposable income spent in Newburtport-area restaurants and shops.

"It's a snowball effect," Hogg said.

If NOAA had to do something to protect the species, a more sensible approach would be to reduce quotas even further, Hogg said. There may be fewer fish making their way into area marketplaces and higher prices for sushi lovers, but at least it would mean fishermen from Newburyport to Seabrook to Glocuester to Marblehead would still have jobs.