TOO GREAT OF A CATCH
Proposed regulations irk lobstermen
Bay State lobstermen fear that a new proposal — meant to save lobsters in warming southern New England waters — could hurt business by barring them from harvesting in prime summer months and putting tighter restrictions on the size of their catch. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will present a plan in New Bedford tonight on ways to maintain or increase the number of lobsters in waters from southern Massachusetts to Delaware. “Over the last 15 years we’ve seen a decline in lobster abundance, and we think that’s by and large a response to warming ocean temperatures,” said Dan McKiernan, deputy director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
“That’s the challenge that we have — it’s trying to preserve lobster but doing it in a way that the industry can survive,” he added.
Yet Massachusetts lobstermen argue that their pots are full and don’t see what the fuss is all about.
“Southern New England as a whole is not doing very well, but where we are, it’s doing pretty well,” said lobsterman Jarrett Drake, who has lobstered out of New Bedford for more than 30 years.
The plan ropes in Massachusetts waters south of Cape Cod in with states like Rhode Island and as far away as New Jersey, where lobster populations are extremely low. It considers banning lobstering from July to September — peak tourist months for restaurants — as well as new restrictions on the size of lobsters fishermen can keep, and how long their traps can stay in the water.
“To be shut down completely at some of the best times of the year would be devastating to these guys, and would be, frankly, devastating to a guy like me,” said Myron Horzesky, who runs Ketcham Traps in New Bedford.
The proposed regulations would be the latest of several new restrictions that have frustrated Massachusetts lobstermen, who say they have seen a boom in both supply and demand.
In 2014, the National Marine Fisheries Service put an annual three-month winter ban on lobstering in 3,000 square miles of state waters to protect North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in traps.
“It’s a bunch of bologna really,” said Tucker Patterson, a Scituate-based lobsterman. “What about all of the people they put out of work? It’s not fair. With a swipe of a pen, that’s it.”
A group of fishermen organizations have also filed a lawsuit against former President Barack Obama’s 2016 formation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument on the edge of Georges Bank, which protects thousands of miles of ocean off the Cape Cod coast.
“The monument will have a direct impact on the lobster industry, nearshore and offshore,” said Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association. “It is going to be a loss of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The lobstermen plan to turn out in force for tonight’s meeting to ensure their voices are heard. Horzesky said he will bring several of his employees from Ketcham Traps. “I’d like these people to see the people they’re putting out of business,” he said.
Drake said he hopes lobstermen and regulators like the ASMFC can find common ground in preserving lobsters while encouraging business growth. In this instance, he says he’d like Massachusetts to be excluded from regulations that largely target areas hit harder and much farther south.
“It’s us versus them, and it doesn’t have to be that way. It shouldn’t be that way,” Drake said. “Together, if we sit down, it actually becomes a really good plan.”