Fishing for Answer to Hard Questions

By Bart Jansen Washington D.C. correspondent

“The end of the line.” That’s the title of a new book and, separately, a magazine article that warn about the peril of overfishing. But the encouraging message for New England is that, despite its struggles, the region has become a world leader in fisheries regulation.

The peril appears on the April cover of National Geographic magazine in the cold, dead eyes of an upside-down swordfish caught in a net for bluefin tuna. Stories inside detail how tuna themselves are overfished in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, threatening Africa with starvation from the loss of a major supply of protein.

Lush pictures show cobia swirling at a fish farm or blue maomao skimming a bed of kelp. But the images of the colorful bounty give way to the black-and-white depiction of a Newfoundland community that collapsed along with the cod fishery.

The pictures of La Poile, where rocky coves sprout wooden piers and houses, look as if they could have been taken along Route 1 in midcoast Maine. Struggles with the loss of job prospects – and population – also echo across the Grand Banks.

EUROPE’S ‘ABSOLUTE FREE-FOR-ALL’

Last week, reporters, fisheries regulators and industry observers participated in a conference call with the authors of the articles on what one writer described as the “egregious overfishing” of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean.

The author, Fen Montaigne, argued that the giant tuna suffer when the size of the catch isn’t inspected. Fishermen jockey to catch small fish, then fatten them in pens for sale in Asia as sushi.

Because bluefin tuna sometimes migrate, the effect of the overfishing ripples across the Atlantic, causing a local shortage of the prized fish.

“What I witnessed was an absolute free-for-all,” Montaigne said. “I think Europeans need to have their feet held to the fire.”

Overfishing is changing the world, Charles Clover warns in his book on that theme. The longtime environment editor for London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper recently met with congressmen to argue that overfishing should rank among such grave concerns as climate change, terrorism and Iraq.

“Millions of people will die if we don’t get this right,” he said.

Clover also predicted starvation in West Africa if overfishing continues. He called for different strategies, from changing equipment to pursuing haddock rather than cod in order to allow stocks to rebuild.

Despite the fits and starts, Clover said, New England is 25 years ahead of the rest of the world in coping with fishing limits.

NEW ENGLAND LEADS THE WORLD

In his book, Clover revisits the 1994 closure of 6,500 square miles of Georges Bank and southern New England waters to protect fish.

But now the New England fishery has the largest mesh size in the world at 6.5 inches – to avoid catching immature fish – compared to 3 to 4 inches in Europe.

Scientists get headaches tightening limits on the days that fishermen can be at sea, Clover said, but the restrictions are simple to enforce with monitoring by sea and air.

“There have been some very alarming reports about the collapse of fishing around the globe,” said Maine’s U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D-1st District, who met with Clover on March 9. “The cold, hard truth is that whatever we have done, we are better than all these other countries.”

Congress approved the latest attempt to rebuild stocks in legislation late last year. Steve Morowski, chief science adviser for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said during the National Geographic call that regulations proved that stocks such as lobster and scallops in New England could recover.

“Our fishing industry has really responded to these challenges,” he said. “I think if we look at the track record of the United States, we have the most restrictive law in the world.”

The legislation’s goal is to eliminate overfishing on 48 stocks by 2010. Despite progress on some stocks, yellowtail flounder and Georges Bank cod are still a concern.

SAVING FISH AND LIVELIHOODS

“The goal has been locally responsible, sustainable and profitable and well-managed fisheries,” Allen said. “It’s difficult to do that.”

A tough task remains: determining how to rebuild stocks without limiting fishermen so severely that communities are shuttered.

Craig Pendleton of Saco, who participated in the National Geographic call, had been a fisherman since he was 9. The coordinating director of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance turned to fisheries management 20 years ago because of confusion about regulations.

For example, limiting the days at sea for fishing boats seems misguided, he said, because it rewards catching the most fish in the shortest period of time. His organization seeks consensus among fishermen, environmentalists and scientists. The conversation continues with the National Geographic articles and Clover’s book.

“We feel that the scale at which fishing takes place in New England is out of whack,” Pendleton said. “We’re hoping that we can find a solution so that the rest of us don’t go out of business.”

Washington, D.C., Correspondent Bart Jansen can be contacted at (202) 488-1119 or at:

bjansen@pressherald.com

(c) 2007 Portland Press Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.