STATE HOUSE – Rep.
Teresa Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett) participated in a
meeting this week that gave the local fishing industry an opportunity to speak
up about local fisheries to the newly appointed top regional official from the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
John K. Bullard, who was recently appointed to
head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Northeast
Regional Office of the NMFS, visited Superior Trawl in Point Judith Monday for
a “listening session,” one of many the former New Bedford, Mass., mayor is
holding in ports throughout the NMFS Northeast region, which stretches from
Maine to North Carolina. Bullard planned the session as a way to hear from local
fishermen, scientists, environmentalists, seafood dealers and
processors, the aquaculture industry and other members of the public about the
challenges they are facing and their ideas about success.
Representative Tanzi, whose district includes the
port of Galilee and who serves on a special
legislative commission studying the potential opportunities in the development
of port facilities in the state, attended the session to meet Bullard and to
listen to the industry’s concerns. Also in attendance were by U.S. Senators
Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Department of Environmental Management
Director Janet Coit.
One of the major
themes raised at the session is that many in the industry believe National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is relying too heavily on its own scientific
information to set catch limits and quotas. Fishermen have long been suspicious
of this and want more of a role in fishery data collection and stock assessment
work. Often, the limits are based on data that is many years old, they said,
and may not have been very accurate even when it was compiled. Fisherman
expressed interest in working with academic partners, NMFS, and state agencies.
With government agencies facing budget cuts that limit their ability to perform
better research, some stakeholders at the meeting suggested this type of
co-operative research could achieve three important goals – cut costs, gather
better data and build trust among the parties.
Another issue is
that of predation of low-quota species such as dogfish devouring species like
cod, flounder and squid – all high-value species for Northeast ports. Fishermen
suggested there be a larger directed fishery for dogfish to keep their
population in check. Fishermen expressed the need for flexibility and
timeliness to respond to the fisheries ecosystem as a whole, not merely seeing
these as single species in a vacuum.
Representative
Tanzi said she appreciated the opportunity to meet Bullard and hear the
concerns of the industry, and is particularly concerned with maintaining the
infrastructure of local ports, specifically the many businesses that are
necessary to make a port like Galilee fully functional.
“Rhode Island needs to take our fishing industry
seriously. We have seen ports that fail to protect their infrastructure disappear,
forcing the boats to leave, often to another state, and we cannot allow that to
happen. Point Judith needs tonnage, not just token increases to keep the
industry viable and the port competitive,” she said. “I’m relieved to see that
the new head is someone who has lived the experience of protecting a port as an
economic driver for a larger community. I think he gets it.”
