The rise and fall of Maine's offshore groundfish fishing industry
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Maine Biz.biz] By James McCarthy - September 15, 2014 -
Annual landings at the Portland Fish Exchange have averaged between 5 million and 6 million pounds of fish for the past three years. "I think the offshore fishery has stabilized," Jongerden says. "I'm pretty confident we're going to see some of our landings go up this year."
He quickly adds that they'd be much higher if the state would scrap a law that now prohibits offshore fishermen from selling in Maine any by-catch lobsters — an estimated 100,000 pounds annually, or less than 1% of the state's yearly lobster landings — hauled up in nets. Massachusetts has no such prohibition, which he says has been a big reason why a dozen or more Maine boats bring their catch to Gloucester instead of Portland.
"Our landings would increase annually by 5 million to 10 million pounds immediately," he says, noting that efforts to change the law have been repeatedly blocked in the Legislature by the lobbying efforts of the lobster industry. "The only way this change would every have a prayer of happening is to have a statewide referendum."
Jongerden concedes it's hard to be optimistic about the future of Maine's groundfish industry. Part of the answer, he says, is for consumers to ask for fresh Maine-caught fish when they go to the supermarket or restaurant...
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