2007 CBC Downeast Groundfish Initiative

Downeast Groundfish Initiative
Ted Hoskins is a pastor with the Maine Sea Coast Mission and a member of the Downeast Groundfish Initiative. He spoke about a unique coalition that is emerging to change the way groundfish are managed in the Gulf of Maine.

Hoskins pointed out that in this day and age, fishing is not just fishing. There is a whole coastal economy that depends upon fishing. This includes boat building and other marine related industries, schools, restaurants, and stores. Healthy communities in Downeast Maine are dependant upon healthy fisheries, but the present federal management system is not working to create healthy fisheries. He said that when it comes to managing groundfish, the federal management system ignores everything east of Mount Desert Island; that, in fact, eastern Maine is literally not even on the maps used by federal fisheries managers. He believes we need community-based management of our fisheries.

Maine fishermen have traditionally moved between fisheries at different times of the year. The current permitting system has driven fishermen into single species fishing. Fishermen have been penalized for not fishing on a particular species by the loss of a permit for that species.

We are learning that there are separate stocks of groundfish. We can’t manage groundfish as if they all belong to one group. We need to recognize that what is happening in certain waters may not be happening in other waters. The people that are fishing in a certain area are the people that should be expected to take care of that area.

The group working on the Downeast Groundfish Initiative includes fishermen, marine scientists and conservationists. The goals of the project are to rebuild stocks and to give equitable access to fishermen who live local to these stocks.