Regulators Cut Haddock Fishing Quotas by Over 80 Percent in New England

A fisherman sorts cod and haddock while fishing off the coast of New Hampshire on April 23, 2016. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

A staple fish species caught for centuries on the East Coast is experiencing overfishing, and regulators have reportedly cut catch quotas by 84 percent, based on recommendations by a federal agency. But many fishermen have expressed their disagreement with the soundness of the findings.

Haddock are one of the most popular Atlantic fish, and a favorite for fish and chips and other New England seafood dishes.

Fewer haddock will be caught this year in New England after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) added the Gulf of Maine haddock stock to its overfishing list last month.

A recent assessment by research scientists reported that Gulf of Maine haddock stock had experienced an unexpected decline, and went on to determine that catch quotas for the fish were unsustainably high, federal fishing managers said.

The New England Fishery Management Council, a regulatory board, has lowered catch limits of the fish in an attempt to improve its stocks, which agency spokesperson Allison Ferreira said was attributed to overfishing.

However, the New England Fishermen Stewardship Association (NEFSA) and many fishers say the assessment does not match what they see in the water, where haddock appear to them to be plentiful. And the announcement from NOAA comes as more New England fishers rely on haddock than in previous decades because of the collapse of other seafood species, such as Atlantic cod.

“This new restriction is based on faulty and incomplete assessments of our fish stocks,” NEFSA Director Jerry Leeman said. Leeman pointed to serious concerns that New England fishermen have about NOAA’s surveying ability and how the data of recent years were impacted by limited surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leeman said that NOAA’s assessment of the haddock population was not performed as of May 2, a day after the new regulation was announced, as the NOAA survey, which involves dragging a net along the ocean floor, had not been conducted.

Furthermore, it cannot be performed satisfactorily, as only 70 percent of the planned fishing area can be surveyed.

According to a NEFSA blog post citing a National Review article, Sen. Susan Collins (R.-Maine) raised the same concern while questioning Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo at a late April Senate hearing.

“NOAA’s survey vessel, the Henry B. Bigelow, is not functioning properly … we still don’t know when this vessel will be functional. But, according to NOAA’s staff, it can only be used for this survey through May 26. But it may not be fixed in time. So, that means … that NOAA will have to decrease the survey coverage; and that only 70 percent of the planned coverage area, in southern New England, Georges Bank, and the Bank of Maine, will be surveyed,” said Collins.

“If you don’t know how many fish are out there, you can’t decide, accurately, what the quota is. And the fishermen are on the water every day. They have the best information about the state of the stock, and they’re not involved in the surveys,” continued Collins.

Raimondo responded: “We had a lot of problems, in COVID, staying on top of the surveys on time. We’re mostly caught up. I regret that we’re not caught up in Maine.”

‘Fishermen Are in Trouble’

Leeman said that surveying on May 26 is late and would lead to a distorted picture of the size of fish stocks. This is because much of the spawning has already occurred. In Leeman’s view, incomplete surveys are an excuse to cut back on fisheries.

“Guys fundamentally cannot go fishing because they have no quota, so now what happens is individuals have to lease quotas from permits that are not being used. It puts a financial restriction on the fisherman to viably produce their product for the U.S. consumer,” Leeman said.

A tiny boat costs a quarter of a million dollars. A 90-foot dragger costs somewhere in the range of $3.5 million. New permits or allocations are not being given to new fishermen, said Leeman, leading to a loss of knowledge. “You’ve made it so that no one can enter the industry,” he said.

“We seem to find plenty, but they can’t,” said Terry Alexander, a Maine-based fisher who targets haddock and other species. “It’s a disaster, is what it is. A total, complete disaster.”

The fishery management council has mandated an 84 percent reduction in catch quotas for the current fishing year, which started on May 1. The change applies to fishers who harvest haddock from the Gulf of Maine, a body of water off Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Fishers also harvest from Georges Bank, a fishing ground to the east where quotas were also reduced for this year, including adjoining areas overseen by Canadian officials who issued their own major cuts.

Haddock is one of few profitable species on the East Coast, said Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association. He said losing the ability to catch them is a significant hardship for the industry.

“I don’t think this stock is in trouble, and I think fishermen are in trouble because of that,” Martens said. “With this significant cut that is coming, that’s a major gut punch.”

US and Canada Disagree

For the first time, Canada and the United States disagreed on the cuts on haddock fishing at the beginning of this year.

“Everybody agreed that a large reduction was required, but the size of large is not defined,” Alain d’Entremont—president of Scotia Harvest, operator of a groundfish fleet and processing plant in southwestern Nova Scotia—told CBC in January.

Canada proposed a 71 percent cut compared to 2022.

There were different interpretations of the science, d'Entremont said.

He said that haddock stock might return to a “more traditional” growth pattern and positive productivity.

However, the United States did not share the Canadian view.

“The U.S. does not support the logic for optimism with the Eastern Georges Bank haddock stock and is concerned about its observed decline through 2021. Until projected improvements are realized, the U.S. believes fishing mortality rates should be reduced consistent with the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee harvest strategy to promote rebuilding,” CBC reported.

Americans are still likely to find haddock available despite the cuts because most of it is imported, according to federal data from 2021. Some countries that export haddock are also cutting quotas this year. But recent announcements of cuts by major exporters like Norway have been much lower than in the Gulf of Maine, and they represent a much larger share of global fish stocks.

Seafood species’ health varies significantly from region to region. American lobsters have grown in catch volume in recent decades.

Overfishing

The U.S. catch of haddock has fluctuated over the past century.

In the early 1950s, over 150 million pounds (70 million kilograms) were caught yearly. Overfishing caused catches to plummet below a million pounds annually in the mid-1990s, and rebuilding efforts followed. Over the past few years, catches have ranged from 12 million to 23 million pounds.

“Fifty years have gone by, we’ve cut back and cut back, and the fact of the matter is there’s more fish now than there was when I started offshore commercial fishing 22 years ago,” Leeman told The National Review.

Haddocks are caught by the same fishers who target other bottom-dwelling groundfish species such as cod, pollock, and flounders. They are harvested at a much higher volume than any of those fish.

California and Oregon

This year, dwindling salmon populations in California and Oregon rivers prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service to close commercial and sports fishing season in both states on March 15.

The salmon fishing season will remain closed in California and most of Oregon until 2024.

This was the second salmon fishing closure on the West Coast. A drought in 2008 and 2009 forced officials to cancel the fishing season for the first time.

Commercial fishing in Oregon’s portion of the Klamath River region will be closed until 2024, but some sports fishing may open in the summer, depending on the council’s decision.

The Associated Press and Jill McLaughlin contributed to this report.