BANGOR (AP) – A coalition that includes fishermen, scientists and environmental groups kicked off a campaign Tuesday that aims to change the way the federal government manages commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Maine.

The effort, called the Downeast Initiative, aims to overhaul the fishery management system now in place to restore stocks of cod, haddock and other fish that have supported Maine’s once-robust commercial fishing industry.

The campaign, which is led by the nonprofit Penobscot East Resource Center in Stonington, advocates “community-based ecosystem management” in the Gulf of Maine, with a particular focus on the Downeast region from Penobscot Bay to the Canadian border.

The initiative supports a regulatory structure in which fishing regulations vary from area to area based on local biological and economic factors. It seeks to replace the broad, regional management scheme that aims to prevent overfishing by severely limiting the number of days fishermen can spend on the water.

Ted Ames, a longtime fishermen whose academic research into fish stocks has earned him acclaim, said the initiative is “the first real effort to not simply restrict a dying fishery but actually bring it back and ensure a future for the next generation of fishermen.”

“More and more people are realizing that ‘days at sea’ is simply not working for this part of the Gulf of Maine,” said Ames, who is on the PERC board of directors. “It’s going to take a very different approach and the cooperation of fishermen and environmentalists to turn this around.”

So far, the campaign has earned support from a diverse group of interests.

The Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, the Mid-Coast Fishermen’s Association, the group IFISH, the Island Institute, The Nature Conservancy, The Ocean Conservancy and the Conservation Law Foundation have joined with PERC to create the Area Management Coalition to lobby for the changes.

Federal fishing regulators are looking at area management as one possible solution to the groundfish crisis in the Gulf of Maine. The next major test will come next month when the New England Fishery Management Council votes whether to continue considering area management as a possible alternative to the days-at-sea system.

Ames said there used to be “a couple of hundred” fishermen between Vinalhaven and Eastport who fished for groundfish. But he now knows of only one person between Vinalhaven and the Canadian border who works with groundfish exclusively, and he often fishes outside of the area.

Many of the fishermen still active are focused heavily on lobster, which is Maine’s primary fishery. But that dependence on lobster, which accounted for 70 percent of the value of all species landed in Maine in 2004, makes PERC executive director Robin Alden uneasy.

Should coastal Maine’s lobster populations crash, as they have off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., and parts of southern New England, the effects could be economically devastating for coastal fishing communities.

Alden, a former state commissioner of marine resources, said she hopes area management will help restore fish populations so that local fishermen “who are coming home every night” can continue to fish and support the local economy.

—

Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-05-29-07 1106EDT

Copy the Story Link