Ayotte: New Hampshire Fishing Industry's Survival At Stake

Press Release

During a Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing today, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) pressed federal fisheries management officials regarding the need to sustain New Hampshire's fishing industry, which has been driven to near extinction by drastic reductions to the Gulf of Maine cod quota.

In January, the Commerce Department rejected a request by Ayotte and fellow members of the New England congressional delegation to approve interim measures for Gulf of Maine cod and haddock that would have set the 2013 Annual Catch Limits at levels that would allow the industry to survive. As a result, the New England Fisheries Management Council was forced to approve unprecedented cuts that decreased the overall quota for Gulf of Maine cod by 78 percent for the years 2013 to 2015.

At today's hearing, Ayotte told John Bullard, the Northeast Regional Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, that she disagreed with the Department's decision not to grant interim measures, and said the federal government is ignoring its obligation under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to sustain not only fishing stocks, but also fishing communities.

"This is a matter of survival for an honorable and noble profession in New Hampshire. New Hampshire fishermen....believe very firmly in sustaining the stocks because it's part of their livelihood, and yet they have not been given the opportunity to even transition. It's just been drastic, the impact that they've felt, and it really bothers me," said Ayotte. "When I look at National Standard 8 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NOAA is directed to sustain both fishing stocks and fishing communities. What actions are you going to take to sustain our fishing industry in New Hampshire and how do you expect the small boats to survive?"

Bullard responded, "[I]n the long term, the answer is what can we do to rebuild the stocks....long term is one thing, if you can't get to the long term because you go out of business, what difference does it make?...We are working very hard with the fishermen to find ways to get people through this. I met yesterday with Secretary Pritzker, she is a businesswoman, and she looks at the [issue the same] way you do - how do you surive this cut in Gulf of Maine cod and haddock?...We have developed, with the industry and with others, resources, and what Secretary Pritzker said yesterday was, I will do everything to help you....help people get through this difficult time."

Ayotte also stressed the need to ensure officials are using reliable scientific data to assess fishing stocks, saying "I know there's a lot of dispute in terms of what data is being used to implement the catch shares program that is having an impact on fishermen."

Senator Ayotte has repeatedly pushed back against what she has described as flawed catch share policies that put New Hampshire's small boat fishermen at a disadvantage. In January, she introduced the Saving Fishing Jobs Act of 2013, which aims to level the playing field for independent small fishermen by scrapping one-size-fits-all federal catch share programs if they result in significant job loss within a fishery, and putting management control back in the hands of fishermen, who have a vested interest in maintaining fish stocks.

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