Back Story – The Entire Fishing Industry Struggles for Decades & Still Continues To
The fishing industry is one of the oldest industries and plays a huge beneficial role in the world economy. In 2010, the livelihood of fishermen started to become severely affected due to harsh regulations, restrictions, & the Catch Shares Program implemented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) – many fishermen in all fisheries have suffered financially, and many small businesses have closed over the years.
In 2008, Todd J. Zinsers Inspector General’s report stated that it was NOAA’s duty to find the balance of maintaining and improving the marine and coastal ecosystems but also support the economic benefits of the fishing industry and the livelihood of the people in it. The objective is to preserve the oceans resources without causing long-term economic and social harm. Zinser’s report also greatly emphasized the importance of NOAA needing to invest and study scientific programs to educate themselves about marine ecology to help them better manage everything and implement only the necessary regulations. NOAA completely disregarded this report.
In 2010, Zinsers released another report saying NOAA needed to increase the accountability and the transparency of their regulations to strengthen and regain the public’s trust in their own law enforcement agency. Other reports came out agreeing to this and said that if there was going to be such strong enforcement agencies to penalize everyone for major & minor offenses, they should have a significant amount of research and data to support these intense actions.
More reports continued to be issued over the years, and NOAA continued to act out of line despite the all the reports issued. Even though NOAA promised to fix or offer some sort to compromising solution to those who have left or been forced from the industry by their actions, NOAA’s enforcement agents continued to issue heavy fines for boats and business which drove many fishermen into debt or out of business for years to come.
This segment was written to shed light on the severity of how much the fishing industry has suffered – much more has happened than what is written above, this is all public information. Some of the rules & regulations implemented for certain parts of the ground fishing industry have also directly affected the surf clam industry. If things are not corrected, we may have to say: ‘Goodbye to New England Clam Chowder and those delicious Clam Strips as we have known, devoured, and enjoyed every summer for decades.’
A primary fishing area has been closed by the government - no evidence or studies provided
Several years ago, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) effected a rule for the development of the Omnibus Habit Amendment 2 (OHA2), dedicated to the protection of many Western Atlantic species of fin fish, primarily North Atlantic Cod fish – the most endangered species. Based on speculation, the NEFMC stated that the rocks within the Nantucket Shoals fishing area was a fish habitat for cod species and claimed that all the years of surf clam harvesting & dredging had disrupted the spawning and reproductive cycle of cod fish. To protect the species, they decided to close the Nantucket Shoals fishing area and provided no scientific evidence that this area is a sensitive fish habitat to protect.
To harvest surf clams in large quantities, a large metal dredge is dragged through the sand – which then is pulled up to bring the clams on to the boat. To successfully do this, rocks are 100% avoided at all costs. If a dredge catches large rock, it damages the dredge instantly and the repairs to fix it are extremely costly and time consuming. The assumptions and speculations made by the NEFMC that surf clam harvesters are disrupting a fish habitat area is inaccurate, science has proven that fish habitats live in rocks.
Nantucket Shoals has proven to be a healthy and regenerative area for the past 40 years and has supported all the Jobs, Vessels and Processors for that amount of time. 20 years of research done by Monte Rome (the owner of Intershell) provides evidence that Nantucket Shoals is a primary harvesting area for surf clams (the staple for the famous New England clam chowder) and the only Surf Clam Habitat area in New England where commercial quantities can be harvested.
In 2017, Greg Decelles, a released a report that revealed the spawning of codfish occurred in the rocks located on the Great South Channel (GDC), which is located east of the Nantucket Shoals fishing area (that is still closed because the NEFMC assumed it was sensitive fish habitat). The NEFMC was completely aware of this report and made no changes or considerations to opening Nantucket Shoals back up.
The Current Status of the New England Surf Clam Fishery
On January 13th 2022, the three surf clam processors and their harvest vessels of the surf clam fishery filed a request for Emergency Action to restore the Essential Surf Clam Habitat to the Surf Clam Harvesters and Processors. To read the full report, click this link.
The three New England Surf Clam processors, Intershell International, Gloucester, Galilean Seafood, Bristol RI, and Nantucket Sound Seafood, New Bedford, and the 12 vessels supporting the New England Surf Clam Fishery, are on the verge of going out of business due to this ‘slack’ rule that is keeping our fishing vessels out of harvesting in the only Commercial Surf Clam Habitat Area in New England. Keeping the Nantucket Shoals harvesting area closed will diminish the availability of surf clam meat for the foreseeable future…. Or possibly forever.
A dozen surf clam vessels & 3 processing plants that employee more than 500 jobs are at stake.
On February 2nd 2022, Monte Rome (owner of Intershell), had a meeting with the NEFMC to review the Emergency Action request & comments made by the New England Surf Clam Fishery Participants. The NEFMC gave no consideration to the severity of the financial burden the New England Surf Clam processors, fishermen, and the loss of jobs to come. Regardless of all the information and research provided to the NEFMC by Monte Rome, no further action will be taken to re-open Nantucket Shoals fishing area.
Help Us Save the Fishing Industry
We need your help to support this valuable fishery & to help us raise awareness to the other New England fisheries that have been affected over the last 15 years by rules & regulations implemented by the government, resulting in many jobs lost over the years and possibly more in the future.
Help us by calling your congressman and senators to ask for their support regarding this matter, so we can continue to provide these great surf clam products for your enjoyment for years to come.
Click this link to contact your Massachusetts Senate Members
For more information contact:
Monte Rome (978) 815 - 2361
Rose Rome (978) 704 - 5299
