The oft-quoted axiom “too many boats chasing too few fish” has proved somewhat true for New England groundfish fisherman over the past fifteen years. In a long, drawn-out attempt to rebuild stocks and end overfishing, the groundfish fishery has endured years, if not decades, of increasing regulation and decreasing profits. Average available fishing days have dropped from approx 116 in 1996 to just 46 (Category ‘A' Days-at-Sea) in 2006. Regulatory restrictions including area closures, trip limits and, more recently, differential Days-at-Sea counting have made using these allocated fishing days increasingly difficult.

There is no guarantee that things will improve in the short term. Despite increases in the health of several key groundfish stocks, revenues from groundfish fishing have declined roughly 30% between 2001 and 2005 (NEFMC 2006). Amendment 13 to the groundfish management plan contains default measures for 2009 that, if implemented, will further reduce Days-at-Sea allocations as well as potentially trigger a new round of trip limits and area closures. Eventually the stocks are predicted to rebuild, and long-term future landings are predicted to be significantly higher than they are today. But again, there are no guarantees that these landings will be realized.

A groundfish fishing capacity reduction program is being developed through collaborative efforts by members of the groundfish fishing industry, with coordination provided by the State of Massachusetts. This is an industry-led attempt to improve the financial future of the groundfish fishery while allowing those who would like to exit the fishery a legitimate, sensible way of doing so. Reducing capacity through an industry-funded buyout will have long-term benefits to the resource and the fishery. Short-term benefits may be felt if the buyout reduces the number of used Days-at-Sea below current levels. If this were to happen, pressure on the resource may be alleviated and stocks may rebuild faster. Regulations could potentially be relaxed sooner than they could be without the buyout. But there are no guarantees. Ultimately, each permit holder will have to judge for them self what the future of the fishery will look like, and what they expect their place in it to be.