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Fishing is a cherished and critical part of our past and present as New Englanders, and Massachusetts' lawmakers -- at the local, state, and federal level -- are as committed to preserving our fishing industry for the future as a different generation was of making New Bedford the whaling capital of the world in the eighteenth century. But just as fishing itself has changed – with harpoons and a model of the whaling bark Lagoda given their rightful place of honor in New Bedford's Whaling museum – so have the challenges of keeping the fishing industry strong for the future. We live in an age of overfishing. Fishermen live this reality every day – but the statistics bear repeating. In New England, of the 35 fishery stocks under the New England Council's jurisdiction, nearly half are overfished or well on their way. In 1999, commercial fishermen in Massachusetts landed nearly 200 million pounds of seafood worth $260 million. Just 9 years earlier Massachusetts fishermen landed 335 million pounds of seafood worth over $305 million. By volume our landings have decreased by 41%. Our fishing industry must adapt to changing times if we are to preserve that tradition anywhere besides museums. The good news is that we can adapt – and prosper. Just as the National Weather Service provided timely and accurate forecasts so that we no longer have entire fleets caught on fishing grounds during a major storm, so too should today's technological advances make science a tool to empower New Bedford's fishermen. Scientists have come a long way in their ability to "count fish" -- but we still have a long way to go in understanding the complex ecosystem that our fish inhabit. There's a lot more to learn about environmental factors that affect fish populations -- and we need a better scientific understanding to develop reliable fishery management plans. For the last sixteen years in the Senate, even as we helped fishermen endure hard times, we increased funding for fishery surveys that yield accurate stock assessments. Often those goals were joined together as one. In 1999 we secured $5 million in disaster assistance money for fishermen in the Gulf of Maine adversely affected by closures and low trip limits. Those fishermen were compensated for agreeing to allow their vessels to be used as research platforms. A year ago we netted an additional $15 million in cooperative research money which is becoming available this year. We passed legislation to require the National Marine Fisheries Service to fund cooperative research projects based upon the recommendations of the New England Fisheries Management Council, and the council itself has formed a Research Steering Committee to evaluate proposals that use commercial fishing vessels to improve our knowledge of our fisheries. Last year the committee recommended research grants for the UMASS Dartmouth's School of Marine and Science Technology to perform a fine-scale stock assessment of cod using commercial fishing vessels and to test bycatch reduction devices in commercial trawl gear. The $30 million Congress invested over the last three years in cooperative research money for New England fishermen is protecting and rebuilding our fishing industry. Cooperative management has important promises for New Bedford and a staple of its fishing industry: monkfish. In 1999 Massachusetts fishermen landed over 26 million pounds of monkfish worth over $21 million dockside. Landed monkfish generated over $100 million of economic activity in Massachusetts, much of it in New Bedford. Monkfish accounts for about 15% of the total value of seafood landed in New Bedford -- and the city is a major processor. But monkfish, too, are at great risk, and we need to bring fishermen and scientists together to guarantee a monkfish stock that will always be there when we need it. In recent weeks we began a new monkfish survey to determine the status of the stocks in deeper water where the National Marine Fisheries Service's trawl vessels can not go. Depending upon what we learn from this survey, the New England Fisheries Management Council may be able to delay implementation of year 2 restrictions in the Monkfish fishery management plan which would severely reduce the amount of activity in this fishery. Besides improving our stock assessments, this project – and those still to come – brings scientists and fishermen together to work cooperatively to better understand our fisheries. Future projects will develop innovative gear and technologies that reduce bycatch and protect essential fish habitat. We need to eliminate the boom and bust cycles that have plagued New England fishing communities like New Bedford and build sustainable fisheries that we can rely on for generations to come. The new monkfish survey is another step in the right direction – another step towards building sustainable fisheries which unite fishermen and scientists as partners in a common enterprise. Investing in the strength of our monkfish stocks is an investment in New Bedford's fishing industry - and that is an investment in our heritage as well as our future.
John F. Kerry is a Democratic Senator from Massachusetts and Ranking Member of the Senate Oceans and Fisheries Subcommittee
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