GLOUCESTER - Some fishermen are bitter about making a deal with gas companies. Others said they had no choice. All said they'd rather not have to take the $12.6 million from the two liquefied natural gas companies that are planning terminals off the North Shore coast.
But if you head down to the docks along Gloucester Harbor and speak with fishermen, they'll also tell you that the $12.6 million could be the key to keeping their depressed industry from collapsing.
"This could end up being the only thing that keeps us in the fish business," said Vito Giacalone, a fisherman and longtime advocate who opposed the LNG terminals that were approved by the federal government last year. In his public comments against the Excelerate Energy LLC and Neptune Energy LLC terminals, Giacalone suggested that any mitigation funds be directed toward North Shore fishermen who would no longer be able to work around the LNG sites - home to fertile fishing grounds.
The state Environmental Protection Agency agreed, and directed the largest portion of the $47 million - $12.6 million - toward the creation of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund. With Giacalone serving as president of the nonprofit, the fund just completed its first year. It is designed to subsidize fishermen who want to work more than their standard federal allotment of 48 days a year.
Over the last year, the fund has spent more than $4 million to purchase 25 federal fishing permits. Those permits represent more than 800 workdays at sea, and under the fund's program, North Shore fishermen are eligible to lease the days for an average of $75 a day - a fraction of the going daily rate of $200 to $250. Last year, 63 fishermen took part in the program, with each receiving an average of 13 days. Giacalone said that over time, his nonprofit would spend at least another $6 million to acquire additional federal ground-fish fishing permits.
"The fund is a lifeline, for sure. It means survival for us," said Dustin Ketchopulos, who keeps his boat in Rockport but fishes off the Gloucester coast.
Just 25 years ago, fishing was king in America's most storied fishing harbor. Back then, there were almost 1,000 fishermen working on the harbor, and there were no limits on how many days a year one could work, or how much fish could be caught. There were more than 250 boats in the harbor, and most were used for overnight trips lasting up to 10 days.
"There were so many boats in the water that you could almost walk across the harbor," Giacalone remembers.
But with strict federal regulations introduced to limit overfishing and to rebuild stocks such as cod and flounder, most of those boats and fishermen have disappeared. In the last six years, the new regulations cut fishermen's days at sea from 88 to 48, while setting catch limits such as 800 pounds of cod a day.
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