Academic scientist Brian Rothschild has issued a harsh critique of fishery management policies, asserting that the rush to create a catch share commodities market in New England's groundfishery has meant a transfer of "public resources to private individuals" yielding an unnecessary government-made "economic crisis."
Rothschild went further, arguing that the catch share program, which took effect last May 1, was implemented illegally, prematurely and somewhat cavalierly "without the level of analysis, planning, budgeting and community dialog that would be expected of a major federal action.""It is difficult to consider the catch share system as having any function other than economic allocation as it's sole purpose," he wrote. Yet, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, he noted, states that no "conservation and management measure ... shall have economic allocation as its sole purpose."
Rothschild, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth's School of Marine Technology and Science, released his critique during a Tuesday night forum in New Bedford that was sponsored by the Standard-Times and drew what the newspaper counted as a standing room only crowd of "hundreds" — including Eric Schwaab, the national administrator of fisheries, and a representative of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Together, Schwaab and Julie Wormser, EDF's New England ocean policies director, deflected questions and complaints for much of the evening.
EDF has gained significant influence in fisheries management policies since its former vice chairwoman, Jane Lubchenco, was picked to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by President Obama.
In the aftermath of Lubchenco's ascent, she turned away from the opportunity to name Rothschild to the position she eventually offered to Schwaab, a Maryland bureaucrat who is not a scientist. Rothschild's candidacy had come with bipartisan support in Congress, including Barney Frank, the Democrat whose district includes New Bedford, and Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican.
The forum and Rothschild's analysis occurred during a continuation of the political and legal struggle between congressional and local political forces allied with the mainstream commercial fishing industry in passionate opposition to Lubchenco's and EDF's catch share policies.
Bob Zales, executive director of the Conservation Cooperative of Gulf Fishermen, said fishermen along the Florida Keys were protesting EDF's lobbyist's "deceptive actions trying to control the commercial and recreational fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico."
"Maybe a judge can stop their collective effort to end fishing," Zales said in an e-mail.
Rothschild's paper was considered authoritative by Larry Ciulla, president of the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction, who told the Times it spoke eloquently of truths the fishing industry had come to see close up.
Rothschild said Gov. Deval Patrick recently spelled out the economic crisis in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, which noted that 10 percent of the boats in catch share sectors in New England had gained 65 percent of the fishing revenue, while 90 percent of the boats shared 35 percent of the revenue.
"Projecting this trajectory to the end of the fishing year," Rothschild wrote, "places the crisis in bold relief as we translate these dry statistics into lost livelihoods and collapses of small businesses."
He closed with a challenge to Locke.
"The governor has written to the Secretary of Commerce with specifics on how the secretary can apply his emergency powers," Rothschild wrote. "The mayors of New Bedford and Gloucester have urged the inspector general to extend his investigation of law enforcement to also take into account rule making. Litigation is on the table.
"The message is loud and clear," he wrote. "The ball is the secretary's court."
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