Fishing Industry Facing Challenging Times
In Plymouth, Dan McKiernan of the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries, or DMF, telling Moderator Steven Triffletti on Friday, during the COVID-Update, broadcast on PACTV, that this is a very challenging time for the DMF and the fishing industry.
McKiernan talked about the lobster fleet that fishes out of Plymouth saying they were able to begin their season on May 1st, but also mentioned that most restaurants are closed to full time service, impacting the demand for fish and particularly lobster. The effect of this could significantly reduce the price lobster men will get for their product. So will the lobster men wait to go out until the restaurants open?
“They’ll probably talk to their dealers and see if there’s demand, or if they have a retail boat permit and they have orders from the community or from friends, they could go.
McKiernan says right whale closure has already impacted the lobster men:
“Remember a lot of those guys have been forced off the water for the last three months because of the right whale closure that takes place in Cape Cod Bay. So many of them have been anxious to go.”
And going out would have been restricted had the right whales not moved out…
“We had a couple of right whales over the weekend that lingered. We announced to the fleet that we were going to keep the area closed for another week, but the whales got the memo and they went on time. We had a flight on Wednesday with perfect sighting conditions—we saw 30 whales but none of them were the endangered right whale.
Also, the Governor has issued an advisory on the use of boat ramps:
“One casualty of that is that for-hire fishing trips have been prohibited. I know that many of the organized charter groups are putting together proposals for the Governor’s Opening Advisory Group requesting that they be allowed to operate at some level with social distancing.”
