The Squid are running. Dave has been fishing steady, catching his share. We had fried squid rings for an appetizer the other night, light on the batter, cook them quick and enjoy. The freezer has a few waiting for winter and a hearty squid stew, long slow cook in tomato sauce. Yum. The smaller boats had Nantucket Sound to themselves for the first two weeks, but then the offshore gang got a whiff of what the boys have been landing - 1 to 3 thousand a day - the big boys came in, landing I have heard - 100,000 pounds each vessel, flooding the market and driving the price down. It is the name of the game, the bigger the boat the more they need. And it's never enough. The big guys disappear as the squid drop in number, not enough to pay their fuel on three bushel tows, whereas the little guys plug along and at the end of the day they have enough to try again tomorrow.
We had some nasty wind and rain yesterday, but the Richard & Arnold was tucked up inside Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, cozy and warm.
This morning's news from 'Saving Seafood' states that the $33 million in relief promised to fishermen will be given in such a manner that it looks like not a penny will come to us. The criteria gives the money back to the big boys - of coarse - who were able to keep fishing because they had enough 'Catch Share' or they had enough money to buy 'Catch Shares' . Today you need to have money to start with - so you can purchase shares - to make a profit. Thus qualifying fishing aid money will go to a few hundred fishermen who have all the catch shares to begin with. And not a penny to the crews, the men who make it possible. How come? And who set the qualifying years? Most likely the same people who set up catch shares, people from EDF, PEW, and other corporate entities who think they know what's best for us. I'll bet not one fishermen sat on the committee that decided who'd get what.
The small boats have had to cut back - on areas to fish, days allocated to fish, numbers of fish allowed to keep and so much more.
Most inshore fishermen don't have enough allocation left to make it profitable because they had to stay tied to the dock for most of the year. If you didn't play the game that the catch share proponents invented then you can't stay in the fishery. Small boat fishermen have been left to fend for themselves, many not fitting into the criteria that the NMFS has set for the financial aid to fishermen. We won't qualify and my husband is 100% fishermen for over 40 years. We fish for Fluke and Squid now because the restrictions during the years 2010 -2013 kept us tied to the dock, not going out to hunt for illusive Cod or Flounder. And with not enough allocation of 'Catch Share' to make it profitable, paying out $4 a gal for fuel to go looking for ground-fish, just didn't make sense. Actually none of it makes any sense to me anymore. The relief money is going to the guys who are doing the best, not to the underdogs who need it. I keep thinking about what Marie Antoinette said just before the French Revolution, "What do you mean they are screaming for bread? The people have no bread? Well let them eat cake."
