Independent fishermen squeezed by catch restrictions

NO RED HERRING: Richard L. Fuka, president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance, says that ships from New Hampshire often come into Rhode Island waters and catch herring. / PBN PHOTO/CHRIS SHORES
NO RED HERRING: Richard L. Fuka, president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance, says that ships from New Hampshire often come into Rhode Island waters and catch herring. / PBN PHOTO/CHRIS SHORES

Richard L. Fuka is the president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance, an organization he started in 2008 in response to tightening state fishing regulations. The alliance’s mission is to help create sustainable fisheries without putting licensed fishermen out of business. More than 80 percent of the seafood sold in the United States is imported. The alliance represents the interests of many Rhode Island fishermen, most of whom are independent, self-employed businessmen that own their own boats.
The alliance interacts with state and federal regulators to preserve area fisheries by reporting their catches, observations and conducting scientific studies.

PBN: What made you start the alliance?
FUKA: The final straw was the state’s lobster-trap allocation program. That motivated me to challenge myself. I couldn’t let state and federal regulations dictate my livelihood. The allocation plan also came on the coattails of a lot of things that were changing at the same time, like landings for monkfish and cod for state fishermen. The groundfish regulations [Amendment 16] were also part of it. … I wasn’t willing to sit anymore.

PBN: Is the alliance connected with fishermen nationally?
FUKA: I’m constantly in contact with other state organizations, mostly from Massachusetts to Florida, to make sure our views are properly represented. There’s always an information-sharing pool of real stuff that goes on. I’ve had contact with the Gulf Coast people, Louisiana in particular, because we’ve done fundraising for them in the past. We keep in contact with an organization that represents the Gulf Coast. …
There are cases where paid advocates from environmental nonprofits visit organizations in other regions and misrepresent our views.

PBN: The Atlantic sturgeon, a noncommercial fish, was recently declared an endangered species. Will this impact fishing along the Atlantic seaboard? FUKA: Whenever a species is listed on the endangered species list it always creates collateral damage. I can see collateral damage coming to the gill netters and it’s going to put a lot of pressure on them. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said it will address this problem but nothing has happened as of yet.

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PBN: Herring in state waters was a big issue in January. What does the state need to do to protect Rhode Island fishermen?
FUKA: Last winter was a good season for herring, but boats from New Hampshire come down and cause trouble – everyone in the industry knows who they are – indiscriminately catching herring. They’ve done it for years. It’s industrial fishing on a large scale right off our shore. It’s also not safe. These boats “pair trawl” [tow a net between them], and last winter Phil Roule Jr. of the F/V Sea Breeze got caught up in them. They nearly sank his boat and it caused about $10,000 in damage and he lost a week of work. … That incident was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Rep. Teresa Tanzi, D-South Kingstown, sponsored a bill that passed the House banning pair trawlers in state waters for one year.

PBN: It has been two years since the New England Fishery Management Council passed Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. What’s happened in those two years?
FUKA: A lot of folks in the fishing community are gone or absorbed by other boats. It’s consolidated not only our fishermen but affected everyone in the Northeast. Businesses are gone, as well as the supporting businesses. I would like to be optimistic for the future but it’s difficult when you consider what’s been happening.

PBN: What’s the status of Rhode Island lobstermen?
FUKA: If you’re a buyer it’s a very rich business because you can buy very cheap lobsters from Maine and Canada right now. If you own a lobster boat it’s an absolutely impossible business to be in because the cost effectiveness for what you catch versus what they are worth makes it impossible to earn a living.

PBN: Federal lawmakers from Massachusetts are famous for fighting for their fishing fleets in Gloucester and New Bedford. How about Rhode Island lawmakers?
FUKA: You need to have your federal legislative delegates wrapped around the industry without thinking they might upset [the president’s administration] with their quest, and that’s not happening. It’s my opinion our two senators aren’t willing to cross the [party] line to challenge the administration, like they’ve done in Massachusetts.

PBN: Fishermen have long questioned the science and mathematics used to project fish populations. Will more federal grant money be devoted to science help this cause?
FUKA: The science is usually very accurate but at times it becomes manipulated by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Our ultimate goal is to provide employment, a food source and understand the science – because that’s what is going to make it sustainable – that’s what everybody wants.
Seafreeze [in North Kingstown] hired its own sophisticated biologist from Harvard and is putting a powerful study package together.
We have an overabundance of butterfish right now and NMFS is absolutely adamant a larger quota of butterfish won’t be permitted. Seafreeze has a huge overseas market and could be employing a lot more people but here we are, again stuck in the ideology of not wanting to let fish be caught. •

INTERVIEW
Richard L. Fuka
POSITION: President of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance
BACKGROUND: Richard L. Fuka began his fishing career while still in high school and made it his full-time profession until three years ago. He currently spends more time running Harborside Boat Repair, a marine-construction company in South Kingstown.
EDUCATION: Associate degree, liberal arts, Suffolk University, 1982; associate degree, commercial fishing and marine technology, University of Rhode Island, 1984
FIRST JOB: Fisherman
RESIDENCE: East Greenwich
AGE: 51

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