Depletion in New England Fisheries

Abstract

NEW ENGLAND has been a pioneer in the much discussed regional planning movement. On the dossiers of the six New England state planning boards are studies and recommendations which have few rivals in their completeness. Newspapers, clubs, commissions, legislators-even the general public has distinguished itself in its aggressive, forward-looking attitude. There are New England plans for parks, highways, flood-control, power development, airways, manufacturing, agriculture, forests-almost every phase of activity that one can call to mind. Yet there is one conspicuous and astonishing omission. No plan exists, no consideration has been taken for the important marine fisheries. Like the forests of yesterday, the fisheries of today in most cases are assumed to be self-perpetuating. The lessons of the past are forgotten, or at least they are not considered applicable to present-day fisheries. The story of the virtual extinction of the whale, salmon, and shad are familiar enough to many New Englanders, but few of them can imagine that the now abundant haddock, flounder, and redfish may have a similar fate. As in the past New England is intent on selling, not on saving, the fish in its waters. The men connected with this $20,000,000 industry wish it to expand, for New England fishing is commencing to operate on a mass-production basis, concentrating in the hands of corporations. Thus in the past decade the industry has developed new, more efficient methods of packing its products, and recently it has embarked on an advertising campaign to make the consuming public fislh-conscious. The establishment of new markets, an increase in fish consumption, and more intensive fishing are inevitable results, proved by experience. As yet unaware of the dangers confronting New England fishing, Federal Government agencies have encouraged greater catches by buying up normal surpluses held in storage. To keep prices up, and to keep fishermen going to the banks, more than 12,000,000 pounds of groundfish ($600,000 worth) were bought last year by the government surplus commodities corporation in Massachusetts alone. An augmentation, or even maintenance of the present catch of sea-fish, however, is inconsistent with a policy of conservation. If New England wishes to fish in the future it must begin to harvest with discretion. Some restriction must be placed on the now unlimited fishing of certain species. Trends in fisheries can be forecast accurately from experiences of the past. In New England those experiences make a history filled with stories of over-exploitation. As soon as a good market appeared for any form of life in the sea it was pursued relentlessly until its scarcity made protection imperative, or fishing no longer profitable. The history of New England's overfishing commences with the cases of salmon anid shad. Early recognized as excellent food-fish, and caught with ease as they swam upstream in New England rivers, they were long the object of an intensive fishery. The once abundant salmon was seldom seen in the Connecticut River after 1800 (long before the building of dams, and polluting of water). and for seventy-five years this