The Modern Fishing Industry and Its Challenges

The single-vessel scallop boat owner is all but extinct in New Bedford. On a regular scalloper’s salary, it is challenging to pay the average price of $8,000 for a boat and the necessary permits, not to mention general upkeep and the cost of gas.  

“No one really owns their own boat now—it’s really expensive,” said Tyler Miranda, who captains two boats, each owned by a different company. “It’s not like the [fishing industry] my grandpa worked in. He owned a boat—that’s something I’ll never do.”

To add to the challenge, it is hard to buy a new permit; the permits are attached to the ship, not the owner, so most owners need to purchase an already licensed vessel. This policy is to limit the number of fishing boats out a time to prevent overfishing, according to Captain Jim Kendall, a former New England Fishery Management Council member and fishermen’s advocate.

Most of the fishing boats coming in and out of New Bedford’s harbor are split between international corporations like Blue Harvest, Cooke Seafood and Seafreeze and small-time owners who own a couple of boats. In recent years, foreign companies have been entering the New England market by investing in and operating local boats.  

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal fishing regulatory body uses a system called “catch shares,” which allows regulators cap how much of each species can be fished and require permits to catch them. Federal scientists set a “total allowable catch,” determining the amount of each kind of fish that can be sustainably hauled from regional waters each year.  

The New England NOAA fisheries office set a cap of a company owning 20% of the region’s permits to avoid trusts or monopolies forming in 2014. The agency reduced its cap to 15.5% in 2017.

A permit dictates how many crew members can work and how long during a trip, and it also helps the government regulate how much a boat can work a season. Permits are also given out based on the type of fishing including lobster, ground fishing and bay scallops, according to the Mass. Division of Marine Fisheries. To maximize how much a boat can work, companies sometimes “stack” permits, meaning they buy other boats to use their permit, Miranda said.  

In recent years, Blue Harvest has bought a large portion of the available permits, threatening to monopolize the New England fishing industry, a ProPublica investigation found.

“The biggest change I’ve seen in the most recent round of regulations is the time fishing,” Miranda said. “It cuts down the number of me that can work at a time, making them overworked and denying some guys their job. That’s why I spoke out against was the consolidation, the permit stacking or leasing or whatever. That was a big thing that would have definitely changed the dynamic of the fishery.”   

It is very common for fishermen to work on multiple boats during a season, so they might split their time between working for a small business owner and a corporation like Blue Harvest, which can make it challenging for them to voice their opinion on leasing.

When asked about permit stacking, many fishermen approached by student journalists declined to comment for fear of losing their jobs.

“Things today aren’t like when I started,” said Captain Alan Curtis, a now-retired scalloper who started working in the 1980s. “Back then, if you didn’t like a job, you could just quit because you know you’d find another. Today, guys are quitting jobs but are struggling to find new work.”

Kellen O’Maley—a fisherman from Gloucester, which is an hour north of Boston—is a rarity within the New England fishing industry: he owns his own boat. Furthermore, O’Maley chose not to pursue a career with his business degree in favor of fishing.

“I invested in a boat, and now I have a crew and make a good living,” O’Maley said. “It’s worth it to me.” 

In 2022, the New England Fishery Management Council proposed a scallop leasing program amendment that would have allowed companies like Blue Harvest to “rent” another boat’s permit to further maximize how much they could fish during a season.

“When I first started [New England Fishery Management Council], I was opposed to permit stacking,” Captain Jim Kendall, 81, said. He was a scalloper for nearly 30 years before taking on an advocate role. “I know what that displacement would feel like to them and to you know, anyone associated with them. But then I realized having fewer boats on the water at once would improve the quality of the working conditions for the fishermen. Fewer boats mean more money is spent on vessel upkeep.”  

In this debate, opinions seem to fall along a generational line. Younger fishermen like Miranda disagree with Kendall’s approach, saying the amendment would just allow companies to shift more operational costs onto the crew while working them harder.

“The whole ‘better maintenance’ argument really bothers me,” said a fisherman who did not want to use their name while discussing permitting issues because he works for Blue Harvest. “If you can’t afford to take care of a boat, you shouldn’t have one. It’s as simple as that.”

On May 11, more than 160 scallop fishermen—including Miranda—along with business owners, marine scientists, attorneys and vessel owners protested the proposal at New Bedford Whaling Museum.

“The New England Fishery Management Council will not be developing an amendment to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan to analyze alternatives for scallop leasing,” the council said in a statement published on its official website.

The Council made this decision during its September 2022 meeting.

I was really disappointed [about the decision] because like I said I thought it would be better,” Kendall said. “That’s all I’ve ever done is try to work for the betterment of the fishermen. A bunch of guys just started making lots of money because scallops are doing well, and they got scared of change because they didn’t want to stop making money.”

The idea that fishermen, especially the younger ones, are blinded by their money and spend it on the wrong things—cars, drugs and alcohol—is not an uncommon narrative in New Bedford. Miranda and his friend Chris Wright, another boat captain, are speaking out in public forums and with the media to help combat what they describe as a 1980s fishermen stereotype.

“Not everyone is on drugs—a lot of the guys I know have families and just want to make a living,” Wright said. “My crew’s like that. Most of my crew are immigrants just trying to work. I have three guys from Russia, one guy from Poland, and one guy who’s first generation.”

Building on Wright’s point, Miranda wants people to know that the waterfront has been cleaned up over the years, making it more family-friendly. It’s not just a place for sailors to drink or get high.

“You know, in the industry, most of my friends do very well with themselves and aren’t just your stereotype stereotypical type fisherman anymore,” Miranda said. “And by stereotypical I mean like the guys on The Perfect Storm. You know, the guy who’s hanging at the bars and getting rough.”

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