After a nine-year absence, New Bedford’s fishing industry is back atop the national rankings thanks to a resurgence in the scallop market.
The area’s commercial fishermen brought in $146.3 million worth of product in 2000 – more than any other port in the nation – according to a report released earlier this month by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
It is the port’s biggest take in eight years and marks the first time since 1991 that New Bedford nabbed the top spot in terms of dollar value. Alaska’s Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, Alaska, which was second with $124.9 million in landings, ranked No. 1 for each of the last eight years.
New Bedford’s 93 scalloping vessels reaped $83 million, or about 57 percent of New Bedford’s total value. After nearly a decade of suffering through lean harvests and stingy fishing restrictions, New Bedford’s scallopers finally are enjoying a boom.
“It’s better now than ever,” said Martin S. Manley, a local scalloper for nearly 40 years and now New Bedford’s fisheries development officer.
Manley says the driving force behind the scallop bounty is the same federal conservation program that local fishermen cursed just a few years ago.
The federal government closed several prime scalloping areas in 1994, including parts of Georges Bank, as a means of protecting depleted groundfish species such as cod, monkfish and haddock.
“Those areas they closed for the groundfish, well that’s where the scallops were too,” said Manley. Although the scallop market already was sagging, it nearly dried up once those areas were closed.
Regulators also mandated that scalloping boats limit their crews to seven men and restricted the number of fishing days to 120 a year for each boat. And scallopers were required to use special gear that allows smaller scallops to escape the dredging mesh.
Dozens of scalloping boats went belly up, and New Bedford’s fishing revenue nearly was cut in half: from a record $160.4 million in 1990 to $86.9 million in 1995.
The industry fought back in 1999 with the formation of the Fisheries Survival Fund, a group of about 200 full-time scallopers in the Northeast. It hired biologists from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth to survey scallop beds in closed areas and took their findings to Congress.
Once regulators began allowing limited access to sections of some closed areas such as Georges Bank, scallopers found beds teeming with thick sea scallops. Whereas a decent trip just a few years ago yielded 5,000 pounds of scallops, some harvests today bring in as much as 40,000 pounds, according to Manley.
The regulations aren’t entirely responsible for the comeback: Even open areas that never were restricted are producing healthy scallop populations.
Prices have bounced back too, with scallops going for as much as $7 a pound last year, although they have come down some this year. “You’ve got fancy restaurants that will put two big scallops on a plate with a little garnish and charge $25 or $30,” Manley said.
And groundfish have made a comeback, especially haddock and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, according to New England Fishery Management Council Deputy Director Chris Kellogg.
“We’ve seen a two-and-a-half fold increase in groundfish stocks regionwide,” Kellogg said.
Kellogg said he thinks the healthy return of both groundfish and scallops is sustainable, although some species are further along than others. He said further regulations might be needed to nurture the return of Southern New England yellowtail flounder, for example.
Manley says that while the boom has continued this year, he is “pessimistic” that the value for 2001 will equal last year’s total, because scallop prices have settled around $4 per pound.
Still, the economic impact of the revival of New Bedford’s largest industry has rejuvenated the city.
“It’s benefited everybody – taxi cabs, grocery stores, restaurants, welders,” said Manley. “The shipyards are working full blast, and (fishermen) fixing up their boats. It’s great for the whole economy.”
