Hook fishermen succeed in 'uncharted' waters

Between Nov. 22 and Dec. 31, when the fishery closed, hook boats had caught over 1 million pounds of haddock. That's a minimum of a $1 million of fish at $1 per pound, which was the low price at Thanksgiving. By Christmas that price had climbed to $2.50 a pound. "It was great. A fantastic opportunity for the boats and for us," said Andy Baler, owner of Nantucket Fish Co. in Chatham and Dennis.

"Prices were fantastic"
Baler and other bluefin tuna companies had just suffered through a second miserable tuna season, as the big moneymaking fish bypassed New England waters and headed south. Baler said he thought about packing up and heading south for a tuna fishery opening up off the Carolinas, but was glad he stuck around for haddock season. "I kept 14 people working for that period. It was a lot of hard work. Late nights, but the prices were fantastic," Baler said. Larger fish draggers - which range from 70 to 100 feet or more, and tow nets - are capable of fishing year round.At around 40 feet long, hook boats are limited by weather conditions. As a result, they only fished 100 to 140 days a year even before harsh regulations were imposed in the 1990s that slashed everyone's fishing days to an average of 55 per year.

In recent years, the hook association worried over the fact the Georges Bank cod that their members depended on were stumbling on the road to recovery. To keep cod stocks growing, some harsh measures were instituted, including a 25 percent cut in fishing days and a 50 percent cut in the cod fishermen could catch each day. The 1,000-pound daily limit was too few fish to rely on for a living. Other fisheries used by hook fishermen also had problems. Bluefin tuna just weren't showing up and the dogfish fishery was closed by federal regulators. "The loss of the dogfish fishery and the migration of tuna offshore to the south, along with the continued decline of Georges Bank cod, all conspired to take a heavy toll on day boat fishing on Georges Bank," said John Pappalardo, a fishery analyst with the hook association and a New England fish council member. "This was the first time in two years that the longline fishery on Georges Bank was profitable," Pappalardo added. The closed-area haddock fishery fished by the hook association members this fall was the most closely monitored fishery program ever. Half the 224 trips carried federal observers and all the boats carried a satellite-tracking device, so officials knew where they were at all times.

Other erosion during the blizzard included the loss of about 5 feet of shoreline in the Nauset Light Beach area of Eastham, said Henry Lind, that town's natural resource officer. The high coastal banks running from Nauset Light Beach down to Coast Guard Beach appear to have been eroded to the point that they stand nearly vertical, he said. That unstable condition could lead to more erosion as the cliff face crumbles. On Nantucket, Harbor Master Dave Fronzuto said there appeared to be some severe erosion along the south shore of the island. At Codfish Park, erosion left the garage of one of the waterfront homes teetering on the edge of a high cliff above the beach. In Chatham, it's not the first time the barrier beach has buckled under the mighty attack of a big storm. A Jan. 2, 1987, northeaster created a break a little south of the town fishing pier at Aunt Lydia's Cove and wreaked havoc on waterfront homes.

BOSTON - (10/11/04) Sen. Michael Morrissey, D-Quincy, denied yesterday that he quietly slipped an amendment into a transportation bond bill last August that requires towns to charge the same mooring fees to residents and nonresidents.

The change surprised Cape harbor masters and other town leaders who were not aware of it when they set the mooring fee schedule for 2005. The new law puts some towns in the position of either raising residential fees or losing money.

In an interview yesterday, Morrissey said his legislation was discussed last spring and that legislators who are in the "boaters caucus" - lawmakers who meet to discuss boating legislation - were aware of it.

"It didn't just pop up. It had been circulated," Morrissey said.

But Sen. Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable, who may propose a repeal of the mooring change - and serves in the boating caucus - said Morrissey's legislation was not widely known at the time.

"It never went through a hearing, that's for sure," O'Leary said. "This was a stealth amendment."

The Falmouth Board of Selectmen voted last night to suspend higher nonresident mooring fees for 2005.

Leaders said the financial loss in Falmouth would be minimal.

"The law is there," said Ahmed Mustafa, chairman of the Falmouth selectmen. "It would cost us more to fight this thing."

Last year, residents and nonresidents alike paid $40 to moor their boats in Falmouth, said Harbor Master Gregg Fraser. The town had planned this year to charge everyone $1 per foot of boat, but residents would pay $50 and nonresidents would pay $100.

Now everyone will pay $50 plus $1 per foot of boat, Fraser said.

About 350 nonresidents moor boats in Falmouth, so Fraser said dropping the higher nonresident fee means a shortfall of more than $17,000.

"There's good reason to charge nonresidents more than residents," Fraser said after the meeting. "We probably will see some change fairly quickly."

Morrissey said he filed the legislation last year because he heard complaints from boat owners in his Senate district's inland towns - Abington, Rockland and Holbrook - when Quincy and Braintree considered charging higher mooring fees for nonresidents.

He said a resident and nonresident should not be charged two different fees when they are getting the same service.

"The fee should be directly related to the service," he said. "It's a service fee, whether you live in the town or not ... Charging two different rates for two different people borders on being arbitrary and a tax," Morrissey said.

"The commonwealth's waters should be enjoyed by all people ... I don't charge you more to drive across my roads in Quincy."

Morrissey owns several boats, mooring them in Marina Bay in Quincy and keeping them at his home. He has a Zodiac outboard boat and a 35-foot Luhrs pleasure boat registered with the state, and is a member of yacht clubs in Boston and Quincy.

O'Leary defended the practice by many Cape towns of charging two separate rates, saying town residents also support the harbor through property taxes.

"It's not just about inspecting and setting the moorings and overseeing them," he said. "It's the whole business of creating a harbor environment. There are times when there are enormous storms, and the local communities get stuck with the expense of the cleanup."

Morrissey disputed that he was leaving towns in the lurch by forcing them to either raise resident fees or lose money. He said the harbor towns already collect boat excise taxes and they would now have to justify the expense of mooring fees in proportion to the service.

"People who own boats generally are not wealthy," Morrissey said. "They're small-boat owners. They often forgo vacations because they have a boat."

Another part of the change requires all mooring fees to be spent on marine-related projects.

Morrissey said it was understandable that the Cape had higher fees than some other parts of the state because it has more restrictions on mooring space.

"I'm not saying don't have a fee, but make sure your fee is proportionate to the service you are getting," he said.

Staff writer Joe Heitz contributed to this story.