RYE -- The last year has been humbling, to say the least, for New Hampshire ground fishermen.

New regulations established last May are decimating the local industry, fishermen say, and leaving them to wonder if the state will lose the rights to fish in its own waters forever.

In the first nine months since new regulations established a “catch share” system, the income levels of New Hampshire ground fishermen are down 32 percent over the previous year.

Under the old days-at-sea system, there were about 38 vessels in New Hampshire that would actively fish for ground fish. Under the new sector system, there are only about 24 active boats. The problem is a new system that established “catch shares” based on history.

“For years it was suggested that fishermen redirect their efforts, and we did that, and a lot of us are paying for it because we didn't have a history,” said Padi Anderson, founder of the nonprofit organization Granite State Fish and wife of Rye fisherman Mike Anderson.

The state did not get a good allocation as a result of the changes. Portsmouth fisherman Jay Driscoll was only able to land 60,000 pounds of cod this year, half of last year's allotment.

“It's been an awful fishing year for most of the people that are in the sectors that are based out of New Hampshire,” said Doug Grout, chief of the Marine Division at New Hampshire Fish and Game.

Hit the hardest

The nine-month report from the National Marine Fisheries Services said overall, the Northeast fishing industry is doing better, and income levels have risen five percent due to the higher price of fish. But that is not happening in New Hampshire.

Because of the allocation issue, even though prices were very favorable, New Hampshire fishermen are suffering, Grout said. Ground fish accounts for almost half of the income of New Hampshire fishermen, so even allowing for the catch of other species, including tuna and shrimp, New Hampshire's revenues are still down.

“New Hampshire is really the one that is getting hit the hardest from a financial standpoint,” Grout said. “There are some New Hampshire fishermen that did alright because they had their own personal allocation that they had on their particular permit and they did well, but they are a small percentage.”

The obstacles

Grout said there is currently a lawsuit moving through the federal court system, that, given a favorable ruling, could lead to more equitable allocations. The other way the allotment could change would be by a vote of the New England Fisheries Management Council, which he said is unlikely to happen.

“The latter item would be very difficult to do and we would probably encounter fierce debate from the haves,” Grout said.

He said Hampton fisherman David Goethel is the only representative of small-boat fishermen he can think of on the council. Grout is also a voice for New Hampshire fishermen at that level.

“He and myself certainly have not won a lot of the votes, at least particularly with ground fish, that would have provided for a better system for small-boat fishermen,” Grout said.

To add to the troubles, in 2013, the federal regulation is due to impose fees on fishermen for at-sea and dockside monitoring, which is an expense New Hampshire fishermen say they can ill afford.

“The biggest challenge is the potential liability for sectors to have to pay for their own oversight and monitoring,” Josh Wiersma, sector 11 manager, said.

The programs are currently being paid for by the government, but will potentially fall on the shoulders of fishermen.

“It could put the sector right out of business,” Wiersma said.

The price of permits

The state was given $1 million from the federal government to set up a permit bank, which would allow the state to purchase permits, and allocate the catch entitlements associated with those permits to ground fishermen in the two New Hampshire sectors.

The main constraint right now is the high price of permits.

One permit went up for sale recently for about 60,000 pounds of cod. The seller wanted about $1 million for the permit, Driscoll said.

“I think because the government got involved with giving money to permit banks, it jacked up the price so small fishermen can't afford the same business,” Driscoll said.

Grout said the grant money is available, and they are currently trying to set up the process they will use to evaluate and obtain the permits as well as getting the quota to the fishermen. But he said the help it will provide is minimal.

“It is not going to solve the problem, but it is certainly better than nothing,” Grout said. “If we didn't have the money, our guys would be in worse shape.”

Granite State Fish

Fishermen like Mike and Padi Anderson have already been looking at alternative marketing strategies to remind New Hampshire residents about the added value of purchasing locally caught seafood, and have diversified what they catch out of necessity.

For the past couple of years, the Andersons have offered direct-to-consumer shrimp sales straight from their boat in Rye Harbor, and the more awareness there is that the product is available, the more people have shown up at the docks.

Padi Anderson said Granite State Fish was created to bring awareness to local communities about the value of local fishermen and the local industry.

“The important part is keeping our fishermen and our industry alive for future generations,” she said.

Fishing rights

She said the loss of fishermen will mean a loss of fishing rights.

“The permits that our fishermen have are the rights. They are the gateway for the rights to catch fish and if we lose our fishermen here, we lose our permits and the state loses its rights to future fisheries and that is really why it is so important to keep our fishermen alive, too,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the permits now are really commodities that can be bought, sold, traded and speculated upon, and whoever can pay the most money can buy up the most permits.

“It is similar to agribusiness being concentrated into a few hands. That is what these rules or regulations, without measures and protections, that is what can happen here and that is part of the uproar about this new management system,” Anderson said. “There were lots of details that needed to be addressed that really weren't properly addressed prior to being implemented.”

Crushing debt

Under the new system, fishermen can choose to fish the fish, or sell to the highest bidder.

Three times the number of fish left the state this year compared to the previous year, because fishermen could make more money selling their allocation to another boat than rigging up themselves.

Driscoll holds three permits, two of which he purchased to benefit from the old days-at-sea system. He said they now are worth virtually nothing because of the low catch share attached to each.

“When you are only coming in with 1,000 pounds a day, it doesn't make sense anymore to actually fish; you are better off just selling it,” Driscoll said.

Buying new equipment to diversify their fishing and accommodate government restrictions has also put fishermen in a tough position; they are barely making enough to survive, never mind pay off their debts.

“We are in such debt with our loans it is hard to pull away from this now,” Driscoll said.

Wiersma said the local industry has to find creative ways to add value to the catch, not necessarily through acquiring more fish, but through more collective action by sector members to better market their products and develop a better local market.

But Driscoll is not sure that will be enough.

“If we don't change the way the government allotted the fish, our state industry is going to be in ruins,” he said.

Photos for this story were provided by Andrianna Natsoulas. For more on New Hampshire's commercial fishing fleet and on Natsoulas' Food Voices project, visit foodvoices.org.