Fishermen Sue

[happy2fish]

The emotional battle among fishermen over the state’s decision last year to privatize the local lobster industry is now moving to the courts.

About 150 fishermen who were locked out of the lobster industry by the new regulations have formed a group called the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance. The group has filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court contending that the new regulations are unconstitutional. Monday, it will argue for an injunction to block the regulations.

“This new wave of management has put hundreds of Rhode Island commercial fishermen out of the business and will eliminate the opportunity for most newcomers from ever entering the fishery,” Richard Fuka, president of the new group, said in a statement. “The use of discrimination in access as a management tool is problematic in that it is economically and politically motivated and that it disenfranchises nearly all Rhode Island residents.”

The state probably will respond to the lawsuit in tandem with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the regional group that essentially mandated the new regulatory structure, according to Robert Ballou, chief of staff at the state Department of Environmental Management.
“They required us to adopt this exact program,” Ballou said. “We didn’t have any discretion.”

With lobster stocks declining dramatically, Ballou said the ASMFC made it clear that if the state didn’t restrict access to the fishery, the regional group would close the fishery altogether.
The regulations set a total number of lobster traps for state waters and then assigned them only to lobstermen who had fished from 2001 to 2003. Newcomers would have to buy trap allocations from the original winners.

That format left out everyone who stayed away from lobster fishing during those years. That includes Fuka, a lifelong fisherman who says he thought he was temporarily avoiding lobster fishing until catches became more abundant. Now, he not only cannot fish for lobsters, he says the DEM won’t give him a listing of those who do have the coveted permits. “They’ve privatized an industry that belongs to the state,” Fuka said. “This is supposed to be for the people and by the people.”

Among the plaintiffs in the suit are Steven Riley, who has a lobster license but maintains he was disenfranchised from the industry because he didn’t have it during the 2001-2003 seasons; Andrew Cavanagh, a Portsmouth High School student who was allocated only 21 traps because his fishing during the control period was limited; Robert Morris, who says he was left out even though he caught lobsters during the control period because he used trawl nets rather than traps; and Vincent Carvalho, who says he was excluded because he was a crew member and did not land lobsters under his own licenses.

The lawsuit maintains that the Rhode Island Constitution guarantees the plaintiffs equal access to the fishery. It names the state Department of Environmental Management and its director, W. Michael Sullivan, as defendants.

Credit: Peter B. Lord