Is There A Future For Commercial Fishermen?

by Congressman Bob Sikes

State of Florida

(circa 1976)

If I were a prophet of doom, I would say things don’t look very bright for commercial fishermen in the years ahead. There is the present problem of fuel shortages, the constant difficulty posed by higher operating costs and ever increasing foreign competition for fish and for markets. The policies of the national government toward commercial fishing obviously will figure very strongly and may well be the factor, which determines the success or failure of the industry.

Fishermen just now are getting an overdose of bureaucracy. They have been pressured to increase their fishing fleets. Competition has required their fishing fleets. Competition has required that they be modernized. Yet many boat owners now find they can’t get fuel to run them and they must take on the responsibility of persuading the federal bureaucracy that boats that did not exist in 1972 could not have used fuel and should not be used against fishermen in determining allocations. As a backdrop for this situation, the fishermen is seeing the benefits of higher sales prices eroded and disappearing in the face of increased production costs. The battle against pollution is barely holding its own and millions of pounds of seafood still are being destroyed annually by pollution. Some fishing grounds are fished out. New oil drilling rigs are being erected in coastal waters and the resulting turmoil and possible oil spillage may make it harder to find suitable fishing waters.

This could add up to a bleak picture. Hopefully it isn’t as dreary as it sounds. The fishing industry has always had its problems but there is a tradition among the nation’s fishermen that they will get through somehow.

It should be obvious that this is a time for re-examination of research policies and a time to ask what benefits are accruing to the fishing industry from government and industrial research. Do the researchers really consult with industry personnel to gain first hand information of problems and to pinpoint the solutions which are needed? Does the fishing industry share information gained from its own members? Obviously there is a need for money saving shortcuts to be developed and for new ways to market seafood and by-products. Too frequently the frozen seafood which is available in the markets has lost most of the taste and appeal which endear fresh seafood to the palates of so many people. Too many people have told me of their disappointment in being unable to obtain fresh seafood even in coastal Florida restaurants.

I believe new and imaginative packaging can be produced. I believe better ways can be found to preserve the freshness and flavor of seafood. If so, seafood products will sell even better regardless of the effects of today’s crisis. New ways to safeguard the fish in the seas can and must be found along with new ways to keep seafood fresh and tasty. And when these ways are implemented, it will mean greater supplies of fish for the American and world dinner tables.

Production savings, techniques, marketing methods, fuel conservation measures, and manpower and time savers all will be with us when the day comes that the crisis of costs, fuel and supply are solved. The government’s program of assistance for modernization of boats and equipment for commercial fishermen is of questionable value and needs updating and expanding. It doesn’t provide enough help and it doesn’t reach enough people.

There’s no question but that some commercial fishermen will be hard hit in the years immediately ahead. This means those who manage to survive will need to bend their backs a little more and use their heads a lot more. While they are about this, they will need to learn the value of cooperation among industry members and the importance of stating their case to those in government and in industry who can help to provide the policies and programs which the industry needs.