Ninety-two agree to cash in groundfish permits in federal buyback

By Anna Oberthur
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

Groundfishing permit-holders last week overwhelmingly approved a plan allowing 92 members of the 263-boat West Coast fleet to trade their permits for money. Twelve of the boats are in Washington, 35 in Oregon.

"I think this is a big step in stabilizing the fishery," said National Marine Fisheries Service Director Bill Hogarth.

Groundfish landings — for fish such as sole, red snapper and flounder — have been declining since 1987, especially in the past five years.

In 2000, with the collapse of several groundfish stocks and the loss of tens of millions of dollars in fishing income, the distressed industry was searching for a federal bailout.

Unable to sell fish or their businesses, fishermen pressed the federal government to establish a buyback system to help them get out of the industry and reduce the size of the fleet — leaving remaining permit holders with more to catch, said Pete Leipzig, executive director of the Fishermen's Marketing Association in Eureka, Calif.

Congress approved a $46 million package for the buyouts this year, leaving it up to the fishermen to say whether they wanted it.

They did. Groundfish permit-holders approved the program Wednesday by a vote of 193 to 32. Once the National Marine Fisheries Service completes the results Tuesday, fishermen who have applied for the program will have 30 days to tie up their boats and stop fishing.

Only $10 million of the package is a grant. The remaining $36 million must be repaid by the fishermen who hold permits. States will collect 5 percent of the fishermen's gross sales and give it to the federal government to pay for the loan.

Pink shrimp and Dungeness crab permit-holders also will contribute to the loan because the same boats are often used in all three fisheries.

Who got the money has been figured by dividing a fisherman's bid — what he thought his business was worth — by the annual growth value of his landings, to get a score.

The money was allocated to those with the lowest scores first, until the funding was fully committed.

About half of the fishermen leaving the business are from Northern California.

"Now they can leave the industry with dignity and some of their life savings intact," Leipzig said.

"In the future, everyone's going to look back and see this as an important change in the fishing industry, when things started to get better."

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company