The MLA Machine

For over a decade now this Association has been building itself into an organization that can serve our lobster fishermen by being capable of handling the many challenges that continuously face our industry.  It has become the shield or in some cases the vanguard so that the interests of the lobster fishermen here in Massachusetts can be protected or asserted.

We have been fortunate in that now, as perhaps never before, the voice of this industry is heard. We can be proud of this accomplishment because this is not always the case for the fishing industry.  Fishermen are, afterall, diverse, individualistic and small businessmen who basically operate in their own little world and this is, unfortunately, why they can be targeted by outside forces and run over by those forces.

Too many fishermen manage a crisis by impromptu organization, that is, when a problem arises their response is to unite for that issue. That ensemble resembles an organized mob.  They hoot and holler, thrash around, and either manage to have some minimal success or experience a complete failure.  They then gradually go their way, disbanding until the next time.  It is far better to have the organization in place and ready to react with a logical, cohesive and systematic approach when it is needed.  We've all heard the old saying of together we stand and divided we fall and this has shown itself to be true in all too many cases.

Our Association has tried to become that organized entity and it has been successful.  The effort, however, has involved teamwork and not just organizing.

In order to achieve this teamwork and in order to cover all the bases, the MLA has become an entity with many parts.  Besides an active and efficient office staff to hold the fort, the Association has entered the arenas of public relations, inter-industry relations, product publicity, and the legal, regulative and legislative areas. There has also been development of services for our fishermen such as boat and health protection programs as examples and all of this has been to provide what is needed and when it is needed.

No, not every mission results in complete success but no one just runs over us either.  As another old saying goes, if someone else does win, they do know that they were in a fight.  Not everyone within the MLA always agrees on everything that is done either.  It would probably be very strange if we did all agree.  We are, afterall, a very large group made up of that individualistic spirit.

The important part here is that we are here, we are organized, and we are set up to handle whatever challenges are thrown our way from any of the arenas where we participate.  It is also important that we maintain our many parts, our capabilities, and our teamwork approach just as much as we need our member's support.  Although we will not always agree, our goals are the same: to keep our lobster fishermen successful, our industry long-lived and lobster resource itself healthy.

We need to keep on ticking and keep on kicking.

Bill Adler
Executive Director

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