PROMISES

PROMISES ~ PROMISES

Back in the early nineties when it was being proposed to designate Stellwagen Bank as a marine sanctuary, government officials were promising that if it became a sanctuary, fisheries management would continue to be the purview of the New England Fishery’s Management Council and not the Sanctuary. This was stated over and over again at the hearings being held and even in the federal documents of the time.

Fishermen were leery of the promises and during those hearings, they repeatedly commented that if established, the Sanctuary should not be in the business of managing fisheries. It was repeatedly explained that the purpose of having the Sanctuary was to control activities such as oil drilling, sand mining and a proposal at the time that a gambling casino “Island” be built out there on the site. Does anybody remember the “Googles Island” discussions?

Armed with support for restrictions on these types of activities and all the promises to leave fishing alone, the Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary legislation was pushed through the Congress.

Then led to now and there seems to be a new tune being played by some government people. Sanctuary officials now are saying that the wording in the actual Sanctuary Act merely says that the Sanctuary must work with the Council but that controlling fishing access on the Bank was not prohibited. It is even believed that if recommendations from the Sanctuary to the Fishery Council for limiting access are not heeded that the Sanctuary managers could take action on their own. The issue here is Marine Protection Areas or what’s even more onerous, Marine Reserves. Managing fishing activities in this case wouldn’t mean tampering with fish or lobster sizes, quotas, trip limits or net sizes. It would mean allowing or not allowing fishing access to the area. The Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary stretches from north of Cape Cod all the way to east of Cape Ann in federal waters and that’s a big area; 842 square miles. There are those who would like to see all or at least part of the area designated as a “marine wilderness” and free of all fishing operations. They feel that Stellwagen should be treated like a national preserve and any disruption to its bottom habitat or marine life should be unacceptable. This perceived disruption includes affecting the bottom plants, animals, sand, rocks and shipwrecks as well as upsetting migratory fish and whales. Even shipping and boating activities have been included in the discussions.

Having a national park out in the middle of nowhere is a nice fuzzy feel-good idea and there is some justification for preventing drilling, mining, ocean dumping and water pollution from degrading the area but the current users of the Bank do none of that. Fishing has been an activity on the Bank for well over a hundred years and there is no proof that during all those years fishing has caused any real damage. If it had, it would no longer be the rich marine ”crown jewel” many say they want to preserve.

Reasonable protection for the Bank so it can continue to be used by the public as a source of employment and enjoyment is a justifiable goal. Trying to turn the area into an aquarium that few can even see and current users would not be able to use is not. Fishermen are among the users and they should be able to continue using the Bank.

It has been determined that in order for the Sanctuary managers to actually affect access, they must seek further mandates from the Congress and this brings us back to the promise part. The promises were made to leave “fishing” out of the managing exercises.

The Stellwagen Sanctuary might not even be there had it not been for those promises. If the wording in the Sanctuary Act is vague then it needs to be made clear.

We would urge our Congressional delegation to do what is necessary to make sure those promises are kept. If it means rewording part of the Act, then it should be done. If it involves clarifying the Congressional intent then that is what must be done.