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Freezer ship to unload in city
 By
Becky W. Evans, Standard-Times staff writer
The new year will bring a 350-foot freezer ship into the
port of New Bedford to unload frozen herring and
mackerel caught in offshore waters by a fleet of up to
nine trawlers that are too small to carry the fish back
to shore safely.
James Odlin, president of Atlantic Pelagic Seafood in
Portland, Maine, said the American Freedom will serve as
a giant freezer, allowing more fishermen to target
offshore stocks of Atlantic herring and mackerel that
swim from Labrador, Canada, to North Carolina.
The current fleet of large, mid-water trawlers —
equipped with refrigeration systems to carry the fish
back to onshore processing and freezing plants — has yet
to reach the annual total allowable catch levels for
herring and mackerel set by federal fishing regulators,
Mr. Odlin said.
In 2005, fishermen caught less than 30 percent of the
quota for the offshore fishery. The quota for the
inshore Gulf of Maine fishery was reached by December of
that year.
Mr. Odlin, a second-generation fisherman who sits on the
New England Fishery Management Council, said the unused
quota is an opportunity for underutilized groundfish
vessels to harvest offshore herring and mackerel. He
plans to refit his two New Bedford draggers with the
appropriate electronics and nets needed to catch the
small, streamlined fish that feed on plankton. He said
he is "in discussion with several other boat owners"
about supplying fish for the American Freedom, which
will provide work for about 20 fishing vessels per year.
Eight months out of the year, the freezer ship will
chase herring and mackerel stocks as they swim down the
Atlantic Coast. Fishing vessels that are too small to
carry heavy loads of fish will sell their catch at sea
to the American Freedom, which will freeze the fish
whole using a state-of-the-art refrigeration system.
Although home-ported in Portland, the ship will offload
fish in Boston, New Bedford and possibly ports in the
Chesapeake. It will likely come to New Bedford in
mid-January after returning from fishing grounds south
of Cape Cod, Mr. Odlin said. The frozen fish will be
kept in cold storage and later shipped to Africa,
Eastern Europe and other foreign markets.
A federal permit will allow the American Freedom to
freeze no more than 20,000 metric tons of offshore
herring per year. It is not allowed to freeze any
herring from inshore zones in the Gulf of Maine, where
regulators are trying to limit the high amount of
herring fishing.
Critics of the freezer vessel fear it could hurt the
Atlantic herring stock, which collapsed in 1976 due to
overfishing by foreign fishing fleets that are now
banned from U.S. waters. The stock has since recovered,
though some environmentalists believe the amount of
herring in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Maine may
be declining.
Roger Fleming, an attorney with the Conservation Law
Foundation, worries that increasing offshore fishing
efforts could hurt the marine ecosystem. Whales, tuna,
striped bass and groundfish are among the many species
that feed on herring, he said.
"My concern is that I do not think we have accurately
accounted for the role of herring in the ecosystem yet,"
Mr. Fleming said.
Regulators need to set aside more herring for the
ecosystem and less for fishermen, he said.
Peter Baker of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's
Association worries about accountability. He wants to
know how regulators will monitor how much and what kinds
of fish the ship processes at sea.
"We had an unaccountable fleet with big ships and they
destroyed the stock," Mr. Baker said. "We need
accountability."
The $5 million Norpel processing plant on New Bedford's
Fish Island was built in 2000 to process herring and
mackerel. The plant processes and freezes approximately
50,000 metric tons of herring and mackerel each year
that is sold as bait and food to customers around the
world.
Billie Schofield, the plant's general manager, did not
return calls seeking comment on how the freezer ship
might affect his shoreside business.
Mr. Odlin said he did not want to speak for Norpel but
that he thinks there is "enough fish to go around."
Built in 1985, the American Freedom served as a salmon
processor in Seattle for a short time but "has remained
berthed for most of its life," according to documents
from Atlantic Pelagic Seafood. The company has spent
more than $24 million converting the vessel to a freezer
ship.
While at sea, the ship's 50-member crew will include
five seamen, 10 officers and 35 crewmen who will freeze
the fish.
Contact Becky W. Evans at
revans@s-t.com
Date of Publication: December 08, 2006 on Page A05 |
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