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State's commercial fishing industry is sinking fast |
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Monday, 08 October 2007 |
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Page 2 of 3
Fishermen face hardships
South Carolina issued 1,386 commercial fishing boat licenses in the 2007 fiscal year that ended June 30, a 9% dip compared to 2002, according to statistics provided by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. At the same time, the department issued 435,632 recreational fishing boat licenses, a 14% increase during the same period.
A number of factors play into that decline, said Mel Bell, DNR’s director of Fisheries Management. The price for a catch, about $4.25 a pound, hasn’t changed since the 1980s. Over that same period, the cost of buying a boat, maintaining it and filling it with fuel has increased dramatically, as has international competition, specifically from countries such as China that have strong aquaculture industries.
“And on top of that, there (is) a loss of infrastructure,” Bell said. “The commercial docks are dwindling as waterfront properties are converted for condos, hotels and marinas.”
The issues are not unique to the Southeast either. Calling it a “critical issue,” two congressmen, Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, and Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., introduced legislation earlier this year, HR-3223, dubbed the Keep Our Waterfronts Working Act of 2007, which would provide federal grants to help coastal communities purchase development rights and fund infrastructure improvements to aid fishermen.
“Coastal property owners are faced with a dilemma: it is often more cost-effective to sell to private developers, but the loss of working waterfront can have cascading effects on local economies far beyond the sale value of the property,” the two wrote in a letter asking their congressional colleagues for support.
In South Carolina’s fishing downturn, the shrimping industry has been hit particularly hard. There were 429 trawler licenses issued during the last fiscal year, a 25% decline over five years ago. In the early 1980s, there were nearly 1,500 licensed trawlers, Bell said.
The amount of seafood imported into the United States over the past decade has made it difficult for fishermen to compete, a trend that is just beginning to reverse course with the push to buy locally from groups such as Charleston-based Wild American Shrimp, which certifies local authenticity. Also helping the case to buy locally was this summer’s announcement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that some Chinese seafood imports contained chemicals not authorized for consumption in the United States.
“It’s coming back to local. Business is picking up,” Magwood said of his Mount Pleasant shrimp sales. “Because of the Chinese scare, it’s picking up, I think. People are asking for it.”
Still, the U.S. fishing industry is a far cry from being an international player. More than 80% of seafood consumed by Americans is imported. Besides China, which remains the world’s farmed seafood export leader, other seafood importers include Thailand, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.
About half of the imports into the United States come from places that heavily subsidize seafood farming and that rely on the industry as a major economic crown.
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