Oregon Public Broadcasting

Trawlers in the Port of Newport, Oregon.

West Coast fishermen who catch bottomfish are facing a sea change in their business.

These are the people who haul up black cod, snapper, Dover sole and other delicacies for your table. Federal fishery managers are replacing traditional fishing seasons with individual catch quotas.

The strict quotas are expected to shrink the trawl fishing fleet significantly. That means bottom draggers may leave the business and switch to other fisheries, increasing competition for crab and shrimp for example.

Correspondent Tom Banse reports the transition is roiling the waters in Northwest fishing ports.

Take Newport, Oregon. Gulls squawk, tourists promenade, sea lions bark, and lifelong fishermen get ready for their next trip out to sea.

It's a sunny day, but the outlook is gloomy for commercial fisherman Gary Ripka. He started fishing with his dad when he was about 10 years old.

Gary Ripka: "It's all I've ever done, either fished here or in Alaska."

Ripka turns 49 next month. He now owns two fishing boats moored in Newport -- two out of about 160 vessels on the West Coast with groundfish trawl permits.

In government-speak, that fishery is about to be "rationalized." In practical terms, it means regulated seasons are out. In their place, each boat gets an individual share of the total catch.

The initial shares are set low to allow fish stocks to rebuild. It effectively forces consolidation in the fleet.

Ripka worries he'll be a casualty.

Gary Ripka: "Economically, it's a disaster. We can't operate these boats. I don't even know if we've got enough to operate one. We were sold a bill of goods."

Ripka's best guess is that he'll sell one boat and focus the other on crab, shrimp and tuna.

Gary Ripka: "Each one of these trawlers is a small business. We employ people. I have employees. They're buying groceries in town. They're buying houses, they're paying rent. What are these guys going to do?"

Spillover into other fisheries worries Newport shrimp fisherman Ted Gibson. He fears a whole bunch of his friends will turn into cutthroat competitors.

Ted Gibson: "The shrimp are going to come to town whether they are caught by five boats or fifteen boats. It's just the guys that are there doing it -- that are making a living -- they're going to have to share their markets to the point where no one can survive. It's going to be a slow death."

The federal Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the consolidation of the ocean trawl fishery last November. The quota shares system takes effect in just over a year.

Despite the complaints, council member Frank Lockhart of Seattle says fishery managers are resolved to see the changes through. Lockhart expects grumbling to ebb as fishermen figure out how to make the new system work for them.

Frank Lockhart: "Here you have the direct alignment of what the fishermen want -- to make money and catch the fish they want to catch -- with the conservation incentives. Now they have a guaranteed access to a portion of the quota. If they catch it in a low-cost and least environmentally damaging way, the stock grows and then they make even more money."

Fishing boat owner David Jincks in Newport, Oregon.

There are fishermen who favor individual quotas even though they get less in the near term. Back at the dock in Newport, David Jincks washes the deck of the Blue Fox. It's one of two large trawlers he co-owns.

David Jincks: "The management system as it is is broken. It can't continue on. If any of these guys say, ‘I don't want anything to do with it,' their future is more bleak without it. That's what people aren't grasping. Things aren't gonna be status quo. Having your own quota pounds so you can operate as a businessman instead of a serf to the government, you're far better off."

Jincks says the new system ends the rush to sea to catch fish before a competitor does. With individual shares, he says fishermen can take their time and fish "smarter," as he puts it.

Conservation groups hope that reduces waste and the accidental catch of protected species.

The nation's top fisheries administrator – Jane Lubchenco who's from Oregon – is making catch shares a centerpiece her fishing policy. A recently created task force is looking for other fisheries to convert to individual catch shares.

Online:

Pacific Fishery Management Council