Northshore Magazine

These aren't commercial fishermen who are dependent on the sea for their livelihood, but weekenders who just enjoy getting out on the water and maybe coming home with a bucket full of fish to freeze. Up until now, they've been allowed to keep all the haddock they can hook. But, as of May, they're limited to three per man (they're all men), per trip. They're still allowed up to nine cod, but the minimum size for that fish has been raised from 19 to 21 inches. And fishing for either species after September 1 is now prohibited. "September 1 is going to hurt," says Mike Mann, the captain of the Lady Sea. The 72-foot boat is the only vessel in Gloucester Fleet, the deep-sea fishing and cruise service he runs with his par- ents, Booty and Carolann Mann. "Sep- tember is still quite a good month for us, usually. The problem is, the tourists are starting to disappear by September, and the bread and butter for us is our regu- lars. And to not be able to keep cod and haddock basically knocks that out for us." Mann, dressed in a blue hooded sweatshirt and tattered jeans, looks more fisherman than charter boat operator, and indeed he spent six years working on lobster boats and commercial fishing boats before beginning Gloucester Fleet. Alternating between drags off his cigarette and sips from his Dunkin' Donuts cup, he explains how tourists are mostly happy to just drop a line into the Atlantic and don't much care what sort of fish they catch. But the avid fishermen— like the ones going out on this dreary day in April—may stay home in September and October if they can't bring home any haddock or cod, he says. Big cuts in catch limits are nothing new in Gloucester. Commercial fishermen have faced restrictions so tight—includ- ing a 77 percent reduction last year in the amount of cod they can catch—that some have predicted that the independent fish- erman here might go extinct, giving way to one or two large, consolidated operations. It's a jarring thought. Fishermen are Fishing ne 82 nshoremag.com July 2014 Captain Mike Mike Mann charters Lady Sea. photograph by brad mintz NB_KJ_NS July 14 Fishing.indd 82 5/9/14 9:27 AM

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