Watermen, not just water, at risk
No one has more at stake in wanting the Chesapeake Bay cleaned up than the men and women who still make a living - or try to, at least - from the fish, crabs and oysters still hanging on amid the bay's nutrient-fouled waters..
That's the point of "Watermen Blues," a new report by Environment Maryland. The Baltimore-based advocacy group produced the 36-pager to back up its call for the federal and state governments to ramp up bay restoration efforts.
"After decades of voluntary programs, minimal accountability and lax enforcement of bay protections, it's crystal clear that we need greater accountability and better enforcement of limits on all sources of pollution," the group's Tommy Landers said in a press release accompanying the report.
Environmental groups crank out reports like a popcorn popper sometimes, packed with policy prescriptions in dry prose. This report talks policy, too, but it's got flavor. Co-authored by Heather Dewar, a talented environmental writer who used to report for The Baltimore Sun, it vividly recounts how the bay's watermen and once-thriving seafood industry have faltered.
Pollution isn't entirely to blame for that, the report frankly acknowledges. Overfishing and lower-priced imported seafood has taken a toll as well. But it points out how fishermen have struggled as pollution has smothered the bay's grasses and starved it of fish-sustaining oxygen, rendering the deep waters a sterile "dead zone." Seafood packing houses have closed, boat carpenters have gone elsewhere to find work and watermen have been forced to take jobs on land building homes or working as prison guards
It's an eloquent, sobering reminder of how pollution hurts people and communities, even when it doesn't directly threaten their health. They say you don't know what you've lost 'til it's gone, but sometimes what's gone is forgotten. To avoid that, read the full report, go here.
(Baltimore Sun photo 2002 by Chiaki Kawajiri)
Comments
my daughter's boyfriend works for a waterman crabbing, getting paid in cash, and last sat. they got 34 bushels. Tell me the watermen aren't making any money.
Posted by: Dan | September 17, 2009 11:36 AM
It's hard to generalize, Dan, about how much watermen make because the catch can vary in different areas of the Chesapeake Bay and at different times. I have heard mostly 2nd- or 3rd-hand that crabbing has been better this year. I can tell you the price I paid at a Baltimore crab house a few weeks ago took my breath away, but a lot of the money I paid goes to feed the middlemen. Crabbing's the mainstay of the watermen these days, and they'll be forced to give up early again this fall, the result of state regulations meant to restrict the harvest of female crabs. It's a conservation measure meant to pay off in the long run with a larger, more stable crab population in the bay, but it does have a short-term impact on the livelihood of watermen - something state and federal governments are attempting to ease by paying watermen to work on oyster reef restoration projects and the like.
Posted by: Tim Wheeler | September 18, 2009 8:51 AM
Thanks for pointing out this interesting report. I feel empathy for the fishing communities. I do feel that the report exaggerates the same old environmental cliche of how critical the fishing industry is to the regional economy though. I expect that the (non-fishing) recreational boating, real estate, and hospitality industry around the bay dwarfs the commercial fishing industry. Having the bay choked with crab pots and trot-lines all of the time does not seem to be a balanced use of the resource either. I think a balance of commercial and recreational activities would be best. After following the situation for 20 years, I also think that a lot of the commercial fishing industry's greed led them to where they are today. I remember how they used to fight any balanced scientific management of the fisheries stocks.
Posted by: David | September 21, 2009 12:28 PM