Going Without
On November 13th, 2014, a six-month restriction began on the fishing of cod in the Gulf of Maine.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported a sharp decline in cod population, mandating a 200-pound per trip quota on cod, drastically changing from previous years. In addition, ground-fishing boats that use gill nets and trawls were banned from specific fishing grounds.
NOAA hopes that restricting cod fishing will allow the cod population to replenish and remain viable for fishing in the future. However, questions still exist about the extent of the problem and the best strategy for dealing with it. NOAA and the New England Fishery Management Council will meet again to resolve issues and determine a plan by 2015. People from both the scientific and fishing communities agree that their collaboration on this — and other Gulf of Maine issues — is a key to success.
Not all fishermen agreed with the scientist's findings and the resulting actions, and many offer additional explanations to the decreased cod population. They have worked around similar species restrictions in the past, and will ride this wave of change as they continue to gather and provide bounty for both the public and their families.
For now they will just keep going without.
Going Without - 10 Years Later
Ten years ago I did a project on the fishing industry in Portland, ME . I recently stumbled back on the photos and found some images I think would have been impactful to include for the story. Images I didn’t originally include, for reasons like, I didn’t fully understand the story, or wanted to be respectful to the fishermen that allowed me to document their livelihood.
Ten years later, enough time has passed, and I’ve learned a lot about story telling. Here are some photos that didn’t make the original cut.
WARNING - Some people might find the following content to be disturbing.
