A Floundering Industry in Sheepshead Bay
This article appeared in the 7 January issue of The Brooklyn View.
“I think I just got screwed out of some money,” Bobby Fish said as he thumbed through the crumpled ball of fives and tens in his calloused, grease-stained hand. As second mate on the Sea Wolf, a dilapidated party boat that operates out of Sheepshead Bay, he and his first mate Kenny agreed that the commercial fishing industry here has seen better days.
The trouble for fishing boats began back in the 1930’s when business was great. But after decades of over-fishing, which has brought several species to the brink of collapse, the federal government passed the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976, which gets ratified annually by Congress. The goal was to end over-fishing and rebuild fish stocks by enforcing stricter regulations.
“They put these insane, asinine laws in place,” said Bobby Fish, “and they make it impossible.”
October 20th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
A relatively unrelated thought:
When I was younger, my parents would sometimes go down to Sheepshead Bay to purchase fresh fish from the fishermen. They were immigrants to this country, unaware of ideas such as pollution or mercury poisoning.
My parents now don’t purchase from these fishermen, at least partially because of the belief that the bay is polluted. Is it? I honestly don’t know. But I doubt my parents are alone in this belief.
It’s a shame that no one seems interested in studying the bay properly. Where’s Anthony Weiner when you need him?
October 20th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Mercury is a persistent problem but it’s easily avoided by consuming fish in moderation, which the FDA and the EPA have studied in depth. Actually, canned tuna typically has a higher mercury content than fresh fish from Brooklyn.
One of the bigger concerns in the Upper Hudson though is the carcinogenic compound PCB, but that’s not really a problem in Sheepshead Bay. The fish sold there is brought in from the Atlantic and it’s surely safe to eat.
October 20th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
An excellent article. This is an important issue that I don’t think has gotten enough notice
Working on the science side of things, it annoys me that people forget that when you decide to limit fish catches, etc you often severely negatively impact the people who depend on those fish. Suddenly they go from simply making a living to poachers.
How safe a fish is to eat is a matter of where it is caught. I personally am not a fan of eating fish directly caught in places like Jamaica bay or Sheepshead because of the raw sewage that gets pumped into the bay on the daily. The only thing that really gets to be of any good eating size in those bays (and really lives there full time) though is fluke.
The fish you’re going to get from a fisherman is a whole lot fresher than what you see at waldbaums.
July 18th, 2008 at 1:03 am
In regards to Mr. Herlich’s statement:
Summer flounder or fluke have a migratory pattern opposite that of winter flounder. Fluke migrate offshore to ocean waters 200 to 500 feet deep during the colder winter months. During the warmer summer months they move inshore to shallow warmer waters. I believe you are referring to flounder which do live locally year round.
I have been fishing all my life and have not and will not eat local fish. By local I mean bays and tributaries. (including the Hudson and East rivers)
I’ve personally witnessed striped bass caught in the Hudson being sold to “fine” restaurants on the upper east side well aware of where the fish came from…Money IS the ROOT of ALL EVIL.
If you eat fish you need to know where your fish came from. Always ask and maybe if your really lucky you’ll get an honest answer….
or better yet only eat what you catch!