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Fishermen on the New Bedford waterfront met the news of a second Trump term with vengeful enthusiasm on Wednesday morning. There was hope that the president-elect would scale back regulation, stop offshore wind development and open new fishing grounds — breaking the slump of declining revenues and ushering in a period of relative prosperity for the industry.
Donald Trump gained significant support throughout the South Coast in the 2024 election, narrowing the margin of his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden in the region. Trump didn’t win New Bedford, where Vice President Kamala Harris held a margin of 2,688 votes. But the city’s fishermen have dug in with their support for President-elect Trump.
“The government has crucified this industry,” said Ryan Turner, 47, who on Wednesday morning was preparing to leave on a scallop trip. He said this election was the first in which he had ever cast his vote. Between Harris and Trump, he said, “I didn’t like either one. I voted because we needed someone in office who is going to get rid of these windmills.”
It is not yet clear what a second Trump term will mean for New Bedford’s fishing fleet.
“[Trump’s] first administration is completely disbanded,” said Bob Vanasse, of Stove Boat Communications, which represents many seafood companies and organizations related to New Bedford’s commercial fishing industry. “We have someone returning to office who was helpful and who listened to the people of this industry. But there will not be the same continuity you can rely on when a president is reelected.”
Industry representatives are basing their expectations on Trump’s last term, in which he overturned a ban on commercial fishing in Marine National Monuments that has since been re-established under Biden. Some said Trump’s wont to impose tariffs could go either way. Tariffs could disincentivize seafood imports, like scallops coming from Japan or Peru, which in turn could boost domestic prices. But the domestic industry is also largely dependent on exporting seafood. In Trump’s last term, China imposed tariffs on its U.S. seafood imports as retaliation for tariffs Trump imposed on China, which hurt domestic seafood prices.
Far from the machinery of the New Bedford waterfront, federal scientists and regulators with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) said there was hushed concern that Trump may cut federal spending, which could handicap the agency’s research and data collection efforts.
Some fishermen said their frustration with NOAA Fisheries was among the reasons they voted for Trump. The president-elect speaks to the anti-government impulse that courses through the fishing industry due to vast and complex regulations that hurt their profit margins.
“Defund NOAA,” said Ken Schneider, 65, donning a grease-coated Trump hat while mending gear on his lobster boat Wednesday morning. “The government has built a monster and it’s eating away at us.”
However, some federal scientists said slimming NOAA’s budget will only make the science more flawed, and could actually result in even more restrictive regulation. NOAA’s charter is to regulate the fisheries to ensure the industry is both sustainable and economically viable. That mandate doesn’t change based on budget. Without proper data, which requires extensive funding, regulators are forced to err on the side of caution.
“If there were to be some reduction in our ability to put observers on boats or monitor catch, that could result in lower quotas and reduced ability of fishermen to harvest fish, rather than a relaxation of quotas,” said Chad Demarest, an economist with NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
Still, regulators maintain that their job is apolitical, and that they will remain focused on practicing the best available science and adapting regulations accordingly based on their research.
Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney representing the industry’s Sustainable Scalloping Fund, which comprises much of the city’s scallop fleets, said Trump’s influence on the fishing industry boils down to two things: people and policy. Trump’s secretary of commerce will play a big role, he said. The department oversees NOAA and parts of the regional regulatory councils. In his first term, Trump appointed Chris Oliver to lead NOAA Fisheries. Oliver is seen as an industry ally, and has since gone to work for American Seafoods, one the nation’s largest West Coast whitefish harvesting corporations. Janet Coit, who currently heads NOAA Fisheries, is perceived as a conservationist, having previously held leadership roles at environmental organizations like The Nature Conservancy.
“Those appointments are going to be crucial for the fishing industry,” Minkiewicz said.
So far, Trump’s only campaign vow that relates to the seafood industry is his position on offshore wind development.
“We are going to make sure that that ends on day one. … I’m going to write it out in an executive order,” Trump told supporters at a May rally in Wildwood, New Jersey. “They destroy everything; they’re horrible,” he said of wind turbines, claiming they “cause tremendous problems with the fish and the whales.”
That position was enough to secure overwhelming support for Trump from New Bedford’s fishermen. They have long voiced frustration at the prospect of offshore wind encroaching on fishing grounds. Those concerns are not baseless. Federal scientists have sounded the alarm about potential harm that development poses to fish spawning habitats that “may result in cascading long-term to permanent effects,” a fisheries administrator wrote to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Offshore wind’s footprint has expanded dramatically under the Biden administration. Due to accelerated permitting and tax incentives for developers, multiple projects have come online since Trump was last in office. Dozens more projects remain in the pipeline for development.
On Wednesday, Gov. Maura Healey spoke directly to Trump’s crusade against offshore wind, pledging that she would not let Trump stop the state’s efforts to build out renewable energy sources.
“We care about the climate and our environment,” Gov. Healey said. “We are going to continue to lead on offshore wind energy, climate tech innovation and good jobs.”
Email reporter Will Sennott at wsennott@newbedfordlight.org.
‘Government has crucified this industry’? Really! What about Carlos Raphael, Joaquin Sosa and Rodolfo Membreno with tax evasion, mislabeled species, exceeding catch limits! The fishing industry crucified itself! And we haven’t even addressed, environmental pollution, eliminating species and introducing microplastics on a global scale into everyone’s food chain! The Wind Farm benefits all of us, the Fishing Industry benefits only itself!
Wind farms are not the answer
They pollute tons of micro plastic by stepping BPA from the leading edge of the turbine blades
True enuf VERITAS these fishermen who overfished and left the grounds wout even a piece of cod or scrod to put on our plates and stuffed their pockets w big bucks think Rafael and his buddies to buy fancy houses in Dartmouth and Acushnet now say they don’t like Trump but voted for potty mouth becuz they don’t like windmills or quotas to restore the fish you raped. Are you serious ? Yeah if MAGA MAN has his,way he will impose 100% tariffs on China.They will retaliate driving up prices on everything and restricting imports from us! How did that go for the Fishing industry last time.Remember the wall w Mexico and how they were going to pay for it? Not much of a wall and we paid for it !I’d be careful.of following false prophets delivering empty promises. And windmills yeah where they go needs to be discussed w the fishing industry BUT let’s not throw out the baby w the bathwater..Windmills are a future energy source like Whale oil was in the 19th c and coal after it..or do you want to pay the big electric companies big bucks for cheaper energy? Oh and Ryan glad you finally found your way to vote..!
No more seafood for us. You did it to yourself. No one else’s fault, but your own.
“Be careful what you wish for.”
The fishing industry in New Bedford survived the catch share system. It had to fund paid observers onboard. They also survived venture capitalists trying to take the industry over, and massive fraud committed by industry giants, but I fear Off Shore Wind will be the end of commercial fishing. The new installments are being located on thousands of acres of prime fishing grounds off New York and the Gulf of Maine. Hundreds of miles of cabling and submerged structures will further decrease once productive areas to harvest fish. During the permitting process NOAA did not allow the fishing industry a single concession that they asked for, not even wider travel lanes to navigate through the “forests” of proposed turbines.
OSW is the final nail in the coffin for commercial fishing. It will no longer be viable with the constraints placed on it already, along with reduction in productive fishing grounds and ever-increasing costs to do business. The price of landings will become prohibitively expensive and the market will eventually dry up. Gone like the textile industry, and the whaling industry before that. Unfortunately, once it’s fully built out, OSW will provide little commerce for the city of New Bedford.