Tipping the scale away from privatization and toward community-based fisheries: Policy and market alternatives in New England

New England has a long history of successfully supporting small-scale, family-owned fishing businesses dispersed in small ports along the coast as well as larger-scale businesses clustered in a handful of major ports in the region. When groundfish stocks in the region were declared disastrously low, fisheries management became polarized and neoliberal economic policies began to take precedence in the search for solutions. Seeking alternatives to the move towards privatization and corporatization of the fishing fleet, a new model for organizing fishing communities, the Fish Locally Collaborative (FLC) was formed with a goal of supporting diversity in the fisheries and marine ecosystem, while sustaining coastal communities.