Whenever the government, and ENGO's mention fishermen, they usually are talking about vessel owners not crewmen, from here in called fishermen.

There is much historic reference to the men that man these vessels, but, when the business end of fishing is discussed, fishermen it should be noted is a generic term to describe members of the industry.

From my perspective, some of the owners I've worked for could not possibly be called fishermen, as some had never even gone on a trip. They were in the industry strictly as investors. But because they owned the vessel, and the attached permit, they have wrongly been called fishermen.

An owner/ operator that goes to sea is a fisherman. The crew that fishes with him are fishermen. Owners that do not go to sea and are labeled fishermen do not deserve that distinct and honorable title.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, a branch of NOAA is going to collect data from fishermen and owners in a first time, socioeconomic survey, to understand the mechanics of the fishing industry, and how it operates. This inquiry is a something that should've been enacted before NOAA, and its ENGO supporters decided they should convert the industry to a commodity based management principle, for the one basic reason they are trying to understand. How the industry operates.

The fishermen operate in a free enterprise relationship with vessel owners in the Lay/Share agreement.

The Lay being the split of the gross receipt of the trip proceeds. The split can varies from vessel to vessel, and agreements between Captain and owner, with the Captain representing the fishermen. It can be a 50/50 split, with fuel off the top, 60/40, owner 60, paying for fuel, fishermen splitting the 40% in a structured system of percentages, while the Captain, engineer, cook, get additional percentage for their extra duty's.

Then there are the other expenses that are deducted from fishermen shares such as ice, lubricating oils, and greases, rags, gloves, and other consumables like the grub. This link is the only reference to the system I could find in a quick search. It's British from the days of old, but the arraignments are pretty much the same, standing the test of time.

"We're trying to look at the impact of regulations on fishing communities," said Tammy Murphy, an economist with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole who is responsible for implementing the data collection. "We need to look at that in a more direct way than we have before."

"They will just be conversations," she said. "We'll be asking some questions to determine the well-being of fishermen, their level of job satisfaction and how fishermen feel about the regulatory process." More here.

Murphy, a Fall River native, said one of the survey's goals is to learn how crew members are paid and how crew expenses may be changing as regulations change. The surveys will also to try to capture the diversity of ports and the diversity of landings by port and season.

The survey will be conducted in ports between Maine, and North Carolina.

Fishermen the expenses from their share, and with the ability of the boat/permit owner able to aquire extra quota, for a fee, that is an added expense for the fishermen. To learn more about the cause and effects, read american-sharecropper-the-settlement-sheet