At the Port of Galilee in Narragansett, Tim Carroll of Seaside Fuel has been getting an earful from the crews of the large fishing vessels he fills up on the docks.
“Every day,” Carroll says. “Everyone I talk to. Every single one.”
Since the war in Iran began, the cost of dockside diesel in Rhode Island has surged to $5.75 a gallon. That marks a nearly 50% increase since February, and prices are still climbing.
“You can do the math, it’s not pretty,” said captain Ryan Roberts, who has been a fisherman going on forty years.
You can do the math, it’s not pretty.
“What’s normally a $4,000 fuel bill is now six, seven, $8,000 fuel bill,” he said.
Those higher prices are eating into what was already a slim profit margin for the captains and their crews.
“If the price of fish don’t come up and the price of fuel don’t go down, you’re going to see this harbor full all summer long,” said sea captain Patrick Duckworth.
If the boats stay tied to the docks because it’s too expensive to fish, that means lost wages and lost jobs and a ripple effect throughout the dockside economy. Rhode Island’s commercial fishing industry brings in roughly $100 million of seafood a year, according to the Rhode Island Food Policy Council. Marine supply companies, net makers, wholesalers and other connected businesses will also feel the impact.
Restaurants and grocery stores, too. These local boats bring in a massive percentage of the nation’s long-fin squid. If the boats at Point Judith can’t afford to fish, calamari will be in short supply nationwide.
The timing couldn’t be worse for the fleet, according to Meghan Lapp of Seafreeze, one of the East Coast’s largest seafood processors and distributors.
She says the sudden spike in diesel fuel costs is dealing a heavy blow to an economic sector already battered by rough weather, tight regulations, and various environmental factors.
“The commercial fishing industry is currently seeing its lowest profits in 30 years,” she said. “When you have a fuel increase it hits you a lot harder than it would have years ago.”
And, she notes, it’s a double whammy: Not only do high diesel prices punish the fishermen out on the water, they also hit the truckers who deliver the catch to grocery stores, fish markets and restaurants.
The fishing industry has long complained that it doesn’t have the same sorts of protections that American farmers enjoy, where federal government subsidies can offset sudden volatility in the market, helping them weather the storm.
Quite the contrary, Lapp says. Domestic fishermen are left constantly at the mercy of the global marketplace.
“Usually what happens is that when the price of fish goes up, the country floods the market with cheaper imports and our prices actually drop,” she said.
Mike Pugliese, known locally as “Fishmonger Mike,” is already feeling the pinch at his Westerly fish market, The Fishery. His small business relies on fresh, local catches, but he knows the offshore boats are currently at their breaking point with fuel costs.
Good Friday and the end of Lent normally bring high demand for seafood. But Pugliese is worried about this season.
The pain at the pump isn’t just affecting the supply chain. It’s draining his customers’ wallets, reducing the demand for fish.
“If the fuel prices continue to stay high at the pumps, people pour more money into their fuel tank, into their car, then that’s going to affect what we sell,” Pugliese said.
New England fishermen, by and large, have tended to be strong supporters of President Trump. Many of them see Trump as an ally in their fight against offshore wind, which they maintain has caused what they see as a dangerous disruption to their fishing grounds.
For now, captains like Duckworth and Roberts say they’re willing to give the President the benefit of the doubt. Both of them say they support the war.
But Tim Carroll of Seaside Fuel says he’s starting to see the cracks among sea captains doing business with him, as they struggle with a higher cost of living and this new threat to their livelihood.
“About half of them are beginning to have some doubts,” he said.
