In Gloucester, the oldest seaport in the country, an unusual number of boats are riding at their moorings instead of working. The escalating conflict in the Middle East pushed global oil back above $100 a barrel last week, and diesel, the lifeblood of the commercial fleet, now averages more than $5.20 a gallon nationwide, a jump of over $2.65 in a year, per AAA.
Archie MacLeod Jr., a former commercial fisherman who now works the counter at Rose's Marine on the Gloucester waterfront, watches the toll it takes on the skippers he serves.
"They're ridiculous. You know, the fuel prices, especially for diesel, which is one of the main fuels that runs the country, whether it's trucking or fishing or any industry, really, they're really high, and it's really hard for guys to go out and make a living," MacLeod told CBS Boston. The arithmetic, he explained, is brutal: "You're traveling 200 miles sometimes from shore, and all that fuel needs to be paid for. And a lot of times, you don't make a paycheck until you pay for the fuel."
Increasingly, he said, crews are opting out entirely. "A lot of them just kind of say, you know what? With bait and fuel prices, it's just a better idea to just haul your gear in and stay home."
Charter and tour operators feel it too. Captain Jim Douglass, owner of Cape Ann Whale Watch in Gloucester, tops off a 4,000-gallon boat and sails twice daily in a compressed season. "It's huge. It adds up pretty quickly when you're going out every day, twice a day," he said. He has already lifted ticket prices and is mulling a fuel surcharge. "We have a short season here. We only run from May to October, so you know we have a small window to make some money, and every time that price goes up, it's a huge impact."
The picture repeats across the continent. In Kodiak, Alaska, Darren Platt was readying his 42-foot salmon seiner, the Agnes Sabine, and bracing for the invoice. "It's probably going to be close to double what it was last year," he told KMXT, reckoning it would take close to $10,000 to fill his tank. Kodiak skipper Dave Kubiak recalled paying roughly $3.75 a gallon last summer, a price that now seems almost quaint.
Behind it all sits the war with Iran. With crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted, prices have climbed everywhere, and fishing fleets far from the fighting have paid for it. Reuters found half the Dutch fleet idled this spring and Thailand's industry grinding toward a halt as fuel bills soared.
Governments have responded in fits and starts. New York Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni has proposed letting commercial fishermen take fuel tax exemptions upfront, the way farmers do, instead of waiting months for reimbursement. "The affordability crisis is hitting hard for everyone, and while the Administration wages a war in the Middle East, fuel prices continue to rise, forcing fishermen to pay even more than they should just to go to work," Schiavoni said. The status quo, he warned, drives boats elsewhere, with fuel taxes forcing "many fishermen to do business in other states where diesel and supplies cost less, ultimately taking away from Long Island's blue economy."
A few are betting on new technology instead. National Fisherman profiled Alaska's first hybrid-electric fishing vessel in June, framed as a hedge against precisely this sort of fuel spike. But for most captains the decision is far more immediate, and it is the one MacLeod fields daily at the register: when the sums fail to add up, the wisest trip is the one that never leaves the dock.