The Jeffrey Scott, center, a Virginia-based scallop boat, takes off early yesterday morning for Round Shoals Channel from a pier along the New Bedford wharfs.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

Government officials and business leaders in New Bedford perennially cast about for ways to help the local economy and the commercial fishing industry, which has been the backbone of the Whaling City for generations.

One effort, now in its fourth year, tries to build support for the industry by getting landlubbers up close to the men and women who work on the fishing boats and in the associated businesses along the city’s waterfront.

The Working Waterfront Festival, scheduled this year for Sept. 22-23, celebrates commercial fishing’s place has in New Bedford’s economy and history.

The fishing boats that use the harbor generate about $280 million in annual revenues, making it the nation’s top port by product value, according to Kristin Decas, director of the New Bedford Harbor Development Commission. “We’ve been holding the title for the last seven years” she said.

In addition, the fleet may generate as much as $1 billion in indirect spending.

About 300 fishing boats call the city home and 200 others use the port, she said. In all, the fishing industry employs about 3,700 people in the city as crew, processors, transport workers and in other marine-industry jobs.

City officials are trying to devise ways to “complement” that activity with other marine-based uses, including recreational boating events, tourist cruises and “short-sea” shipping — barge routes that help trucking firms leapfrog congested highways along the Eastern Seaboard, she said.

The city has also offered itself as a potential site for a casino, should Governor Patrick approve gaming in the Bay State.

The city will pay for an impact study of various economic proposals with an $80,000 state grant, Decas said. City officials have yet to put out the study for bidding.

Any plan for New Bedford will rest on boosting commercial fishing, she said. “We have a very significant fishing fleet presence here.”

But the commercial fishing industry in New Bedford and the rest of New England is under great strain.

In February, Patrick said the industry had suffered a $22-million loss because of tight regulations, according to news reports. The governors of Rhode Island and Maine have also asked for federal financial assistance for fishermen.

New England’s embattled fishery has been hurt by slow recovery of key fish stocks, serious cuts in fishing days and continuing shrinking of fleets, all against a backdrop of widespread mistrust and regional rivalries.

According to a recent report by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 19 species of fish in the Northeast have already suffered from overfishing, and 10 more are currently being overfished.

Under the “days at sea” control system, regulators try to prevent overfishing by making fishermen less productive — mainly by cutting fishing days at sea, although gear modifications and closed fishing areas are also common.

Environmentalists have long argued that the approach is too indirect. Fishermen are quick to adapt, the critics say, so attempts to control the catch by making the industry less efficient fail. And when annual catch limits on a stock are reached, the system doesn’t necessarily shut down fishing on that stock.

Fishermen complain that they’re punished for every natural fluctuation in a complicated, and poorly understood, fishery. They also say the rules are so inflexible that they can’t catch their full share of healthy stocks, and so harsh that they can’t make a living.

They complain that the regulations change frequently and make it impossible for them to get loans, make business plans or even survive.

They say the rules force them to remain at sea in dangerous conditions rather than lose a day of fishing. Seven fishermen have died at sea this year off the Northeast coast.

At the same time, commercial fishing captains are struggling with soaring fuel bills, less-skilled workers, high insurance rates and costly repairs to an aging fleet.

The Working Waterfront Festival is intended to put industry members in touch with people who know little about how fishing is done.

In the past, about 10,000 to 12,000 people have attended the free festival on piers along the city’s waterfront. This year’s two-day event will feature sea-themed art-and-book stalls, panel discussions and a trade show for fishing-related businesses.

The theme is Women and the Working Waterfront.

For a schedule or more information, visit www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org

pgrimald@projo.com