March 8, 2013 — In barring state-permitted fishermen from gaining a new access to fishing areas that have traditionally been closed, state Division of Marine Fisheries chief Paul Diodati could have simply noted that his denial was based on a lack of cod and other groundfish as cited in the latest NOAA assessment data that is on the verge of choking out an entire industry.
To his credit, however, Diodati was more specific than that.
Noting that he shares the concerns of the relatively few state-permitted, small-boat fishermen, he made it clear that the shortage of fish within those fishermen’s usual grounds is due in large part to the fact that more and more big boats — “unencumbered by trip limits …particularly on Gulf of Maine Cod when they are aggregated for migration, feeding (and) spawning, has significantly contributed to declines in local abundance.”
Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Times