Fishery regulators are inching forward with the development of new fishing cooperatives that will manage themselves and their catch in the 2010 groundfishing season.
Each cooperative, known officially as a sector, is made up of groundfish permit holders who are given an annual quota of groundfish to catch at their own pace and under their own rules.
An estimated 700 groundfish permits are expected to enroll in sectors, including about 100 permits tied to New Bedford fishing vessels. Regulators will have a better grasp of sector participation rates on Tuesday, when each sector must submit an operations plan to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service’s Northeast Regional Office in Gloucester.