New England’s top federal fishing regulator has proposed new controls to prevent a commercial fishing "derby," targeting the side of the industry that next year will continue to work independently without catch shares or membership in new fishing cooperatives known as sectors.
The deadline for securing a place in one of the sectors passed at midnight on Tuesday.
Well more than half the active permits have been signed on to join in a cooperative, with the majority of them based here at the offices of the Northeast Seafood Coalition.
"At first glance," said a spokeswoman for the National Marine Fisheries Service, "it appears that the lions share of the catch history that is associated with permits is enrolled in a sector."
But the June meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council also left fishermen with the option to not join a sector, and instead work in an independent common pool.