The following release is from the New England Fishery Management Council. Plymouth, MA. At its September meeting in Plymouth, MA, the New England Fishery Management Council named its current Chairman and Vice Chairman to again serve in those positions through September 2010. By acclamation the Council approved new terms for Chairman John Pappalardo and Vice Chairman Rip Cunningham. Both have been instrumental in steering the Council as it addresses the challenges of rebuilding the region’s groundfish stocks and developing innovative management strategies to accomplish that goal.
Mr. Pappalardo and Mr. Cunningham have been actively involved with the development of “sectors” in the groundfish fishery. Similar to harvesting cooperatives, sectors are organized groups of fishermen that operate under strict catch limits in exchange for greater flexibility with respect to fishing rules. Scheduled for implementation in 2010, sectors are designed to promote greater accountability and economic efficiency while catches are reduced as the stocks rebuild.
Mr. Pappalardo is a fisherman and policy analyst for the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association. He was appointed to the Council in 2002 and is currently serving his third three-year term on the Council. Vice Chairman Rip Cunningham is a former editor and publisher of Saltwater Sportsman magazine and a long-time freelance conservation writer. He has served as Groundfish Committee Chairman for the last four years and is an active sport fisherman. He was appointed to the Council in 2004.
The Council’s 18 voting members also elected three Executive Committee members, in addition to the Chair and Vice Chair positions. The Executive Committee oversees the Council budget, appoints advisory panel members and addresses other administrative matters relating to Council operations. Mr. Terry Stockwell, who holds the position of Director of External Affairs with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, will serve on the Executive Committee for a second year. Mr. Jim Odlin, a Portland, ME fisherman also was chosen, along with Dr. David Pierce, Deputy Director of the MA Division of Marine Fisheries.
The fall meeting was the first for newly-appointed Council member Glenn Libby of Tenant’s Harbor, ME, chairman of the Midcoast Fishermen’s Association and president of the Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative. Council members may be appointed for a maximum of three terms. After nine years, they are required to take a year off before being considered again for service.
The Council, one of eight regional organizations established by federal legislation in 1976, is charged with conserving and managing fishery resources from three to 200 miles off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.