July 24, 2013 — Sen. Kelly Ayotte expressed frustration at a Senate commerce subcommittee meeting Tuesday about the drastic effects that cod and haddock catch reductions are having on New Hampshire fishermen.
The hearing was the first in a series being held as the committee takes up the issue of reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which regulates the commercial fishing industry nationally. A small group of senators heard from New Hampshire and Massachusetts fishermen and others about what changes they feel need to be made to the act.
In January, the New England Fisheries Management Council approved a 77 percent cut in Gulf of Maine cod and haddock catch allotments through 2015. That and other measures have all but stopped commercial ground fishing in New Hampshire.
Josh Weirsma, sector manager for New Hampshire‘s fisheries, testified during the hearing that because boats recently had to stop fishing for dogfish, only four total boats were fishing in New Hampshire — down from 36 in 2009.
Ayotte said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is charged not just with protecting fish stocks, but fishing communities, and pressed John Bullard, northeast regional administrator for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, about how he planned to do that.