December 20, 2013 — The council system has an absolutely fatal flaw:
Despite all the input, all the debate, and even emphatic votes by the council’s members — including John Bullard, who serves as NOAA Northeast regional administrators — if Bullard and NOAA decree that a council-approved policy will not go forward, it’s dead in the water.
On the surface, the creation of eight regional fishery management councils under the Magnuson Stevens Act — including the one for New England that is based in Newburyport and carries out policy hearings and helps set catch guidelines and limits — is a good idea.
The council, which held its three-day December meetings this week at the DoubleTree Hotel in Danvers, is designed to bring fishermen, government representatives and environmental groups to the same table to discuss and consider regulatory policies. And, to a large extent, it does that — with members appointed by state’s governors, theoretically outside the reach of the long arm of NOAA.
But the council system has an absolutely fatal flaw – and it is one that took center stage more than once this week.