November 17, 2014 — In his Saturday visit to Gloucester, Governor-elect Charlie Baker clearly delivered what his audience wanted to hear. He told the fishermen and their backers that he would indeed be an advocate for the industry, and he said he would make fisheries a high priority issue for his administration.
But after meeting with and clearly listening to fishermen, and other advocates, such as state Sen. Bruce Tarr, Baker's comments in a hastily assembled press conference on the newly remodeled pier outside the restaurant showed that he has already focused on the most important issue that must be challenged if fishermen are to be spared NOAA's and administrator John Bullard's latest measures: That's NOAA's science, and the manner in which the agency covertly carried out the "unscheduled" stock assessment that has triggered the new area closures.
"There are questions I want to ask — and questions I want answers to," Baker said. "On one hand, we have the federal government telling us there are no fish, and then you see fishermen go out, and within no time, they've landed 5,000 or 10,000 pounds. Obviously, there are serious differences of opinion, and we need to find out what is happening."
Read the full opinion from the Gloucester Daily Times