One week into sector management, the fishing industries of Gloucester and New Bedford will hold public meetings today to come up with a status report to take to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke next Wednesday.
The Gloucester meeting is set for 8:30 a.m. today at City Hall, and was organized by Mayor Carolyn Kirk, state Sen. Bruce E. Tarr, R-Gloucester, and state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester.
The New Bedford meeting is slated for 2 p.m. at the United Fishermen's Club, 639 Orchard St. Organized by Dr. Brian Rothschild, head of the mayor's fishery task force, it is being called an "emergency" meeting. "The agenda will cover the readiness issue and whether annual catch limits are too risk-averse," Rothschild said.
Locke has scheduled a meeting in Washington, D.C., with nearly two dozen congressmen and senators from the Northeast who petitioned him last month to intervene in the new management system. They appealed to Locke after getting no results from the leadership at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA pressed ahead with no changes in its sector management system and catch shares as of May 1, despite a series of meetings, forums and appeals from fishermen, scientists and political leaders. NOAA has not disputed the prediction that many boats will be forced out of business because the sharply reduced catch limits don't allow them enough fish to pay expenses, much less profit.
Critics say the catch limits are unnecessarily conservative, based on data that is often three years old, and needlessly threaten the local economies of port cities such as Gloucester and New Bedford.
In a prepared statement, Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk said, "Every day matters because every day the new system is in place is a day closer (to when) Gloucester fishermen are going to go out of business. We want to hear directly from fishermen on the impact of the new regulations now that they are seven days into it."
State Sen. Bruce E. Tarr (R-Glouceste) said, "We can't afford to wait to determine its impacts, and this meeting will give us an important opportunity to develop a strategy on going forward to protect fishing families and our port."
State Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante (D-Gloucester) commented: "I along with my colleagues intend on watching NOAA's fisheries management experiment closely given that it stands to devastate many of our neighbors, friends and family. I am deeply disappointed that NOAA and the National Marine Fisheries Service are not engaged with the industry on this level."
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