In the wake of the release of the draft working paper for the pollock assessment which concluded that “the stock is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring," Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has called upon Obama Administration Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to immediately begin proceedings to raise the allowable catch.
Noting that the working paper is not a formal determination, the Governor stated "…it seems likely that there will be scientific justification for immediately increasing the pollock annual catch level. Such an action will prevent low pollock limits from causing early closures of groundfish sectors and significant socioeconomic impacts on the Commonwealth’s groundfish fishing industry."
The Governor asked the secretary to see to it "that proceedings begin immediately to raise the allowable catch limit to a level as high as possible while avoiding overfishing, as dictated by the new science."
He asked that this be done either through the secretary's "..executive authority or through action by the New England Fishery Management Council, whichever can provide the quickest remedy."
Copies of the letter were sent to both Massachusetts U.S. Senators, all coastal U.S. representatives, Massachusetts State senators and representatives with fisheries interests, the Speaker of the Massachusetts House, the President of the Massachusetts Senate, and the Mayors of New Bedford and Gloucester, NOAA Undersecretary Jane Lubchenco, NMFS Administrator Eric Schwaab. NMFS Regional Administrator Patricia Kurkul and John Pappalardo, Chair of the New England Fishery Management Counci.