This week, my agency put temporary rules in place that will govern groundfishing in the Northeast for the next year, providing the needed time for building a better fishery management plan.
Now, we all need to focus on what will happen over the next five years and how to bring the rebuilding era in this fishery to a successful close.
In the coming months, we must focus on achieving these goals and, however tough the going is, work together to get there. First and foremost, this means using the fishery management process to get the best possible plan, as we pull it together for implementation in the 2010 fishing year. The decisions to be made are hard, and will have a lasting influence on how the New England groundfishery works, looks, and succeeds in this new century.