BOSTON—The U.S. commerce secretary has reversed course and said Wednesday that he will allow more fishermen who have been accused of violations to have their cases reviewed for fairness by a special investigator.
Gary Locke also said he had agreed to give the investigator discretion to freeze pending penalties against those fishermen.
Locke had denied both requests in January, drawing protests from Northeastern lawmakers who said it was another assault by the federal government on the region's fishing industry.
Earlier this month, Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, met with Sen. John Kerry to discuss fishing issues. Last week, Kerry wrote them a letter requesting, among other things, the concessions that Locke is now granting.
Kerry called Locke's move a "welcome first step to repair the relationship" between fishermen and government regulators.
Read the complete story by Jay Lindsay of the AP at The Boston Globe.