The setting for an informational meeting of New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang's Ocean and Fisheries Council next week will be the United States Capitol room, and is expected to attract a bipartisan mix senators and representatives of varying value systems on the spectrum.
[Ed. note, since this article was written, the meeting was moved from the Foreign Relations hearing room to room SC-6 in the U.S. Capitol.]
The historic venue made available for the 4 p.m. meeting by Kerry, who in recent weeks has stepped into on a pivotal role in the fierce legal, scientific and political push by coastal communities against federal catch restrictions and the re-engineering of the industry.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk said Thursday she was going to the meeting, which Lang has pegged as an opportunity to spread the word that "agenda-driven" policies of the Obama administration and unnecessarily rigid interpretations of the mandates for rebuilding stressed stocks have succeeded in destroying small businesses and jobs in ports up and down the coast.
Kirk and Lang, on behalf of their port cities are lead plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of the catch share regulatory regimen, in which fishermen's "shares" of an allotted catch for each fish stock are encouraged to buy, sell or trade quota among themselves, or with outside corporations or investors. The effect has been to consolidate more of the quota into fewer corporate hands, at the expense of smaller boats and businesses that don't have the capital to compete.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.