NEW BEDFORD, MA (January 28, 2009) – New Bedford's groundfishing industry is anxiously waiting for federal fishing regulators to announce plans for carrying out a court order to temporarily suspend restrictive fishing regulations that many fishermen have blamed for the demise of the fleet.
Regardless of how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service decides to handle the 60-day suspension of Framework 42 — ordered Monday by Senior Judge Edward F. Harrington — industry representatives said they have won a victory that could help shape future groundfishing policy.
"We've got our foot in the door and now we can work out regulations that make sense economically and that are sustainable," Mayor Scott W. Lang said of the decision in the federal lawsuit that the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire filed against NOAA Fisheries in November 2006.
Read the Standard-Times story in full
More coverage from the Gloucester Daily Times