NEW BEDFORD — Todd J. Zinser, the inspector general from the U.S. Department of Commerce, came to the city Wednesday and Thursday to hear firsthand from the fishing industry how the regulatory system in the Northeast might be improved.
Zinser's visit followed an Aug. 8 letter from New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang pressing for an investigation into the rule-making process governing the groundfishery, following repeated criticism of the National Marine Fisheries Service and its Northeast Regional Office.
"We wanted to get a better understanding of what they think we might do to be helpful. We get a number of requests for investigations. I try to bring oversight to the issues," Zinser said in a telephone interview late Thursday afternoon. "What we heard centered around the characteristics of rule-making."
However, Zinser declined to say whether his visit would spur a full-scale investigation. "We'd like to identify some manageable issues that we could look at and maybe provide some insight," he said.
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