If U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson, in cahoots with NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco and acting marine fisheries chief Sam Rauch, signs off on an interim cod catch limit of 6,700 tons, as Rauch signaled last week, there may well be some sense of relief even in some fishing circles that the reduction is not more severe.
There shouldn't be,
The fact is, that level of catch for the new fishing year, which begins May 1, is at the bottom rung of a range recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council. It would still represent a 22 percent drop from the figure for the current year. It will still bring significant new losses for fishermen, waterfront businesses and New England fishing communities such as Gloucester, New Bedford and so many others.
The reduction remains based on data that continues to draw a wide variety of serious questions concerning its credibility — from the trawling research crew's operation of its new boat The Bigelow, to its use of new collecting gear and the fact that, true to form, there were no true fishermen involved in collecting the data.
The simple fact remains: Given those variables, and given the sadly comic lack of credibility of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's "science" data that's been used to set regulations in the past, there is simply no reasonable way that Department of Commerce or NOAA can set any limits without a new assessment. And given the obstinate Lubcheno's refusal to do so, it's time for Congress to take emergency measures regarding the Magnuson-Stevens Act and to block any implementation of its "overfishing" triggers until the new data can be better verified through a new survey.
Read the complete editorial from The Gloucester Times