NEW BEDFORD, MA (September 5, 2008) – The fishery management system in New England is in a crisis. Sectors of the New England fishing industry are about to be obliterated by new management measures that will severely curtail the catch. Taking note of the magnitude of the anticipated measures, Senators Snowe, Collins, Kennedy and Kerry wrote the assistant administrator of NOAA on May 16, requesting a delay in implementing the restrictions. Expressing further concern, Representatives Frank, Tierney, Courtney, McGovern, and Capuano wrote the administrator on July 25 to request freezing regulations at the status quo for one year, until the management regime could be improved by eliminating wasteful management practices.
They noted that the very regulations designed to protect fish and ensure optimum yield have resulted in 1) throwing overboard hundreds of thousands of pounds of valuable cod (and other species) as bycatch, and 2) limiting the catch of several underfished species so optimum yield could not be taken. (Catches of haddock have been limited to about 10 percent of the optimum yield even though its population is so large that the growth of fish has become stunted.)