November 2, 2012 — Former New Bedford mayor John K. Bullard is being called a heartless porpoise killer and a pushover, or worse, for the fishing industry.
And it's not just anyone doing the accusing. It is a pair of prominent marine scientists, one of whom Bullard says he considers a friend from his earlier days at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It's not just anywhere that they're complaining, either. It is in a blunt commentary on the high-traffic National Geographic website.
"Bullard just gave those fishermen a free pass to ignore the law for another four months," fumed Carl Safina of the Blue Ocean Institute in a sizzling commentary titled "As Fisheries Service Dithers, New England Porpoises Drown."
He and co-author Andrew Read, professor of marine biology at Duke University (who has worked with New England fishermen and administrators on harbor porpoise avoidance for years), describe Bullard as a capitulator and vow to boycott future meetings of the NOAA panel that has been working on the porpoise issue.
What's next, holding their breath till they turn blue?
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times
Read a Saving Seafood special report on the harbor porpoise issue from earlier this year here