November 10, 2014 — The public campaign is revving up to convince NOAA not to implement emergency cod measures that could shut down the Gulf of Maine to Gloucester’s day boat groundfishing fleet and those of other day-boat groundfish ports.
The Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership and U.S. Sen. Kelly A. Ayotte, R-N.H., wrote letters to federal regulators last week, again criticizing the controversial stock assessment that led to the anticipated measures and imploring them to devise solutions that do not include additional withering cuts to cod quota and planned rolling area closures.
NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard has conceded the emergency measures, which will be announced around the middle of this month, likely will include quota cuts and area closures and will have a “disproportionate” negative impact on small-boat groundfish ports such as Gloucester and Portsmouth, N.H.
Angela Sanfilippo, executive director of the Fishermen’s Partnership, said in her letter to Bullard that NOAA should refrain from instituting any emergency measures in the middle of the 2014-15 fishing season because of the havoc they will wreak on fishermen’s business plans.
“Many fishermen have yet to fish for their allowed allocations for many groundfish stocks, including GOM cod,” Sanfilippo wrote. “They’ve made business decisions to fish in the fall of this fishing year hoping to receive a better price for their catch.”
Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times