Mayor Carolyn Kirk, Sen Bruce Tarr, and Rep Ann-Margaret Ferrante have called for a public meeting to hear from fishermen on how the implementation of the new fishing regulations is going.
Said Kirk, “every day matters because every day the new system is in place is a day closer Gloucester fishermen are to going out of business. We want to hear directly from fishermen on the impact of the new regulations now that they are seven days into it.”
Senator Tarr concurs and said, “the clock is ticking as we begin a management program with the potential to end the groundfishery as we know it. We can't afford to wait to determine its impacts, and this meeting will give us an important opportunity to develop a strategy on going forward to protect fishing families and our port.”
“I along with my colleagues intend on watching NOAA's fisheries management experiment closely given that it stands to devastate many of our neighbors, friends and family. I am deeply disappointed that NOAA and the NMFS are not engaged with the industry on this level. I look forward to hearing about the real time impacts, successes and failures of the implementation” said Representative Ferrante.
The meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m., Friday, May 7, at Gloucester City Hall.