The National Marine Fisheries Service’s announcement at the New England Fisheries Management Council meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., that a petition brought by the Conservation Law Foundation and fellow environmentalists Les Watling and Erica Fuller to add ocean catfish — or wolffish — to its threatened or endangered species list "may be warranted," drew chuckles from many fishermen in the audience.
Could this wolffish fuss become another impossible stock rebuilding task for NMFS as mandated by national fishery policy’s unrealistic language — as well as another sure bet campaign for a green group?