New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang said Tuesday he will urge the city's fishing industry to boycott a meeting intended to repair relationships with federal fisheries law enforcement officials.
Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk suggested such a boycott last Friday, and was considering organizing an alternative meeting.
The three-hour forum, scheduled for 7-10 p.m. Monday in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office in Gloucester, was called by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco in the wake of a scathing report by the U.S. Commerce Department's inspector general, Todd J. Zinser. The report confirmed what Northeast fishermen have been saying for years: that fisheries law enforcement is uneven, often unfair, sometimes vindictive and especially bad in the Northeast.
Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk told The Standard-Times she started thinking boycott after NOAA announced the meeting without consultation about the agenda or participants, and at the worst possible time: less than a week before the launch of an entirely new regulatory scheme that has roiled the industry.
"The timing is horrible, just five days before implementation on May 1 of the new regime," Kirk said.
She wasn't naming names Tuesday, but many in the industry are particularly upset that Andrew Cohen, agent in charge of the Gloucester office, is first on the agenda for, among other things, "communicating with fishing industry members."
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