Rockport fishing boat captain Bill Lee made the trip to Maryland this week, hoping to broker a truce in the ongoing war between fishermen and the federal agents who enforce fishing rules.
And his trip did yield some signs of hope for peace and clarity. Dale Jones, director of law enforcement for fisheries at the Silver Spring headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, met with Lee for 40 minutes. Also present for most of the meeting was James Balsiger, acting national administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, which comes under NOAA’s oversight.
But while both men were apparently willing to listen, what remains to be seen, of course, is their response — whether they will accept the reality that the rules governing fishing remain vague and confusing and that, according to both anecdotal and statistical evidence, NMFS enforcement tactics are extremely punitive and intimidating.