June 25, 2013 — NOAA Fisheries regional administrator John Bullard conducted a conference call Monday to drum up interest in a collection of initiatives he hopes will help pull the groundfishery through its current crisis.
But there was little discussion of the 20 items he had already placed on the list, and more about some frustrations about what is not on the list.
Bullard, a former New Bedford mayor, said he wants the document to be a work in progress as people make suggestions and add things to the "to do" list, which includes such things as cooperative research, fishing alternative species and working with the Small Business Administration to see how it can help.
Some of the ideas seemed to miss the mark. Low-interest loans, for example, drew criticism from seafood consultant Jim Kendall of New Bedford. "If a man is dying of thirst, you don't offer him a loan. You give him a glass of water and a sandwich," he said.
What is needed, said Kendall, is direct assistance. "When you're making offers for loans for fishermen how do you make a loan to someone who can't pay it back and who's out of work, basically?" Kendall asked.
Maine fisherman Jimmy Odlin pleaded for some quick science about yellowtail flounder populations, which may be exploding, judging by the evidence. Odlin said that four boats have had to stop fishing for haddock because they couldn't avoid yellowtail bycatch and reached their limit and stopped fishing after catching only 5 percent of their haddock quotas.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times