Beset with investigations and court challenges, NOAA has responded by digging in on sector management and catch shares and keeping catch limits very, very low. It is shuffling personnel around amid scandals and assigning a delegate, it said, to bridge the gap between NOAA and fishing communities. A special detail of officials is visiting Northeast fishing ports to look at how to mitigate the economic damage that NOAA has largely failed to acknowledge.
Exactly one year after the implementation of sector management, it is impossible to say how the next few years will play out.
One wild card is the federal lawsuit filed last May by New Bedford, Gloucester and many fishing interests to challenge the legality of sector management. The central point is that NOAA failed to obey Section 8 of Magnuson-Stevens, which calls on the agency to examine — and mitigate — the damage that fishing restrictions will have on fishing communities.
The implication is that such a review would make it much harder to justify sector management, so the process was glossed over. The plaintiffs also argued that the new system should have been put to a vote.
Arguments in the case were heard in mid-March, and Judge Rya Zobel's ruling isn't expected for months.
But what happens if Zobel rules in favor of the fishing communities? She asked only one question about remedies in that case: The law's requirement that a referendum be conducted among the fishery before any kind of quota system is imposed. NOAA contends that sector management and catch shares do not constitute a quota system, but the plaintiffs argued that NOAA is playing with words.
Things would hardly end there, though. Whoever wins in federal court will face a challenge in appeals court, in all likelihood. And if a referendum is ordered (which could be years from now), what will it ask? Will it offer options? Would it be take-it-or-leave-it for sectors? Will days-at-sea come back? And who would be eligible to vote? Permit holders alone? What about stakeholders in shore support and fish processing?
Another open question: Why has the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had such a hard time finding a replacement for chief law enforcement officer Dale Jones, who resigned last year in a blizzard of scandal? The six-figure job was advertised once, and then again, the second time without mentioning academic credentials. Rumors are rampant that NOAA has a hand-picked candidate, but no one can be sure.
Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.