So — even the head of the New England Fishery Management Council is asking U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke for an "independent management consultant" to look into problems among the agencies that hold the fate of Gloucester's and the region's fishermen.
And fishery council chief John Pappalardo may really think it's a pressing need to sort out the relationships among the council, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offices in Blackburn Industrial Park, and the federal fisheries science center at Woods Hole.
But Pappalardo's request — submitted, like a letter earlier this month from federal lawmakers Barney Frank, John Tierney, John Kerry and 13 of their House and Senate colleagues, to Locke over the head of NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco — seems to target symptoms of the fishery management quagmire, not the disease.