The coming year won’t be easy for Cape Ann commercial fishermen. But it could have been worse — a whole lot worse — and a ruling announced yesterday carries a positive message on several counts.
In her first major decision governing regulation of the New England fishing industry, Jane Lubchenco, the new head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came down on the side of common sense, balance — and, comparatively, on the side of the New England Fisheries Management Council and, to some extent, the fishermen.
Her decision to modify the so-called "Interim Rule," a highly controversial plan to regulate commercial fishing for the next year, will give fishermen a fighting chance to survive over the next 12 months until an entirely new set guidelines takes effect in 2010.
Read the complete story at the Gloucester Times.