Supposedly, the Obama administration supports and promotes diversity.
But that’s apparently not when it comes to management and regulation of the fishing industry. In that case, it appears one of its goals is to stack the key regional management councils with members tied to environmental activists — most with ties to the Pew Environmental Group. And that can only fuel the distrust between the fishing community and this government agency which is supposed to be trying to bridge an enormous credibility gap, not make it worse.
Since Jane Lubchenco was appointed head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration earlier this year, the balance of power on the New England and Mid-Atlantic fishery management councils has been shifting to those with ties to environmental groups, and away from the fishermen themselves.