October 25, 2013 — New Bedford Mayor John Mitchell has written to members of the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), requesting that the Council not move forward with attempts to amend or eliminate the scallop single dredge permit exemption. The exemption allows for smaller scallop vessels to fish with a larger allocation than they would otherwise have been alloted, provided that they use only one dredge. Mayor Mitchell said that repealing the exemption would "have deleterious economic and human consequences on New Bedford."
The letter further states that eliminating the exemption would have no effect on conserving scallop populations, and that "no scientific evidence exists to support this request." Instead, the request would simply "shift the profits of the scallop industry from one group of vessels to another group of vessel owners." This would negatively impact the 20 single dredge scallop vessels that operate out of New Bedford, and would "cast hundreds of New Bedford residents into certain economic distress." Mayor Mitchell urged the Council to keep in place the exemption policy, which has been in place in the fishery for the last 20 years.
Read the letter from Mayor Mitchell to the NEFMC
Read the petition from the Secretary of Commerce