A story that appeared in the Friday, April 16 edition of the Gloucester Times stated that Congressman Barney Frank petitioned the Obama administration for emergency action on "choke species".
The story stated that the letter from Congressman Barney Frank to U.S. Secertary of Commerce Gary Locke has already been sent; it has not.
The letter cited in the story is in draft form and circulating in the New England groundfishing community as Frank seeks regional consensus on how best to relive the expected economic hardships from a combination of hard catch limits and the consolidation of the industry when a catch share system goes into effect May 1.