May 14, 2013 — When fisheries regulation gets a makeover in the next year or two, the New England fishery intends to get into the debate early to impress on regulators how badly served the region has been under existing rules.
That was the theme struck by Mayor Jon Mitchell Monday as he co-chaired a joint meeting of the Mayor's Ocean and Fisheries Council with Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., representing the Federal Fishing Advisory Board.
Attending were many familiar faces from the industry, most from SouthCoast but some from Gloucester. They had very few good words to say about NOAA Fisheries, but did not jeer NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator John Bullard when he took the microphone to talk about the limitations of NOAA Fisheries science as changing environmental factors throw the fish surveys into disarray.
The former New Bedford mayor began his remarks by saying "I'm not getting elected to anything."
Bullard is taking much industry criticism for imposing sharp quota reductions on cod and haddock that are forcing many boats to remain at the dock as of May 1.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Deputy Director David Pearson opened the session with a presentation of what will be happening with the reauthorization of Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976, revised twice since then.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times